Sunday. We went to church at a cute little church house in Waimea, about halfway between where we were staying and Hilo. We listened to a family speak who had just moved there from Bear Lake-talk about a change! We also saw a handful of people who had been in our temple session on Friday night. We added a lot of people to their Sunday school and a few of our group were asked to help with the lesson.
After church, we found a place to change and then went exploring in Hilo again. The first place was the Waipi’o Lookout. (I got smart and started taking pictures of the signs so I would remember where we had been.)
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| we had flown down this coast when we flew into Kona so it was neat to see it up close |
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people farm in that valley that is over Justin's right shoulder
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We had packed a lunch and found a lovely spot to eat it.
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| so much foliage |
After that it was Umauma Falls. When I first looked at the waterfall, I thought it was the Garden of Eden. It was so stunning and picturesque. Next to Umauma Falls was a small garden you could walk through. Also very Garden of Eden-like. All this foliage that just grows with no help.
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| Becky Allen and me |
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| John Webb and Justin |
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| John and Jenny, Justin and me, Becky and Brad, Brooke and Malcolm Rose |
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| this is a rope that lined the trail-I was amazed to see moss growing right out of the rope |
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| ocean view |
I’m not sure the name of the last waterfall we saw but the sign I took a picture of said Ka Wai Ola. This was a paved trail through so much lush, green foliage and then the most amazing free-drop waterfall. It takes 8 seconds for the water to fall from the top to the bottom.
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| you can barely see a smaller waterfall over my right shoulder |
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| notice the pathway-bottom left hand side |
Since it was Sunday, we had bought stuff the day before to grill for dinner that night. It was our nicest meal at the house and we sat down together on the back deck (called a lanai) to eat together. Steak, shrimp, and fresh fish were all on the menu that night.
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| Malcolm, John, Brad, Justin-the food preppers |
Monday morning was our hike, something I had been wanting to do all week. It was called Pololu Valley and it was quite the hike. Switchbacks nearly straight down to the beach. The hike down was harder than the hike up, minus the very steepest part and the very top on the way back up. Those views were so incredible. Also amazing was to turn your back to the ocean and see a beautiful green meadow. People actually farm there-can you imagine making your home there?
Justin and John were so excited to see some ocean with waves because they had been wanting to play in some waves and none of the beaches we had been to yet had had satisfying waves. All the boys got in but they didn’t stay out too long before realizing just how big they waves were. They got sucked out fast and quickly came back in. This was the one morning that we got rained on-just as we were hiking back out.
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| Justin, Brad, Malcolm |
We had some lunch close to the hike and walked around some of the shops and then headed to one of our favorite beaches for a couple of hours. We had been to this one already but the boys loved it the best for snorkeling and it was close to our house. John and Justin got up close and personal with the birds.
We had shared a car with John and Jenny Webb for the week. They have
become our good friends over the last couple of years as we've served
in callings with them. It was actually them who invited us because John
feels so comfortable around Justin so it was fitting that we spent so many hours in the car
together. Every time we drove back to our house, we passed a certain
tree and every time we drove by it, John would point it out-it kind of
became our little joke. We finally got out of the car on one of our last days
and took some pictures with it. We had become so silly by that day
and these pictures kind of show that.
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| Goodrich's and Webb's |
We went back to the house, showered and got ready, and then went to a local shopping center for dinner and some souvenir shopping. This was probably one of my favorite days, although they were all amazing-hiking, snorkeling, relaxing at the beach, and then shopping. It was very relaxing to walk around the shopping mall-it was such a beautiful night-our perfect week was almost over and it was sad, but not sad. We felt that everything had gone so well and we were just happy to have been able to be there. I made sure to take some videos of some native Hawaiian dancers to send home to Brynn since she was planning on dressing up as a hula dancer for Halloween.
Our last day was spent at the beach, duh. We had done everything that everyone had wanted to do and it seemed like the right thing to do on our last day. I spent time in and out of the water while Justin pretty much spent the entire time in the water. It was a perfect farewell to beautiful Hawaii. We had lunch where we started-Lava Lava Beach Club. So good.
Our flight was leaving that night at 9:30 so the rest of the day consisted of getting ready, packing up, checking out. We had some time to kill and I still needed something to take home to Molly so we were able to do a little more shopping. Our very last thing before heading to the airport and really saying goodbye was a moonlight walk along the beach (it gets dark really early there). We were fortunate to see two sea turtles that had crawled up the beach for the night. We were careful not to get too close but they were so neat to see on our last night there!
It was time for our dream week to come to a close. We were ready to get home to our kids and by that time, we just wanted to fast forward the flights and be home. We had a red-eye from Kona to San Francisco then we were supposed to fly to LA and then home but our flight to LA was delayed so United was able to get us on a direct flight to Salt Lake. Gene picked us up (we were with the Webbs) and drove us home. We got there right around the time that the kids were getting home from school. It was so good to see them, give them their souvenirs, show them our pictures, and tell them all about the things we did.
As a summary-this trip was amazing. The week really could not have been more perfect. It was great to go with the Allen’s, the Rose’s, and the Webb’s. We knew the Webb’s the best and are so grateful that we got the chance to become better friends with the other couples. Everyone was really relaxed and laid back so there was no drama or strong opinions that would have been hard to deal with. After a couple of months of high stress with all that had been going on at our house (the remodel) it was so great to get away. I was worried that Justin would be too worried about what was going on at home with the house (the roofers were there while we were gone) but he was able to completely relax and leave his stresses at home. It was good for both of us, but especially him, and it made me so happy to see him so carefree. This might sound silly to some people-but I believe that Heavenly Father knew back in March that we would be up to our eyeballs in stress and put this trip in our lives right when we would both need it and I am grateful for that. And the good news is that, even though we had to say good-bye to Hawaii, we get to go again within the year since we have a free trip from seminar! Having just been makes me that much more excited because I know exactly how amazing it is!
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Now, the kids. Both our moms were so awesome and stepped up to help with the kids. Fortunately the first part of the trip coincided with Fall Break so they were able to stay in Plain City without worrying about missing school. They did miss the Wednesday before-Justin drove them to Plain City on Tuesday night since we had such an early flight Wednesday morning. My parents were at the temple on Tuesday and Wednesday night so they were able to hang out at the Broadbent’s. My mom helped them make a haunted house on Wednesday while all their cousins were at school.
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| haunted house #1 |
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| haunted house #2 |
On Thursday they went to Lagoon and on Friday-Sunday, they got to spend time at the cabin. Bryce and Erin’s family were there for some of the time and they also got some time with just Grandma and Grandpa. On Sunday afternoon, they met April and she brought them to our house for the rest of the time so they could go to school. She was a trooper because we didn’t really even have a spot for her to sleep. We had our mattress on Molly’s floor since the roof in our room was being rebuilt. We told her to sleep in Ivy’s room since Ivy was sleeping in the basement while we were all down there but we forgot that Ivy’s windows didn’t have any blinds since Jason Grant was putting new windows in her room while we were gone. I think she slept on the couch in the kitchen one night and I don’t know what she did the other nights! Anyway, she survived and got all the kids where they needed to be and when and fed them really yummy food. I got pictures of the kids with their cousins at Lagoon but that's it.
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| Grant, Stockton, Gavin, Lucy, Molly, Seth, Brynn, Ivy |
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| Seth, Erin, Harper, Josie, Brynn |
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| Harper, Seth, Brynn |
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| Ivy and Lucy |
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| Chloe, Seth, Grace, Ivy, Josie, Lucy, Harper |
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| Seth, Harper, Lucy, Ivy, Josie, Spencer, Grant, Grace, Stockton, Brynn |
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| Brynn, Abby, Stockton, Harper, Grant, Seth |
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