Hawaii

This past summer we went to Hawaii. We flew to Honolulu and stayed at my Aunt Kimber and Uncle Ramond and cousin Anavai's house. We got lots of shave ices which are kind of like snow cones but really soft ice and super yummy flavors. Matsumoto's was a great place to get shave ice.

We also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center which is a place where you can learn about all the Polynesian islands and the people who live on them. Some of the islands were Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii, Tonga, New Zealand, Figi and Marquesas. They had a boat parade and lots of shows and classes to make native crafts. Best of all, we got to see our friends Molly and Sam there, as well as Paige and her family...they are some good friends of ours from Vermont.

We also got to go to the Big Island called Hawaii. It was a really cool island because one part looked exactly like Mars, and another just a mile away was a rain forrest. We went through a lava tube that was made in the rain forest a long time ago. We also went to the very bottom part of Hawaii, which is also the bottom of America. We went to the southern-most restaurant in America, too. Then we went to some cliffs near the water and found lots of cool rocks and shells, and watched the huge waves crashing above some of the cliffs.

After that we went to Volcano National Park. We couldn't see any lava even when we went down the path for a while, but then when we drove back up it was dark and we could see sparks of lava!

Another fun thing we did was drive up to Mauna Kea Observatory Visitor's Center. There mommy and daddy bought me a shirt with some pictures of all the telescopes on it. Then we went down and stayed in a hotel with a huge pond filled with Koi fish. Below is a picture of them.

We hiked to see some ancient petraglyphs which are also pictured below.
Back on Oahu, we went camping at a big ward campout for a week on the beach. My friend Arinui was there and a lot of other kids. At one point somehow this big, huge, toad hopped into the camp and we caught him in a pot. Then we showed a lot of people it before we let it go. There is a picture of it below too.

We hiked up Diamond Head Crater to the tippy top lookout place. We saw Honolulu on one side, and a great, blue ocean on the other. From there we could see Maui and Molokai'i. It was a really beautiful view.

Twice we went to Waimea Bay. There are some really good coral reefs there. There are also lots of caves you can crawl into, and a giant rock where lots of people are lined up to jump off. There was really warm water and you could get quite close to the fish. I saw a giant sea turtle there--that was awesome!

Over all, it was a really wonderful trip! I really loved it.


Koi Fishat our hotel in Hilo














The super giant Toad in our camp!















Here is one of the petraglyphs we saw. No one knows what they mean, but they are ancient.















The southern-most beach in Hawaii--and the USA! People use white rocks to write things on the black lava. We made a "W".




















A lava field in Volcano National Park. You can see the lava steam rising as the hot lava hits the ocean in the distance.
















Just a few minutes away from the lava fields is an amazing rain forrest! This is where I went through the lava tubes too.