The Past Month (or so) in Pictures...Part 1

Halle Grace's one-year homecoming celebration...

Some of my faves from Hawaii...















We stayed in Honolulu with our long-time friends, the Pinkstons. Then we were off to the Big Island! We stayed at the Hilton Wiakoloa Village (which is incredible!). We are not "resort" people, and this was a first for us. We had an amazing time (but we'll be back in a condo next time). I got suckered into one of those time-share sales calls last Fall. They made us an offer we couldn't refuse at this resort, so we jumped on it! We got an awesome vacation for a steal of a deal, but had to sit through a time-share pitch for a couple of hours (which we turned down...WHO actually buys those crazy time shares??!!). We've never done anything like that before. This one was definately worth it!
We enjoyed the beaches as the Big Island - great sand, prefect boogie-boarding waves, and amazing snorkeling (we swam with sea turtles AND a shark!). We were disappointed that we couldn't see the volcano erupting. The lava flow changes course all the time, so there's no predicting what you'll be able to see. When we were there, the lava was flowing in an inaccessible area. There were lots of interesting craters and steam vents in the National Volcanos Park, which was neat to see (but Yellowstone is better for that sort of thing, in our opinion).
We got to taste Kona Coffee and macadamia nuts right off the tree - we visited a quaint little farm on the Kona coast and got a great tour from the owner. He let us pick nuts and avacados to take with us - yum!
We also got to visit a true black sand beach. This sand is formed when hot lava hits the sea water and crystalizes into this incredibly fine sand. It was raining when we got there, so we didn't stay long, but the kids got build sand castles for the sea turtles. :)

Hawaii is such a special place - truly a masterpiece of God's creation. Everyone should see it at least once...

Next post - Kindergarten graduation and the last day of school.