Mahalo Hawaii!

We had a great time in Hawaii and even though we were excited to get to California to see our family we were a little sad leaving. We will return someday, there is so much left to do! Until then thank you for a wonderful time and many, many, memories.

Coffee Anyone?

One of our last activities was to visit Greenwell Farms Coffee Plantation. It was a great tour and we learned the entire process of growing the coffee cherries. Our tour started with seeing the various plants that were on the grounds. The avocados above were growing on one of the trees near the road.

There were also pineapple plants. One plant can produce one pineapple at a time. We eat lots of pineapple and guacamole so the kids really enjoyed this part.

Coffee berries grow on trees and are picked when they are ripe and red. This is a picture of the nut inside of one of the coffee cherries.

The cherries are put in this machine to take the fruit off.

Then they are soaked to remove the last bit of coating.

Then they are laid out in the sun to dry. They rake them and turn them throughout the day. Then they go into the warehouse to dry or "rest" for six weeks then sorted by size. After they roast them they are packaged and sold.

These are freshly picked coffee cherries that are about 100 pounds each.

Here we are in the orchard of Kona coffee cherries.

Even Lindy liked real Kona coffee!

Sunset, Hawaii Style

When we returned home from snorkeling we had no electricity. To make a long story short we had to pack all of our stuff up, unload the refrigerator, and move to another house. It was a pain but once we got settled and unpacked (again!) we sat by the pool and watched the sun move through the clouds and then finally set. This was our next to last Hawaii sunset and it was amazing to watch. The kids swam and we all talked and watched this gorgeous site.

Even though we had a great view of the Pacific we also could see Kona at night which was very pretty.

Swimming with Sea Turtles

This is the bay area that came highly recommended for going snorkeling. Everything we needed was right there to rent and there were reef conservation people available to explain and answer questions. It was a perfect place to take kids and they all did a great job.

As soon as we got in the water huge sea turtles would make their way to the rocky area. We had just climbed in and they were there to feed on the algae on the rock. The conservation people told us about all of the fish we would see, taught us about coral, and gave us some turtle information. They said to try to keep a couple of feet distance (!) from the turtles. They don't want them to be injured by people so you are not to touch them. I asked if they were afraid of people and they said that they were more hungry than afraid. It takes them most of the day to get enough food. They either get used to the people or starve. People are really good about giving them space. It is quite surreal to be wading in the water and a turtle is right there, inches away, and you have to back up to give them space.

Bill took Kyle snorkeling while I hung out with the little ones. Ethan tried the mask but had some challenges with it so he took one of the boogie boards we had. They had a tall mask area coming out of the top that allows kids to view what is going on under the water. The kids were ablt to see all kinds of beautiful fish. Having crystal clear water makes it really easy to see. I have never swam in water like that before! Just standing there we saw dozens of turtles. It was truly unbelievable. The pictures of the turtles in the water really don't convey how neat they were. I couldn't take any pictures until I was out of the water so they are from standing on the edge. Imagine they are right next to you!

Place of Refuge

Pu'uhonua O Honaunau is a very interesting and unusual park. It was another highly recommended place to visit in my guide. The story behind it is that in ancient Hawaiian times people were convicted of crimes such as stepping on the chief's shadow or fishing in the wrong season they could escape to this place. If they were able to make it here, which usually involved crossing a body of water (rumor was there were sharks in it) then you were to be forgiven of all crimes. It became a religious sanctuary and is now considered scared grounds. You can walk through and see ancient huts and a beautiful pond area.



It is a very neat place to walk thorough and the kids really liked it even though they could not climb any rocks. There is a sign posted at the beginning to stay on paths and not to remove anything. Once we explained that it was like a church the kids not only were fine with not getting on everything, they really had an appreciation for the site.

It was so beautiful. We were there about an hour before sunset and it was a very peaceful time to explore.

There were sea turtles swimming in the little bay area. They come right up to the edge of the sand area and eat.

This was the main point of refuge of the site. Everything was built jutting out into the ocean on lava rock.

This was the view of the ocean while we walked around. That's a rock out there, kind of looked like something else!

Resting on our walk. Lindy was very fascinated with this place. It is so funny to see what each child has an interest in. She wandered off by herself with the map of the site and her camera. Something about this site was very intriguing to her.

Erin playing an ancient game that I can't find the name for!

This is the sandy bay area where the sea turtles were right there to look at. We spent a long time here. Check out Lindy with her camera.

Paige and the palm. Love this picture. See the kayak out in the water? There are lots of caves in the bay area where you can kayak and places to snorkel. Obviously we couldn't quite do that but it sounds neat.

I really think by being there close to the end of daylight, we had a different feel to the area. This was just beautiful to watch the sun start setting.

These are not the original tikis but still give the feeling of what it looked like.

This is one of my favorite pictures. I love the grove of palm trees.

Paige found this really large nut. Not sure what it was and we couldn't take it with us. We are going to try and figure out what it is.

The huts show how they were used in ancient times.