Thankful Thursday

 1. Oliver had his physical on Friday. He was grateful he didn't need to get any shots. I am very grateful that he hadn't been to the doctor since his physical last year. At the doctor's office he weighed 95 pounds (39th percentile) and was 5 ft. 4.5 inches tall. He had gained 11 pounds and grown 2.5 inches in the last year. His height is at the 83rd percentile, and his BMI is at the 11th percentile, which is an improvement as some years his BMI was around the 5th percentile which put him close to being labeled underweight. When Nadia turned thirteen, she was 5 ft. 1.25 inches tall, and Ian was 59.5 inches and 76 lbs. when he turned 13. So, Oliver weighs about 20 pounds more than Ian did at this age, and he's also 5 inches taller than his brother was. At the moment, Ian is still taller than Oliver, but I think Ian's days are numbered as to being the tallest child in our family.

2. The weather has been so nice lately! The highs have been in the 70's, and it hasn't been humid. That's my kind of weather! Paul and I usually walk together twice a day with Milo. Sometimes Oliver joins us on rollerblades for our second walk of the day.

3. I'm grateful to be able to continue to homeschool our kids. Yesterday we took our first day of school pictures one day late because it had been raining on Tuesday evening. We also got ice cream at Becky's to celebrate the start of a new school year.

4. Nadia wanted to get some clothes at the thrift store, so we went there yesterday. Last week she renewed her learner's permit which had expired in June. She drove a lot from September through December last year, but she had barely driven at all in 2025. She was the driver for our errands yesterday. We used a Pizza Hut gift card Paul had gotten through his company credit card previously to get stuffed crust pizza, which is something Nadia really loves. 

5. Six months ago, the dentist thought an x-ray showed I had a cavity in a tooth. He decided to wait six months. On Tuesday an x-ray of just that tooth showed zero sign of decay. Woohoo! 

6. Yesterday was Oliver's spiritual birthday. I got him an Adventures in Odyssey book, and we picked up six donuts last night at Dunkin for our family to enjoy today. 

7. I never know what I'll find when I shop at Surplus Outlet. On Saturday I found they were selling bags of Sun Chips for $1.47 (the size that is typically $4-5 each). I shocked the kids by buying 24 bags. I figured I'd likely never see them at that price again. We all like them, and they are healthier than most chips. I've never bought that many bags of chips at one time before, but I don't regret the purchase.

8. I treated Tab to lunch on Friday as a belated birthday lunch. She suggested eating at a restaurant I had never been to before. The food was tasty, but more importantly I enjoyed time with my friend. 

9. The kids have their first art class for the year at MCS this afternoon. I'm thankful the kids can take art there and participate in their musical. 

10. We have nineteen kids signed up for co-op this fall. I used a Lowe's gift card that I had intended to use toward our new refrigerator to pay for four folding chairs. One of the new moms teaches art for a fee elsewhere. She has agreed to teach art in our co-op for free in the spring as long as the supplies are provided. Art is definitely not my forte, so I'm grateful for this assistance.

11. For a few months I've been monitoring the price of airfare to the United Kingdom. On Tuesday evening I learned of a nonstop, roundtrip flight from Newark to Dublin for less than $350 each. Including taxes and fees, I ended up paying $361 per person for nonstop, roundtrip flights in May. Yahoo! I've been working on a two-week itinerary that includes visiting Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales, and Ireland. Nadia wants us to add in a day trip to Paris so that will likely happen. It will be the third continent for the kids! Paul and I have been to Paris and England, but we haven't been to Ireland, Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. I think everything we see in Paris will be a repeat for Paul and I, but only some of what we do in England will be a repeat for us. 

The last first day of homeschool for Nadia!

 This is my thirteenth year of homeschooling, and it's my last one in which I have three students. I've had a tradition of taking a picture of the kids at the start of each school year. Below you'll find a picture of Nadia from each of the past years of school. I also have the kids draw a self-portrait every year and write goals for the year. Last year we began the tradition of getting ice cream at Becky's after taking our first day of school pictures. We indented to continue that tradition yesterday, but it started raining a little before we had dinner. Oliver, Paul, and I were walking (in Oliver's case rollerblading) home when we got caught in the rain. Due to the rain last night, we took our annual pictures this evening and got our ice cream afterwards. In this post you'll also find the video I made about our trip to Hawaii (above), and Oliver's 13th birthday video (at the end of the post). I usually make 5-6 videos a year. I've made four so far this year, and I'm planning on making one in the near future that commemorates our trips to all fifty states and then one more in December for Ian's 16th birthday.

Our local school district went back to school last week. The Christian school at our church had their first day of school today. Due to just coming back from Hawaii, I didn't want to start at the same time as our school district although we've done that many times in the past. Many years we've had school on Labor Day, but I decided to ease us back into the school year by having two four-day school weeks the first two weeks of school. So, I decided we'd start on Tuesday this week and take Labor Day off next week. The first two days of school went fairly smoothly. Oliver was overwhelmed by the jump in difficulty from the elementary level science textbook which he used in 6th grade to the Physical Science textbook he's using this year. Yesterday I decided to return an audiobook I had purchased with a credit that we hadn't listened to yet with Audible and instead used the credit to get an audiobook of his textbook so that he could listen to it while he reads it simultaneously. I have to say he did a nice job in the science notebook yesterday and today. Math didn't go smoothly for Ian yesterday. I'm attempting to have him switch to Saxon. He did well with Beast Academy through 5th grade, and then he's been using Teaching Textbooks which I feel is too easy for him, and he thought AOP was too challenging last year when I attempted to have him use that for geometry. Hopefully it will work for him to use this Advanced Mathematics book by Saxon this year. Oliver is using Teaching Textbooks, and Nadia is taking College Algebra through ASU. I'll also do Life of Fred with all three kids, but we haven't started Life of Fred yet this year.

Nadia in August 2013 (Kindergarten)

Nadia at the start of first grade

2nd grade

3rd grade

4th grade

5th grade

7th grade

8th grade

9th grade

Home Sweet Home

Hawaii is a very beautiful place, but it's quite an ordeal getting there. It took us a little more time to get to Hawaii than it did for Paul and I to travel to China in 2006. We passed through twelve time zones on that trip, so the jet lag wasn't *as* brutal on this trip as it was *only* six time zones away. We are very thankful to be at home again, and as much as Milo loves the Seiberts, he's also very, very glad to be reunited with us. In light of all the traveling we did, I determined not to drive anywhere today except to take Nadia to work. She's planning to get her license next month, so my days of driving her to work will be coming to an end in the very near future.

Tonight, I'm grateful for:

1. The free coffee farm tour we were able to schedule at the last minute when something else fell through last Friday morning. 

2. For all the fish we were able to see when we snorkeled on Friday in Honaunau Bay and Kahalu'u Beach Park. 

3. Although we didn't get to see any monk seals, we saw many, many sea turtles on the trip - some in the water and some on land. 

4. We ate some VERY delicious island cream on Maui. Yum! We also were finally able to try shave ice once. We went all out and got the two possible additions - ice cream and a snow cap on top.

5. One of the kids' most favorite beaches from our trip was Napili Bay Beach on Maui. 

6. One of Paul's top three meals on the trip was the beef brisket sandwich he had at Mama's Ribs on Maui.

My view as I looked up from where I was lying down at the beach on Maui

7. The volcano on Maui was one of my top experiences from the trip. The views were breathtaking from 10,000 feet elevation. 

8. Everything went smoothly with our two flights from Maui to DC, and Joe picked us up from the airport.

9. We enjoyed having some time with the Towfighis. When we arrived before our flight to Hawaii, everyone was there except for Jenna and Joe. When we returned, everyone was there except for Andrew; so over the course of the two trips we saw all eleven members of their family plus my dad. 

10. Westyn mowed our lawn once and took out our recycling once while we were gone, Cooper gave Lily food and water and watered my plants, and the Seiberts took care of Milo. It takes a village to go on vacation, ha ha! I'm thankful for all their help. 

11. Nadia has been signed up to work in the kitchen at Camp Susque when they are hosting some retreats in September and October. She could have worked there over Labor Day weekend, but she had to decline that retreat because she's already scheduled to work at the kennel in the evening on August 31. I'm thankful that she has two jobs that she enjoys. Her favorite job is Camp Susque, but I think working with animals is better for her resume. 

12. I didn't get much sleep for three consecutive nights, but last night I got 9.5 hours of sleep! I almost never sleep in until 7:00 am, but I slept until about 7:45! Nadia and Ian didn't wake up until after 11:00 am, and Paul slept until 10:00 am. This is a result of jet lag. I think my body is making the six hour transition, for which I'm grateful. I felt *much* better today than I did yesterday. 

Silversword plant we admired at the top of Haleakala 

13. I had a request from another mom for her two girls to join our co-op. That will probably put us at 19 kids if I say yes. If we didn't meet in our home, I wouldn't have to think about it. My kids are very excited about co-op resuming in a little less than a month.

14. We all were healthy during our trip. Two of the Towfighis tested positive for strep throat while we were with them. We're hoping we didn't catch it from them.

15. We visited six National Park sites on this trip. As of August 18, we've been to 175 National Park sites, of which 30 of those were "National Parks." Nadia and Ian have each earned 231 Junior Ranger badges, and Oliver has earned 219 so far.

Farewell, Hawaii

On Monday morning we left our Airbnb and started our drive to the Haleakala National Park. On the way there we stopped at the Komoda Bakery in Makawao. We did a few small hikes, the kids earned Junior Ranger badges, and we enjoyed many amazing views as we drove to the summit (10,023 feet elevation). We were looking down at the clouds! The road was filled with many sharp turns. The kids and I felt like we were on an amusement park ride on the way down. The two volcanos (one on Hawaii and this one on Maui) were two of my favorite experiences from the trip. We weren't supposed to board our flight to San Diego until after 10:00 pm. We passed some of the time by watching sea turtles at three different beaches on the north shore (not too far from the airport). At this first beach there were 22 sea turtles on the beach, there were 3 at the second, and there were 17 at the third. At each beach we also saw sea turtles in the water, but it was impossible to count those. We also had pizza at the Flatbread Company. It was very tasty, but it was very expensive. Still, it was cheaper than ordering five entrees elsewhere. The pizzas were too small for one large to feed five people. Oliver and I didn't want to get just a cheese pizza. We chose Mopsy's Kalua Pork which included pork, a mango BBQ sauce, red onions, Maui pineapple, goat cheese, parmesan, and mozzarella. Paul only had the regular cheese pizza, but the rest of us had some of the pork one. 

We had a glitch with using our TSA Precheck because Alaska Airlines required us to book our tickets as three different reservations. Since Oliver was 12 when we flew here, he was able to go with us through TSA Precheck, but now that he's thirteen they wouldn't permit that. I don't plan to buy tickets through Alaska Airlines again. Our first flight took us from Maui to San Diego. We all slept a little bit on the flight. Thankfully, the food prices were more reasonable in this airport than they are in the Seattle airport. I bought five breakfast sandwiches at a Jack in the Box near our gate. When we shopped for groceries on Maui, I had purchased a cheese Danish for us to share and also some Club and Cheddar cracker sandwiches. This will constitute our "lunch" on the second flight to DC. We plan to spend the night at Yvonne's house and drive back to our home and Milo tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, it won't take us too long to adjust to the six-hour time change. We will stop hearing the words Aloha and Mahalo that we've heard so many times over the last two weeks! Thankfully, we were all healthy during our trip, and the weather was nice. We had almost no rain. The only time rain impacted our plans was part of the day that we were hiking at the Volcano National Park on Hawaii.  I'm thankful we have been able to visit all fifty states! As beautiful as Hawaii was, I feel the same as I did when we left Alaska. I loved our time there but don't anticipate Paul and I will ever return to either state. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tomorrow night and snuggling with Milo. Nadia's Astronomy class began yesterday through Liberty, and Ian's two classes through Cedarville begin tomorrow. Summer is almost done. It's been a good one!

Hawaiian goose "Nene" at the volcano

Maui

 

When planning the trip to Hawaii, I had to decide which islands we'd visit, and how many days we'd spend on each one. One of the reasons we are spending the shortest amount of time on Maui compared to the other two islands we visited is because it is definitely more expensive. If we had another day here, I would have included the famous Road to Hana in our itinerary. In the end I only included beaches and Haleakala National Park (another volcano). On Friday evening while we were at a beach on Hawaii, I got a message saying that the vehicle we were going to be renting through Turo wasn't available after all due to mechanical difficulties. When I had searched months ago, the prices through Turo were better than through a rental car agency. At the last minute, Priceline offered me a better price than Turo, but as I had used $269 in gift cards to rent the vehicle through Turo, I went with the worse deal and selected another vehicle through Turo. The lesson I have learned here is that it's better to take a statement credit than to redeem for gift cards the majority of the time. If I had booked the van through Priceline, I would have felt obligated to use Turo in Europe in May, and that would have meant we would need to fly into London. Using those gift cards means I can be more flexible in picking the best flight deal for our next trip as we might fly into Dublin or some other city instead. I could have saved money by picking a vehicle located 1 mile away from the airport, but I remembered how much we did not like walking with our luggage to and from the airport on Oahu. Our Turo pick-up and drop-off was much easier on Hawaii as it took place in the airport parking lot. So, I paid a little more so that we could do the same on Maui. Our flight to Maui was really, really short. Only a few minutes passed after we reached our cruising altitude before it was time to start the descent. We spent more time in the airplane on the tarmac than in the air as it took a while for us to be able to deplane in Maui.

Kona Sea Salt Farm

Our first stop was at the Island Cream Co. for ice cream. I had read they had the best ice cream in all of Hawaii. They have more than 150 different flavors, and they make 36 flavors each day. Their island cream is a cross between gelato and ice cream. It was not cheap, but it was very, very tasty. I tasted a sample of ube (a purple sweet potato that is popular in Hawaii). Ube was good, but I chose lilikoi and pineapple cream for my two scoops. If we were staying longer on Maui, I felt quite confident we would have visited Island Cream Co. more than once. Most of the time we saved money by buying ice cream at a grocery store on this vacation. Our second stop was Kahekili Beach. The beaches on Hawaii sometimes didn't have any sand. There are some beaches on Maui that are rocky (no sand), but the beaches we went to had sand, which the kids were happy to see. After swimming and snorkeling there, we got our dinner at Round Table Pizza. Usually, getting pizza is a way to save money on vacation, but that is not always true in Hawaii. We went to three different pizza places on this trip, and only one of them had a 16-inch pizza, and the cost of one pizza (even though it was much smaller) was FAR more than what we pay for a pizza in Pennsylvania. To compensate for the smaller size of the pizza, sometimes I purchased an order of garlic knots or breadsticks. Paul liked the first pizza place the best - Black Rock Pizza in Kona. After dinner, we spent some time at Black Rock Beach. Paul and I watched the cliff diving ceremony. Our last stop before we checked into our Airbnb was to get some groceries for breakfast and lunch. Our unit is on the 5th floor. We have two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Nadia is sleeping on the futon in the living room. There is an outdoor pool, but we didn't use it. This unit didn't include beach chairs, umbrellas, etc. like the Airbnb's on the other islands, but it did have a washer and dryer that we could use for free. It was nice to be able to do all our laundry so we can go back with clean clothes in our suitcases. I also appreciated the iron and ironing board so I could iron Nadia's dress before our family photo shoot.

On Sunday morning we walked to the beach that is five minutes from our Airbnb for photos. The last time we had a nice family photo shoot was in Myrtle Beach in 2019. The pictures this time aren't as good as the ones in 2019. First of all, Oliver seems to have lost the ability to smile. Secondly, Nadia and I accidentally ended up standing next to each other, which was not what I had in mind given the colors of our outfits, but there have been years that passed without us having taken even one single picture that included all five of us, so at least that is not the case this year. I have something to use for our Christmas card, ha ha! A couple from Canada who were on the beach, helped us by taking some of the photos. When we first arrived at the beach there was a rainbow over the water. It was SO beautiful, but my camera was acting up (scary!) and wouldn't work at first. Thankfully it started working again eventually, but the rainbow was gone by then. 

After our photo shoot, we got our bathing suits on and spent the day at the beach. Our first stop was Kapalua Beach. We spent about 90 minutes at that beach before walking to Napili Beach. If I had paid for all day parking instead of 3 hours of parking, I think we would have stayed there the rest of the day as the kids thought it was the best beach. We had trouble locating the other beach I had planned for us to try, so we ended up going to D.T. Fleming Beach which was a very good beach but not *quite* as good in the kids' opinion. Also, the parking at D.T. Fleming is much more expensive. If you go to Maui, we highly recommend the beach near the Napili Kai Beach Resort! When we were on Hawaii, we attempted to have shave ice, but the place I had chosen happened to be closed the day we went there (they had put a post-it note on the window saying they were closed that day). I had read so much about shave ice while planning this trip that I was determined that we wouldn't leave the state before we tried some. I found one only 1/2 mile from the D.T. Fleming Beach. This was even more expensive than our island cream treat. Gasp! But we had to try it once. We each tried different flavors of shave ice. Oliver had guava, passion fruit, and mango in his. The kids all picked vanilla for the ice cream portion of the treat. I picked haupia as I wanted to try something new. It definitely was better than a snow cone, but if I'm spending that much money, I'd rather have ice cream or a smoothie. I'm glad we tried it once though. It's challenging to find a place to eat on Maui that doesn't cost a fortune. At the Burger Shack on the beach this afternoon I saw that a burger cost $32! Yikes! We paid a lot less than that for our meals that we got at Mama's Ribs and Rotisserie.

Tomorrow, we plan to visit the Haleakala Volcano and some beaches that are closer to the airport before we begin our flight back home. Red eye flights are not exactly my favorite, and I'm also not keen on adjusting to a six-hour time difference, but I'm very, very grateful we could have this once in a lifetime trip to Hawaii. Nadia, Paul, and Ian said their favorite island of the three we visited was Hawaii (Big Island). Oliver said he liked them all equally. If we were to go on another beach vacation, we'd probably go to the Caribbean, but I'm so glad we were able to visit our 50th state! Nadia's astronomy class through Liberty University begins tomorrow, and Ian's two classes through Cedarville begin on Wednesday. Summer is quickly drawing to a close. 

The island in the background is Molokai

Coffee and more

When planning a vacation there are umpteen decisions to make regarding where to spend the night, what to see and do, where to eat, and where to get a vehicle. Some activities that I originally thought to include in this trip were eliminated due to the fact that we haven't made any money this year. These included going to a luau, going on a snorkeling trip near the Captain Cook memorial, and visiting the pineapple farm on Maui. One tour I had booked (abalone farm tour) was cancelled due to the company going out of business, and another was impossible (octopus farm) because they are temporarily closed due to moving to a new location. At one point I considered a beekeeping tour on this island, but I eliminated that because that's something we can do on the mainland. I wanted to stick to tours that are unique to this climate. Oliver wishes I had included a tea farm (on the Hilo side as there wouldn't be enough rain on this side to grow tea), and Nadia wishes I had included a macadamia nut farm tour (which surprised me because she and Ian don't eat tree nuts). I definitely could have included the macadamia nut farm tour, and that is something strongly associated with this island. The farm tours I selected were coffee, chocolate, vanilla, sea horse, and sea salt. The sea horse farm was the most expensive, and the coffee farm was the cheapest to visit.

Nadia wanted to shop at a t-shirt store near our hotel, but when we went there after dinner one evening, they were closed. She and I ventured out for a coffee/shopping trip yesterday morning around 9:00 am. I bought myself one t-shirt. She bought herself one t-shirt and one sweatshirt. I bought her a Kona coffee latte. Then the five of us left the hotel and began to drive south of Kona. I had planned for us to visit the Kona Coffee Living History Farm, but when we arrived there yesterday, we found out that they were closed due to August 15 being the holiday when they celebrate the fact that Hawaii was admitted to the Union (August 21, 1959). Thankfully, Greenwell Farms was less than 2 miles away, and they give free tours and free samples. When we pay for a tour of a farm, I don't tip the tour guide, but I did tip that tour guide since the tour was free. The tour was excellent. It mostly focused on coffee, but she did tell us a little about other things growing on the farm (mangos, white pineapple, lychee, apple bananas, vanilla, cacao, etc.). We were able to eat some lychee fruit. Yum! This family has been farming coffee for 173 years at this location. At a grocery store in Maui the next day, I bought a few apple bananas. When I'm buying a regular banana, I like to buy them when they are still partially green. The tour guide had said that apple bananas are much firmer, and that you need to buy ones that are yellow with some brown spots. She was correct! I love the apple bananas!!

Our second stop was at the oldest restaurant on the island. The Manago hotel and restaurant have been in operation since 1917. Our third stop was *supposed* to be St. Benedict Church (aka the "Painted Church"), but when we arrived, we found out it's closed for a few weeks due to construction. So, our third stop was actually Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. The kids each earned a junior ranger badge. The kids also snorkeled in Honaunau Bay (aka "two step") which is right beside the NPS site. On our way back toward Kona we also snorkeled at Kahalu'u Beach Park. It was a beach without any sand, but there were SO many different fish to be seen in the water if you snorkeled. We had dinner in Kona right along the harbor. Although it was still inexpensive by Hawaii standards, it was definitely our most expensive meal on the trip so far. We had a beautiful view, but the food wasn't anything to write home about, especially considering how much we paid. Some days the kids went to the swimming pool at our hotel after dinner, and other nights they used the gym. Last night they chose the gym. 

Coffee cherries (picked when they are dark red) - with coffee bean inside

This morning, we had our final breakfast the Holiday Inn. In general, the breakfast was very similar to what is served at Holiday Inns on the mainland, but there were some differences. The first couple of mornings they served sausage as the meat option. At most Holiday Inns, they usually serve either bacon or sausage. At this Holiday Inn, they served fried chicken as the meat option one morning, spam the next morning, and I couldn't tell what the meat was this morning. After breakfast, we checked out, loaded up the van, and drove to the Kona Sea Salt Farm which is located very close to the airport. We had a guided tour which ended with a tasting session. They gave us cucumbers, tomatoes, and pineapples to use to taste a variety of types of sea salt. Although I enjoy all three of those foods, I found the only one I liked with salt was the tomato. The farm is located right along the harbor, and the tour guide said monk seals can be seen along the trail. Paul, Nadia, and I walked along the trail after the tour, but alas we didn't see any monk seals on the island all week despite the fact we saw many signs mentioning their presence at various beaches. The farm was located very close to the Kona airport, but we had to drive back to Kona for a car wash and to vacuum out the vehicle we rented through Turo before we dropped it off at the airport. We were flying from Kona to Maui. More about that tomorrow! Although we saw license plates from other states on Oahu, every single license plate I saw on Hawaii was from Hawaii. Paul appreciated that the traffic was much less stressful on Hawaii than it was on Oahu. Parking could still be problematic at times, but we were grateful every time we found a parking spot at the beach or whatever place we were visiting. 

Thankful Thursday

1. We really appreciate that we can spend the night at Yvonne's house before and after our trip. It means we get to spend time with their family, and because they provide us a ride to and from the airport in our vehicle, we avoid paying to park our vehicle at the airport for two weeks.

2. We've been able to visit all fifty states! Paul and I have talked about coming to Hawaii for 25 years, and it finally happened. Paul's mom really wanted to come here also, and his parents bought a time share in 2019 so that the seven of us could go to Hawaii, but her health (plus COVID) made that impossible. I know being with the Lord is much better than being in Hawaii, but still it's a bit bittersweet knowing she never made it here. 

3. Paul and I have been married for 24 years!

4. I'm very thankful for the thirteen years of life Oliver has had so far. Praying the next year will be filled with growth and many blessings for him.

5. We've had some amazing experiences here in Hawaii such as swimming with dolphins, parasailing over Diamond Head, surfing lessons, hiking on a volcano, swimming at beautiful beaches, holding a sea horse, etc. 

6. Yesterday when we stopped for malasadas, the man who was ordering ahead of us only wanted to purchase one, and the minimum you could buy was three. He gave us two and wouldn't accept any money from me. 

7. Yesterday we visited a National Park site where we learned more about Hawaiian culture and history. It was our 179th National Park site that we've visited (29 of those were "National Parks"). The kids have each earned four Junior Ranger badges so far on this trip. If all goes as planned, they will earn one more tomorrow and another on Maui next week. 

Oliver tried so hard to catch this gecko!

8. Today we saw many sea turtles at a National Park site that is 1,500 years older than the one we visited yesterday. It was our 173rd National Park site that we've visited (29 of those were "National Parks"). We also swam at Alula beach which is very close to the National Park. When we first arrived, there were other people there, but after they left, we had the beach to ourselves. As we were exiting, another family was walking toward the beach. The "path" to get to the beach involved walking over a lot of rocks! Ian had a bad encounter with a sea urchin shortly after we arrived, but thankfully we otherwise had a lovely time. The waves were almost non-existent, but the water was so clear that you didn't even need to wear a mask and snorkel to see many beautiful fish. Not counting the sea creatures, the animals that have caught our attention the most have been mongooses (SO many of them), chickens (ALL over the place), geckos, and cattle egrets. 

9. This morning, we had a wonderful tour of a vanilla farm. It was very informative - even more so than the chocolate farm tour. At the end of the tour we ate some delicious homemade vanilla ice cream. 

10. This evening, we had an amazing experience with manta rays. It was our second biggest "splurge" of the vacation in terms of cost (followed by swimming with dolphins last week). We had a very short (less than 5 minute) boat ride. There was one other family who was on the boat with us. The ten of us held on to a board that had lights underneath which attract plankton which then attract the manta rays. They are each between 12-23 feet across in length! As soon as we got into the water, one manta ray was already there. We had four females swimming up toward us and diving back down and then coming up again at the start of our time in the water. Then we had a break without any manta rays coming close. Sometimes we could see them swimming under us, but they weren't coming up to the board. When they came up, some would actually bump into us. After the break we saw two males, one of which came up really close to us. Ian used an underwater camera my sister gave me a few years ago to take some videos of this. It was a once in a lifetime experience to be so close to such majestic creatures! 

11. Yesterday when we stopped for malasadas, there were two other stands set up by the food truck. I bought us a fresh pineapple. It was SO delicious! We had to pay $5 extra to have it cut up, but since we're staying in a hotel right now, we don't have access to a big knife or cutting board. The kids and I consumed it in one afternoon.

Kona

Monday was our 24th wedding anniversary. Our first vacation together was our honeymoon in St. Lucia, and exactly 24 years later we are on another island together. After buying some more bread and fruit at a grocery store and getting breakfast from McDonald's for Paul, Nadia, and Ian, we drove to the Lavaloha Chocolate Farm in Hilo (just a few miles from our Airbnb). We had a guided tour that went from the cacao trees all the way to tasting the final product. We tasted the inside of the cacao pod. The pulp tasted better than the beans, although the beans are very good for you. During the tasting portion of rhe tour we tasted dark chocolate (70% cacao), dark chocolate with salt, dark chocolate with orange (my second favorite), milk chocolate (50% cacao) which was my favorite, milk chocolate with salt, and white chocolate with nibs in it. Oliver splurged at the end and bought a bar of their white chocolate. Hilo receives more rain than any other city in the United States.

Next we drove along the Pepe'ekeo scenic drive which features rain forest, waterfalls, and coastal views. It was gorgeous, and part way along the drive we stopped at the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden. It quickly became my most favorite botanical garden that I've ever visited. There were so, so many beautiful flowers. I took so many pictures! We also enjoyed watching some crabs along the shore. We also stopped at a state park which featured two waterfalls - Akaka and Kahuna (Akaka was definitely the prettier of the two). After this hike, we stopped at Tex Drive-In for malasadas. I had chosen one place for us to try shave ice and four places (between the three islands) for us to have malasadas. This was our second time to have them. At this stop Oliver and I chose mango, Nadia chose Bavarian cream, and Ian chose strawberry.  Our last scenic stop was at the Waipio Valley Lookout. We ended our day by driving to Kona, which is on the dry side of the island. We checked into the Holiday Inn, ate pizza and breadsticks at Black Rock Pizza, bought groceries and socks at Walmart, and swam in the pool (or sat in the jacuzzi) at our hotel. We have to pay $15/ day for parking at this hotel, but considering we paid $36 total to stay here for five nights and that includes free breakfast every day, spending $111 total for five nights is a good deal. 

On Tuesday our first stop was a Sea Horse Farm. We had a guided tour, and we each got to hold a sea horse, which was very special. The babies (fry) are SO small! We fed them some brine shrimp. We also saw leafy sea dragons while we were there. We then spent about five hours at Manini'owali Beach in Kua Bay. Both of the Airbnb's we stayed at provided us with beach chairs, umbrellas, fins, snorkels, etc. We brought snorkels from home, but while we're staying at a Holiday Inn we won't have access to the other beach gear. Paul and the kids encountered two sea turtles very close to where they were swimming at the beach yesterday. All of us saw some spinner dolphins from a distance. On our way back we stopped at Patricio's Mexican Taqueria for dinner. Since it was Tuesday, the tacos were $4 each. Oliver had a shrimp taco, and Ian had a ground beef one. I had a cheese enchilada (also $4), and Nadia had a quesadilla. We also got an order of nachos to share. The food was very tasty, and for Hawaii had very affordable prices. After we parked the van at our hotel, we walked along the shops closer to the shore. Oliver had a smoothie, and Nadia had a Kona coffee milkshake.

On our flight from Seattle to Honolulu, some of us had a can of a Pass-O-Guava drink. Since then we've purchased cans from various places (grocery stores, gift shops, etc.). Some cans have been under a dollar, and all have been under $2 each. Paul likes their iced tea. The kids and I have tried a variety of flavors such as Lilikoi Passion, Guava Nectar, Passion Orange, etc. We were pleasantly surprised that at the Holiday Inn breakfast on Tuesday morning one of the choices was Pass-O-Guava! I stopped drinking juice at breakfast about 30 years ago, but I made an exception yesterday for Pass-O-Guava.

On this vacation we've encountered a higher percentage of international travelers than we typically do. We've heard many different languages being spoken around us. The other family that joined us on our tour of the chocolate farm was from the UK (same language, different accent). In particular, it seems that there are many people from Japan here on vacation.