30 degrees to 90 degrees and back again

There's nothing like visiting Hawaii in the winter time when it really begins to get freezing cold here and you step off the plane in Hawaii and feel that tropical air, no parkas, boots, mittens, gloves . . . it's the most wonderful feeling.



That's what we experienced this last week when my sister, Kim and I traveled to the Big Island with our girls. We were so grateful for each one of them that could make the trip. With these busy girls, jobs, college, LIFE, it's just so hard to get them together anymore - and it's their favorite thing in the world to spend time with each other!





We feel kinda spoiled because we used mom and dad's time share week for our accomodations and it was gorgeous, flew standby on dad's Delta passes (which we were all lucky enough to be placed in first class because apparently no one else is traveling right now - a wonderful opportunity!) so who could pass up Hawaii in December?

Probably, my very favorite activities were visiting Hapuna beach - the waves there were fantastic and the kids had a blast playing in them. It's up north on the Kona Kahala coast. About a 30 minutes drive from our condo. Also, kayaking to the Captain Cook monument in Kealakekua bay and snorkeling there. The snorkeling at the monument is some of the best and my favorite snorkeling to be found anywhere in the world.



The most beautiful Kona Hawaii Temple - we attended church on Sunday at a little LDS chapel located right next to the temple. It was so beautiful! I love fast and testimony meeting in Hawaii. You can always feel the spirit so strong. I love how each members gets up and greets everyone with an "Aloha".



It was pretty sad to come home to a blizzard, snowy roads and freezing temps in Salt Lake City again. Made me want to get back on the plane!


Kayaking Adventure Story -

We actually had quite an adventure on our kayaking trip. We had beautiful weather our whole trip except the day we kayaked. We started out early in the morning, that's when snorkeling is the best, and the weather was fine. It's about a one mile kayak trip across the bay from where you put in the kayaks to the monument and the snorkeling location. While we were at the Cook monument the wind picked up and the rain clouds began to roll in. In my experience, rain on the islands is not uncommon, it usually comes frequently and goes as fast as it comes. So we weren't too concerned. As the clouds began to get blacker and blacker and the wind was picking up we thought we better head back across the bay and get the kayaks out of the water.




Just as we started paddling back, the rain began to pour down in buckets. We almost turned back to wait out the storm in the shelter of some trees, but three of the girls had gone ahead of us in a three person kayak and we were having trouble seeing them since the swells were now about 15 feet high. So we thought we better try to keep up with them and be sure they were okay. It was pretty trecherous crossing the bay, wind blowing, rain pouring, riding the swells up and down and up and down. But we all made it back safe and sound. The girls thought it was the coolest thing ever. Good for them! Grandma and Grandpa were waiting on the other side to take our pictures in the pouring rain when we arrived. Good thing we didn't turn back to wait . . . in an very uncommon occurence, the rain continued to pour down for the whole rest of the day. Most of the islanders we talked to said they had never seen it rain like that EVER on that part of the island. There was reports on the news that night of flooding on Oahu, and in Hilo. Roads were closed and washed out everywhere. We'd still be sitting under that tree in the pouring rain probably if we'd waited!