Our Great & Dreadful Trip to the Big Island

Everyone here does it. Everyone here says "you just have to do it." Well, I'm afraid after this trip I kind of disagree. Yes, I'm glad we got a chance to see both Hilo & Kona sides of the big island, but now I'm glad to be back on Oahu & am perfectly content to enjoy our own slice of paradise (complete with our own comfy beds & Target down the street & gorgeous beaches in everywhere). Here we are on the plane going over (it was definitely my shortest plane ride to date). Look how happy & healthy we look. That didn't last too long...

My quintessential "big sister" with her favorite person in the whole world. Has to make sure her little buddy gets a good view!

We started off on Kona side staying at the nicest, most humongous resort I've ever seen: the Hilton Waikoloa Village. It was endless & gorgeous & I could've spent the whole week there.

We hit the little lagoon outside our room straight away.

I thought I'd be the one snoring, but it seemed like poor Adam had a lot of sleep he needed to catch up on. He definitely deserved a vacation from how hard he works as commander.

The kids lived it up at first.

Enjoying all the little things.

Our room had a view of one of the pool/spa areas as well as the ocean & the dolphin reserve. It was great.

To get around the resort they had boats & a tram/train. It was lots of fun.

Most of these shots were taken with my crappy iphone; but it was seriously gorgeous everywhere you turned.

On the train checking out some of the views.

It seemed endless. Just what you picture when you think of a Hawaiian paradise.

There were so many different pools that I lost count; we indulged in most of them, which was probably where we went wrong.

Here's Kennedy right before she started to get really sick. The slide behind her is what I consider the most guilty culprit. She went down it probably 30 or 40 times. She couldn't get enough.

We were able to do some kayaking before the worst hit though. They had paddle-boarding & all kinds of cool activities.

Cool bridges to go under & lagoons to go in & discover...I really was so impressed with this place.

Schaf kept busy cleaning the stairs while Dad & Kennedy were kayaking.

Even chubby prego Mom had a chance to try it out.

This waterfall had TONS of sea turtles swimming around it. I had to be careful not to touch them while trying to paddle. I loved it.

They even had parrots hanging out in the lobby. This one said "aloha" and "hello" while raising it's claw to wave! Kennedy got to have one hang out on her shoulder & arm, but they wanted me to pay a million bucks for a picture of it, ha ha.

Here she is trying to enjoy the dolphin show (at this point we just think she's just being kinda bratty cause she's tired...poor thing!).

It was pretty cool. And again if you had millions of dollars you could get in with them & "kiss a dolphin;" am I the only person in the world who does NOT want to kiss a dolphin? Ew.

For the second half of our vacation we drove over to Hilo side to visit the KMC & see the cool volcano stuff. On the way we stopped by Akaka Falls to check it out.

At 420 feet high, it's the largest waterfall on the island.

Not much of a hike, but the kids were tired, especially poor Kennedy. It was obvious to us that she wasn't well at this point.

Obvious to Schaffer too, who looks like he misses his "fun sister" and wants her to feel better in this picture. They're really sweet siblings.

Like I said, not much of a hike, but I still managed to slip & scrape myself up a bit anyway. What a klutz. I think I scared some other tourists when they saw a huge pregnant woman trip & fall, ha ha!

Adam's favorite part was the cabin at KMC...totally his thing. I liked that it was right in front of a playground for the kids to enjoy.

We all had to bundle up in sweaters since it was around 65 degrees there...ha ha, freezing for an islander! Again, Adam loved it.

Even Kennedy got some energy & had a bit of fun for a little while.

I'm afraid I didn't get many pics of the steam vents or the mouth of the volcano (it was so cool how it glowed at night), because this is when Kennedy really took a turn for the worse. Poor girl's temperature was crazy & she couldn't keep anything down. Dad was happy to start a real wood fire in the fireplace in our cabin (all that guy wants to do is live in Alaska & chop firewood for a fireplace in "our Alaskan home!")

He also enjoyed being able to take a long, genuine "road trip." Road trips are overrated if you ask me. I couldn't complain about the view of the island as we drove around it though.

Kennedy, as sick as she was, most wanted to see the "black sand beaches" that she'd heard about from her friends here in Hawaii. We took a super-quick trip to check one out.

My poor girl. Just not herself.

Still being so great with her brother, even when she's sicky. She seriously is too good to be true.

There was a cool little lagoon with some ducks so Schaffer was in heaven.

This is pretty much how we left the island; carrying our poor sick daughter. We moved our flight up to get her back home to a doctor.

As soon as we flew in I went with her to the E.R. She looked so awful; I don't think this picture shows how bad she looked.

She had to get an I.V.; not a favorite moment for any of us.

So this is how our trip to the big island ended. Perhaps it isn't fair to ask me how I liked visiting because I'm a little biased. There's no place like home when you or your babies are sick. And I love our home...well, mainly it's the wonderful people who live there, but life is good. We are happy to report that she's back to her old sweet healthy self & swimming in her second swim race of the season today!