Crabby Patties and Sun burn

Oy! My brain is fried. Where do I begin? The last few days have been jam packed with so much family togetherness and as Po the Panda would say, "Awesomeness"! I believe my last blog ended with the luau so I will try to sum up these last few days best I can....here go's.

Wednesday February 19th: Huggo's On The Rocks, one of our all time favorite places to eat in Kona. Outdoors, the tide crashing just a few feet away, live band and just overall cool place.
They always have a hula dancer perform and it is so beautiful to watch. You can pretty much always count on them singing "What a Wonderful World" by IZ the Hawaiian who you have probably heard sing it before. Here are a few pictures from that night...

(isn't he cute?)

Friday February 21st: Our favorite fruit stand and the City of Refuge.
We mistakenly found this fruit stand on our last trip and searched for it again on this trip. So we drove and drove and we thought we must have missed the turn off...was there a turn off? We could not remember! I was getting pretty desperate for a bathroom and we had to stop somewhere, anywhere I did not care, lady's if you know what I mean...Jo, I know you know what I mean! The first place we could find was none other that "The Bong Brothers" .....ya I know, funny right? I did not even care any more, I HAD TO GO! So we bought what looked like a tasty granola bar for letting me use their loo but it was more like tree bark or recycled card board. We drove some more found the city of refuge and went from there to find the fruit stand because that was the only way we could remember how to get there. We finally found it and bless this lady she remembered us from last time!

Her name is Beth and she is as sweet as pie. Korban adored her as well, can you tell?

After we loaded up on unusual fruits and tasty snacks, we made our way down to the city of refuge. It served a purpose much like the city of refuge in the Bible and it was a place for women to stay with the children during times of war as well as those who were injured during war. My wonderful husband even carried the stroller out onto the lava rock so we could walk out to the tide pools and see all of the cool little creatures and let Korban play in the water. The litte man was pretty crabby, hence the name crabby patty, but that was easily solved by dipping his toes into the water and letting him play. By the end of the day we had a bit of a sun burn too:(

Saturday February 22: Green sands Beach. It really is green! Grandpa Joel, Josh, Korban and I decided to take this little I mean big adventure. When we were told that we would need 4 wheel drive, we did not realize just how much we would use it. First we drove down a long and very bumpy paved road which again my ever week bladder (thank you Korban:) cold not handle...Lets just say guys have it soooo easy when it comes to going potty in the outdoors. Not only that but wind direction is an important factor, figure that one out. After the bumpy road was the off road or as I like to call it "What road?" It was actually pretty fun and we did eventually make it to the beach after parking and then hiking down to our oh so windy and green destination. Apparently the sand is green because of a mineral that was created from the old lava flow that happened there long ago. This is by the way the southern most point of the United states!

Sunday February 23rd: Saddle road and Hilo. Never would I have thought that I could stand in one place and see snow on a mountain, rolling plains of yellow flowers, old lava flow deserts and the ocean. After an awesome church service Josh, Korban and I headed out for a road trip to Hilo (the other side of the island), but not without having a delicious breakfast first from Chef Joel. It was , my first time having fried spam and ya know what.....I liked it! You can say eeew all you want but it was perty darn good:)
So we took Saddle road to make the trip to Hilo a little shorter. I am so glad we did because it was just so pretty. We even had a little too much fun going fast over the woopty doo's as I like to call the dips in the road that leave you with a funny feeling in your stomach. Korban slept most of the time but not without first entertaining us with what looked like an Italian opera singer with dramatic hand movements...

So the drive was beautiful, like I said there were lots of yellow flowers...



Two hours later we ended up in Hilo and stayed at this pretty little place for a night....
The Inn At Kulaniapia Falls (Good luck saying that one)

The waterfall was so beautiful just to look at and listen to at night. Ever since I talked Josh into trying a B&B he has loved them ever since. You get to meet people from all sorts of places in a very casual setting and have a homemade breakfast together in the morning. It was like going to visit family that you did not know you had! I also loved how we had to leave our shoes at the door before entering our rooms.

The Waterfall was accessible but not with a baby. The water was too cold this time of year to swim in anyway But what an awesome thing to see! During our yummy breakfast of Coffee, waffles, papaya, pineapple, mango, toast and eggs, we heard a loud bang like a gun shot! The young college girl who was preparing our food ran out of the kitchen and said, "Don't worry! They just shot a pig!" Apparently the wild boars are quite the pests around these parts and when the opportunity arises one gets, well, shot...which makes me wonder, if we stayed one more night, would we have had bacon the next morning?

Monday February 23rd: Laupahoehoe Harbor. Many lives have been lost here in the past due to giant waves. We were at this same spot last year and the weather was very stormy and rainy. On this day the weather was very nice and yet the waves were still crashing super hard against the rocks. It really makes you appreciate the power of God's creation.




Tuesday February 24th: Our last trip to the beach. We had one more day to bask in the sun and enjoy the water and sand before heading back to reality. It was the most perfect beach for a family. The lava rock created this little cove of calm water for swimming and snorkeling. Off in the distance Josh caught a glimpse of the Humpback whales that migrated south for mating season. There was a mother and her calf swimming not too far off in the distance from where we were. Unfortunately my little peepers don't see very far but Josh has eagle eyes that can see past the horizon! It was an awesome last day in Hawaii to remember. We let Korban play in the sand to his little hearts content. He played literally to the point of exhaustion and fell asleep in my arms before we even made it to the car. That night we had one last dinner with Grandma and Grandpa Steinberg and had to say our good buys in the morning....but we know we will return someday. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and stories! Aloha and good night!
P.S. Thank you Thank you thank you to Joel and Tiana for everything. We love you guys!


(This is always comforting to see)

Cabana Boy 2: Going to a Luau

Though it was last Tuesday, I will still write about the wonderful Luau. I had always wanted to go to one and it just seemed silly to go to Hawaii without going to a Luau. Josh and I were talking before we left for our trip, about places and things we wanted to see, a luau was one of them. Well Grandma Tu tu was blessed with 4 free tickets to a luau from her friend who happens to perform in the luau's! It was everything and more that we hoped it would be. Girls in hula skirts and head dresses, fabulous food, amazing fire dance and awesome music. The hospitality was wonderful as well...gotta love the Aloha spirit! The whole presentation was about each of the Hawaiian islands and the different people who journeyed there hundreds of years ago. There was such a variety of food to choose from as well, each banquet table having something different from the various islands. Every little detail was perfect, even the center pieces with yummy little munchies...

We managed to get a picture of all three of us despite the crazy wind....
The dancing....How do they move like that?! I mean it just looks physically impossible! I truly admire these lady's for their grass shaking abilities.
The last picture is Tu tu's friend holding Korban. Doesn't he look smitten with her? He couldn't stop looking at her with this look of adoration.
We had such a great time and would definitely do it again when we come back next time.

Cabana Boy

Korban is turning out to be quite the little island boy. He seems a little fussy throughout the day while we are at home but as soon as we go out to adventure he is ready to go! Tu tu, as we are trying to teach Korban to call grandma Tiana, took care of the little man on Valentine's day so Josh and I could go to dinner. We knew Kona would be busy and it would probably be difficult to get into a restaurant but we went for it anyway. We ended up eating at Bubba Gumps. Yep the Bubba Gump is from Forest Gump the movie and let me tell you they had all kinds of shrimp, popcorn shrimp, coconut shrimp, shrimp cocktail...like Bubba, I could go on and on! All in all it was a lot of fun and tasty too. Thank you Tu Tu for flexing your grandma babysitting powers!

We spent a day just walking around Kona and being touristy. I love farmers markets and they have great ones here. I don't know what it is about them but even if you don't buy anything they just make you feel like you are on an adventure in a new land. My talented husband spotted some ukuleles and just could not resist strumming a few chords. It was only a matter of time and he was playing "You Are My Sunshine"...that one goes out to you Rylee!

We had so much fun just cruising around with our little family. To top off the day we devoured a delicious snow cone that had tasty ice cream in the center. Whoever invented that is a culinary genius! Korban was not too sure if he liked the shaved ice as much as he did the ice cream.
(PS: This was a MEDIUM Sno-cone!)

On Monday we visited The Hilton in Waikoloa Village and "pretended" to be hotel guests....tee hee:)...They don't care as long as you spend your money there. We went to this place the last time we were in Hawaii and had a blast. So we wanted our little man to see it too. I wish he was old enough to remember it all:( They have this really cute children's pool with lots of sand and giant turtle statues but the bummer was that the water was really cold! Korban was not diggin it and neither were we so we ventured down to the pool that was fed by the ocean. Much warmer and much happier. Korban loved swimming with Dad and splashing in the water.

Thank you Lord for another perfect day...

Aloha Baby!

Yes yes it is true...we are in Hawaii, Kona to be exact. I did not even imagine that we would be back so soon! Josh has been looking forward to this trip for a while now so Korban could meet his Grandpa Joel and Grandma Tiana or as grandma in Hawaiian would be, Tu tu (not sure if that is how you spell it)! I was a little leery about coming at first mostly because I was not sure how Korban would be on the plane now that he is more active and would I really get to soak up the vacation part of it while still tending to a little one. But we could not be having more fun and definitely relaxing. It has only been two days but it has been nice not to have an agenda or anywhere particular to be at any time.



Korban did pretty good on the plane as well with not a single melt down...Praise the Lord! He was ever so happy to sit and play with a bag of un-opened potato chips until I think they turned into mashed potato's. When we arrived in Honolulu we were booked to catch a our connecting flight to Hawaii as soon as we landed, 30 minutes in between to be exact, but our flight landed late and so we did not make it in time for our next flight:( So after Josh had a lengthy conversation with a very "flamboyant" ticket clerk who walked with attitude....and I mean attitude...and I think he was wearing Mascara... and we stood around waiting in a little room that felt like an oven, we ended up waiting 4 and half extra hours in another terminal. Thankfully the other terminal had air conditioning and nicer ticket clerks! So we had to kill some time. Korban and Josh read the paper together while waiting.

Today we had our first day at the beach. And as any mom would I had the camera ready for every precious moment. Korban was not too sure about the water...


Or the way the sand felt between his toes...


Or what this weird stuff was stuck to his hands....

But overall he was smiling and having fun without getting too much sand in his mouth.

Well family, I will do my best to post some more while I am here. Due to the time difference Korban has been taking longer naps here which has allowed me more than enough time to check my e-mails, blog, and read, something that I usually rush through or just skip all together when I am at home. So until another day....ALOHA!