Big Island Adventure -- Part 1

Yesterday (Sat.) was Caroline's worst day since we moved to Maui 10 months ago. She screamed all day except for 2 hrs. after her first dose of hydrocodone and 1/2 hr. after her second dose of hydrocodone. When the hydrocodone doesn't even work, (it's supposed to last for 4 hrs.) it is a sad sad day. I even tried two enemas which sometimes work. Rob was gone all day, so I was very glad to have our aid here to help with Caroline. Were it not for her help, I would likely be in the insane asylum today. As it is, I am home from church with Caroline. Thankfully, she is not screaming, but she is still not happy. Maybe it is because we are slowly weaning her off of her growth therapy hormones. Whatever the reason, I have some time to work on this neglected blog.

The last week in June, we had our family vacation -- a trip to the Big Island of Hawaii. Our plane tickets, 5-star hotel









and cars for the first two days were funded by Edward Jones. There is a summer conference every year on one of the islands which is all-expense-paid for the entire family the first year. It was a great perk for us, but I'll bet this is the most EJ has ever had to pay to get an entire family to a summer conference!

We flew to Kona on Friday morning and participated in the EJ conference through Sun. morning. They gave us three rooms for two nights which was really nice because we usually squash all ten of us into two rooms. We didn't have to try as hard to keep things quiet for Caroline since she didn't have to share a room with noisy little girls. Caroline had a couple of bad-ish days (which means she had to have hydrocodone a few times), but over all, she did really well.

The hotel had a great pool/jacuzzi for me and the little girls. The older kids spent a little time in the pool, but the best part for them was the beautiful white sand beach, one of the nicest in all of Hawaii. Most of the beaches on the Big Island are awful -- no sand just black volcanic rock. Of course, the five-star hotel got the prime beach.

It wasn't the white sand that the kids loved, however. It was the monstrous waves. Part of the time, the waves were so big that I wouldn't even let them go without Rob. And even Rob was getting tossed around like a rag doll. The girls are timid and therefore cautious, but I don't think the boys realize how dangerous the ocean can really be, especially Jairin. Sometimes I'm glad we don't live nearer to the beach because I sometimes fear for their lives. But they live for 12 ft. waves. I guess they need to learn to surf.

Rob was in meetings during the days, so the kids and I played, watched TV and swam. The highlight of the conference for us was the mock American Idol talent show the first night we were there. Rob performed twice--first in a group number spoof on Gladys Knight and the Pips (Gladys White and the Pips). They did "Midnight Train to Georgia" and it was a huge hit. Rob also sang the country solo "Keeper of the Stars." You can see him here decked out as one of the "pips" in a hat with a green band, green sunglasses, a fur-lined green cape, a green sash and all sorts of bangles and silver necklaces.

He was a background dancer/singer, and he by far had the most rhythm and moves. His second number stole the show. He was by far the best -- and I'm not being prejudiced :-)! He was the only one to receive a standing ovation. And all the other EJ people talked about his singing for the rest of the conference. Too bad there was no contract-signing afterwards. I guess he'll just have to keep pounding on doors trying to find clients. Maybe if he sings to them..........?

Since we were already on the Big Island, we made this trip our annual family vacation by extending our stay for five more days so that we could see the island. So, after the conference ended, we traded in our two cars for a 12-passenger van and set off to see the island. We drove south from Kona around the bottom of the island and up the other side. The Kona area was beautiful and lush green with mangoes and palms everywhere. Our first stop was Pu'uhonua o Honaunau (place of refuge), an ancient Hawaiian village to which criminals seeking asylum fled. We took pictures by the many hand-carved tiki statues which were looking out to sea. Rob thinks he remembers visiting this place as a child.

Next we continued on to the very tip of the island which is actually the southern-most point in the United States.

Nearby (by this I mean a few minutes/miles) was a green sand beach, one of the only green sand beaches in the world.

The sand is green due to the gemstone peridot which is ground together with the volcanic rock. I have always wanted to see this beach and my desires must have rubbed off onto the children because they begged to stop and see it. Now the catch is that you cannot drive all the way to the beach in a normal vehicle. We got as close as we could and then consulted our guides which gave varying opinions as to how far we would have to walk to see it. We decided it was probably a couple of miles, but the children (except for Kamri who is not the adventurous type) really wanted to see it. Rob didn't think it was a good idea because it was already late afternoon, and we still had quite a drive ahead of us. But the arguments of "this may be our only chance," and "we'll probably never be here again" finally won him over. When he said, "Go ahead," Adam, Jairin and Miri took off as fast as they could before he could change his mind and before we could work out the details. We didn't have time to make a plan before the three kids had disappeared into the distance. Now it was necessary that one of us go with them, so I took the three little girls, who didn't want to be left behind, and started after the older kids. Rob was going to stay with Caroline and Kamri. We had to go very slowly, however, because I was 8 months pregnant and the little girls, especially Lana, couldn't go very fast. I had to carry her much of the way which slowed me down even more.

Now I will say here that this is one of the dumbest things we've ever done. We were in dresses, and sandals/crocs; we had no water and no idea how far we were going to have to walk. But we couldn't just let the older kids go by themselves. About a mile down the road, the little girls said, "Here comes Daddy." Rob had decided he couldn't let his pregnant wife walk for who knows how far carrying a toddler. So, without thinking of putting on his hiking shoes, he came after us. He ended up carrying Lana most of the way while wearing crocs on his bad feet. He paid the price later with horrible foot pain and back pain. We walked and walked and walked --following the sea line. A couple of trucks passed us and told us we had a long way to go, but we still couldn't see the other kids, so there was nothing to do but keep going.

After walking for what seemed like forever, we finally got to the top of a ridge which looked down over the green sand beach. For being off of the beaten path, there were certainly a lot of people there.

The older kids had gone all the way down the steep hill, filled up their water bottles with green sand

and were just about to begin the trek back

when we finally caught up to them. The rest of us didn't even bother to climb clear down to the beach, so all we have are pictures to prove we've seen it.

Unfortunately, we had to hike back to the van. The poor little girls were so tired and thirsty. I think we walked for 3+ hrs. -- probably 4 or 5 miles. It was definitely not a 2 mile hike!! To top it off, when we got back to the van, Caroline had had a stinky diaper and had been sitting in it for who knows how long. Kamri had to just leave her sitting in her seat because she could in no way change Caroline herself. I had to laugh. What else could I do? It turned out to be one of those experiences in which you laugh or cry, so I laughed and laughed and laughed. I call it "a journal-worthy experience" which is why it is in my blog. And now that it is over, we are happy to have the green sand to add to our collection of black sand, white sand and red sand....... I think.

We were all very glad to climb into the van and sit while we drove the two more hours to our priceline hotel. We made one more stop along the way to check out a black sand beach which turned out to be no better than our Maui black sand beach. This is the three little girls enjoying a little snack near the beach.

Our hotel was not a five-star by any means, but there was a pool, and the beds were soft which is unusual in a lower-class hotel. We certainly slept very well that night.