All about the Big Island

Our trip to the Big Island was awesome. Yes, it was frigid (i consider 57 degrees frigid, spoiled i know). And yes, it did rain the whole weekend. And yes, the majority of Volcanoes National Park was closed to the public due to strong sulfur fumes. But in spite of those minor issues we had a fantastic time. Juneau has recently become obsessed with airplanes, and so she was of course thrilled with our little airplane ride. Nova tolerated the plane, but wasn't too enthusiastic about it. Kilauea Caldron
Nova looking exceptionally cute in her little fleece

Nova's new favorite hobby - riding in her backpack!

We stayed at Kilauea Military Camp, which is inside the boundaries of Volcanoes National Park. The military camp is a quaint little place, that we actually really love. They have older but nice cabins. Our cabin had a big jacuzzi tub that the girls loved! It's a bit chilly up in the park, so we had to wear some of our future Colorado gear. We also got to use the fireplace, which was really fun.

The girls all bundled up

more riding in the backpack

There were 2 big things we've wanted to do since our first trip to the big island. One was to see surface flow lava up close and personal. The other was to drive to the top of Mauna Kea. Mauna Kea's big claim to fame is being THE WORLD'S TALLEST MOUNTAIN. The sneaky part is that the majority of the mountain is below sea level, so it doesn't really count. Of the 33,476 feet it claims, only about 14,00 feet of that are actually above sea level. Even so, we wanted to get to the top of the mountain. We read multiple multiple warnings about not taking our 2 wheel drive rental car up the dirt road, and we were almost deterred by the warnings about taking children under 16, but decided to just see how far we could get without either destroying the car, or having a baby meltdown. And, we were thrilled that we made it too the top! Juneau's lips got a little blue once we were at the top, and she was acting a little crazy/weird, so we didn't stay long, but we did enjoy the beautiful view and get to see a bunch of snow!

The road up Mauna Kea

View of Moana Loa

The observatory on the summit of Mauna Kea

Juneau being goofy

Enjoying breakfast at the lodge

Dad and the girls in their winter gear

We ran around Hilo a little bit. Got to see a couple of great waterfalls (rainbow falls and Pe'e Pe'e falls - unfortunately it's not actually pronounced Pee-Pee falls, that would be just too funny). By sunday we were all pretty wiped out, and just hung out around the cabin. Then back on the airplane for the quick ride back over to honolulu.

Can't get enough of their backpacks!

Nova enjoying her ice cream

Jbug also enjoying her ice cream

Pe'e Pe'e Falls

Rainbow Falls

A short but sweet getaway.