Aloha!

We recently returned from another wonderful summer vacation in HI with my family---minus my sister who is serving a mission on Temple Square, and was missed very much on the trip...but we know she is where she is meant to be at this time. : ) 

We got to spend a week in paradise, and as you can imagine, it was nothing short of a fun filled week! 

I LOVE landing in HI, right when you get off the plane you are instantly greeted with the warm floral fragrant air and relaxed feel of your vacation ahead! The Kona airport is especially fun for it's throwback on tarmac walk off! You almost never get to walk off a plane in this way, and walk though a virtually open air airport. It's even smaller and more open than Long Beach. We just love it, and took advantage of a little photo opt---hard not to when you have a photo lover on board your trip (hehe)! : ) 

(The pineapple was growing outside the patio of our condo, and the bottom right was part of the view on to the golf course)

As always, I have SO many photos of the trip, but here are some of my current favorites. : ) 

We stopped at this beach that is off the old airport runway. It was beautiful, and when we got out there was a hawaiian family gathered around a picnic table signing together---it was the so cool to explore around while they sang. I tried to tape some of it, but my phone mainly picked up the ocean, so it was too hard to hear them. Mom caught the photo of me taking a photo of Brody (I love it!)...which is the photo to the far right of the middle row below.

We ended up with some roaches in our car, which ended up in our can of macadamia nuts! (eesh!) So gross. But we took care of them with a bug bomb. : ) 

The bottom photo is on the property of the condo we stayed in. Such a beautiful area!  

Relaxing at our pool! : ) 

We had the chance to go to Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo. The nations only rainforest zoo. It was so pretty! And it was really great for a little free zoo. Their big attraction was a Bengal tiger, that I fell in love with! He was just so cute and playful! And on our way out Dad surprised me with a little stuffed tiger, I LOVED it! : ) 

Such a crack up! We happened upon another drag racing weekend while we were there. It was in Hilo, and proved to be just as fun as last years! Nothing like a good local drag race! : ) 

An evening in Kona

The Kona Inn is a beautiful restaurant on the water in an old hawaiian plantation style. Before dinner we happened upon the rowing clubs torch parade, so fun! Then we went by the Hyatt to see the HUGE manta rays that feed in a cove off the hotel. They look so huge and graceful, it's always such a fun stop! 

Oh...recognize those snow cones? ; ) 

On sunday we attended church next to the Kona temple. Such a beautiful temple, we couldn't help but to take some photos on the grounds. I just love how they came out! : ) 

(Gotta love the self timer on our camera!)

In relief society as a visitor they gave us these amazing hand knit leis!

We all stopped in to Hapuna Beach for sunset before dinner one night, apparently one of the top ten beaches in the world! The sand and water were amazing!! The sunset was beautiful in pastel! 

continued below..... : )