Nai'a Dreaming

Aloha! How is this year almost half over?! Yikes! 

With the expected arrival of baby c in only a month and a half, Mark and I had to postpone our planned trip to Australia in March. We still have plans to go soon hopefully! Instead we opted to go to Big Island in February with my mom when she was here visiting! Big Island will always be our favorite so it was so fun sharing it with my mom! We stayed at the Hilton Waikoloa Village-the same resort Mark and I stayed at to celebrate his 30th birthday. It's one of the largest resorts I've ever stayed at which makes it so fun exploring and taking the water taxi around the property.

While on the Hilo side of Big Island we stopped at Akaka Falls. It brought back a ton of memories as  Mark and I recreated one of our favorite photos from our honeymoon! The falls are apart of a park that allow you  to walk in a large circle and view dozens of species of plants, flowers and animals ending with the waterfall. The day we went, much of the park was closed due to flooding and tree damage. The falls however we just as beautiful as we remembered!

Our recreation photo in front of Akaka falls from our honeymoon in August 2013 and now February 2017 with baby on board!

One of my favorite big island treats, Bradda Pops! Best Popsicle! 

Turtles on the beach 

Virgin Lava Flow for me! 

While we were visiting Big Island we visited some of the same spots we did when Mark and I were on our honeymoon. Mark was working and met us later in the trip. In the mean time my mom and I stopped at the Kilauea Volcano for a few hours hoping to see some action. Right as we first arrived at one of the lookout points we saw the red lava flow for about five minutes before it quickly disappeared. But it was awesome seeing the flow, even for a short time. We also walked through an old lava tube which was eerie but amazing at the same time. The temperature inside the tube was about 15 degrees colder than the outside and felt extremely damp as you walked through. 

We also saw the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut farm (our favorite!) and Rainbow Falls.  On Mark's birthday when we were honeymooning in 2013 this is the same spot we came to. The falls are 80 feet tall and fall over a natural lava tube. The lava tube is mythological home to Hawaiian goddess Hina. 

Some random fun times from the past few months on Oahu. 

We bought a new car... with air conditioning! Yay! 

My (jen) first time getting stitches... cut my finger at work :/

Mark and I recently went on a dolphin watching catamaran boat cruise on the west side of the island. When we did the cruise off the Na Pali coast on Kauai we saw a handful of dolphins so our expectations weren't to high for this cruise just because we didn't want to be disappointed. Boy we sure weren't. On the two hour cruise we had to have seen at least 300 dolphins, both spinner and bottle nose. We also saw a few turtles in the water as well. The Hawaiian spinner dolphins are so playful and happy and often jump out of the water and literally spin through the air- hence their name. It's such a magical experience seeing them in their natural habitat- such a fun time for sure!

We have a trip planned home for October for a week to visit family and friends with our new little pea. We can't wait to see everyone and visit home again very soon! 

XOXO,

Mark & Jen