Family

To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time. ~Clara Ortega~



On Friday the 15th of August we welcomed a new member to the Stewart Clan....BOB!! You know that old saying..."if you do this right, and Bob's your uncle" well the kids think that's so funny because they have one now!! I was a bridesmaid, Dwayne was the speaker that got to do the ceremony and the kids rung the announcement bell. It was amazing to be so involved!!

You see, Char is Dwayne's youngest sibling and they are 9 years apart making them not perfect playmates but they now have such a great relationship. I got to know Char when she was eight...EIGHT!! It's been alot of years. I love her like my own youngest sibling and we have loved watching her grow and bloom into an amazing woman. (sniffle, sniffle!)

Congratulations to Bob and Charlotte on an amazing day and a truly spectacular start together. We wish you many blessings to come! ...and Char even made this cake!!

Aloha #3

Well our adventures and slow days are slowly coming to an end in Hawaii but thought I'd share what we've been up to the last few days.

On Tuesday, we got on a boat out to a secluded bay where the captain was searching for spinner dolphins. We found them!! All of us suited up and into the water to search for them. They are wild and while they were in resting mode for the daytime, their playing and jumping (aka, spinning) were amazing. If there were too many people in the water they'd move away until some people gave up and got out. We got to see babies with their mommy's and young ones practicing their spinning techniques. They don't come very close at all but I still managed to get some pictures.

Wednesday was a slow day. Shopping in the morning and then the pool in the afternoon. I like shopping days...sometimes! My shopping was frustrating with both kids! Found some great stuff and I was able to talk them out of a lot of other stuff that was 'Hawaii expensive'. This picture is taken in front of a huge banyan tree on Ali'i Drive.

Thursday we ventured to the other side of the island to Hilo and area and saw stuff! We stopped at Akaka Falls (falls 420feet!!) and then had an amazing lunch at Hilo Bay Cafe.

Side note...the book 'Hawaii Revealed' is THE book to get. Not one of the reviews has let us down, if they said it would suck it did (we only did one of those just to check the ratings!!). Hilo Bay Cafe is in a mall and looks like a subway type from the outside. Once you step in it's an amazing restaurant with crazy delish food...and totally cheap!!!

Okay back to the adventures...

We then met our tour at Hilo Hotel and jumped in a squished van with 8 other people. We were driven 45 minutes to our drop off point that was a nice downhill. We had been told that it was a downhill ride (yeah....except for all the uphill!!!!). When we stopped for our first rest (about 4 miles in) we were informed that Kilauea was on a 'pause'. WHAT??? For 30 years this volcano has been flowing and we decided to go and have a look and it 'paused'! Fred, our guide, tried to make it sound better by saying that we were witnessing history with the first pause in 30 years...yeah whatever Fred....stupid!! We ended up biking for 24 kilometers and didn't even get to see any lava...rip off! Nice sights though and incredible exercise (especially on the uphill parts!). Our drive back to home took us 2 hours and it was 11:15, which made it a looooong day after leaving the condo at 8am!

Friday was a home day as were were all exhausted from Thursday.

Saturday, Dwayne and I took off for our first dive of this trip (our last too!). We went with Jack's Dive Locker and they were great! Saw lots of neat stuff and loads of eels. Good fun!

Sunday (today) we have found out that Kilauea is flowing again so we are going to venture back to the other side of the island for our viewing of lava. It'll be a long day today too but well worth it!
We have just gotten back to the condo and spent an amazing evening at the ocean side watching crazy explosions!!Tomorrow, sadly, we are on a plane at 9:16pm and into Seattle at 5:52am....ick!! I just checked us in and we're ready to go. We fly from Seattle to Vancouver at 7:30am so we'll have just enough time for some breakfast. We're back for only 24 hours and then off to Kelowna for Char's wedding. Dwayne says it's the all '...ona' vacation (you know, Kona and Kelowna....I know, I know!)

Aloha...again!

Saturday we ventured as far north as we could go...seriously, to the end of the road in Pololu!! It has amazing cliffs and views. Truly gorgeous! The valley's that lead to the ocean were beautiful. If I was ever to go to Ireland, I imagine that's what it would look like....or....this is what it looks like at the end of Hwy 270 in Pololu!! We hiked down the 3 mile path for a bit and then aborted the mission as we'd already had a long afternoon. We had gone on an ATV adventure to hunt out waterfalls. They were gorgeous!! Sarah and Cam even braved it and swam in the large pond at the bottom of the 400 foot waterfall. We also stopped by the wind farm on the island. Up north near Hawi, surrounded by cows and calves...weird!
Sunday we spent just hanging out at the condo and catching up on sleep and some swimming in the pool.

Monday we again ventured north to Hapuna Bay State Park. Ok, seriously, the US knows how to do state parks!! We'd gone to the local shop and got a beach umbrella. Our condo had mats and even beach chairs (you know the ones with the little shorty legs!!). The bay was amazing...truly!! We had a turtle, we named him Crush, who swam with us for about 20 minutes and was so peaceful! We're good at eating at home alot and Dwayne has been bbq on each night (it's not charcoal, but it's still yummy!). We finished off our day with an amazing sunset!!

Off on another adventure today, I'll write about that in a couple of days!

Aloha!!

We are finishing our 4th full day in Kailua-Kona on the Big Island and loving it!! Weather has been good. A couple of overcast days and today has been beautiful, as was yesterday. We have been doing a lot of 'hanging' around with loads of time in the ocean and by the pool.

Tuesday, we spent exploring the area and stocking up our condo for the next 2 weeks. Dinner at Bubba Gumps on the rocks and then into bed.

On Wednesday night, we went snorkelling with the Manta Rays at night. The kids were tentative but thoroughly enjoyed it! We had 3 mantas including Lefty who we saw 4 years ago when Dwayne and I did it last. No pics on this yet, underwater digi camera doesn't download to this computer.

Thursday was spent at the pool and Dwayne and Sarah headed off the lava rocks out our back deck and snorkelled for an hour. In the evening we went to the movies! Cam and Dwayne saw Hancock and Sarah and I saw Mamma Mia...for those of you that don't know....I LOVE musicals!! It was great! Tears, laughter and good times singing along with the movie! I imagine the boys had as much fun and we had good fun without their comments about our movie!!

Today, we headed up to Waikaloa area to Mauna Kea Beach and snorkelled, boggie boarded and floated in the waves. There wasn't much shade (or any in fact) so we didn't stay for the day. We (Sarah and I) are of the fairer variety and we don't spend a lot of time in the sun.

Tonight, Dwayne is cooking and we've just come back from the pool. It'll be an early bed evening as we are all wiped!!

Uploading pic update...apparently Cam's camera is the only one that fits into Dwayne's computer...we haven't taken the majority with

Bye for now!!