Hawaii, Day 4, Part II

After leaving the Place of Refuge, Jacob and I stopped by St. Benedictine's Painted Church. The church was built in 1899 and painted by Father John Velghe. He used the paintings to teach those parishioners who couldn't read.  The church overlooks the Kealakekua Bay.

There were so many interesting plants and flowers.  My mom(s) would have been in heaven.

After leaving the church grounds, we began our drive back to Kailua-Kona.  Since I had the GPS and wasn't worried about getting lost, I tried some back roads.  We ended up on Napoopoo road and the scenery was breathtaking.

Back in Kailua-Kona, Jacob and I still had a little time before the boat pulled back in.  We did a little window shopping and stopped for some pizza and tiramisu.  Then we walked over to the pier to meet the rest of our crew.

As the boat pulled back in, Anna could be seen waving with all her might.  She would run from deck to deck and wave and blow kisses.  That's her on the top deck in the white dress.  Doug is on the first deck in the black t-shirt.

I began to worry that Lauren may have been lost at sea as there seemed to be no sign of her.  I soon learned why.

Anna came off the boat looking like this...

Lauren came off like this (red dress).  She had played so hard all morning that she had fallen asleep on the way back in to shore.  She was NOT not happy about having to get up and get going...

Then on the way home, she had to contend with this....the little brother.

I loved the drive back north to Waikoloa.

We made it back to the hotel room and because people still hadn't had enough swimming time even though they'd just spent 4 hours on a boat and in the water, we headed for the hotel pools.

I snagged Anna and Lauren for a few photos on the way.

They found a puffer fish that had washed ashore and were much more interested in him than in having their pictures taken.  I don't blame them.  There was just to much to see and do to be still any longer than necessary. 

Hawaii, Day 4 Part I

On our fourth day on the island, Doug had planned a boating excursion for us, complete with lunch and snorkeling. As our smallest family member had been giving us the run-around the entire trip, I was hesitant to put him on a boat for hours. I could just see us having to jump in the water after him. So, I opted to do some sightseeing from the shore with our little man while Doug took the girls out on the water.  After we dropped everyone off at the Kailua-Kona harbor, Jacob and I drove down to "The Place of Refuge" also known as Pu'uhonau o Honaunau.  In ancient times, if you broke a law for which the penalty was death, your only hope was to reach a place of refuge such as this one.  What a peaceful, beautiful place.  I could have stayed there all day.  As it was, I spent our little time there chasing Jake around. 

We also saw this plant at the Volcanic Park.  I'm not sure what it is.

A Hawaiian game called Konane.  It is similar to chess and checkers.

While I was taking pictures, he managed to discard his shoes.  We had to retrace our steps to find them.

The rock wall is 17 feet wide and 10 feet high.

Ki'i (carved statues) watch over the Hale o Keawe, or resting area of Hawaiian cheifs.

Supposedly, Queen Ka'ahumanu, the favorite wife of King Kamehameha I left him and swam to the refuge.  She hid under this rock and was only found when her dog barked and gave her away.

Jacob on the move...