We went zip lining which was super fun! The views were gorgeous and the guides were funny, so we all had a blast! Afterwards, we wasted some time looking at some waterfalls. We ended up stopping by a lava flow that was nearish to where we were staying. The boys hiked right up to it while we only went about a mile. We could still see it from a distance so it was still pretty cool.
We traveled from the Kona side of the island to the Hilo side, which wasn’t very eventful.
We got to go to a black sand beach (Punaluu), where I attempted to walk barefoot, but that only lasted about 30 seconds. We went to a volcanic crater and while we waited for the sunset we hiked through some caves nearby.
We watched the sunset at the crater and after dark you could see the lava glowing and it would come up the sides, which is apparently pretty rare!
We went hiking today over beaches and huge lava rocks to get to a lagoon. On the way, we saw a tiny fish out of the water, so I picked it up and put it back in the water, but I think it was too late. There were also a bunch of goats, and we had a great back and forth conversation. At the lagoon, there wasn’t good snorkeling, but there were a lot of turtles; I was able to get up super close and get pictures with them. One of them actually looked at me and acknowledged me, so after our bonding session, I named him Charles. On the way back, Daddy and I found a baby coconut. Then, watched the sunset and I got a bug bite on my forehead (but Momma slapped my head so it wasn’t too bad).
We went to a beach which had really good snorkeling. I saw 2 sea turtles there too, and the second one almost bumped into me! We then went up to the tallest mountain, Mauna Kea. It was really cool to see the clouds below us. There was also super good stargazing, including a constellation of  across that can only be seen from 2 places in the United States: Hawaii and Florida.
We drove from Paquip to a lake and took a 30 minute bus ride into Pana. We were going to go to an orphanage but that got canceled, so all we did was shop. We also took a break for lunch, which was really good pizza. I got an awesome sweatshirt thing that is an amazing color, pants, a backpack, and a magnet. Poor Brooke has a swollen foot and cold, but at least it didn’t happen until the end of the trip.
We explored Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and a giant toy store called FAO Schwarz! They had a giant piano carpet thing that you would step on the play and it was really fun.
We got to visit the 9/11 Museum and the Empire State Building. We also went to Ellis Island, learned a bunch of the history behind it, and saw the Statue of Liberty.
When we got to Arches, it was 104 degrees, and the temperature kept rising! We drove around and saw some named rocks like the Windows and Balanced Rock; and we saw a hippo with sharks, a camel, and a snake.
We went to Emerald Pools, but couldn’t get past the first pool because of construction, so we went to the Weeping Rock and the Temple of Shinawava. At the end of the temple hike there was a river that you could walk in and continue onto another path. Daddy and I went, but had to go barefoot. When we made it to land, the views were spectacular and definitely worth it. Aunt Robin didn’t come with us tubing because she thought it was too shallow. We did get stuck a bunch, but it was mostly fine, except once when Momma was trying to get me loose the bungee cord slapped my leg really hard.
