We’re back from our busy weekend on the Big Island.  Things started out late since Erick wasn’t able to get off work on time, so we missed our chance to catch an earlier flight like we’d planned.  And then our flight was delayed by 45 minutes, so we didn’t take off until after we were supposed to have landed.  So much for seeing the sunset over there like we’d hoped to do.  Joshua & Erick spent the time wandering around the terminal while I read a book.  Josh managed to flirt so well that a woman gave him her full snack bag of Oreo cookies (which he gobbled down in no time!).  Erick & I were so excited to discover that our single hotel room was upgraded to a 2 bedroom so Joshua had his own room!  We stayed at the Kilahuea Military Camp which is a military lodging/recreation facility in the Volcano National Park.  They have lots of cabins, a restaurant, general store, bowling alley, coffeeshop (with Starbucks!), & gas station, which was great since there wasn’t much else around.  Joshua enjoyed all the spaciousness to run & play since there was a living room, 2 bedrooms, & our own bathroom (that we didn’t need to share with anyone else like at Tripler!).  Josh pushed the button on the TV to turn it on, only to get scared because it was just static & the volume had been turned up loud.  But he kept doing it again & again, pushing the button & running away scared, even before it turned on all the way & started making noise.

On Saturday, we decided to drive around the island to see the sights.  Mother Nature again wasn’t cooperating so it was pretty rainy much of the time, but it did stop raining a few times when we stopped so that was nice.  Our best stop along the drive was at a beach that had green sea turtles.  We weren’t feeling up to going way out into the water since it was toward the beginning of our long drive & there were lots of dark clouds approaching, but we managed to see a couple of big  turtles from the shore.  That night, we went to see the lava flow, which was the top thing Erick & I wanted to do there.  We were given bad directions, so we didn’t get to the entrance of where it was until 20 minutes after they started turning cars away, but thankfully the very nice police officer let us go in anyhow.  We got a great parking spot since most of the cars had left already, so that was a positive note to being late.  Flashlights & umbrella in hand & Joshua in his sling, we set off on the hike to the edge of the lava to see the active flow.  The hike wasn’t too bad, even when it started raining.  Joshua tried to help hold the umbrella for Mommy, so that helped keep him still as I walked.  But then he wanted to hold the flashlight & that didn’t help as much.  But we made it to the end & saw a cool (or rather hot since it was 2100 degrees) sight off in the distance.  It wasn’t quite as impressive as what I’ve seen on TV or in photos but it was neat to actually witness it live & in person.  My photos, as you will see, did not capture it at all, but I’m going to blame that on the fact that it was dark, I was carrying a toddler, & it was raining.  At least we have nice images to remember in our minds, even if we don’t have the photos to prove it.

Sunday was a big day of exploring & hiking.  We saw another active volano near the Jaggar Museum then we drove around the rest of the park.  First, we went for a short hike in the lava tubes.  Erick was brave enough to use his flashlight to explore the unlit back section of the tube.  I didn’t feel comfortable enough taking Joshua very far back there & Erick finally agreed when he came out that he was glad to not have to worry about Josh in the dark if something had happened to the flashlight.  After that hike, we went for a longer one to see the petroglyphs—about a mile & a half of climbing over lava rocks.  Then we drove to the end to where lava flow from the 80s wiped out the road on its way to the ocean.  That was a neat thing to see—the road suddenly ended & was piled with black lava.  You could even see a ‘road closed’ sign that survived!

After that last hike, we drove straight to the airport for our return flight.  Joshua was the best behaved he’s ever been on a flight before.  He sat on my lap the entire time & Erick studied (so much for my getting to relax while Daddy took over!).  The captain let me take a photo of Joshua sitting in the cock-pit after we landed.  He even strapped Josh into the 5-point seatbelt & let him push buttons & flip switches (Joshua was in heaven after he escaped the seatbelt!).  I didn’t hear anything in the news that night about a plane crash so I assume he was able to reset all the settings Josh might’ve messed up!