On Wed. we decided to go down to Kona for a little shopping. Our first stop was a fairly new Target, my favorite store.

Instead of the Dollar Spot, it had an “Aloha Shop”! This is where I bought almost all of our souvenirs for the trip.

We bought my brother in law a Spam slicer. (They had other Spam merchandise as well). We also bought a trivet for ourselves, mainly because it had a map of Hawaii, and D is a sucker for maps. In the kids’ section I found a cute Hello Kitty necklace with a rainbow for k.

Afterward we went to the nearby International Marketplace for some more browsing, but I didn’t buy anything.

For lunch we went to Jackie Rey’s Ohana Grill. It is a little off the beaten path, but I had read good reviews. I had signed up for a coupon online and I received a personal e-mail from the manager/owner! They also made it a point to visit each table to greet everyone. It was doing pretty good business for lunch, and there seemed to be more locals. D’s parents both had the crab crusted mahi mahi and they liked it. n was being fussy, so I had to spend a lot my time outside trying to calm him down. I can’t wait until he lets me sit down for an entire meal at a restaurant.

This cool car is parked outside of the restaurant.


Notice the license plate.

Next stop was Costco. I bought a bag of macadamia nut Hershey kisses, which I’ve never seen before, as well as a tub of shortbread cookies for D to bring to his co-workers. Right after I made by purchases, the electricity went out! They stopped letting people into the store, so I guess we made it just in time. D also filled up his gas tank, since Costco has the best prices on the island.

Our final stop was Kua Beach. D’s parents had told us how beautiful the beach was, and it was true! The color of the water was amazing. We also saw some whales.

(By this time, k was NOT in a picture-taking mood).

Back to reliving our Big Island trip. In the morning we went to Mauna Kea for some more playing in the sand (k + n), snorkeling (D) and lounging (L). Although you can’t tell from the picture, the water became kind of rough, so I was a bit worried about D. We had a picnic lunch on the beach.

In the afternoon we went to the Hilton to see the dolphins.

Afterward we went to Merriman’s Market Cafe at the Kings’ Shops.

This was probably the best meal deal of our trip because we went for happy hour where all of the dishes were $5. We had been to the original Merriman’s in Waimea last time, so we knew the food was going to be good. We ordered 9 dishes, and it was plenty. We had pizzas and flatbread(shown above), hummus, garlic fries, meatballs, ricotta fritters, and a tomato-mozzarella salad and bruschetta.

k even had the butter and cheese pasta that was free for kids 3 and under. I guess it was finger-lickin’ good.

We had a post-dinner stroll, and saw the “Hawaiian Kenny Rogers” perform.

The one thing that D wanted to do most on our trip was to go whale watching. This was the first time we were in Hawaii during prime whale watching season, and there are supposedly a lot more whales than usual this year, so it was perfect timing. On Monday morning we dropped off n to be with the grandparents and took k along for the adventure (she was free).

We booked the tour through Ocean Sports and departed from A Bay. They had us take off our shoes, which surprised us. The reason was that they wanted to minimize the amount of sand tracked onto the boat. They took us on a short glass bottom boat ride to get to the whale watching boat, Sea Smoke.

Once on board we were greeted with cups of POG.

In retrospect, I’m not sure I would’ve taken k along at her age (3). I think she was a little too young to really enjoy it. I was kind of surprised at how “open” the sides of the boat were…it seems like it would be really easy for kids to fall through. It was also kind of hard to manage her, mainly because I was feeling pretty seasick once they turned the motor off and we were just swaying (ever so gently) back and forth. (The crew members really took care of me, though, and gave me ice chips and ginger candy. Thankfully, I made it through, but I was really glad to be on dry land again. I had k wear SeaBands to help prevent seasickness, but maybe I should have bought some for myself too!)

But, as promised, we did see quite a few whales, and they were a lot closer than I thought they would be. Some even swam directly under our boat! They truly are amazing creatures. It wasn’t easy taking picture, but here are my best two shots:

Mom and calf.

We were also able to see a lot of whales from the shoreline throughout our week as well.

Sunday was our first full day on the Big Island. D wanted to make sure we got in maximum snorkeling time, so our first outing was to the Fairmont Orchid beach and the Beach Club in Mauna Lani.

It took her a while, but k started getting used to the water. By the end of our outing, she didn’t want to leave!

A dog loved the ocean, too!

We tried our best to keep n out of the sun. Luckily, there were cabanas and/or trees at all of the beaches we went to.

Beach Club @ Mauna Lani. Sigh, look at that water.

We ate lunch there, too.

Perusing the menu.

We went back to the condo and took a nap. Then we headed to the Queens’ Marketplace in Waikaloa to queue up for Sansei. On Sundays and Mondays, orders before 6 p.m. are 50% off! This is a great deal, but everyone tries to take advantage of it, so you have to get in line early (the restaurant doesn’t open until 5:30).

D’s dad stood in line while we watched a free hula performance.

We ate at Sansei during our honeymoon on Maui, so we knew what to expect. The food didn’t disappoint!

Rainbow roll that I ordered. Isn’t it pretty? k had the adult ramen (since the kids’ meals aren’t 50% off, the adult portion ends up being cheaper) and she finished it all. (She only had the noodles, since the tempura shrimp and pork weren’t to her liking).

Afterward, we walked around the marketplace a bit.

We stopped by Island Gourmet Market, which is like an upscale ABC (it is affiliated). We picked up a piece of tiramisu and a few other goodies.