Raye Family Updates: Happy New Year 2012!!

Sunday, January 01, 2012

Happy New Year 2012!!

Just a few photos from our visit with my parents...around the house and the Big Island.

Above, the weather has been incredibly sunny and dry since Christmas Eve Day. Above Tommy weed wacking the grass.

Above and 3 pictures below: Sight seeing in the largest subdivision in the U.S., Hawaiian Paradise Park.

We saved one day for a trip over to the west side of the island. I drive slow, especially going up and between two of the world's largest mountains (from sea floor to summit...Mauna Kea is the world's tallest mountain). From our house to Kailua-Kona it takes almost exactly 3 hours. Reeve was snapping photos along the way.

Above is Saddle Road (between the mountainous volcanoes Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa). Below is a blurry pictures of some of the observatories atop Mauna Kea. There are a total of 13 International & National Observatories up there.

Snow on top of Mauna Kea, which translates to "white mountain" from Hawaiian.

Switch days...below is a picture of Rd 8 in our subdivision. We're all thankful when we get to Rd. 8 because it is paved. From our house to Rd. 8 is 1.3 miles of pot-holey gravel...it takes me about 12 minutes to drive that 1.3 miles. I frequently have bicyclists (and sometimes pedestrians) pass me.

Below is one of my favorite spots in Hilo...Richardson's Beach Park along the 4 miles of beach parks stretching out of Hilo.

We always see a couple of honu (Hawaiian Green Sea Turtles) resting on the lava rocks.

Me and my kiddos.

Nana (my Mom) and Stella:

Kyle in the black swim trunks at Richardson's:

Reeve, Stella and my Mom watching Kyle swim:

Now we're back to the pictures from our Kona-side visit. We went to a beach area near the Natural Energy Lab. Next time I'll remember to check the ocean tides. We arrived right at low tide, but it would have been a better visit, for the kids, at high tide.