Busy Days

We have been without internet throughout a couple of our days so we're going to update with a long post.

Tuesday:  Flight from WA to HI was as well as the first one.  It was longer but the kids both took short naps.  When we arrived in Kona we saw much lava rocks and looked pretty barren.  Got the rental car and headed to  Hilo.  Was nice to drive across the countryside but the kids were tired of traveling.  There were lots of changes on our way from the lava area, cowboy country, many gulches, and more lush landscape along the seaside of Hilo.  We stopped along the way and we tasted our first shaved ice! 

Wednesday:  Long day of rental house shopping.  We woke up early and headed straight towards Pahoa.  We looked at 6 different places and settled on a place in Leilani Estates.  Feel free to check it out at bigislandhawaiirental.com.  The kids didn't love the day but were pretty good regardless.  Anika saw 2 geckos which were quite a highlight in the "boring" day for her. 

Thursday:  Car shopping day and switching hotels.  We have been waking up early due to the 5 hour difference from WI to HI.  So this morning we went and looked at the Japanese garden near our hotel.  The kids enjoyed walking around and going over the bridges.  They also saw many crabs and bamboo.  Afterwards, we headed to different car dealerships.  Lance did a handful of test drives and during one of the test drives Anika spotted another gecko whom she named Spotter.  Spotter actually jumped onto her and then jumped onto the next car.  I think it scared her a lot but she also thought it was pretty neat and now wants a pet gecko!  We ended up purchasing a 1996 Lexus.   It's a comfortable ride and we feel like old money even though we are definitely not.  Then we dropped off the rental car and were able to enjoy the rest of our day.  We'll post pictures when we can, Aloha.