The Snellings Take The Big Island

As I sit and write this on this New Year's Eve I'm really wishing my family and I were in a warm climate preparing to celebrate the end of the decade, but we are in the frigid cold enjoying our new East Coast life style.

 I'm excited and ready to bring in this New Year in our new home, but I can't help but day dream about some sunnier days.

So let me take you back to one of the highlights of my year from 2019....

Hawaii 2019:

One of our family travel wish list locations for many years had been Hawaii. Mr. @ProfessorDrz and I had been to Maui, Hawaii for our honeymoon fourteen years ago and then again for our ten year anniversary. Maui has always had a special place in our hearts and we've always wanted to explore other islands with the children, but the Hawaiian islands are so expensive for families to travel to and vacation on. Fortunately for us, with a little planning and by the grace of God we were able to pull off a 6 night, 7 day vacation to the Island of Hawaii, also known as The Big Island.

Our three children have always wanted to go to Hawaii because they knew that is was such a special place to their mom and dad, so they would often talk about how cool it would be if they could go as well. So in late June we surprised my son with a trip to the West Coast as a graduation gift. He was totally stoked! Then, when that trip was coming to an end, we surprised the kids and told them our vacation wasn't over since we were heading to The Big Island the next day.

These kids couldn't believe it because we had just had an Amazing week long vacation visiting the Hoover Dam, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and so much more. Next thing we know we were on The Big Island chasing waterfalls, eating shaved ice, hanging at the beach, watching sunsets and living our best lives. 

I made so many plans for this trip. I was all set for us to do so many fun things, but all that quickly changed because all the kids wanted to do was go to the beach and the pool. We did take a day to tour the island a little and visit Waipi'o Lookout, Rainbow Falls Lookout and spend the day just leisurely island sightseeing.

Waipi'o Lookout:

We visited Waipi'o Lookout, where you can see a stunning view of a black sand beach, sea and cliff. This is a great stop on a tour of the Big Island because it's a beautiful view, you can have a picnic and there is even a restroom so it makes for a perfect stop for families. We enjoyed the view, snacked and just hung out as a family.

Rainbow Falls Lookout:

Rainbow Falls lookout was the next stop on our tour which was simply beautiful because the children had never seen any falls quite like that. During our tour around the island it started to rain on the Hilo side, which is prone to more rain because of it's trade winds. So of course, as we were heading to Rainbow Falls it started to rain...hard! We thought about turning around, but thankfully we soldiered on and by the time we got up the steps to the platform, the rain had stopped. We were able to get an awesome view of the falls that we'll never forget and we were able to capture the moment with great pictures.

Beach Life:

We made so many memories on the beach. The kids learned to use a body board and had a ball at the beach. The body boards were gifts from fellow beach goers who saw the kids sharing a borrowed body board. Then a couple walked up to us out of the blue and offered the kids their boards that they couldn't take back to California with them. Our kids went nuts! The kindness of strangers made the kids' whole trip great! They love those boards and got very good at body boarding before we left Hawaii. So you know we had to figured out a way to get them home...happy kids, happy life.

Hula Dance Show:

We wanted to attend a traditional Hawaiian luau, but discovered that they were all sold out for the days we were going to be on the island. So I looked on-line to find an alternative that would allow the children to be introduced to the Hawaiian culture. I found a  Hula dance show nearby that was free and open to the public. This was perfect, so after dinner we watched a traditional Hawaiian Hula dance show. The Hula show is a Hawaiian tradition designed to portray a visual story, set to music. It also involves stories and educates the audience about the history and culture of the Hawaiian people. We all enjoyed the show and then went for a delicious dinner afterwards. It wasn't the same as going to a Luau, but it was the next best thing and we all enjoyed the show and were happy with how the evening played out.

 Aloha From the Big Island):

The cool thing about Hawaii is that anywhere you go there is beauty to behold. Many of the pictures above were taken at the beach while waiting to eat dinner. I just love that we can put our feet in the sand and the kids can play while we wait for our food. I could really get used to this life! The picture of me enjoying the coconut was taken on the side of the road during a sightseeing trip. We saw a little fruit stand and decided to grab a few fresh coconuts to drink and some fresh fruit to snack on. How cool is that? The sunset picture was taken after a day at the pool on our way to dinner. Can't get enough of this place.

Shaved Ice All Day Every Day:

One can't visit Hawaii without trying the famous shaved ice. We tried shaved ice all over the island, but my all time favorite was from the Big Island Shaved Ice Co. It was the first of many that we tried, but it also turned out to be the best and I still think about it often.

I could go on forever about how much I loved our family trip to the Big Island. It was a wonderful vacation experience to enjoy with the entire family. We have dreamed about this trip for years and I'm so happy we were able to make it come true in 2019. I hope we are able to make more vacation dreams a reality in 2020. What travel dreams came true for you this year? What are your travel dreams for 2020? Happy New Year!