Chris, Anneka, Sophie & Lily Cindrich: 80 degrees and sunshine

Where's Lily?

So, if I'm writing the blog it must mean we are somewhere. And, we are. Last Tuesday we left the snowy polar landscape of Utah for the sunny climes of the big island of Hawaii. Aside from the 4 hour layover in Los Angeles it was somewhat uneventful. Little Miss Lily was exceptional. She barely made a peep the entire flight. The stewardesses were gaga over her. Sophie did great too, as we've come to expect. There was just a second of unexpected turbulance while landing and I freaked out, grasping instinctively, and desperately, for the armrests. Sophie, on the other hand, threw her arms in the air and shouted, "Again, again!" People in rows all around us were laughing.

The low-down on the Big Island - it's big and its an island. Despite that we spent most of Wednesday at the resort, which has an amazing variety of things to do. Not the least of which is snorkling in their lagoon. The waters of the lagoon are calm and protected and it seems like the fish know that. So, they're abundant. What we didn't expect, and found to be really groovy, were the number of sea turtles there too. You know the snorkling must be good when you tire of following the sea turtles. If there was one downside to the day it's that it was really windy. Like, blowing-lounge-chairs-into-the-pool windy. Nevertheless, it's hard to complain when it's 80 degrees out and you think, it's December here...

Today, I got up early and went to a beach very near the resort to go snorkling. It was spectacular. The ocean was really rough yesterday but this morning it was still at this particular beach. I was out in the water for an hour or so. I'm glad sharks aren't lured in by prune hands. I'd have been toast. The lagoon at the resort is mostly lava rock and a sandy bottom. I went to this beach because the consiyerge (sp?) said there was good coral there. And there really was. I want back and got Anneka and the kids and we went back. We brought our wetsuits so we could be out for a decent amount of time and not feel cold. In the morning it became obvious that I could only warm the water so much, by peeing in it. Then you run out and your just cold after that. Anneka went out for a bit while I built sand castles with Soph. Come to think of it, Soph didn't help at all. So to the others on the beach I was just a slighly pot-bellied, mostly hairless, old guy building a sand castle.

It was fun.

Then I dawned my wet suit and went out for a second gig in the water. I did have a brush with a stealthy sea creature that freaked my out a bit. Turns out it was just that long zipper strap thingy that had tangled in my knees. But by then I'd already soiled myself a bit. And, in my wet suit no less... I really do love to see the amazing and colorful fish but I'm seriously mental in the water.

I'll go back tomorrow though.

Tonight we went to Kona to see what all the hubub was about. Was great to simply stroll with the family and watch the sun set.

Tomorrow we'll hit another beach as well as do some snorkling here. I think Anneka's super bugged by one thing; the resort has a ton of pools but the water is freezing. Soph really wanted to swim and did eenie meenie minie mo to determine who she wanted to go with and it fell to me. I said it was really cold and she reassured me, "It's OK, Dad, it's just a little cold." She hadn't gotten in yet. Am I cruel to feign that it wasn't as bad as it was so that my child would leap into my arms so I could delight in her shock when she find out it really was that cold?

Oh, and they have dolphins here at the resort. You can swim with them. It costs like a Volkswagen to do it, but its free to watch them from the boardwalk. There are two baby dolphins born within the last two months and they frolicked just like little kittens. It was super cool.

Well, it's late and I want to go to bed. I have an hard, arduous, long day of vacationing ahead of me tomorrow. I need my rest.

More later!

Mahalo, Aloha and Peace Out!