1st Day in Hawaii!

Our first full day in Hawaii was full of excitement! Rylan decided that 6:00 am was a good time to greet the day. Since we were all in the same room, and he kept calling “Mama! Mama!” we went ahead and got up to go exploring!

I do not care for coffee, but James loves it! Luckily for him, we were in the land of Kona coffee! Our hotel was surrounded by stalls and restaurants with many offerings of Kona coffee! We ended up next store at “Java on the Rock”. James got his coffee and Aaron and I enjoyed sharing a fresh glass of passion fruit/orange juice. The food was fresh and delicious, too!

After breakfast, we wandered down the seawall to explore Kailua-Kona. We walked out to the bay to see where both Aaron and James would start their races.

In the afternoon, we went to pick up James’s race packet. We were disappointed to learn that only James would beallowed into the registration area. So, Aaron, Rylan and I went and investigated the “King Kamehameha Hotel”. It was a fancy hotel, but what kind of hotel does not have a bathroom in the lobby?

At first, Aaron wanted to participate in the “Keiki Dip-N-Dash”. Then, he saw the waves and said “No way!” I told him to swim out as far as he felt comfortable. James then went with him all the way to the turnaround point. As soon as he could, he made a break for the shore! He ran really fast for the rest of the race!

After the dip-n-dash, was the “Parade of Nations”. This was very similar to what you see with the Olympics, except not nearly as serious! There were some pretty wild costumes and Rylan got mesmorized by some “gypsies”!

My father arrived on Tuesday to help us with the children during the week, and specifically during the race. One of the first things Aaron said to him at the airport was “I did not like the swim part of my race!”

All in all, it was a great day in Hawaii!