ring around the...island!

on sunday we set out on a journey. about 2 hours into that journey we threw it all out the window and spontaneously decided to take a trip around the island. 

weeeeeeeee! 

bright and early we headed out to kahuhu ranch for family pictures with kahuku photography. coen was in quite the "mood", but despite that i think we got some good shots. i am excited to share them with you, but you will have to wait for our christmas card. unless i am feeling generous and give you a sneak peak. which translates to, "i have no self control and i am sure they will be posted before thanksgiving."

after the photo shoot, the plan was to head to punalu'u black sand beach. we were all set up for a beach day. 

snorkels, check. 

picnic, check. 

beach toys, check. 

mamas slippers....no check. 

i realized as i was limping to the car after the pictures (note, i have not worn anything but sandals in 6 months and my feet insta-blistered in my slip-ons) that i didn't bring any slippers with me. since the black sand is hot, i HAD to get something. so we headed to the town of oceanview to pick some up. 

most all grocery stores sell these traditions locals slippers for about four bucks. 

these are not the pair i bought, i picked out florescent green. 

cause i am fancy like that. 

when i came back to the car, wes informed me that we were about one hour from kona. 

this traslates to, "we are about one hour from the kona brewing company." 

we both looked at each other and agreed. we were off to kona. 

cheers! 

after lunch wes suggested that we head north up the coast and check out hapuna beach. he claimed that this beach was ranked among the best beaches in the us. um, i didn't believe him for a second. the big island has a lot of things going for it, but beaches are not one them. 

he was right. i was wrong. 

how have we not been here a million times already?! 

soft white sand that goes forever. 

blue blue water. 

i heart hapuna beach. 

{and this guy} 

my sweet little guy was kinda a train wreck/disaster/diva/monster. blame it on the early morning, the lack of nap or the intense wind, he wasn't too happy. 


i finally got some goggles on him to keep the wind out of his face. 


then put him in this giant hole on the beach. 


he finally snapped out of it. kind of. 

despite the efforts of mr sassy pants, we had a good time at hapuna! 

by "we" i mean,  wes and i. 

after a couple hours at the beach, we packed up and headed to the ranching town of waimea for pumpkin spice lattes (it was very chilly!) and then started our way down the other side of the island. 

12 hours after we had left that morning we pulled into our driveway. 

ahhhh, home sweet home.