The month of May

What an amazing month this has been. Seriously, one of the best, ever.

It started off with Girl's Day, then two back to back visitors, a couple of fun school events for Ryan (curriculum share, sleepover, field day, last day), plus three celebratory weekends/overnight trips in a row! First...the visitors!

German breakfast with Rich's mom Judy, our first visitor.

...and a tea party with Rich's other mom, Kay (our second visitor).

Weekend #1 was spent celebrating Ryan's birthday with a Pokemon party! The plan was to go small this year...very small, especially after last year's large carnival-themed soiree got a little rowdy. ;-) Since we had less kids, instead of having 5-6 carnival games, we went with three, uber simple Pokemon-themed games. (It was later pointed out to us that two out of the three are popular college drinking games, so parents have us to thank for that)!

The birthday boy was over the moon about getting a rainbow cake , even though he only ate one bite since he was too excited to eat!

Beer pong (apparently)...I had no idea!  

Coin toss

Dart throwing

The Pokemon prize table

It ended up being more of a birthday week for this little guy- since between his party, small celebration at school, and his two grandmas visiting, it meant a few more special celebratory meals for him!

Birthday breakfast!

Mexican fiesta birthday dinner with the family on his actual birthday!

Post-party at his favorite restaurant...Bubba's!

The next weekend (#2) was spent at the very gorgeous military cabins out at the Volcano National Park. One day there, my nephew and I got to experience the most amazing hike (from the Volcano House to Jaggar Museum and back) for the first time. It took us through steam vents, and offered crater rim views and rain forest fauna/chirping birds the whole route. It's a definite must-do for me on our regular trips there! I can't believe I've been to that park over three dozen times or so, but have never been on that hike!

Hard to see from this picture, but the steam is rising from the crater in the background,,,

Grammy K and her Kona grandkids!

Lava tube walking

Devastation Trail

Burger and bowling on base at the cutest alley, ever!

First time we've brought bikes to the park, and note to self: must. do. it. again. always!!! The boys loved it!

I found the world's cutest steam vent. My nephew called it the perfect potty, but I threatened his life if he dared to try and test it out.

 

The glow from the crater from Jaggar Museum

We had the best time out there. Unlike the Namakani Pai'o cabins that we usually rent (that are drafty and cold), we were living large with a solid, wooden structure over our heads this time...so no teeth chattering/freezing! We also had Mongolian BBQ for dinner one night, which blew the nephew's minds. :-)  

This last weekend (#3), was one I was really, really excited about. I thought there was no way it would be able to live up to my expectations (which were admittedly grand), but it easily surpassed all of them! 

For a few years now, I've followed a Facebook page for a place called Waipio Rim B & B. It looks like the essence of paradise. I've desperately wanted to stay there, but couldn't justify the cost (it's understandably outside of our usual budget). But when I saw that they were closing for good (the owners are going to enjoy a much deserved retirement) in early June, and our twentieth anniversary was just ten days or so before they were closing...I *knew* it was a sign to just go ahead and book it! If a 20th anniversary isn't a fabulous reason to splurge, I don't know what is. 

So back in the fall of last year, I was lucky to be able to secure two nights there close to the date of our actual anniversary. It wasn't easy, as the place is in high demand and gets glowing, rave reviews. At that time, I had plans in my head that we would renew our vows as we did on our tenth anniversary. Only this time, it would be private- just the two of us and our 'minister,' Ryan.

After the 90 minute drive out there, we were greeted by these views from (and of) our room...

Our welcome pupu- lilikoi limeade (to die for) and local, Kamuela tomatoes stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with ghost pepper lilikoi jelly.

It was so tastefully done in a tropical beach theme, that it was the only time I can remember saying to myself, "I want a beach house theme!" Most times I enter a beach cottage I tend to think the decor is a bit cheesy. But not this place. Oh gosh , no...I wanted to stuff everything in that room in my suitcase and haul it back home. It's a private, 1/1 studio, and is the only room available at the B & B...so you don't have to see/mingle with other guests.

He got the inaugural test ride (the host just built it for his grandchildren).

Our first morning there, we had the most amazing breakfast waiting for us the moment we got up.

Freshly made banana waffles (the warm bananas were smothered in brown sugar/butter and made me moan out loud) with freshly sliced, ripe local mangoes and strawberry guava juice.

Once we ate, Ryan and I surprised Rich about our renewal of vows. I'd secretly packed a set of nicer clothes for all of us, prepared the wording of the ceremony for Ryan and practiced it with him, and hurriedly made three, semi-sad looking leis. I had originally planned to buy three leis to save time, but found out that because of all the graduation ceremonies in town that week, that there was not a SINGLE lei in town to be found. Once I realized that, Ry & I scoured trees for the few remaining flowers, and were able to come up with juuuust enough (though they were a sad, wilted, tiny bunch).

Rich and I had just 20 minutes or so to write our vows (I'd brought index cards and pens), while our 'minister' used the time to practice his lines.

Getting ready to start...he was SO nervous, but he did GREAT! Not a single mistake!

The sweet owner of the place snapped this photo of us while we did our private, 6-minute ceremony! So lucky!

Our 'minister' also doubled as our official photographer. ;-)  

Post-ceremony family selfie. It felt like it was just the three of us, sitting on top of the world.

Once our ceremony was done, we headed down the hill in our truck so we could go on a few short hikes a friend had told me about earlier in the week (thanks, Jason)! And like any good locals, we offered some honeymooning visitors from Sacramento both our leis (since we figured they'd love them more than us) and a ride down to the beach. Most visitor's rental cars are unable to safely navigate the semi-terrifying, narrow road down, so you tend to see them looking worriedly down into the valley dreaming of going down (or you see them red-faced, pouring sweat, staggering weakly  back up the hill after having braved a trek down).

Once down there, Ryan was in heaven. The black sand beach and soaring cliffs never cease to amaze, but he was far more excited about frolicking in the stream running into the ocean than going on a hike with us!

Oh Waipio. Your beauty is stunning.

 

Loved seeing how much the waves eroded away the black sand to reveal the smooth, black lava rocks and tree roots.

We walked for a short while along the Waimanu path so that we could get a view of the valley from the other direction, as well as see Hi'ilawe falls. We quickly spied the pond our host had mentioned, and decided we'd head back down so we could rinse off (we were pouring sweat) and cool off.

Our B&B was at the top of the road you can see, perched right over the valley.

You can kind of see Hi'ilawe Falls in the mountain if you squint your eyes...unless your'e Asian, in which case you can still keep your eyes wide open.

The hike to the pond was not at all what we expected, as I think we took an accidental shortcut/detour through private property. We chatted briefly with the very kind, generous property owner (who was building a house there), and who also showed us a faster path to get to the pond than on the official trail. Best of all? He offered us the use of his kayak parked by the pond, and lent us a paddle!!!

We were literally walking on (and in) water/muck to get to the pond...our feet would sink into the water anytime we couldn't find reeds/plants to walk on top of. Ryan was semi-traumatized by the pond scum stench and our shoes getting saturated by the murky, stinky greenish/brown water.

Once we were there, we had the entire massive pond to ourselves! It honestly won't have been nearly as fun without the kayak. Seriously...Hawaiian residents are the most trusting and kind people you'll ever meet. We felt so blessed. His act of kindness accentuated the entire experience and really made our day! I can't wait to go back and bring him some kind of a thank you gift.

 

Hi'ilawe Falls

After we left the pond and walked back to our truck, we left the way we'd arrived- by giving a Minnesota couple with eight kids and three Australian male backpackers a ride back up the steep hill (they were piled up in the cab and in the truck bed). People have been kind to us on the road, and so we appreciate paying it forward.

Since it was only mid-afternoon, we decided to head into Hilo for our favorite meal there for dinner (laulau and fried rice from Kuhio Grille, of course), followed by the obligatory froyo we don't get to have in Kona!

Our favorite post dinner treat!

Our second day's breakfast was a spiral cut fresh, sweet pineapple and some toasted coconut pancakes. Heavenly.

Our view from the room every day...sitting on top of the edge of the world.

I can't thank Steve and Nancy from Waipio Rim B & B enough for hosting us, for such delicious appetizers/breakfasts, and for creating a lush ambiance perched atop one of the most beautiful sights in the world. I've never seen a listing with hundreds of reviews, with every single one of them five stars. But they really are perfection!

Our weekend was priceless, and I was super duper happy about being able to celebrate twenty years of commitment and partnership with my two favorite guys in the world!

(Oh! And because I've been questioned about it- no, we didn't have to bring Ryan with us on our anniversary...we wanted to! We enjoy traveling and spending time with him. He's officially over halfway to moving out (we hope, for college!), so we treasure the limited time we have left with him and wouldn't dream of  not including him in such a lovely, priceless, once in a lifetime experience. We figure we'll have many more anniversaries to share alone together, so why not celebrate the ones with him that we can?)