Day 5: Planes and Pig

As I write this blog from our 300 (or so) square foot hotel room, I realize how terribly spoiled we were with the beautiful two-bedroom condo this week. We spent a lazy morning at the condo today before boarding a plane to Kona on the Big Island (caps? no caps?) for the final leg of our vacation journey at King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel. Frankly, vacationing in general may never be the same; I think once you go condo-rental, you can never go back to plain old hotel rooms.

Truth be told, it is a decent hotel, but I know that tomorrow morning I am going to miss lounging in the living room, sipping coffee, while Tiana drinks a bottle on the sofa, and Vinny watches tv in his bedroom.
It was a nice calm morning, even as we packed to leave. Oh condo. I miss you.

However... we booked this hotel mainly because it has a little beach, which Vinny did enjoy this afternoon, and because hotels do have their benefits- like resort-style pools open late at night, which Vinny and Marc are currently enjoying. We also booked this hotel because the most highly recommended luau in Kona is here, and it was an awesome luau. After several mai tais, it was nice to just take an elevator back to the room, and it was very nice that sleeping Tiana did not need to be transferred to the car, and is still happily asleep as I write this. At some point, I will probably transfer her to the pack-n-play... probably.

The Luau included a "Royal Court" ceremony. 

I liked the luau- the dancing was awesome- but Vinny loved the luau. He was very excited about it to begin with. Last week, when the new neighbors across the street were moving in at night, Vinny shouted out the window to them, "I get to see guys take pig out of the ground next week!"  Hahahaha. And boy did he ever. We sort of accidentally got a super close view of the pig removal ceremony. (Natalie, I apologize for the following pictures- look away).

Several times during the luau, Vinny jumped out of his seat to dance. I think we should enroll this kid in Polynesian dance lessons. It was a hoot. He is definitely Marc's son when it comes to food; he excitedly tries all the exotic meats like alligator at the Cajun festival and Kalua pork at the luau. He is such a nut. He refused to eat his pasta last night because it was whole grain (not white), but today he begged for "pig" (and pretty much ate a whole plate full). Whatever. I am glad he enjoyed it. 

 Tiana was a bit difficult (until she fell asleep). With the flight this afternoon, I guess she didn't get enough time or space to just run around and enjoy herself. She was sick of being strapped into places and didn't want to stay in her high chair. So I gave up and let her sit and play with the lava rocks. 

I don't really have too much else to say today. The luau was fun. I am tired. Tomorrow we set out on an adventure around Hawaii. First, we are going to try to get to the remote Makalawena Beach, and then we will head out to the volcano park. I was really bummed that we couldn't afford the boat tour... 'til I realized that there is no lava flowing into the ocean right now. In fact, the only real "view" of lava that we will get to have is a glow from the crater that is best viewed at night, so we are going to head out there a bit later in the day with hopes of staying until nightfall to see the lava. At least Vinny is more excited about hiking the lava tube than about the lava. I am certain we can do that. Well, if I can recover. My legs still hurt from Tuesday. I gotta hike more often.