And, here's the family enjoying our last night together in paradise:
After those 10 days, Rian and I flew over to the Big Island for 10 days. We had never been to that island and wanted to do the Manta Ray Night Dive. Well, when we found out I was pregnant, diving went out the window. Luckily, they offer that same trip for snorkelers and it was AMAZING! What beautiful and majestic creatures! I honestly think snorkeling was more fun than diving because we had a lot of interaction with the Mantas at the surface and were able to pop up and talk with each other. We also did a Dolphin Snorkel adventure where we went out in the morning, found a pod of dolphins and followed them up the shoreline. We would get ahead of them and the boat would drop us off with our snorkel equipment and we'd just wait for them to pass. It was incredible! We dropped in about 7 or 8 times. Here is a picture of me and the belly in a wetsuit...
We also got a bit of excitement while on this trip. After a big earthquake just off the coast of Chile, Hawaii was under a Tsunami warning and we were awakened to the doorbell and someone telling us we had to evacuate within the next 2 hrs. Eek! We didn't have much time to figure out what was going on so it was kind of scary. Not sure what to expect, we packed up some stuff and headed to our evacuation spot. We ended up hanging out at a school for a couple hrs and then realized we didn't have to sit and stay put, we just couldn't go back down toward the coast. So, we drove up to Parker Ranch and explored that area. Within a couple hrs, the warning had been lifted and we were able to go back to our condo. No damage, thank goodness, so all was well. Here is a picture of Rian as he joked he was going to climb to "higher ground." At this point, we were already about 2000ft above sea level so were quite safe. I have now been on vacation with a hurricane, earthquake and tsunami. I told Rian if Mauna Kea blew while we were up there, I was done with vacations!
I was pretty much exhausted each day after spending a couple hours out and about in the heat so we didn't make the drive to Hilo (2 1/2 hrs each way) nor did we experience the volcanos (since being pregnant wasn't ideal to hang out in the sulfur gas environment). So, we will definitely need to go back again in the future when we can explore more of the island. The island was like nothing we've ever seen. It's a VERY diverse environment from the black lava fields, the barren hillsides, the rolling hills of Parker Ranch and the beautiful hidden beaches. We really fell in love with this place!
After our Hawaii adventure, we spent a week in WA with our families. Rian's mom had a baby shower for us in Vancouver and then my sister had one for us in Ephrata. Both were wonderful and I was so overwhelmed by all the love and support we received from everyone (not to mention all the gifts!!). Wow! It was nice to be able to sneak in a trip "home" to see everyone and share in our baby joy. However, by the time I got back to Buffalo, I was absolutely exhausted and ready to settle in and "nest." We packed in several weeks of travel and adventure and now are just awaiting our little one's arrival...
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