Sun and Fun

Paddle Ball

Over by the pool there's a grassy area with room to toss a frisbee, lounge around, or in this case - play paddle ball.  Last year Ted bought a set of these at a corner store here and he was quite happy to find them again this year.  Always organizing a game of something - this year is no different.

Brad and Joan are the cheering section

Gary's smile tells me he must be winning... 

Morning Walk

I've been enjoying the early morning walk, what a great way to start the day off and it's particularly enjoyable doing it with friends instead of alone.  

This pond we walk by is an amazing green colour, and so still it's unreal.  There's always some fish ponds that we go by that have many interesting fish, as well as Gina's favourite sea creature - the eel.   She is sure that they jump right up out of the water so you better watch out and don't lean over the railing!

Coffee

After our walk we headed over to the Fairmont for a latte with an ocean view that can't be beat.

There was some delicious looking pastries which I was very tempted by but was able to resist, although I did see Gary eating a fabulous looking pineapple danish.  The beautiful view almost made up for it!

Sun

Hapuna Beach was our choice for some afternoon playtime, the waves were pounding and we watched some locals have some fun trying to launch their 'party raft'.  It was pretty comical watching them try to get past the waves and out to sea, although maybe that wasn't their goal after all because we heard lots of laughter every time it dumped them overboard.  

Boogie boarding is lots of fun at Hapuna, and the waves today were pretty high.  Brad, Gary and Ted geared up and headed in!

And here they come in to shore!  Even I gave it a go, although that's a photo for another day................ :)

Mauna Lani

We're Here

So we spent most of Thursday travelling to get here, and arrived late that night. Then Friday morning we woke up and walked over to Gina and Gary's place for breakfast, the place here is beautiful and what a great way to start our vacation.
After that we made the half hour drive down to Kona to hit Target and Costco for supplies, and after that was done it was time to unpack, unwind, and relax.

Our home away from home, a nice 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhouse

The sky starts to lighten up around 6:30 am which is the time that us girls went for a four mile walk around the resort area, down by the beach, and up by the golf course and then home again.  This is a place where it's good to be an early bird, it's the perfect temperature to get some exercise in.

The sun started to peek over the mountain shortly after we started our walk. 

Beach walk - almost sunrise.

Once the morning exercise was done it was home for breakfast and then off to the Mauna Lani beach for some of us while Ted went to check out tennis nearby. There's some great tennis venues here so he's pretty happy about that.

The place is idyllic - you laze in the sun, then cool off in the turquoise waters, and then do it all over again - perfect routine.

This afternoon we will be going over to spend time at the pool, then it's back to our place for Happy Hour and more relaxing, after a month of this we will be stress-free!

Kohala Coast

Soon...

...we'll be waking up to the sights and sounds of Hawaii, it'll be a welcome change from being woken by the sound of rain hitting against our windows!

Time Flies

We had a lot of fun with our fabulous hosts and good friends of theirs and the days passed quickly.  A couple of funny things we saw that I want to post so I don't forget about them:

This lit signpost at the walking track says 'Slow movers stay right' !

I could officially hear like a bat

The Kartchner Caves were amazing, we were unable to take photos inside unfortunately but they were unforgettable.

Cool evenings a few nights so we sat around the firepit:

Now we are home and starting to think about Christmas coming, along with the rain and maybe even a bit of snow as this year's vacations have come to an end.

Sedona and Jerome

By eight o'clock this morning we were on our way to see the red mountains of Sedona, and the quaint little town Jerome, which was at the top of a narrow windy road.  We also made a side trip to see a Very old settlement of a village carved into the side of a hill, Montezuma Castle.

Classic cowboy cactus

Montezuma Castle

Red Rock mountains of Sedona

Atop the site of The Chapel of the Holy Cross

Phoenix Sonoran Preserve

Today we drove to the Sonoran Preserve, there is a lot of trails all around there for biking, hiking, and even horseback riding.  The group of us split up to do some of each.

Jo-Anne took her new bike on its maiden voyage.

We shared the trail with some horses as well.

Busy Sports Day

Today we played a variety of sports / games.  Early in the morning there were some of the group of friends going for a long walk, Ted played three variations of tennis, and then we finally all met up to play 18 holes of mini-golf before Happy Hour

A few action shots of Jo and Al, they don't look like novices at all!

Great enthusiasm for the game!

                                                             
                                                                       Great serve!

The start of mini-golf - one there was more talent on display as there were numerous hole-in-ones.  Fun was had by all!