One of the "must do" things on the Big Island of Hawaii is to visit Volcano National Park. One of the world's most active volcanoes - Kilauea (kill 0 way ah) - is located here. Just last year Kilauea became active again and started spewing steam. You can see Ava pointing to the steam in the picture above.
The above family picture was not taken on 2/26/2009 - my mom's camera had the wrong date programmed. We'll see if that becomes a future topic around the family table when we say...remember back in 2009 when we visited the volcano? Was that in February or in March? But now, because of this blog...we'll know the difference.
Brandon and I also took a 3 mile hike down to one of the calderas. This is like walking on Mars or somewhere very desolate. It provided Brandon and I the opportunity to get really close to the activity. Surreal. 
We also took a 1 mile hike down to the point where the lava runoff meets the Pacific Ocean. This is located near the southern point of the Big Island and we were told it creates some 50 acres of "new land" each year. The picture below doesn't do it justice as the steam cloud that is created is truly immense.
This was not an easy hike on the lava rock with two 3 year-olds. Ava needed to be carried by Sabrina the whole way back and I kept Caden's mind occupied by singing every nursery rhyme I could think of. Eventually I ran out of songs, thus he started thinking he was walking too far and was getting tired, so I had to carry him the final quarter mile.
Until next time... ponder how life has a way of creating itself. Out of barren dry volcanic stone sprouts this delicate flowering bush.
We also took a 1 mile hike down to the point where the lava runoff meets the Pacific Ocean. This is located near the southern point of the Big Island and we were told it creates some 50 acres of "new land" each year. The picture below doesn't do it justice as the steam cloud that is created is truly immense.This was not an easy hike on the lava rock with two 3 year-olds. Ava needed to be carried by Sabrina the whole way back and I kept Caden's mind occupied by singing every nursery rhyme I could think of. Eventually I ran out of songs, thus he started thinking he was walking too far and was getting tired, so I had to carry him the final quarter mile.Until next time... ponder how life has a way of creating itself. Out of barren dry volcanic stone sprouts this delicate flowering bush.
