Big Island Day 1: A few strikes, but no outs

We have looked forward to Big Island for a long time, now, and we were excited to throw a trip together for Memorial Day weekend. It was perfect timing, and the perfect length for our first little family vacation together.
You have to know by now that I'm a huge proponent of guidebooks. Of course I read "Hawaii: The Big Island Revealed" a couple of times, highlighting, marking, and planning our adventures. For the most part, the author did a good job in his recommendations. On Day 1, though, we found a few weaknesses in his highlights.

Srike: Kiholo Bay

The guidebook says, "This is a fabulous place...Turles about here, grazing on limu in the bay...the snorkeling there...can be surreal....Access to much of it requres a little hiking...It's certainly worth it."

I would have worded the experience a little differently: "Kiholo Bay requires a 20 minute, sweaty hike through some of the ugliest scenary you can imagine, with very little foliage and absolutely no shade. When you reach the bay, you might see a turtle or two, but don't expect anything from the snorkeling here. You can barely see your hand in front of your face, much less the turtle you are bound to run into. This is worth it if you can't think of anything better to do."

Remember in my last blog how I said I'd photoshop my teeth in every picture? Yeah, forget that. I took a tutorial on it, and it turns out that unless you spend about 20 min a pic, your teeth look like marshmallows. I tried. It takes forever, and the result is less than satisfactory. (Now, Heidi, if you figure out a quick fix, send it my way, you photoshop genius!) So, I'm just going to get over it and let you see them in all their glory.
For Zac, this was NOT a waste of a couple hours. He loved hiking on the rocks, jumping off the rocks, throwing rocks, and finding more rocks to throw. This was the first moment that I realized a family vacation could be just as much fun as a couples trip.

Strikes 2 and 3 came when we tried to attend two of the "top 5 beaches in the US." Hapuna Beach was pretty, but surf was too tough for snorkeling, and not high enough for boogie boarding. (To be fair, I think if we didn't live here, we would have died over this beach.) Mauna Loa beach was inaccessible to us due to parking shortages. Ah, well. We went to our resort instead.

Brady gave me my first birthday surprise: Chocolate covered strawberries! I love him in the background.

We explored a bit and swam with Zachary in the pools for an hour, and then got ready for my birthday dinner at Kamuela Provision Company, a fish place inside the resort. Heidi and Nic were on a trip to Big Island at the same time as us, and watched Zachary for us for a few hours. Zac loved it so much. He came back saying "Ty and Shay? Ty and Shay?" for an hour after we left their room from picking him up. (And Nic and Heidi were super nice even after he peed on their floor.)

Hello, there, you 28-year-0ld brace-face:

At Jillian's suggestion, we picked up a virgin lava flow. Brady selected the better meal--all kinds of seafood on a bed of linguine. YUM.Despite the heavy vog throughout Kona/Kohala, the sunset was beautiful.
Overall, Day 1 was not quite the adventure-packed thrill we expected, but it ended nicely.