{stateside} hawaii: days one & two - aloha!

we arrived on the big island late in the evening on saturday after a particularly long and stressful day of travel.  our home for that first night was the waikoloa beach marriott.  we dropped our bags in the room, changed into our flip flops, and headed to the nearest fruity cocktail. which was amazing. we walked down to the beach, put our toes in the sand, and then promptly passed out.

after breakfast sunday morning we headed back down to the beach and discovered that it was aloha day {aka: do all of the awesome water sports activities for one low price!}.  we kayaked.  we hydro-biked.  we glass-bottom-boated {and saw our first sea turtles!}.  we kayaked some more.  the water was impossibly blue and completely clear.  we ate our shave ice in the sunshine and wondered how we could possibly be this lucky.

eventually we wore ourselves out and decided to check in to the condo where we'd be staying for the rest of our time on the big island.  it was gorgeous {thank you, friends!}.  we got cleaned up and headed over to the hilton {also gorgeous} to have dinner at a perfect little spot between the ocean and a pool full of dolphins.  DOLPHINS!  there was even a baby, people.  a BABY.  DOLPHIN.  we wandered around the hilton village, had a couple more pineapple-flavored drinks, and then walked back to our little home away from home...