Hawaii - Day 2: Settling In and Exploring Hilton Waikoloa Beach and Pools, and Our Family Christmas Party!

We woke up in paradise to a beautiful, soft morning and a few curious mongoose in the lawn. We took a morning swim before splitting up for errands. I went to Kona to do the grocery shopping for the week while Floyd took the kids down there to pick up special snorkel gear. I bought so much food I needed a giant cart to move it, but it was worth it since the Costco is about the only place with reasonable prices.

After lunch, the kids and I had a really fun afternoon exploring the Hilton Waikoloa Village amenities which are basically the flagship of all the properties and are incredibly well done. It really is stunning to walk down the grand staircase and look out over the lagoon to the ocean and see pools and landscaped gardens everywhere you look. It is such a big property, it has its own train and boat that move people around. We did a big lap, including looking at the dolphins, and settled into a spot with a lovely pool and waterslides. After thoroughly enjoying that, we moved to yet another pool that had a lazy river and more slides. On our walk home, we encountered about 30 wild goats roaming the median and the golf course. They are pretty fun to watch. We also got a clear view to recently snow-covered Mauna Kea towering above us all.

We finished up the grand day with our family Christmas gift exchange game. It was fun to have dinner with Floyd, Kathie, and Peter (Kirstie had tested positive for Covid and was in quarantine). This was the first year the kids participated in the gift swap and it was a lot of fun to include them!