Family trip-Day 6

We had a full day on the first Saturday we were here. We headed out to a beach past an old lava flow in the morning. The ride in was bumpy and slow, long and winding, but well worth it once we got to the beach. Since you can't see it off the highway like most of the others, it was not at all crowded. I'm sorry I don't remember any of the beach names, but this one was great for the boogie board. The beach was a steeply sloped hill down to the water that had a lot of trees along it for shade. We did have to hike with all our gear about a half mile to get to the really good spots, but the kids handled it well.

At one point in the visit, the kids wanted to be buried in the sand. So Adam dug some little pits and they'd put their feet and legs in while Adam covered them back up. After a couple of times of that, Sam wanted a hole big enough for him to sit in. Once he was in and up to his chest, we got some great shots. I put the camera away just in time to watch a big wave wash up the beach and right over Sam, who was stuck and couldn't run away like his sisters did. It was so funny and he actually handled it really well. Just asked us if we'd move his hole up higher.

On our way back to the car we stopped to take some pics by the old lava flow. The kids wanted to say they stood on real lava! Sam's really a grump in the pics though. Adam headed back to the car without him and he threw a tantrum about it. He wasn't done putting about it when we snapped the pics.

Our final stop for the day was the place of refuge further south along the coast. In ancient days, this was where the king's seaside hangout was, as well as some religious sites. if you offended the king or performed any kind of wrong-doing, you had the chance to run for this place by the shore. If you made it past the sacred walls before the king's warriors got you, then you were spared and the "gods" absolved you of all crimes. They had the site set up as a self-guided walking tour. Wooden posts with numbers on each were placed outside each significant spot along the tour. The kids really got into finding the next number, like a scavenger hunt. I think they enjoyed the searching more than the actual sites presented. There were some interesting tide pools along the route that provided us yet another turtle sighting.