The Thorsons vs the Volcano

Hello again!! I know it has been awhile. Life without a computer is killing us. Our computer was shipped off, "fixed", sent back and still didn't work, so now it is shipped off again while we use a computer on loan from Joel's work. Anyway, we are back now from an absolutely fabulous vacation!! We had such a wonderful time on the Big Island. The things we saw and experienced were so different from anything I have ever seen. I hope the pictures allow you to grasp some of it.

Anna and Asher heading off to the airplane for our trip. They did not go to sleep until around 10pm the night before because they were so excited. We heard them in their room giggling and whispering. It was cute.

A black sand beach. This was my favorite experience. The black sand is created when hot lava hits the ocean and is shattered. The sand is really just as soft as regular sand, but a regular beach doesn't have the cool lava cliffs.

Making smores in our cabin. We loved having some cold weather and made a fire every night.

Jesse spent a lot of time in the backpack for our hikes but he didn't seem to mind.

Next to Asher is a "petroglyph"...images and stories carved into the lava.

Here is some lava pouring into the ocean. This was about as close as we could get but it was still pretty cool. Far off we could also see the river of lava flowing down the moutain.

Behind this beautiful family is the crater that used to be a lava lake (in the 1980s). We did a 4 mile hike down into the crater and across it where we got to see the actual vent that spewed lava. Anna and Asher did the whole hike by themselves and we had such a great time. It is amazing to walk on land younger than you?! Weird, huh? The smoke way off behind is another crater erupting at the present time but most of the lava is travelling underground.

Hiking through a "lava tube" which is a cave or tube created by the lava flowing under the ground which we learned is how it most often travels. We were able to hike down into this tube and turn off our flashlights to experience the darkest dark we have ever seen. Asher was so brave-you really couldn't even see your hand. Anna refused to go down but that's OK.

More black sand. This beach was created by a new eruption in the 1990s...again, land younger than us.

Swimming in a hot lava pool. It was like being in a hot tub. Ocean water was flowing in one side so you could hear the sound of the waves as you relaxed. I could have stayed here all day.

It was a great trip but Anna and Asher were sooooo excited to go back to our house with toys. The whole time they kept asking where their toys were. However they are still talking about all the cool volcano stuff. Maybe it will be their earliest memory.