The Ragusa Family: Hawaii

This morning we woke up and headed straight for the beach. Today we went to "A Bay" (Anaeho'omalu Bay) right by our condo to do some more snorkeling. There were only a few other people there, I guess because it was so early in the morning. Drew had so much fun in the sand...just being a boy. Emily wanted to get a little sun. Lauren is our little fish and wanted to snorkel with Andy. It wasn't nearly as good as the first place we went because the water was more cloudy and not as many fish. Lauren was out with Andy and looked up and had a HUGE sea turtle in her face. She loved it!!! The kids had so much fun on the beach today.

We found a sea cucumber. It was neat but yet gross if that makes sense. Soft and mushy but shaped like a pickle. YUCK!

After a few hours at the beach we headed back to the condo to eat lunch and shop. We ended up going to the Kona International Marketplace and a little Farmer's Market in downtown Kona. Lauren completed her shopping list, Emily found a few things, Drew wanted EVERYTHING. I was holding out for my Brighton Hawaii bracelet. I was determined to find it! The cutest gifts were for my nieces that mom bought. The CUTEST coconut purses. I sure hope they like them because they were so stinkin' cute!

Mom gave Emily her birthday gift tonight. My sister and her family and mom/JD gave Emily a cross necklace from Tiffany's. Her first (and maybe only) real piece of Tiffany jewelry. I think she is afraid to wear it! It looks so cute on her! I can't believe our Emily is almost 16 years old. Happy early birthday Em! You are a very special girl.

Tonight we took my mom to the airport. Sad to see her leave but she wanted a day of rest before she went to my sisters. We loved having her around. After we dropped her off we headed down to Keauhou Bay to watch the manta rays at night. The hotel shines lights int the water so you can see them. Unfortunately we only saw one manta ray but it was still so neat to watch him swim around. I could have stayed there for hours just watching the waves crash into the lava.