Staycation- Hilton Waikoloa Village

Before I get into our Hilton Waikoloa visit, let me just share with you how the whole Hilton stay came about... We actually had planned to go to Kapoho and rent a beach house for the holiday weekend.  I had invited my brother and his family to join us since they were flying in from LA.  I thought my nieces would love to stay there since it was right on the water and often had turtles swim through the area.  Well, the week before, Hurricane Iselle hit the Puna district and tore into Kapoho.  Rather than risk going out there, we opted to meet my brother out in Waikoloa where they had one night booked.  We extended their stay and joined them for the weekend... it worked out quite nicely!

After a busy week at work, I managed to pack a few things and we headed to the other side of the island to meet up with my family.  Before hitting the road, we stopped at a local Okazuya to pick up some breakfast and lunch.  Here's our breakfast plate to share on the road... Yummy!

We traveled on the new Saddle Road and got there in no time!  My brother had decided to go to the City of Refuge, so we had some time before they met up with us.  We were just happy to be there!  To give you an idea of just how big the Hilton Waikoloa is.. you can choose to walk, ride a tram, or ride on boats to get you around the resort.  We mostly walked or caught the tram.  Here's me an the hubby on the tram.

This is one of my favorite views of the resort.  Their lagoon area is so pretty!

 So after meeting up with my brother and his family, we had a bite to eat then headed straight for the pool!  If you've never been to the Hilton Waikoloa, you have to check out their pools.  They have three pools around the resort, but the main pool- Kona Pool was all the way across the property from where we were staying.

I gotta say... one of the best purchases we've made is this underwater camera.  The one we bought is a Nikon, but I'm sure there are other good models out there. Definitely worth the money for tons of fun.. Check out all of our pictures!

One of the things that have been hard to do with this camera is take underwater selfies.  My husband seems to have gotten the hang of it.

Me on the other hand.. have not. LOL!  I have waaaaay more embarrassing ones that won't hit this site, but you get the idea.  I was making a mad face.

One of the highlights of the pool is this huge slide.  I didn't go on,  but we watched the kids have fun coming down.

 I waited with my niece who didn't want to go. She's such a poser!

They had tons of fun on the rings. I think my brother got some exercise towing them around.

 Finally got a good pix of Akemi in the pool!

After the pool we decided to head to the Queen's Marketplace for dinner.  Although staying at the resort is awesome, the food can get costly, so we often left the property to eat.  We ended up at the Macaroni Grill which is one of my faves and something that the girls would all enjoy.  My niece drew an incredible likeness of my husband.

The next morning, I went to go find some coffee while the hubs went running.  I guess my Barista does latte art!  So cute!

While discussing what we were going to do that day, the girls entertained themselves by building a fort out of their couch/bed.  FYI- they didn't have any more rooms with two double beds, so their room had a king sized bed and a pull out sofa bed.  The sofa bed was not so comfortable... for the adults anyway.

After breakfast, we headed for the pool.  This time we started at the smaller pool that was closer to our room.  The adults didn't go in this time... just chillin by the pool.

The Kohala River pool was much smaller but just as fun for the girls.

After the pool, everyone started to get hungry.. so we tried to find some food and ended up at the Lagoon Grill.  It was mostly burgers and salads but they were pretty darn good!  I got the mushroom and swiss bacon burger.  And oh, by the way.. the mushrooms were Hamakua Alii mushrooms.. my fave!  You can check out their farm and purchase a large bag of mushrooms at a discounted price.

So we decided to share the burger and the chili cheese fries with the works (works includes sour cream, bacon and jalapenos).  Please note, we ate most of the fries, gave the rest to my brother, who then used the girl's leftover fries and had Round 2!!

So after we ate, we had to rest a bit.  While my brother went to go get more sun screen, we checked out the lagoon.

One of the things everyone wanted to do was rent a paddle boat... Here's the highlight of the trip... We decided that me, my husband, and the three girls could fit in the paddle boat.  Well, I guess we need to lose weight cause after we had gone to one end of the lagoon, we started sinking!!!!  It was sooooo funny!  I couldn't stop laughing.  My daughter was panicking and yelling.. "We're gonna die out here!".  LOL!  So we made it to the other end of the lagoon and let out two of the girls.  Good thing their mom was watching us and met us there. She was cracking up too.  Then we took the boat back to shore and got out all the water.  After that, the young one didn't want to go back!  So the parents went out with their older daughter (shown here).  I will always remember that story!!

On their last trip out, a turtle swam under their boat!  The girls got so excited, they jumped out and went to get a better look.

After several spins around in the paddle boat, the girls wanted to play in the sand.

 After the beach, they had an ice cream break and then we headed to the Kona pool again.  I must be missing some pictures, but I managed to find this one.. It's me.. chillin by the pool and shopping on ETSY!  hee hee.

Guess who was tired!

We finally managed to get the girls out of the pool.  We told my brother to take my sister in law out for a nice dinner while we watched the kids.  So we took them back to Queen's Marketplace for dinner at the food court.  Here they are waiting for the tram.

 And after dinner  picture taking time!

Here's me being silly with the girls.

And my favorite picture of the night.. LOL!

The only drama on this trip was when my daughter lost her glasses.  My husband made several trips to the pool to see if they could find it.  After we met up again with my sister in law, she must've said something that jogged his memory, so he headed back to the pool to check one more time.  Here's my daugther after she found out he found it!

 On our last day, we ended up just eating breakfast and checking out. I think everyone was exhausted and needed to catch up on sleep.  Here we are leaving the Hilton.  

After the Hilton, we made our way to Costco (no more costco on our side of the island) and then lunch at Pine Tree Cafe.  My brother stumbled on them when they went to the City of Refuge, so they wanted to go back to taste their lunch menu.  It it a local favorite!  If you have a chance you have to check them out.... so ono!

Then we headed back over Saddle to check out the Imiloa Astronomy Center. Got to see one of their Planetarium shows and the exhibits.  The girls loved it!

 

My brother and sister in law were trying to take a selfie with that floor mural but the girls kept photo bombing them... LOL!

   I guess everyone had a great time.. already planning for next year!