Summer Vacation 2026- Hawaii (Part 12- San Diego)

We flew from the Big Island to San Diego and arrived pretty late. We were staying at the Del Coronado in a townhouse in the newer portion of the hotel. 

Michael and I grabbed a drink at the Babcock and Story bar and then headed to bed after a full day of traveling. 

We spent the next day hanging out a the pool. 

Then off to the San Diego Padres game. This is our 8th MLB stadium as a family. 

The stadium was so nice. We were really surprised at how many options there were inside. 

Back to the Del.

We went to bed pretty late and then unfortunately the carbon monoxide alarm went off multiple times starting at 5am. We had maintenance come three times between the hours of 5am and 8am. It was beyond frustrating. 

We were exhausted and headed back home after an amazing vacation (minus the Del staff and alarm issues.)

Summer Vacation 2026- Hawaii (Part 11- Big Island)

We woke up early in the morning to head to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. This is our 26th national park as a family.  We had originally planned to visit at the beginning of our Big Island stay, but we were hoping to see eruption #51. We ended up missing it by a couple days. It was still so cool to see the vents steaming.

We parked a little ways away and had about a half mile walk to the Lava Tube. It was really scenic with views of the lava field through pretty trees. 

The lava tube was being worked on, so part of it was inaccessible. The part we were able to go into was really cool though. 

The sea arch at the end of the national park was really pretty. 

This is the newest land on earth because the volcano is making additional land. It was pretty neat to see in person. 

We ate inside the Volcano House with a great view of the steaming volcano. 

We had a really fun day exploring a new national park!

We arrived back at the resort for sunset and the kids ordered some fun drinks for our last night in Hawaii. 

Sugar Rush!

Last beautiful Hawaii sunset! Sure am going to miss this place!

Summer Vacation 2026- Hawaii (Part 10- Big Island)

We woke up to a really windy day. The boys were supposed to go on a canoe and snorkel, but it was cancelled because it was too windy. 

So they snorkeled at the resort instead. This sweet turtle came up onto shore. 

We spent the day hanging out on the beach. Then we had the complimentary cocktails on the patio before a really fun nighttime adventure. 

 

Ready to snorkel with Manta Rays. We had to wait for the sun to go down first. 

We were all a little nervous, but once we got in the water it was amazing! They are the most gentle creatures and it was not scary at all. We all did not want it to end!

After the night snorkel we changed really quick in the car and then went to Manta for dinner. This was definitely one of my favorite dinners in Hawaii. It was SO good. 

While waiting on dessert we went down to the viewing area. It was cool to see the manta rays from the shore too. 

The kids dessert was so cute! A brownie manta ray!

It was such a great day on the big island! Swimming with manta rays has been on my bucket list for a long time and it far surpassed any of my wildest dreams!

Summer Vacation 2026- Hawaii (Part 9- Big Island)

 We had a pool day today. The resort was full with kids and he pool was rowdy so the kids had a blast!

We had late dinner reservations so we full enjoyed the sunset. It was gorgeous.

We went to Lava Lava Beach club and ate dinner with our toes in the sand while listening to live music. It was great.

We arrived back at the resort pretty late. The resort was so peaceful and beautiful at night. 

It was a great relaxing day after a long travel day the day before.