Actually, Igor is obsessed with a beach - Mauna Kea Beach - to which we went nearly twice a day. When access was closed due to the Half Ironman, he refused to go to A-Bay down the street and he disliked the waves and rocks of Hapuna Beach. To some extent, Igor's beach snobbery is justified. I absolutely loved swimming in the calm, clear water, and was psyched when I was able to swim from one end of the beach to another (about 600 m total) in one go. Even more amazing was the progress the boys made in swimming. Ivan was able to swim well enough to make him even more fearless in waves ("I can swim!"). Nikita's breaststroke enabled him to attempt water polo and swim in the deeper parts of the bay with Igor.
Because this was our second trip to the Big Island, we didn't do much exploring, especially since the lava at Volcano National Park was again inaccessible. We still loved, however, going to the farmers' markets in Waimea, where we benefited from the early lychee season and saw these lovely leis.
We also attended our first rodeo in Honokaa, where we saw cowgirls riding on horses and cowboys roping calves.
In the evenings, we watched Russian videos (Zastava? and 1612) and played chess on a gorgeous wood board - until the store asked us to stop.
Unfortunately, because our trip was right on the heels of MIT's spring semester, I had to tie some loose ends during the trip. I polished my conference talk, and read final papers on the plane and the beach. Perhaps because I was not done with work, I had a very difficult time deciding upon what else to read. I went from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to Three Men in a Boat to finally Sense and Sensibility - all downloaded from the library back at home. Moral of the story is to make sure that future trips include my Kindle and WiFi.
