East to West

Written by Charles October 8, 2013

Over the last 5 days we were in Cincinnati.  My parents had to go to dinners and conferences there.  My brother and I went to one of the dinners, which was at the zoo.  William and I went there and walked around for a bit.  As we were coming back William felt something wet on the back of his shirt.  He asks me what it is and a bird had gotten a direct hit!  My dad had to clean the poop up with a couple napkins.  We ate near the elephants, which were super cool to look at.

It’s our first full day in Hawaii at the hotel/resort.  When someone thinks Hawaii, what pops into mind is usually lush green jungles and mountains with white sandy beaches.  Well, you would be wrong.  On the side of the Big Island that we are on its mostly brownish black volcanic rock, instead of jungles.   The rock comes from the lava that comes down off of the volcanoes.  We saw lava boulders the size of small cars on the way from the airport.  We took a pearl white limo from the airport to the hotel, which was a complete surprise.  At the hotel we ate dinner and on the menu there was a ton of gluten free foods, which was a relief.  (My brother, mom, and I have to eat gluten free.) 

Today we already went snorkeling, which was super awesome.  I saw a lot of fish and even a whole school of fish.  My favorite thing that I saw was four huge green sea turtles.  I brought an underwater camera, which ran out of batteries half way through the snorkel trip.  It died right before the turtles so I did not get any pictures of them.  Later today we are going on a hike to one of the three volcanoes, which I think will be really awesome.

Written by William October 9, 2013

I’m back! We were in Cincinnati this last week, and we saw a lot of our friends. I also had to get my blood drawn at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, and it was not fun! We went to this one event at our old school, Summit, called Fall Festival. I got my face painted like a knight, and I also got a tall silly hat for a prize after winning the game where you have to knock down the pins. I saw a sheep and a lama, which was cool, and luckily the lama did not spit on me.

My dad did a 700-mile bike ride to raise money for the cure for HLH. The ride was from Mississippi to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, where we watched him and his friends finish the ride. That night we went to a dinner at the zoo, where we saw elephants, ducks, giraffes, and peacocks. It was fun because I got to see a few HLH survivors like me.

Our travel day yesterday was a very long day. We flew from Cincinnati to LA, and there was a 4-hour layover there. We got lunch, did some schoolwork, and then hopped on the plane to Hawaii (which I like to pronounce Ha-wee-wee). On the flight over I saw a volcano, but I am not sure if it was active or not. I also saw some volcanic rock near the airport, and I thought “uh-oh.” I was thinking maybe the volcano will erupt while we are here. We rode in a stretch limo to our hotel, and it was really cool!

Today we went snorkeling, and I saw giant green sea turtles. They were larger than I expected them to be, so I got a little scared at first and started swimming toward the shore. My mom had me come closer to them, and then I became less afraid of them.