Big Island of Hawaii 1986

We recently spent some time on the "big island" and it reminded me a little bit of the first time we visited in 1986.  Our kids were just 1, 3, 5 and 7 and we had not flown a lot as a family.  I am still eternally grateful to the man sitting in the row behind us who played "Go Fish" with Butch for almost the entire flight. It was our first trip to Hawaii and I had visions of a lush jungle paradise, so I was a little disappointed when the plane landed in the middle of a barren lava flow. 

Calvin and I were not sure if we would ever travel to Hawaii with the kids again, so we wanted to have the full island experience.  We logged over 1000 miles on the minivan that we rented that trip. As it turned out we made a few more trips to the islands, but this was the only trip to the big island with the whole family.

I've been scouring the old family photos and only came up with a few from that trip.  We seem to have more of Peter, but that might be because some of the other photos have found their way to new homes.  At any rate, here is our family on the big island in 1986.

and one last picture of Peter standing on a lava flow that was born the on the day and year of his birthday.