HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We rang in the new year with family, snacks, confetti poppers, mimosas, card playing, and good old Dick Clark's Rocking New Year Eve "live" even though it was after midnight in NYC.  We have gone through much change in this year past.  We are falling into place here in Hawaii and have enjoyed our changes and experiences of 2011.  Here are a few of the highlights for 2011:
Henry became potty trained, started talking more, met his first friend, and gained an appreciation for tropical fruits.
Anika started school, Kindergarten, reading, writing, snorkeling, swimming on her own, first haircut, riding a two wheeler, and becoming more independent.
Racheal started a new job and resigned from her comfort zone.
Lance quit a job he liked, started a new business, and is learning to surf. 
When Racheal first decided to take on this job her school that she had worked at for 9 years granted her a leave of absence; however, they were unable to find a "suitable" replacement and she had to resign.  Now Racheal and Lance will start the job hunt again but to be honest we do not know if we want to work in the schools due to the governor's "bright" ideas of public education.  We wish everyone a happy 2012! 

Beautiful Day

The mature Hovlands (G'pa & G'ma) are here visiting us for a little stint.  Yesterday turned into a beautiful day and we took advantage and drove over to Na'alehu location of the southernmost bakery in the US.  Along the way we went down to Punalu'u beach.  There we were able to see some sea turtles, big waves crashing, and seas of azure.  The kids also played in the water and black sand. 

After a nice outdoor lunch we headed to Volcano's National Park to see the lava tube and walk a little bit of the trail above a crater.  It was a wonderful day full of sights to see and beautiful weather.  They may have brought the nice weather with them being that Wisconsin has had a very mild winter this year.

Trains



Anika recreating a scene from Polar Express.

Engineer Anika

Engineer Henry

New Toys

The day after Christmas we took some of our new toys for a spin.  Alright, Lance has had his surfboard for awhile, but we bought it for him as a pre-Christmas present and he hadn't used it yet.  So, Racheal and the kids spent a sunny day at the park while Lance floundered amongst the waves.  Henry and Anika have been blowing a lot of bubbles ever since they found them in the stocking.  We're pretty sure that the bubbles are Henry's favorite present, followed closely by cardboard boxes.

Mele Kalikimaka

We had a nice Christmas on the island this year very laid back.  Granted we missed our families but were able to skype with both sides of our family.  And grandma and grandpa will soon be flying in to visit.  Anika woke up fairly early to tell us that Santa came.  We enjoyed some homemade uber sweet cinnamon rolls, applesauce, and bacon for breakfast.  Followed by gift opening and playing with the new gifts.  We were blessed with some sun and got to play outside with chalk and bubbles.  This year we decided not to make a lot of food and save that for our company.  Instead we had some pizza and leftover soup for our meals.  Not too tradional but niether is living in Hawaii!

Twas the day before Christmas and the rain finally took a hiatus.  We decided to go for a hike to rejuvinate us.  On the drive up we saw in the distance, atop Mauna Kea a glimpse of a white Christmas.

,The hike was quite pleasant, as we saw many wild pheasants.  The morning ambled by with nary a cloud in the sky, and as our hike came to pass we had a picnic in the grass.  Yes, we really enjoyed our walk through the branches, that is until a tree ate all of our Lances...

Mele Kalikimaka Everyone!

Rainy Days

It has been raining quite a bit lately here in Hawaii, which is starting to make us a little annoyed and stir crazy.  Okay we knew we were going to be living on the rainy side, in the rain forest, and have some "winter" season here but come on!  We have emptied the rain gauge at least every other day for the last couple weeks.  It holds 5 1/2 inches of rain.  Without the sun it stays on the cooler side and infests us with mold and dampness.  Luckily we moved when we did because our old house was just beginning to give everything a slight layer of mold.  (You did see on our blog what it did to our pumpkins in less than 24 hours, right?)  Alright that's enough claiming we are living in Hawaii.   

Here are a couple pictures of things we find to do on the raining days here.  Our days are usually filled with cooking, baking, some art project, game or lego playing.  If we're lucky we find an outside the house activity like go to the budget movie theatre or to the toy store that offers art/music things at low cost like the crowns the kids are wearing. 

Our princess and son working side by side.

Our handsome prince.