Flowers

We have so many different and pretty flowers around us.  These are a few we have growing in our yard.  We started with the Hawaiian state flower, the yellow hibiscus.  Then we have a bird of paradise followed by a bamboo orchid.    

 

The next flowers are ones that we have found on our adventures.  The purple one was at the zoo and the last was in Volcanoes National Park growing between lava rocks at the south end of the park by the ocean. 

Sunsets



Sunset in Honolulu




Sunset in Kona

 

Kehena Beach

We found a new beach called Kehena beach along the south Puna coast.  You have to scale down a path along the cliff, but is very sheltered with plenty of sand.  Oh yeah, and it's clothing optional.  That day Lance "happened" to have his wedding ring pulled off his finger by the ocean while bodysurfing.  Coincidence?  Hmmm...

Hawaii State Fish

While in Kona we stayed on Alii drive, which happens to have several small white sand beaches within a few miles of each other.  Each beach has its own attraction; some are better for boogie-boarding/surfing, some are more family friendly, some are better for people watching, and some are better for snorkelling.  While at the snorkelling beach we took quite a few pictures including a few of this humuhumunukunukuapua'a, the state fish of Hawaii.  The name of the fish means humuhumu fish with the snout of a pig.  If you want to learn how to say it, here are the 3 things you'll need to know.

   

1) a "u" is pronounced "oo"

2) an "a" is pronounced "ah"                                                              

3) the ' is a glottal stop                                                                          

Good Luck!

Panaewa Zoo

We discovered the zoo, which was free- added bonus for us.  Was fairly big with a petting zoo and the glorious white tiger.  However, we were not allowed to feed the animals :).

New Idea

So Lance and I have troubles keeping up with the blog due to working, exploring, raising children, etc.. so we have decided to try to upload a picture a day with a caption.  We'll see if it works. :). 
Just a little updates:
we went to the East side of the island last weekend to "dry out"
discovered the steam vents
saw a wild pig
snorkeled
saw sea turtles on a black sand beach
went to a white sand beach
went to the zoo, mac nut farm, chocolate factory, chip factory, markets (fish and veggie)
I had training on Oahu

Tide Pools

After a day of inservice for me, I got home earlier than normal and thought it would be fun to go to the tide pools.  It took a bit of push to get my family on board.  However, I did finally convince and we headed to Kapoho to see if we could find them.  We did find the parking lot, got geared up, and headed in.  Henry was very unsure about the floating around in his super water suit.  Anika wanted to immediately start floating on her blue noodle and did great.  The pools were shallow and perfect for the whole family.  There were some currents flowing through that pushed us around a little.  We saw many colorful fish, skinny fish, some coral, a sea cucumber, and Lance saw a sea urchin.  Thankfully we all wore some water shoes/sandals of some sort because the lava rock was poky.  The kids got a little cold and we decided to drop them off on a rock island while Lance and I explored a little more.  We need to go back on another day with our snorkels(we decided just to wear our masks) and maybe a child watcher or at least masks for them.  But overall it was a nice little viewing for an afternoon.

Volcanoes National Park

Last weekend we made our first trip to Volcanoes National Park.  First we drove down Mauna Loa to the coast to see a natural rock arch coming off the rugged cliff over the waves pounding the shore.  Next we drove a little way back up the mountain to see some petroglyphs.  It was Win-dy!  That 1.5 mile hike felt like at least 3 miles.  The kids were troopers though, despite the fact that the wind would occaisionally blow sand in their faces.  Most of the petroglyphs were 'ohana (family) related, as hawaiians traditionally drilled a hole in the hardened lava, placed the piko (umbilical cord) of a newborn in the hole, and covered it with a rock.  We then drove further up the mountain to visit Thurston lava tube, but on the way we saw an unmarked lava tube, so we got out the headlamps and went spelunking!  The tube's walls were extremely smooth in contrast to the sharpness of the lava on the exterior.  However, the roof had waves and ridges as the molten lava dripped as it cooled like wax from a candle.  From there, we all needed a break, so we left the park in hopes that the kids would take a nap as we headed to the southernmost winery in the US.  Of course they didn't -but at least we got to sample some wine!  The most interesting was the green tea infusion. 

Well, back to the park and the lava tube.  Nestled in a small tropical valley is the entrance to a roughly 1/4 mile tube that varies from roughly 15'-20' in diameter.  After that we felt the warmth of the volcano through some steam vents along the rim of the cauldera and visited the Jagger museum that overlooks the crater where sulphurous steam rises constantly and the fire below creates a glow by night.  We had intended to stay until sundown to see the crater by night, but we had all had it.  Back to Volcano village for dinner and back down the mountain to home in Pahoa.  We'll see the lava glow another time when friends or family come to visit!

Experiment

So I was talking with a few co-workers last week and said that I used to make jam back in WI.  So one of them says "Wow, really?  You should try to make some here."  I said "Yeah, if I get some fruit cheap I will."  Silly, silly me.  So I see her yesterday and she waves at me and says that she has something for me.  With me having no idea what she is talking about, she goes into her classroom and hands me a bag of lilikoi and tells me it's for the jam I said I would make, or butter since that tastes good too.  So now after buying a strainer, jars, sugar, and pectin I am having a go making the so called lilikoi jam.  We shall see.  The recipe I found called for lemons but since I didn't have any I'm using guavas.... they're tart, right? 
Here's my update:  The first attempt made syrup, which is tasty on pancakes but since I was going for jelly I tried again.  I reconstituted it and made a pectin syrup.  Then went by 1 cup increments until I redid every jar.  Ended up making 5 jars and 4 set up and one was questionable.  However, I gave the "syrupy" one to my co-worker and she said that it set up while in the fridge.  I would say it was a success.  Both Lance and I like it and the co-worker's little girl said "I LOVE lilikoi jelly and want it everyday!"  We also had enough juice to fill up a pitcher. 
Lilikoi is also known as passion fruit.  It grows on a vine here.  Next jam/jelly attempt will be guavas.  But I would do this again.  If anyone wants to come visit to sample let us know.

School in August!

School started on August 1st here on the Big Island!  So much for my summer break this year.  I have been busy meeting new students, teachers, principals, and directors.  I am working at a Preschool through HS as well as servicing a Charter School.  The nice thing is I have a nice riding partner with me every morning since Anika will be at the same school as me!
Anika made it through her first days of Kindergarten with flying colors.  She has already been the line leader and calendar helper.  She said that school has been fun thus far.  Her teacher reports that she thinks Anika may be the most advanced student in her class, which makes mom and dad quite proud.