Welcoming our first guest

We welcomed our first guest yesterday - Aloha Nana!  So nice to see a familiar face!  The children were absolutely giddy.  Racheal made avocado pie in honor of our distinguished guest - that and we have 14 avocadoes sitting on our counter right now.  A feast for your eyes:

Yummy.

New Orchids

These new orchids
have just emerged and popped open within these last couple of weeks.  They are in our front yard next to our lanai. 

fiddleheads

Being that portions of the big island have rainforest conditions, we've seen some pretty amazing ferns with fronds ranging from 6 inches to 10 feet in length.  The larger ones have some vibrant fiddleheads.  The one above has some orange fuzz that can be used to dress wounds and treat stings.

Our Backyard

Courtesy of Anika Hovland

Here is a shot out of the screen of our lanai.  The round thing with a black cover is our water catchment tank.  When the kids get too hyper we all go outside as a family and have races around the trees and rocks.

weekend exploring=kupuka puaulu & volcano



Henry pointing out the morning glory.

 Last weekend, on September 16th, we decided to try to see the volcano at night and go on a little hike to Kipuka Puaulu, which is located on Mauna Loa.  We got to the park around 5 pm and were the only ones there.  We enjoyed walking along the trails wearing our sweatshirts and jeans, which is a rarity where we live. 

Kipukas are areas that have older vegetation than the surrounding areas.  This is the result of their having had lava flows cover the surrounding areas, missing the kipuka and sparing its vegetation.  

 

The Monkeys

 This kupuka puaulu is called bird park, even though all we saw were some wild pheasants. We had a great hike and enjoyed the feeling of fall around us. Since Lance and I both love fall weather and have been missing it. We walked the mile hike without seeing any other people just our family, which was really nice.  By the end of our hike it was getting very dark in the canopy of trees and we were getting a little nervous of the length of the hike.  However, we made it out with daylight to spare away from the trees.

Arch of Trees

The Kalij Pheasant

The "Glow"

After our walk we then headed into the Volcano's National Park to see the awe of  the volcano "glow" to be fairly disappointed in the lack of excitement.  It ended up rainy and overcast when we arrived.  We saw no glow and heard people saying "So glad we got here when we did since now you can't see anything"..... frustrating.  However, we did catch a glimpse of it when we decided to call it quits and head home.  Not as exciting as anyone was hoping for.  It is not flowing yet but kind of bubbling in the cone of the volcano which can only be seen from overhead.

Spotter

 Here are some pictures of our "pet" gecko and his/her friend.  Spotter, the name Anika picked out for our gecko, loves to hang out on our lanai where we eat our meals.  Spotter also loves to hang on the ceiling in front of our door outside.  It has been fun watching Spotter.  It has a red butterfly pattern on its back.  We talk to it but have not had any success with being friends.  Moves way to fast for us to catch.  Very cute and nice to have daily company.

Ti

Photo courtesy of Henry Hovland

 These are all Ti (tee) plants around our house.  The Ti is comparable to hosta in the mid-west in that everyone uses it to landscape and it comes in many varieties.  The green Ti leaves are sacred to the god of hula and are used to make hula skirts.  They also were used to make rain jackets, wrapping meat for cooking, and for medicinal purposes.

Car Riding

 So we decided it was fitting to put a picture of all of us in the car.  We actually drive quite often being that this island is on the large size.  This day I decided, while driving, to see if I could get a picture of each person in the car after Lance said something about I shouldn't and that it wasn't a good idea.  I must admit they didn't turn out too bad at all.  Many times I am driving since I get car sick and these roads are very windy and hilly.  On this day we were on our way towards the volcano for a nice little mile hike followed up by going to see the volcano glow at night.  A good day.

Feelings

Hello again, we have no officially been here in Hawaii for 2 months!  Part of us feel like we've been here longer and part feels like it's about right.  We have many mixed views but we would say overall everyone is missing our social life and familiar things.  We miss our family and friends.  We miss our pets, home, and autumn.  Don't get us wrong, we are glad that we decided to go on this adventure.   We have much quality family time, which is an added bonus but it definitely is difficult.  The holidays will be that much harder this year but soon we will start having visitors to make us feel loved. 

Sea Turtles



Our first sighting of a sea turtle at a beach outside of Hilo.  We just happened along it and felt that it was all ours.

Enjoying the sun.

The meeting of the minds at Punalu'u Beach. 

I just happened across this fellow while snorkeling at Kahalu'u beach in Kona.

Gardens

These pictures were taken at the World Botantial Gardens.  Anika enjoyed our little flower tour from Lanny.  We would have made it longer had it not been for the mosquitos!  We thought we were leaving those behind in WI.  The little tour was great followed up by a nice dinner with Lanny and his wife.  So nice that they greeted us like family.  Just today I asked Anika what was her favorite part of Hawaii and she said "The Hibiscus".

Guavas and Avocadoes Oh My

The pace has slowed a little, but we pick up this many guavas and avocadoes every other day.  We're almost getting a little sick of it, I mean how much guacamole can one family eat.  We're looking in to more recipes with the avocadoes such as avocado pie, truffles, shakes etc.  We'll let you know how they turn out if we ever get the time.  We've been steadily freezing the guavas, so we should have plenty to make jam soon.

Yellow Tang



A school of yellow tang as seen while snorkelling . . .



. . . and from our balcony at the Kona Tiki hotel - on the third floor.

Moving Day

 Here are the kids resting on all of our luggage for our move to the Big Island in Kona waiting to head out.  They did an overall great job on the 2 flights and the 2+ hour drive from Kona to Hilo.  We've now been here almost 2 months!  Amazing.

Rainbow Falls

One of the first things we did for fun while in Hilo was visit Rainbow Falls.  Being that the kids never let us sleep in, we went right away in the morning.  Good thing, because that happens to be the best chance to see rainbows at the falls.  Unfortunately it is not like a skittles commercial with the water cascading over the precipice already broken down into the various colors of the visible light spectrum - you have to go when the sun is hitting it just right.  We also did a gentle hike through some banyan trees, which looked pretty amazing in the morning light.  For those of you out there who are Star Wars fans, the banyan trees seem like something you would see on Degobah while training with Yoda.  Or perhaps on Naboo with Queen Amidala and Princess Leia standing beneath the tree...

Back When We Were Packing It Up

Back when we were packing up all our belongings and cleaning the house before leaving for a year, Racheal and I heard several songs about packing it up: We Gotta Get Outta This Place (The Animals), Ramble On (Led Zeppelin), and Forever For Her is Over For Me (The White Stripes).  We took these as signs that we were doing the right thing in leaving for the year, and we still do.  Back then we also said stay tuned for a list of our favorite leaving town/packing it up songs, but we never got around to it.  Well, we're still not going to make that list, but we are going to put up a new poll (finally)!  Let us know which song you think is the best leaving town song of all time - of the limited number of songs selected by us.

Lili'uokalani Garden

Japanese garden in Hilo's Lili'uokalani Gardens, named for the Hawaiian monarch Queen Lili'uokalani, located on historic Banyan Drive in Hilo. The ornamental Japanese park was built to honor Japanese immigrants who worked the sugar plantations.  Rain forced us under shelter for a few minutes, but all in all it was a lovely stroll with the family.

Anika the Mermaid

Anika, the mermaid of the black sands.

Kids

Siblings plus one.



Henry and Anika trying not to get "blown away"
while at the ocean at Volcano's National Park.

Snuggle



Henry and I snuggling next to the pool in Kona while dad chats with a friend (Anika took the picture).



Coconut




Henry showing the fresh coconut he is tasting. 
He enjoyed it.

 


Lance's second experience opening a coconut with the machete.  This time it seemed to go easier.  We having been finding them along the road.