Farewell Friend

Today we said aloha to our friend, Kim.  We were sad to see her go.  We had a great time hosting her and showing her the Big Island in a whirlwind style tour.  We did many things including white and black sand beach stops, visiting a few state parks, kayaking, snorkeling, hiking, volcano watching, waterfall viewing, visiting, and laughing.  Here is a couple pictures from her last evening on little hikes near the volcano.  We wish her safe travels back to chilly MN.  We miss you already friend!

Kealakekua Bay

Kim's top request on her visit here was to snorkel Kealakekua Bay.  This particular bay is regarded as the best snorkelling on the big island.  Spinner dolphins often hang out here to play and take refuge here.  Unfortunately we didn't see any dolphins this day, but we did see an amazing amount of coral, fish, and other curious sea life.  This was a pretty big deal to Kim since her only previous snorkelling experience was in the Gulf of Mexico.  The kids did a great job riding in the kayaks, especially Anika who took a scary tumble on the dock before climbing aboard.



Thanksgiving

Nothing says Thanksgiving like coconut shrimp, orange chicken, shrimp with vegetables, and a plate of the greasiest wonton's you'll ever lay eyes on!  As we travelled with our friend Kim to snorkel on the other side of the island, only a small chinese restaurant was open.  The meal wasn't great, but at least we were with family and friend.  We did miss spending the holiday with our extended family though.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Coqui Shaka

Here is a picture of a coqui frog on our window giving us the shaka.  This was taken one of the last nights at our old place.  We think it was its way to say "See ya braddah".

new place

When talking to Nana this evening she had said she didn't see the new house picture.  Here is another one of them. 

In our yard we have bananas, avocado, limes, lemons, grapefruit, oranges, tomatoes, and a little garden.  We also get to look at bee hive, coffee, cocao, roses, and the ocean :)  This picture is of a flower we found on our walk yesterday not too far from our driveway taken at dusk.  Aloha friends!

New Home

Our landlord of our first place got a job in Hilo and needs to live in his house so we had to search for a new rental.  We settled on this place which is a working coffee and cacao farm farther away from work for Racheal.  This is what it looks like on the outside.  We moved 2 car loads today and are going to see how it goes sleeping in the new place tonight.  We have many fruit trees in the yard as well as a garden that needs some TLC.  The kids are going from having their own rooms to sharing so we'll see how it goes.  We are also moving from the middle of the rain forest up the mountain side some.  At least we know we get to live here until the end of our HI adventure.

Kalapana Beach (or New Kaimu part 2)

This is one of the first places we went when we arrived on the Big Island.  It is the old area of Kalapana which was taken out in one of the lava flows back in 1990.  To get to this beach requires a short hike along a path with lava fields on both sides.  The surf was way to strong to attempt swimming.  Henry was very frightened when the waves came up and splashed him.  Anika wasn't scared of the waves, but after they knocked her over she was definately more aware of them and didn't want to play in them anymore.

Potty Training

When we left WI back in July, Henry was working on the whole potty training business.  He was doing a fairly good job for being slightly over 2.  We decided to just bring less than 10 cloth diapers and his little toilet.  He has his moments but for the most part he is potty trained now!  On the drive last weekend he actually told us in the car that he had to go (this is a first in the car) and I (Racheal) decided that I must catch him in the act.  What a big 2 1/2 year old we have.  We are so proud of him. 

Mauna Kea

We so rarely get to see the top of Mauna Kea, we had to stop and take a couple pictures.  If measured from the sea floor, Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world and is frequently covered in clouds.  On this day, however, we were able to see several of the observatories on the top.  The mountain is considered the most sacred of all mountains to Hawaiians and originally only the highest ranking tribal leaders were allowed to climb to the summit.  Now there are 13 observatories funded by at least 11 countries and is one of the best astronomical observation sites in the world.  During the winter, it is often covered in snow, so locals can go snowboarding and surfing in the same day.

Escaping the Rain

As we're crossing the mountains from
the wet side to the dry side...

 So, it's been raining a lot the past 2 weeks.  "I'm getting sick of all this rain!  We haven't seen the sun in a lot of days!" exclaims Anika.  What do you think Henry?  "Yeah, rain over there, rain over there...  (Many unitelligible phrases later)  ... Lots of rain!"  Whaddya' say we blow this popsicle joint.  Over to Kona side to see the sun again and dry out.

"Rainbows!  Real rainbows!  There's 2 of them!"  Take a closer look, there really are 2...

 This is what we were talking about!

90 miles over the mountains and we have sun and a 30 degree increase in temp, as well as white sand beaches.  Pretty nice break from the rain!

First Ocean Visit

Here are some pictures of our first visit to the ocean when we arrived in Hilo.  The kids enjoyed feeling the water and the sand.  We also walked out on the lava rocks to see out into the ocean.  It was a beautiful day and a nice welcome to Hawaii.  We also saw our first sea turtle and fish at the park.

Miss Snorkel Sue

Here's Anika with her new mask and snorkel.  We were surprised by how well and brave she was at using the snorkel.  She had a great time seeing the turtles and fish with mom.

Here's the turtles we saw frolicking.

Scuba Steve

Here's Henry being his normal silly self.  We nicknamed him "Scuba Steve".

View of Kilauea Crater

When we were driving back from Kona we decided to make a detour since it was a rare clear day in the volcano area.  We drove up the mountain from the bird park all the way to the end of the road which was about 10 miles of switchbacks that took around 45 minutes.  After the long drive, we had a little picnic up at the top and took in the view.  The drive was worth it though since it was so clear and at an elevation of 6662 ft we could see Kileua Crater and the valleys on both sides. The "cloud" closest to the ground, just to the left of Nana's shoulder, is smoke billowing from Kilauea crater.  Mountain climbers often use this spot to start their climb to the summit of Mauna Loa.  It's a usually a 3 day hike up and a 2 day hike down with 2 cabins along the trail for overnight stays.  Hikers must pack in their water and must be prepared for all kinds of weather, from extreme winds to snow and rain.

What's this?  A freak Halloween snowstorm in Hawaii?  Oh wait, no, it's a fluffy white mold that grew on our jack-o-lanterns within 36 hours of carving.  Good thing we waited until the last minute to carve them or else we would have had an elementary school science experiment gone horribly wrong for Halloween night.  However, for the first 24 hours we did have a volunteer pumpkin protection service.  The geckos were having a great time eating all the fruit flies they could catch.  Unfortunately, like with any buffet, the geckos ate way too much and didn't return because every time they even thought about the buffet, they got a little queasy.