Aloha x 3

This is all of our belongings for the year packed and ready to hop on the taxi to the airport.  FYI: The taxi driver did question our packing abilities for a "vacation" to Hawaii and was impressed when we said we've been there for almost a year.

For those of you who have been watching our blog, we're sorry we have not posted anything in the last month and a half.  We ran into some friends of ours that said they were wondering if we were back since we hadn't updated the blog for so long, so we thought it would be fitting to make our last post a year from our date of departure into the great unknown.  We are back from our adventure in Hawaii.  We are so thankful we took the leap of faith in order to experience a different part of the USA.  We have been caught in a whirlwind these first weeks back.  After we flew home Racheal's aunt passed away, had several welcome home parties with friends and family, and hosted the kids' birthday parties.  Meanwhile, Lance and Racheal continued to apply for jobs and interview, and we're happy to report that we both signed contracts!   

The post title aloha x 3 represents the word Aloha.  Most people know that aloha mean hi but it also means good bye and love.  What a great word.  We all were feeling very bittersweet leaving our new home (for just shy of a year) and felt that aloha summed up our time there.  We say good bye to friends that we met, love towards the culture we were immersed in, and hello to the familiar setting/characters of WI.

So a lot of people have asked us how we feel being back.  Here it is...
We feel good.  We love the Midwest.  The smells, weather, our livelihoods, our house, we really could go on and on.  The weirdest thing for us has been coming back into our exact same lives here.  We talked about it the first day we were back.  We were driving through town and Racheal said to Lance "Does it feel like we didn't even leave?" and Lance replied "Yes, it's almost like it was a dream."  It is like we never left since we came back to everything we knew.  Granted it has, and still is taking awhile to unpack all of our stuff in storage, go through things that we don't need anymore, and try to reorganize our house, yard, and lives.  Here is the sign on our front door when we first arrived home.  And to us... this is home where our hearts lie.

The setting of the sun taken from the taxi.  Aloha.

If can, can...

There is a local saying "If can, can.  If no can, no can."  After going surfing around a dozen times, Lance realized he probably fits in the 'no can' category.  So, he resorted to practicing low level yoga on the longboard.  Favorite poses: cow and cobra (seen below).  However, after one lesson the intrepid Iverson showed he probably belongs in the 'can' category, catching a bomb set the first time out on his own!  Check him out standing up on the wave below.  The kids also showed that they can by standing up on their papa's board.

Green Sand Beach

The last thing on our list to do on the Big Island was to visit one of only 2 green sand beaches in the world.  In order to get there, though, requires either a 4 mile hike in extremely sunny, windy conditions or driving a treacherous 'road' that requires a 4 wheel drive truck and the skills to use it.  So, we had given up on that dream. 

Enter our intrepid friend Jed Iverson.  Despite criticism from his wife, he rented an 8 passenger 4x4 allowing his family and ours to visit one of the most rare and beautiful geolgical features in the world.

After talking story with a local at the entrance to the trail, he said we should probably be able to make it without a problem and assured us that the 30 degree rocky hill we were looking at was the worst part.  Along the way we had to get out of the car and scout out the best route in order to not get stuck a number of times and had to drive at a precarious, near 45 degree angle several times.  We also had to drive through a sand ditch with 6 inch clearance on each side of the truck where the walls of the ditch were above the windows.  The rocky road caused everyone to jostle about and even resulted in a bloody lip and bruised cranium in seperate incidents.  Despite all this everyone maintained a brave face, though we all questioned our sanity at one time or another.   

Repeatedly, Jed had to hear the many backseat drivers questioning his quick decisions.  Chau throughout the ride could be heard saying "Geez louise, Jed" and "oh" or something about wondering about the rental car or if we should turn around.  But in the end everyone was amazed by Jed's great manouvering skills of the extra large Tahoe and secretly glad we didn't have to drive that path into the great unknown.



A view out the back window of the nice part of the 'road'

Our final rewarding view from the top of the cliff after a 45 minute drive of a questionable idea.



Signs

While driving around the island we see many homemade signs.  Here are some that we have seen.  They all promote a great way of thinking towards life.  Island life definitely has its pluses.

More Sea Turtles!

On our first visit to the ocean we got to see our first sea turtle and since then they continue to amaze us with their prehistoric grace and laid back aura they seem to emanate.  Enjoy the views we have experienced with the green sea turtle (honu) here on the Big Island.


Our first sighting in Richardson's Bay.



Nana and Anika catching their aura.



Can life get any better!

More sun = more honus.



Eating on some seaweed in Kona.

School's Out for the Summer!

As Anika and I are going to bed on the eve of the last day of school here in Hawaii it makes me think of many different things.  Anika has thoroughly enjoyed going to school, liked her teacher a lot, and has grown with her abilities to read.  I think she will miss not seeing her friends she has met here at Pahoa Elementary.   
I wanted to make a list of similarities and differences between the school here and in WI.  However, my similarities are few and basic:  Kids are kids wherever you go.  You have some really good teachers (co-workers) and some not so good ones.  And the speech therapist gets housed (if we're lucky) in a room about the size of a storage closet or in an actual closet. 

Here is Anika heading to her classroom in the morning.  Notice all the steps up to the portables.



Anika's work on the wall outside a classroom.

Differences:
School started August 1st!  Portables are set up as classrooms and connected by covered walkways.  There are many ELL students from micronesian places I didn't know existed.  School hours were shorter.  You can start Kindergarten when you're 4 and it's not required.  There was no music, library, or art.  Physical education was once a month.  Vog lockdowns happened a couple times.  No Kindergarten field trips.  People who make enough money have to pay for bussing your child to and from school.  They had a Ho'ike (May Day) celebration.   There is only one recess a day (10-15 min) and the classes have designated play areas for the day. 
All in all it has been a great experience for me and I have met some wonderful people.

Farm fruit and flora

Lilikoi (passion fruit) flower

Cacao in various stages of ripeness.  They change from green to red to yellow.  We haven't cut one open, but you can see the insides on a recent Kashi granola bar commercial.

We have no idea what this is, but it looks good.

Strawberry papayas in various stages of development.  If you look at the top among the leaf stems near the trunk you can see some of the flowers.

Pineapples!  The one on the left ripened to a golden yellow when it was the size of a softball and was delicious!

Limes?!  Yes, they look like lemons and they taste a little like lemons, but the landlord insists that this is a lime tree and there must have been some sort of crazy mutation or cross-breeding that happened after planting.

Here's a coconut in its husk that Anika found on the ground on our trip to the champagne ponds...

and here it is with the husk removed!

Fish and Coral

Unicornfish - look for the horn in protruding out in front of the eye.

The little neons (approximately 4" long) are cleaning the big one.

Champagne Ponds

We read in a travel book about these so called Champagne Ponds.  However, when we looked at how to get there we came to the conclusion that is was impossible for us.  The ponds are located in a gated community and the only entrance was via a 4 wheel drive road that is made from uneven aa or walking the road which would take maybe (if we were lucky) a 1/2 hour.  We have tried some walks with the kids but find that if you're in open sea air area it is quite windy and hot due to having no shade.  So thankfully a co-worker of Racheal's told her about where to park or hope to enter through the gate behind someone else. 
Last weekend we went down there on Sunday with a picnic lunch and hopes of discovering the ponds.  We parked and started walking in.  A very nice lady stopped and asked if we'd like to move our car inside as long as we didn't tell anyone about her nice deeds.  Of course we were game and Lance rode with her to bring in the car while the kids and Racheal kept walking.  On the way Anika scored us a coconut and saw many different flowers. 
The entrance to the ponds was a short lava rock/cement wall that went around someones vacation home.  There was a ladder down into the water with little surrounding ponds.  The water is so clear, warm, soothing, calm, and beautiful it seems like it was made intentionally for the enjoyment and relaxation of Big Islanders. 
We enjoyed swimming with the kids in the water, having our picnic on shore, and taking in the waves and sunshine.  Here are a couple pictures of our views that day.  Glad we made it there before we left.

Is anyone tired of fish pictures yet? 'Cuz we're not!

After writing the title to this post, I went back to see what pictures of fish we had posted so far.  I then realized we haven't been publishing nearly enough pictures of the fish!  Here we go...