Lehua & Hibiscus

We were able to find and capture some different flower pictures here on the Big Island.  Enjoy!

The rare yellow lehua.

Red and yellow lehua.

Henry showing his hibiscus he found.

Anika showing another hibiscus.

Bittersweet

So now as our time here is getting less and less we are trying to take more and more in.  It's starting to seem bittersweet.  We miss our family, friends, pets, and some parts of life in WI; however, we are finally getting used to the way things are here and will be missing HI once we return.  We have (in our opinion) seen most of what the Big Island has to offer.  We have been to every compass area (east, west, north, and south points), we have been to the sea and up to the mountain top.  We have visited 9 out of the 10 climate zones (we didn't go to the way top of Mauna Kea to see the snow).  We appreciate the beauty of the seasons here and the fruits of nature.  We enjoy our simple life and quality time with our intimate pod (family).  Racheal and Lance enjoy their jobs.  Racheal is learning hula.  Lance is learning how to surf and more on the ukulele. Anika likes her school, classmates, and teacher.  She only has 31 more days of Kindergarten!  Henry likes being home with dad.  We're definitely glad we took this opportunity and will look back on it fondly.

"You must make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change."

Easter Egg Scramble

'Tis the season for hunting eggs, so we went to one of the many free (which is nice) egg "hunts" on the island.  You may notice the cones, white ropes, and masses of parents and children.

You may also notice that the word "hunt" is not especially applicable given this eggy scenario.  Hence Racheal renaming the event an egg scramble.  We were prepared for something to go terribly awry as the 2-3 yr olds stampeded towards the eggs.  However, it was remarkably civil.  Henry and Anika both worked liked seasoned veterans... possibly because we've been practicing inside the house.

Unfortunately, we were unable to get any action shots of Anika due to the angry mob of parents surrounding the 4-6 yr old grouping, which was against the rules.  We stayed nicely behind the cones just as security had asked.  You know us, we ain't no rulebreakers! 

Lizards!

Gecko (courtesy Colette)

Anole, very common around our house

Gecko, common everywhere but our house it seems

Snails!

On our hike at the Ponololu Valley, Racheal went to take a picture prior to our climb down into the valley.  On the walk to take the picture she spotted a snail (in case you didn't know this~ Racheal is grossed out by slugs and snails).  She was able to get some pictures of them and did make sure to show the kids and Lance.  This was a new find here in Hawaii and they were all over the edge of the trail.  Here are a few pictures.  It also made us question "What is escargot really?"  We're not sure if people here eat these delicacies or not.

Hike Part II

Here are a couple pictures of us from our hike into the Pololu Valley before we headed back up due to having the rock behind Anika disappear into the rain curtain.  We quickly made the game time decision to head back up.  However, it came too late and we got soaked the whole way back to the car.  But it was still a great family hike and helped us go very quickly back up the steep ascent.

Taken by Anika Hovland

Pololu valley

This weekend we went to the northern tip of the island to hike into the ruggedly beautiful Pololu valley.  It was cloudy, but we made it over half-way down before we decided to turn around because the rock island off the coast disappeared under a curtain of rain.  We didn't make it all the way down, got a little muddy and very wet, but it was a fun adventure!

Yes, those are cows in the valley.