Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Saturday, December 8 was our one year anniversary on the island. In some ways it's gone so very quickly and in other ways it seems like we've always been here. We spent Saturday in Kona -- went to the LDS temple in the morning, then out to lunch and to the beach in the afternoon.
Abraham "graduated" from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. The Troop is going camping this weekend and he's excited for that.
We've done some more tiling. The floor is flatter in the area we just did and WOW what a difference that makes. It's going much faster. Our stove is in the kitchen but still in the box. We want to tile that floor before we set it up. In the meantime, we have an outdoor kitchen. We have a Coleman stove, crock pot, electric skillet, etc. I miss my Christmas cookies! I'm going to mix up several types of dough and take them to our cousin's house to bake.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Hallelujah! We moved into our house on Nov 15. There's still plenty of work to do but I'm so happy to be here. In the midst of moving, "normal" life continued. Solomon and Abraham had testing and interviews as part of their applications to Kamehameha Schools and had a piano recital the same day. Thanksgiving morning, the boys and I did a 5K on the Hilo waterfront. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our cousins in Kea'au. They've been SO good to us! Abraham turned 11 on Nov 25. The photos below were taken with my phone. The resolution is low so I left them small.

Annu, the boys' piano teacher, was happy with their performance.

 Abraham at the Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning.

Solomon placed 61st out of 344 Turkey Trotters.

 The FIRST photo of Abraham as an eleven year old!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Tsunami warning sirens went off at about 8:00 last night. We're at almost 500' elevation so we were fine. I was interested as I watched the news at the preparations people were making. Some people went for groceries, even more went for gasoline. I heard a woman talk about lowering the temperature on the refrigerator and backing up the computer. I hadn't thought of that. The tsunami wave never amounted to much, about 1.5 feet in Hilo harbor, but it caused me to reevaluate our emergency plans.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Robert's birthday was Saturday. We celebrated all day. Abraham and Solomon made waffles and sausage for breakfast and that evening we went to the movie Hotel Transylvania. A good time was had by all!
Since moving here I have pretty much given up buying bread. It's $3.50 and up for a lousy loaf of store brand stuff. Instead, I've been making my own. Last week I made the perfect accompaniment: guava jam. YUM!

Sunday, October 07, 2012

The boys had fall break and no school all last week. We barbequed at Kipuka Puaulu in Volcano National Park one evening with friends. It's a bird sanctuary (that's NOT what we barbequed!) and here's a resident.

Abraham and Solomon put in some hours working on the house, too. We'll move in at the end of October if we pass final electrical and plumbing inspections. The house won't be completely finished like we wanted, but we're really ready to get out of the rental house. Here's evidence of Robert's hard work. He has more just like this.

We watched the LDS General Conference this weekend. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet but I really liked Jeffrey Holland's remarks at this morning's session. Abraham re-created what looks like the Bern, Switzerland temple featuring Shaquille O'Neal as the Angel Moroni. I like to think both Shaq and Moroni are good with that.

In the afternoon we went to the "beach" (I use that term loosely) at the end of our street. Exploring the tide pools is one of our favorite Sunday afternoon activities. It was low tide when we were there today and sea turtles were in feeding on the seaweed. I love the sound of the waves crashing on the rocks and the sense of being at the edge of the world. All in all, a tranquil and rejuvenating day.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Solomon turned 14 this week. I'm totally and unashamedly biased, but he is a GREAT kid. He's funny, thoughtful, compassionate, smart, and responsible. He makes strange, goofy faces and the best chocolate chip cookies ever. He is goal-oriented and honest. In our family you get to order what you want for your birthday dinner and he asked for pork chops with mango chutney: YUM! Robert made an 'ono apple pie to top it off. Here's Solomon pretending he doesn't know I'm taking his picture.

Kaela and her friend, Sam, visited Labor Day weekend. We explored Kaumana Cave. The caves are part of a lava tube from a 1881 eruption of Mauna Loa. Two miles of it are fairly easily accessible. History has it that Princess Ruth Ke`elikolani stood in front of the advancing lava praying, beseeching Pele to spare Hilo. The flow stopped a mile short of the city, so apparently her prayers were answered.

Kelsey works at Circling Raven Golf Course in Worley, ID. She told me about what I think is a terrifying idea: night golfing! She plans to take the GRE in October.

This is how I look when I'm grinding concrete. No wonder Robert loves me!

Saturday, August 25, 2012

I went with our Cub Scout Pack on the Hawaii Heritage Trail hike. It winds 6.5 miles around Hilo where hikers collect information at various sites of historical importance. Boys who fill out a questionnaire earn a patch. Five Cubs made the trek today. The photo with their Webelos leader was taken on a foot bridge in Wailoa Park (near the King Kamehameha statue, if you know where that is).

And this is after cooling off at Coconut Island. Yep. Cub Scouts is all about fun.

Robert is laying tile at our house. We have a fairly open floor plan so there are large rooms without a lot of walls. We decided to lay the tile diagonally so the length wasn't accentuated. I think it's tricky, but Robert is doing a great job. He is such a renaissance man! Here are two important things I've learned about tiling: 1) abandon all tendencies toward perfectionism, and 2) start with a flat floor!