Our stops yesterday

On our way to Kona yesterday, Ella and I made a couple of stops:

We stopped at a black sand beach.



And we stopped at Waipio Valley:

Trip to Costco= all day

Ella and I drove to Costco in Kona today. As you can see from the map it's quite a trek. It's literally on the exact opposite side of the island than we live. So, on the way to Kona we took the northern route and stopped at Waipio Valley(will post pics tomorrow), and on the way back we took the southern route, making a complete trip around the Big Island in one day----exhausting to say the least.

Good News!!!

We are no longer home owners in the state of Alabama!
We are so thankful that chapter of our lives is now closed and we can completely focus on life in Hawaii.
God is good.

"He will cover thee with His pinions.
And under His wings shalt thou take refuge."
Ps.91:4

Back to the Aloha life

We are now readjusted to life here. What I mean is, we have started to do the things that we used to do on the island before our long stay on the mainland, such as swimming, having picnics at parks, hanging on the lanai, eating lots of papayas, and working and playing in the yard with chickens, dogs, and tropical plants.

Lucy's 2nd Birthday!!!

Lucy turned 2 today. She is such a sweet girl, always curious and ready for a thrill. We are ever thankful for her!
Here she is with her new grocery cart that she got for her Birthday from Grandma and Grandpa.

Let's rewind with some pics

Pics from Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house.




Lucy loves swinging, so whenever we had to go over to our old house, she enjoyed swinging on the front porch.



Play time in Starkville with Mimi and Poppy, Denver and Joanna and family.



Abby and Mason and Lucy had a wonderful time playing together at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Back to life on the BI

After almost a month in Birmingham and a few fun days in LA visiting Matt and Ellen we are back on the Big Island. The day after we returned, the kids school began again. We had to drive them into Hilo because the school bus had broken down and we took these pics right after dropping them off.

Our Holiday in the South

We've been in Alabama and Mississippi for the Holidays this year. We've really had a wonderful time seeing our friends and family. It snowed in Birmingham on Christmas day for the first time in recorded history, and we are glad we didn't miss it.

Ella and St. John at school

The kids are becoming more and more comfortable at their new school. I wanted to take a picture of them with their teachers and classmates.
I didn't get a chance to get a picture of SJ with his friends, but some of his best friends are Santiago, Zaccheaus, and Uriah.
Here is SJ with his teacher, Ms. Miulan. She wears muumuu's everyday. SJ really likes her.


Ella is friends with everyone in her class. Her teacher, Mrs. Cabral, is a real character. Mrs. Cabral collects pig statues and was born and raised on the Big Island.
Last week Ella came home and said she wanted to dye her hair black. I asked her why and she said because all of her friends have black hair and she thinks it's pretty.

Leaving the Islands

We are flying to Birmingham for the Holidays and won't be back on the Big Island until Jan. 7th. David is going to be staying at our house, taking care of our dogs and chickens. I've learned that it's FREEZING in Bham and I'm not really sure how my body is going to react. I'm planning on overpacking, which is good because I usually underpack. Now I just have to find all of my warm clothes that haven't been worn since we moved.
We are really looking forward to seeing everyone!

Might as well post a couple of silly pics, too.

Christmas Wreaths

Ella and I went to a friend's house yesterday and made Christmas wreaths! All of the materials we used to make the wreaths were picked in the neighborhood. You like see?

Random fun pics

We aren't doing much Christmas decorating considering we aren't going to be here for Christmas, but we couldn't help putting up some colorful lights on some of our ohia trees. Putting up Christmas decor in shorts can't be beat.


Lucy in her 80's workout attire.



The kids went to a birthday party yesterday and Lucy would not get off of the swing. Mark is now searching for a perfect place in our yard for a swing.

Thanksgiving 2010

We enjoyed a simple but very yummy Thanksgiving dinner at home this year. Yes, Hawaii is now our home and is actually beginning to feel like it. I remember Ellen saying it took her about 6 months of living in LA for it to feel like home, well that must be the magic number for me, too.

Bird Park

The Bird Park is located in the Volcano National Park and is only about 15 minutes from our house. It's an "island" of very old, very large trees where birds are plentiful. The reason it's an island is because this piece of land has not had a lava flow on it for a very long time whereas all around it has. There is a mile long trail that is perfect for our fam to hike.

Disaster and Dogs

We took the dogs in the car with us today to the beach. It ended up being a disaster. We took the dogs with us in a very shallow rock bottom part of the beach. Everyone enjoyed it, but in the car on the drive home one of the dogs got sick since he had been drinking ocean water. Then Kahiki had a very stinky accident on the back seat before we stopped so he could finish his business.
THEN, Indy burst a package of barbeque sauce from McDonald's in the front seat. So we smelled the bbq sauce very strongly most of the way home, which was better than the other two competing smells.
I took some pictures of the dogs in the car just as we were leaving the house, before they made our car smell like a dumpster.

Hot ponds

I took the kids to swim in the hot ponds today. It's basically a pool filled with a mixture of ocean water and thermally heated stream water. It is full of small tropical fish that have little fear of people.

Funny things about Hawaii

There are lots of funny, different things that I've learned about the people and culture in Hawaii. Here are just a few.

-Instead of your kid's friends calling you Mr. Mark or Ms. Emily, they say Uncle Mark and Aunty Emily, or simply Uncle or Aunty.

-At restaurants your waiter will ask you, "Are you pau?" which means are you finished.

-Trash is called Rubbish

-Men and children can go to Walmart, Home Depot, grocery stores, and most other establishments just wearing a swimsuit,
"No shoes, no shirt, no one gives a sh**."

-You can take your pets, especially small dogs, into the stores listed above, as long as they can ride in the shopping cart.

I can't think of anymore right now, but I will update this thread with more as I see them.

Family pic at Pohoiki

My Aunt Kay and Uncle Joe came for a short visit from Seattle last weekend. We had a great time showing them around the Big Island! They took this picture of us on the Pohoiki shore where Mark likes to body board. I wish we had gotten a picture of all of us, too!