Another Visitor!!

Last Friday Carl got a call from one of our friends from Texas, Luke. He asked us which island we were on and informed us that he would be arriving with his mom the next day! We were really excited. We couldn't hang out on Saturday because we were at a Reggae festival, but on Sunday we loaded up and headed to a beach a little north of town. Two of our friends from Kona, Mike and Alan, also joined us. When we first got there the boys went for a swim, and I hung back on the beach. They ended up chilling out for a while on this big rock.

When they finally made it back, we all played a game of Bocce ball. I just got a new set with the gift card to Sports Authority that Carl's parents got me for my birthday.

And in keeping with our new tradition, here's his Forrest Gump photo.

Red Dress Run

Last weekend was the first annual Kona Hash House Harriers Red Dress Run. If that sounds really crazy its because it totally is. We all get together once/month and do a 6 mile run- we don't always all wear red dresses though. When we start, 2 people take off 15 minutes before the group and "lay the trail". They basically set the 6 mile course and mark the trail with flour. At different places you'll come to a junction marked by a circle with an X in it, and you have to try and find the trail from there. They make fake trails to try and trick you, so finding the "true trail" can be confusing. Its really a lot of fun. We did our first run 3 days after we moved here, and it really helped us jump into the scene here and meet a lot of (crazy) people.

One of our really good friends here is usually 1 of the 2 people that set the trail. This is a picture of me and a friend I made in yoga, Taryn. She moved here in February too. This was her first run.

This is a photo of the majority of us before we all took off. You can imagine how crazy we all looked running through town. Everywhere we turned there were people stopping, laughing, and grabbing for their camera.

These were my running buddies Lesly and Phil, a.k.a. "Phylllis". This was a little obstacle course we had to make it through.

And when we finally made it to the end..... a HUGE slip 'n slide was there waiting for us. We had a great time. I tried to take River down the slide, but she wasn't feeling it. Everyone agreed that the slip 'n slide will definitely become a staple for our summer time gatherings. It really brought out the kid in all of us.

27!! Oh my gosh!

I had a great birthday last Friday!!! I went to a morning yoga session, and when I got home, Carl had a scavenger hunt for me. He knows how much I love games.

At each location he had a present and a new clue. He gave me SO many things, and each time there was a new clue I couldn't believe my eyes. He got me a pair of coconut shell and abalone earrings shaped like a sea turtle, the beautiful necklace pictured below, a shirt from one of our favorite breakfast spots Buns in the Sun, new toothbrush heads for our Sonicare, some sarongs from a local shop, 2 pairs of tickets to one of our favorite bands- katchafire- and I can bring anyone I like (but it has to be Carl), and....




A SURFBOARD!!!!!!!!!!

I also had some packages in the mail from my family. I LOVED getting the packages in the mail. I felt really loved. Here's a photo of all the gifts I got. If you're wondering about the book, yes, it does say "who pooped?". It was a birthday present from my dear sweet cousin Robin and her stinky boyfriend Alex.

The Rebel Meister

I can't remember if I've posted about River's new best friend or not, but here he is. His name is Rebel, and he's our house mate Matt's new puppy. He and River are the best of friends. As soon as Matt gets home and lets Rebel free River jumps up and runs outside, and they play non-stop for hours. We keep our door open, so they come in and out as they please. Carl snapped this photo of them a few days ago just relaxing in our "hallway".

Right after he caught the adorable image above, he caught this. He couldn't have timed it better if he tried. I know this is pretty gross, but we thought it was quite hilarious. To go from just admiring how cute they are together to watching dog vomit spew onto our floor was pretty crazy.
Hope you weren't too grossed out by that. But if you weren't, check this one out.

Carl came home from surfing the other day with nothing but this to show for it. The waves were the biggest they've been since we've been here, and he got tossed around pretty good. On one of the sets he fell off, the wave held him down for a while, and he hit the reef foot first. Its looking better now, but it got pretty infected.

River's bath

Stacey decided to wash River yesterday, and its a good thing because she was long overdue for a bath. Because it is such an ordeal to wash River and get her completely dry, we are sometimes hesitant to take her to the beach or hiking. Completely drenched in saltwater and covered in sand is not a good condition for River to be in while she lays around on our couch. Also, when we are hiking she will literally walk right through puddles of mud on purpose, and sometimes lay down in them. She just loves to be dirty.

Suddenly I hear Stacey yelling for me to "come look at River." I knew this could not be good.

It seems that Stacey had a hard time getting River to be obedient on this particular occasion. Immediately after she finished bathing her, River decided it would be quite refreshing to completely roll around in a pile of charcoal that was left out in the rain. The result is what River would look like as a black lab.

Shortly after this photo, River was washed a second time, this time with two pairs of hands holding her in place.

Ka Lae

South Point (Ka lae means "the point" in Hawaiian) is really a neat place. Just like so many other places on the Big Island, this place is not only beautiful, but it has a great history as well. It is the southernmost point of the United States, and is recognized as a National Historic Landmark District. Evidence suggests that the Polynesians landed at this location when they discovered Hawaii. They traveled from the south, and the Big Island would have been the first land they would have come into contact with. The evidence shows that people were living here as far back as 124 AD.

Because of the currents that come together here, the fishing is especially good. Ancient Hawaiians drilled holes into the rock so that they could tie their fishing canoes to the cliff face. This would allow them to venture out away from the shore and not have to worry about getting caught in the current. The current was named "Halaea Current" after a chief that was carried away to his death here.

The structure you see in this pic was built to hoist canoes up the cliff face with cables and pulleys. There is an extremely old ladder that hangs down, which is one of the few ways to get back up after jumping in (which is almost as much of a thrill as jumping in).

When you walk up to the edge of this cliff, it can take your breath away. The wind is howling, and it could probably blow you off the edge if you werent ready for it. This is the view down to the water, which is about 40ft. The water is incredibly clear, and you can see the bottom which must be another 40ft. down. If you are thinking about jumping, standing on the edge and looking down is a bad idea.

Once you have jumped off, it feels like you are falling for a really long time. The sensation is pretty intense, and it only seems to get worse the more times you jump! You have to enter the water as straight as possible with your feet pointed down, or you will slap the bottom of your feet really hard. A belly flop could be very dangerous here (or at least REALLY painful).

Once we jumped in, we swam around for a bit with the mask on. It was beautiful, and you can see incredibly far. There are all kinds of fish swimming around down there. River was even able to jump in a little ways off at a place where she could get back out. She loved it.

It turns out that this place only sees conditions like this periodically throughout the year. Most of the time the current is way to strong to jump in. Hopefully we will get a chance to do some fishing here soon. The locals actually catch some really good fish here. It is not uncommon for them to catch yellowfin tuna, mahimahi, wahoo, etc.. This is really pretty amazing, becase in the Gulf of Mexico you have to travel at least 50 miles offshore to have a shot at species like that.

Who will be the next to jump off the cliff?