RiverRocks

Punatics

2010-09-25T22:19:00.006-10:00

On our 1 year anniversary Carl and I took a 3 day trip to the other side of the island. That may not sound like much to those of you that haven't been to the Big Island of Hawaii, but its actually about a 2 1/2 hour drive and is one that we unfortunately don't get to make that often.

For the first night we stayed at a lodge in Volcano Village. The elevation there is around 5,000 feet, so it can get quite chilly- especially for those acclimated to year round 80 degree weather. I believe it got down to around 55 that night, so we spent the evening cuddled next to a fireplace. The terrain around Volcano Village is full of lush forests with thousands of ferns as far as the eye can see. We joked about how if we had woken up there with no idea where we were, Hawaii would have been the last place we would have guessed that we had landed.

The next day we spent a few hours in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and then headed to Puna- our absolute favorite place on the Big Island. We rented a tiny little cottage in the middle of nowhere that was totally off the grid.

And Carl's favorite part..... it had an outdoor solar shower.

We had the best time in Puna. We left civility behind and enjoyed the peace and tranquility that can be sometimes hard to find in the midst of the hustle and bustle of even the smallest communities. We walked to the beach, admired the abundance of trees and fruits, spent the evening chit chatting under a starry sky, fell asleep to the sound of coqui frogs.............

and woke up to snail poop :)

Cupcake Fun!!

2010-08-17T09:56:00.003-10:00

My girlfriend Jodie and I threw a birthday party for Abby a few weeks ago, and I had the bright idea to make bumble bee, lady bug, dragonfly, and butterfly cupcakes. Due to our hectic schedules these days I had to wait until the day of the party to start them, and once T minus 3 hours hit I started to panic. Luckily my wonderful husband stepped in to help me decorate, and we finished with plenty of time to spare.

I guess he had to try and look really manly in that photo since he's decorating cupcakes ;)

I didn't get many photos at the party, but here's one of me and Jodie. She's such a goof ball. If only you knew how gorgeous she is in real life you too would find this photo quite hilarious.

The Birthday of all Birthdays

2010-08-02T21:10:00.001-10:00

I think Carl must have had one too many s'mores during our camping trip because on his actual birthday (May 25) he woke up at 3 in the morning to the worst abdominal pain he's ever experienced. Finally around 8 am we had to ditch our Kiholo Bay plans and make a trip to the Emergency Room. By noon we were preparing for an appendectomy. Some way to spend your birthday eh?

This was our first medical experience in Hawaii, and it was nothing but pleasant (aside from the surgery, of course). The hospital was super quiet and mellow, and all of the staff were very attentive and caring. Everyone that Carl came in contact with, from the x-ray tech to the respiratory therapist, did a double take when they read his date of birth, and I think they gave him a little extra love since he was spending his birthday in the hospital. Or they just thought he was cute ;)

Visiting hours ended at 8, but the nurses were kind enough to let me stay until 10. We spent the whole next day cuddled up in the hospital bed watching HGTV and Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory.
Due to his young age and exceptional health Carl was able to leave the hospital the following evening. And I had no idea what I was in for.......

I felt like I had just gotten home with a 160 pound baby. He pretty much couldn't do anything for about 4 or 5 more days, so I did everything I could to keep him comfortable- I couldn't let the nurses trump me :) I put one of my tank tops in the freezer for when he had a headache, and it turned out to be such a hit that I had to keep several on ice to keep the rotation going.

And yes, that's a snuggie he's wearing. He made so much fun of me when I bought it, but he was singing a different tune when he had it on for 5 straight days.

Birthday Camping

2010-07-29T16:03:00.004-10:00

The weekend before Carl's birthday (in May) we gathered with a few of our friends for a few days of fishing, camping, fires, s'mores, and stand up paddling. It was great fun. We're so busy these days we hardly get any time to go camping, but luckily for us some of the most killer camping spots we've ever seen are a mere 25 minute drive from our house.

Here's a photo of Matt and Carl getting their fishing gear ready. Matt spear fished, Brian kayak fished, and Carl stand up paddle fished. And Kodi and I swam around the bay with a torpedo that propels you down to the reef. Whoever wasn't holding the torpedo grabbed on to the legs of the steerer, and we made a little torpedo train. We didn't have our cameras but we came within a few feet of an approximately 6 foot moray eel. It was pretty intimidating but gorgeous none the less.

For dinner we had crab stuffed salmon and grilled asparagus, and Kodi cooked a few steaks, bell peppers, and mushrooms over an open flame in her handy little fire pit griller thingy....

And what camping expedition would be complete without a few s'mores?

Our tent. And our ferocious guard dog.

Breakfast- in my new and wonderful wok that Carl got me for my birthday.

a little self humiliation

2010-07-07T19:03:00.003-10:00

On the floor next to our "throne" lies an abundance of fishing magazines that would put any book store to shame. I must admit I haven't read a single one, but my husband does a wonderful job of keeping me updated on all the exciting happenings. Apparently there's a new trend in the photography side of fishing. Many anglers these days have drifted away from the traditional, boring style of photography pictured below.....

And have resorted to this.....

Carl says you're suppposed to look at your fish with shock and awe, like its the biggest thing you've ever seen in your life. I gave it a try, but I'm afraid I came out looking like Amelia Bedelia in all of my photos :(

A little underwater fun at the Champagne Ponds

2010-02-05T16:11:00.002-10:00

These pics were taken at the Champagne Ponds on Hilo side. Its a natural body of water adjacent to the ocean that has pockets of warm, fresh water bubbling up. Its definitely one of the places we like to stop when we're on the east side, which unfortunately doesn't happen all that often :(

New Year's Eve

2010-01-28T15:29:00.002-10:00

My Christmas gift to Carl was a "Texas Style BBQ Pit". He had been eyeing one at Lowe's for quite some time, and I was fortunate enough to scoop up the last one on Christmas Eve. He's seen here assembling the smoker box that you attach to the side. Matt's brother Jason visited for the holidays, and his assistance with the assembly was much appreciated.

We were finally able to utilize the pit on New Year's Eve. We had a great time grilling ribs, enjoying our own version of a fireworks show, and playing poker.
While the boys were outside fooling with the pit, I played in the kitchen (for what felt like hours) making homemade lilikoi juice for some mimosas. Lilikoi (passion fruit) is an extremely popular treat in Hawaii, and you can pretty much find anything flavored with lilikoi, from butter to chocolate. The seed extraction process, however, can be extremely time consuming. The steps for making juice are:

(1) cut lilikoi in half and scoop center into a bowl

(2) pour contents from bowl into blender

(3) pulse mixture for about 30 seconds to separate seeds from fluid

(4) strain liquid and toss out seeds

*note* the liquid is very viscous and the straining process can take quite a while. You will probably have to repeat steps 2-4 several times to maximize the amount of juice.

(5) pour juice into pitcher and fill to top with sparkling water

(6) add agave nectar or sugar to taste

It can be quite messy, but if you're willing to put in the work the payout is awesome! The juice was fabulous, and it made for some very tasty mimosas.

An Aloha Christmas

2010-01-24T21:15:00.004-10:00

This Christmas my friend Abby and I undertook a task far greater than we had ever anticipated. We set out to make all of our favorite Christmas cookies, and what we had hoped would take one day took three. But it was so much fun! And boy did they taste good...
We made gingerbread men, snickerdoodles, chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies, fudge, and candy cane cookies. I had never heard of candy cane cookies before, but I was enthralled by them. Abby grew up in Maine and used to make them every year with her mom. They consist of half plain sugar cookie dough and half sugar cookie dough that's dyed red and has peppermint extract added to it. Then you twist and shape them into a candy cane, and they not only look like one, they taste like one too. They were super yummy. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures though.

On Christmas morning Carl had to work, so I went out on the boat with him. It was such a beautiful day.

We tried to catch an ono, but no such luck.

Carl was also scheduled to work Christmas evening, but due to inclement weather conditions (high surf) the trip was cancelled. I was sooooo happy! We went out that evening and had an incredible sushi dinner, and then we went home, picked up River, and took her to the beach.

We're not sure how this has happened, but we've managed to keep one of River's toys for about 4 years now. Its a ball that glows in the dark, and it comes in super handy on our night time beach excursions.

whopper

2009-12-02T09:56:00.001-10:00

I'm not sure when Carl's going to have the time to write a blog, so in the mean time, here's a photo of the 350 pounder he caught a few weeks ago.

We're Back!!!!!

2009-12-01T20:15:00.004-10:00

Hello everyone! After almost 2 months of waiting our computer is finally fixed and we're back in business. Yay!!! Not real sure where to start with catching everyone up, but here goes.

Carl's been fishing a ton, and he couldn't be happier. I've never known anyone more passionate about fishing (or anything at all for that matter), and it makes me so happy to see him in a constant state of excitement. He brings his poles along on every day trip he works on the snorkel boat, and recently he's been working a few days here and there on a fishing charter boat. Its definitely not easy finding a job on a charter boat these days, and I'm so proud of him for making it happen. He no doubt was given the opportunities he's had due to his incredible humility and eagerness to learn. He's so amazing, and I can't imagine a better place for him to be. I'm sure he'll want to put up all the fishing photos himself, so I'll leave the rest of the catching up to him. But just as a sneak peek- he caught his first ever Blue Marlin in a fishing tournament recently, and it was 350 pounds!!!

I've been pretty busy with school lately. Next week I have finals, and then I have 3 weeks off!! I absolutely cannot wait.

Three of our friends have a birthday in November, so a few weeks ago we booked the "Booze Cruise" for the evening. There is a big snorkel boat here called the Body Glove, and in the evenings they go out for a sunset cruise with an open bar, food, and live music. It was a lot of fun!

You can't really tell from this picture, but everyone in it is rocking a mustache for Movember, prostate awareness month. This was a few weeks ago, so the staches aren't even half as bad as they are now.

The sunset was AMAZING!!!!

Those of you on the more observant side will notice that I cut my hair. I took off about 8 inches!!! It was pretty scary, but I'm liking it.

Cookin'- Studio Style

2009-10-01T19:38:00.003-10:00

Thanks to Carl's incredible hunting and gathering skills, we eat like royalty pretty much all the time. A few nights ago we had zucchini, rice, ahi, and lobster with garlic butter. It was AWESOME!!!! Its hard to believe that we pull off the dinners that we do in our tiny studio apartment, but somehow we make it work.

But one things for sure- no matter what you're cooking River will be right next to your feet every step of the way. She doesn't get our leftovers anymore, but her tenacity has not let up one bit.

Watermelon!

2009-09-13T18:04:00.004-10:00

Carl and I spent the day after our wedding at our favorite beach with a few of our friends and River. We had an amazing time, and we had the entire beach all to ourselves. But somehow in our blissful daze we neglected to take adequate care of our dog, and she unfortunately suffered from a heat stroke and was rushed to the emergency vet. It was very traumatizing for all parties involved. We vowed to never let it happen again, yet one week later we almost went through the same experience. I was able to catch it earlier though, and River was fine.

Now we go to the beach prepared. We bring gatorade every time we take her out, and this time we brought one more thing- watermelon. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is what I study, watermelon is used as a preventative for heat stroke, so today I decided to try it out. I cut up a seedless watermelon before we left, and we brought a few gallon sized bags full in the cooler. I was curious to see how River would like it, and it turns out she loves watermelon. I would hold a slice for her so it wouldn't get all sandy, and she would gnaw away. Needless to say, we didn't have any heat stroke incidences today.

Bug Report

2009-09-04T22:27:00.005-10:00

The boss gave us full reigns on borrowing the boat for lobster hunting. The season opened on the first, and we finally got the opportunity to go last nite. After the manta ray trip we dropped off the customers and headed straight back out. Six of us paired into groups of two and headed off in separate directions. The water was super clear, and the moon was full so visability was good. We each had a flashlight of some kind, and Chris and I had a 3-prong hawaiian sling and a speargun between us. The current was rediculous, and it really made it tough to navigate the walls, arches, and ledges that the lobster hang out around. Next time we will be more prepared.

Chris and I both ended up swimming around with two lobster each in our hands. They try to get away from you when you least expect it, so you have to keep a tight grip on them. This makes it very interesting to do things like check your air pressure gauges, adjust your mask, equalize, etc.. Needless to say we should have a more productive trip next time with proper gloves and bags for the bugs.

At the end of the dive we noticed a large Uhu (parrotfish). We decided to add him to the list of soon-to-be-barbequed sea creatures. These guys are beautiful and taste great too! More to come....

creepy crawlies

2009-08-28T17:42:00.002-10:00

Kona has a ton of insects crawling around all day and night. It is something that a person must make peace with if they intend to live in this tropical environment. We leave our doors and windows open 24/7. Luckily the local gecko and cat populations keep most of them in check.

Yesterday the office girl Jasmine set off a bug bomb in the shop at work. Amongst a ton of dead roaches, there were these two guys crawling around just hours after deployment. They are quite creepy, and they get to be twice this size. These were about 5 inches long. I have spoken with several people that woke up to find these in their beds at nite. Those that have been stung say it hurts pretty bad, a bit like a scorpion I believe. We harrased these guys for awhile and then left them for the office girl to find in the morning ;). Dont worry, she has a good sense of humor!

Bikin' It

2009-08-25T18:56:00.002-10:00

We did so many fun things with our families while they were here. Not in any particular order, I'll start going through a few of our adventures. We'll start with the bike ride of a life time.

A few weeks ago I joined 14 of my family members, including my sweet Mema, for a bike tour of one of the few presently erupting volcanoes in the world, Kilauea. The ride was 16 miles long, and it was breathtaking. We rode by craters, lava tubes, fern forrests, and lava fields. Our tour guide Eric was extremely knowledgeable, with degrees in geology and hawaiian studies. I can't imagine there could have been a better person for the job.

This picture was taken at the entrance of the Thurston lava tube. Some lava tubes on the Big Island are as long and wide as a New York City subway. I'm not sure how big the Thurston Lava Tube is, but its definitely the biggest one I've ever seen. It was very dark and cool inside, and water was dripping from the ceilings. Eric told us that ancient Hawaiians used to cut the tops off of gourds and set them in the lava tubes to collect water. It is supposedly some of the purest in the world.

And here's Mr. Muscle man Alex....

p.s. that rock weighs like 2 pounds. it only looks heavy.

The tour ended with a picnic lunch and a van ride to a winery, which we all agreed was terrible and could definitely be nixed. I believe its the only winery on the Big Island, and it left much to be desired. The wines were all extremely fruity, and needless to say, we did not care for them. But it was my Mema's first wine tasting, so that made it more fun.

We're Hitched!

2009-08-13T16:05:00.003-10:00

Last Sunday concluded the most wonderful and beautiful week of my life. We had all of our family in town for a celebration of our lives together, and it was beyond any words I can find to describe it. I cannot begin to make you understand how incredibly blessed and touched we were to have so many of our closest friends and relatives all gathered for three straight days of love and laughter. The weeks prior were very stressful, to say the least, but I would do it all again a thousand times over to experience the gift we were given. Thank you so much to all of you that were here in person and in spirit. We cannot thank you enough for sharing this time with us. We are blessed beyond words.

sushi time!!

2009-07-30T09:00:00.002-10:00

With all the family in town and all of the wedding preparations going on, we haven't had much time to blog. I thought I would put up some pics of the fishing trip Brian and I had last week. We have being making a serious effort to learn this style of fishing, and it is starting to pay off. We landed the first fish at around 10pm, and shortly after putting the fish on ice and congratulating ourselves, we get another strike. The second fish was a bit smaller, but still a solid fish. We also had several run ins with a large oceanic whitetip shark, which we caught twice. We also caught a much larger blue shark (12ft) twice. These sharks would come into the chum line and take our baits. We would fight them to the boat and cut them off, only to have them return 30 minutes later and take another bait. It was very exciting.

The next morning we trolled around after the sun came up and caught a small mahimahi (15lbs)and a small bigeye tuna (25lbs) which tasted great. Sashimi from bigeye tuna is even better than yellowfin!

The largest ahi went 137lb on the scale, with the smaller one right at 80lbs. We cut up the small one to divy up amongst friends and family, but the big one went straight to the market and fetched us a nice check of $360! Cant beat getting paid to fish. More to come soon.

The Harbor

2009-07-07T09:47:00.010-10:00

River's new favorite spot is a beach right next to Honokahau Harbor. It is one of the only beaches that allows dogs, and everyone is super tolerant of her stealing toys, shaking off on them, scratching them in the water, etc.. We have been trying to take her as often as possible.

This litte guy is called a Red Pencil Urchin. The fish next to it is a Saddle Wrasse, and in the background you can see a Collector Urchin. Collector Urchins are cool because they stick pieces of shell and coral on the outside of their bodies to help them blend in with the reef.

River retrieving a ball, and Stacey snorkeling in the background. The snorkeling at this spot is really great as well.

I got some video with our underwater camera. Hope you like it!

The Aloha Life

2009-07-02T23:30:00.003-10:00

Believe it or not, Carl and I have collectively lost a little over 30 pounds since we moved here in February. Our eating habits have definitely improved, but the biggest factor in the loss has got to be our extreme increase in activity. We just go, go, go non-stop, and we're having the time of our lives. Just as an example, here is what I did today:

7:30 - 11:30 work at the coffee shop
11:30-1:00 volunteer at Kahalu'u Beach for Reef Teach
1:00-2:00 Carl's Surf Camp at Kahalu'u (I paddled into my first wave today, by the way)
2:00-3:00 Lunch with Carl
3:30-4:30 swimming in the swim channel at the pier with a friend
5:30 head to girlfriend's house to hang out/work on wedding stuff

and carl:
today was his day off-
surfed in the morning
paddled out with me again in the afternoon
left at 3 pm to go fishing. won't return home until 7 am.
he's going ika shibi fishing, and I'll let him tell you all about it on a future post.

And this is pretty much a typical day in our lives. We're so unbelievably happy here, and I give thanks to God multiple times each day.

Mauna Kea

2009-06-22T20:06:00.006-10:00

A few weeks ago some friends and I took an afternoon trip up to Mauna Kea. Carl was working, so he wasn't able to go. Its about a 2 hour drive from home to the summit (14,000 feet), and its paved the whole way.

All 7 of us piled into Tracy's Sequoia and charged it up the mountain. Because of the huge change in pressure at that elevation, you have to take it slow on the way up and down. Its recommended that everyone stop at the Information Center, which is at about 9,000 ft, for at least 30 minutes to acclimate. They have a nice little shop there where we got cup noodles and hot chocolate.

We started off the day in shorts and slippers, but as you can see from the photos, we quickly had to throw on some layers. At 9000 feet the temp was in the low 50s. I thought that was about as cold as it would get, but boy was I wrong!

Here's a pic of the whole gang, minus Mike. From left to right, me, Cone (our dive instructor), Jill, Dic, Diane, Tracy.

After our acclimation period we headed up to 13000 feet. For most of the drive up the hill it feels like you're on the moon. Until you see snow....

Mike decided it would be a great time for a snow ball fight.

There are only 2 natural lakes on the island of Hawaii, and one of them is on Mauna Kea at roughly 13,000 feet. Its just a short hike in from the road, but it can feel like miles if you're not careful. Because of the elevation any kind of physical activity can be very exhausting. For me the hike in was a breeze, but the hike back was a different story. It was more uphill on the way back, and I couldn't go more than 15 feet without having to stop and rest.

Dic tried to see how many push-ups he could do. I don't really remember how many he pulled off, but I know it was in the single digits.

After the hike to the lake we went up to the summit for the sunset. It was incredible!!!! And man was it cold! I couldn't believe the difference just from 13 to 14,000 feet. It was in the low 30s, but it felt like the teens because of the wind chill. Needless to say, we didn't last very long up there. As soon as the sun set we were out, which is unfortunate because the star gazing on Mauna Kea is, according to most astronomers, the 2nd best in the world. There is no light polution, and because of the layout of the island, there is never any cloud coverage. We didn't stick around to look through any of the telescopes, but even to the naked eye it was breathtaking.

The hill top you see in the background is Haleakala, a volcano on Maui. On a totally clear day you can see the entire island chain from the summit of Mauna Kea. That will definitely be a cool thing to see some day.

Hanapa'a

2009-06-12T18:06:00.006-10:00

"Hanapa'a" is the term that Hawaiians use when shouting "fish on!"

We finally got the chance for a little "hanapa'a" now that our buddys Brian and Kodi bought a boat. We spent last saturday and sunday trolling for Ono (wahoo) without much luck. Sunday we found some fish around a FAD (fish aggregation device), which the state puts out in the water to attract fish. It is basically just a bouy anchored in deep water that attract all kinds of little fish, which in turn attract the big ones. We trolled around the bouy for an hour or two with only one bite.

Our baits were a little big for the fish that we found. A local Hawaiian was fishing near us and catching a ton of Aku, which is a small tuna that tastes a bit fishy. The locals love them. After watching us make pass after pass with no luck, he pulled up and tossed us a few small, homemade baits and said "try these, the shibis should start biting soon." A shibi is a small yellowfin tuna. Sure enough, we get a hookup and I land a small shibi. It was getting dark, so after we boated the fish we trolled around for a few more minutes and headed back to the harbor. It was the first fish for the boat, and we were stoked! We had a bit of sashimi, and saved the rest for the frying pan. Tasted great!

We sometimes troll baits on the boat that I work on during the morning trips down south. Earlier in the week the other crewmembers caught a nice Ono. We trolled today and had a good fish on for about 5 seconds and it came unhooked. It was an exciting five seconds! We will get em next time..

Night Time in Puna

2009-06-08T09:27:00.004-10:00

Night time in Puna is so incredibly relaxing. There are no lights, so its pitch black. This photo was taken on the road right outside the house.

As soon as night falls the coqui frogs come out to play. They are cute little tree frogs that were accidentally brought over here from the Caribbean in some plants. Right now there's a big debate in Hawaii about controlling the population of the coqui frogs. They would pretty much go unnoticed by humans if it weren't for their mating calls at night. You never hear them or notice them throughout the day, but as soon as the sun sets, the whole area is overrun by coquis. You can't go 2 feet without finding a frog. At night they climb into trees and the males make a sound that gave them their name. It can be as high as 100 db, and it goes "co"(a very high-pitched sound, but relatively low compared to the second syllable), and then "qui" (very, very high-pitched). Its really spectacular to hear, and when you're outside, or inside for that matter, its all you hear. And it sounds like millions of them all going at random intervals. I loved falling asleep to the coqui frogs. Here's a video I took at night. If you don't listen closely you probably won't be able to distinguish the individual sounds of the frogs, but if you listen closely you can definitely hear the "co-qui" sound.

Carl's Birthday Weekend- Finally...

2009-06-07T17:28:00.005-10:00

Memorial Day was Carl's 27th birthday, so we all loaded up and headed to the other side of the island for the weekend. Alan had his 30th birthday that weekend as well, which gave us all the more reason to celebrate. Our friend Audry has a house in Puna, which was our destination. Its called "The Purple House", and its incredible! The district of Puna is primarily made up of jungle-like terrain, and all homes and such are off the grid. You use solar power, candles, and a catchment tank for water. The shower is solar heated, and there is an unlimited supply of hot water. It was the best shower I've ever been in.

When we weren't outside exploring or hanging out on the beach, we were all on the back porch. We had so much fun playing cards, listening to music, and grilling. The whole gang surprised Carl and Alan with some really nice gifts and a handmade card, which was the coolest thing we've ever seen. They put so much time and love into it, and it was really special. Carl was touched beyond words.

The first night we were there we went to the Champagne Ponds for a sunset swim. It was gorgeous of course, and quite warm. All along the floor of the pond are volcano warmed springs, which makes the water feel perfect.

When we woke up in the morning, Carl and I both jumped on a bike and went for the most amazing ride ever.

Most of the ride looked like this. Riding beneath a tree canopy is incredibly peaceful.

There were also tons of little trails along the road. We left our bikes at the road and checked out a couple.

And this is what was at the end of the tunnel. Each trail you took and every direction you looked was breathtaking.

We also came across a little fruit stand along the way. They had avocados, papayas, and mangos, and you just had to leave a donation if you took anything. We didn't have anything to donate, so we had to pass.

Puna

2009-05-30T09:36:00.004-10:00

We had a great weekend over labor day, spent saturday through monday in Puna on the east side of Big Island. Audrey was kind enough to let us stay at her Purple House, which was absolutely incredible. We have a bunch of pictures to show you, and I know that Stacey really wants to tell you about the house and some of the things that we did. This is just a preview. I havent had as much free time as I used to (both a good and bad thing ;) because I recently got a job working as a crewman on a snorkel/dive boat. More about that later. Enjoy the pics and look for this story to unfold a little more in the near future.

Hanging out on the lanai.

The view down the street.

This whole shoreline is incredible.

Me and Mike at Kehena, burying River. Kehena is a very unique beach for several reasons, some of which will be revealed to you very soon! ;0

Im not sure why, but River totally seemed to enjoy this. She just sat there and waited for us to bury her. After she got out, she kept digging the hole deeper and laying in it.

Saddle Road

2009-05-22T10:43:00.006-10:00

Several weeks ago Stacey and I took a trip on Saddle Road from Hilo over to the west side/Waimea area. This was our first trip on this road. We have heard a lot of stories about it, apparently it hasn't always been the safest road to travel on. Much work has been done on it over the last several decades. The road was constructed very quickly in 1942 by the military. Civilian traffic was not considered during construction, only military vehicles would be using the road. It basically connects the west side to the east side through Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. It's crest is at just over 6500 ft elevation. Basically the road is the straightest shot from one side to the other. There are no lights on this road, so travelling at night is not smart. Most rental car companies do not even allow you to take their vehicle on this road!

The clouds were THICK on the Hilo side on this particular day.

As we made our journey up the Saddle Road, the sky began to clear up. It rained a few times (as it always does in Hilo) and the sky was beautiful.

There are rolling hills with cattle grazing on them that make you feel like you are anywhere but in Hawaii. This is the most fascinating thing about the Big Island; how the scenery constantly changes on different parts of the island.

The Saddle Road is one of the neatest drives on the Big Island. All traffic headed west must yield to Eastbound traffic at several one-lane bridges/drainage areas. Some spots are completely full of potholes, slowing your speed to 30mph. The weather is significantly cooler, probably low 60's at the highest point. Definitely a great way to spend an afternoon.....

Kiholo Bay

2009-05-20T11:41:00.008-10:00

We spent the weekend at a new spot to us called Kiholo Bay. It was a birthday party for a friend of ours, Nicki, and she turned 40 on saturday. Nicki and her husband Mike own a charter business doing diving and fishing, so they brought their boat up north to the bay and anchored just offshore. It was a blast, and this place is beautiful! On saturday a large group spent the day on the boat fishing and diving, and Stacey and River and I stayed around camp to greet those who would slowly show up over the course of the day.

Stacey and I had a great time snorkeling in the bay. I have never seen a coral reef as large as this. The bay was dead calm, and the water was ridiculously clear. We spearfished for awhile with no luck. It's usually easier to sneak up on fish when the water is rough, so with all the clear water they could see you coming from a mile away.

Along this beach are a few homes that are absolutely extravagant. One is owned by the person who apparently invented the pacemaker, and another owned by Paul Mitchell. The latter was hand carved in Bali by supposedly 200 Balinese workers who were paid 1.50 a day. The home was brought in pieces to the Big Island and assembled.

There are several "Queen's Baths" located at this spot, which are freshwater ponds. This is one of my favorite things about the Big Island, all the freshwater so close to the beach. Here you can see all the palms that thrive off the freshwater springs clustered together in the middle of a barren lava field. The water is super cool and feels great!

Some of you might remember the post when I mentioned the tiger shark that our friend Tracey saw from a helicopter. This is where that took place. Unfortunately we weren't able to observe a tiger shark this trip ;).

On the way out on sunday, Mike took us to a lava tube off the beaten path. We hiked over jagged lava to get to this spot. He was shown this spot by one of the caretakers of the Bali house. It is incredible! We crawled way into this cave and came upon more freshwater. It was really neat to see. Probably 100 yards into this cave is a deep (20ft) spring of cold, fresh water. And it is completely pitch black in there if you turn off your flashlight. The water felt great, and it was a great ending to the weekend. We will have to take some of you to this spot when you come visit.

This trip was a blast, not surprisingly. Next week we are celebrating my birthday, as well as a Alan's bday, by heading to the east side (Puna) and camping at a friends cabin. It should be a good time and good story to come.......

Local Kine Crittahs

2009-05-11T20:36:00.002-10:00

See if you can find the critter in this picture. It is very good at blending in.

It is a praying mantis that I saw from our lanai. It was on the mailbox when I first saw it, and by the time I got the camera and got downstairs it had moved to the bushes. I almost couldnt find it. Very cool creatures, but it did creep me out a bit when it turned it's head and looked at me!

This little guy crawled inside River's water bucket and took a drink. No wonder they get so big, they have plenty of bugs and water to eat and drink.

This is Mashtun, our neighbor Ryan's cat. It has taken awhile for him and River to become friends, and they still have their moments. But things are getting better between them with each day.

Heres a shot of River and DiDi, who is Matt's kitty. Right after this, DiDi got a little too close to River's food and River chased her off. Not very fair considering that River eats both cat's food every chance she gets.

Hope you enjoyed the critter report.

Manta Dive

2009-05-11T12:05:00.009-10:00

I know most of you have already seen the video from this trip, but I thought I would put it up on the blog so that the people not on facebook could see as well.

We left out of Honokohau Harbor around 3:30pm heading north toward the airport. After we arrived, we spent some time snorkeling around and checking the place out. As the sun set, we were briefed on what we should expect to see. Our group were the only ones that weren't diving, so we let everyone get geared up and in the water first. We were each given a dive light that would help attract the plankton that the mantas eat. There were several other boats in the same spot, and everyone else had lights as well. One boat set up a few lights on the bottom. Everyone sits in a circle on the sea floor and shines their lights upward. The mantas came around quickly, some were even swimming around the boat before it got dark.

Some of these mantas have been coming to this spot for over thirty years. Each one has been filmed, identified, and named. Some of them have distinctive markings, like missing cephalic lobes (the fin near their mouth), fish hooks stuck in them, missing tails, etc.. The largest we saw had a wingspan of nearly 15ft. These creatures can grow to have almost double that further offshore. Despite their size, they are incredibly graceful and harmless. They will swim RIGHT up to you. If they got too close we were instructed to either turn off our dive light, or shine it against our chest so the plankton would disappear. Once you had a bunch of plankton swimming around you, the mantas would come right up and start doing somersaults in front of your face, catching as much plankton as possible. All you had to do was remain still.

After awhile the plankton started to disappear, and so did the mantas. We were in the water with an approximate total of 20-25 of them at one time. Some of the close-up pics really show the swarms of plankton. They can also give you an idea of how big these creatures mouths are! All in all, this was a great experience that I would recommend to anyone.

Gettin Dressed Up

2009-05-10T19:06:00.002-10:00

We spent pretty much the entire day at the beach with our friends yesterday, and it was super awesome. Right now the sun is setting at 6:45ish, but you start to feel a pretty significant temperature drop around 5. Which means the beaches usually clear out around that time or before. The beach we were at yesterday was one of the most touristy and crowded beaches here, but we were able to stick it out long enough to actually have the entire beach to ourselves. We had the best game of bocce ball ever.

We left the beach around sunset, and we all headed to Mike's house. We were standing around talking about what we were going to do, and someone mentioned that there was a rap-off at one of the bars here. We all thought about it, and figured we would try it out. Then our friend Alan said, "Well, I guess I'll put some jeans on tonight." We all just kinda looked at each other and realized that putting on a pair of jeans in Hawaii is pretty much the ultimate way to dress yourself up. You put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and you pretty much feel out of place and over dressed. We all laughed pretty good when we thought about that.

We never actually made it to the putting on jeans phase though. We just hung out and played a board game all night, which was probably more fun than the rap-off would have been.

Maks part 2

2009-05-06T15:11:00.010-10:00

Stacey, River and I all ended up sleeping in the truck, which was quite cramped. River was forced to sleep in the backseat with our seats leaned all the way back, completely closing her in. I was really surprised that she was ok with that, the thought of it gave me claustrophobia!

I ended up getting out of the truck about 6:15 am to check the surf and fish for awhile, both with no luck. Eventually everyone started moving around, and pretty soon we were cooking and early lunch. Lunch consisted of hot dogs, chicken breast, yellowfin tuna that my buddy Brian caught recently, and the Omilu that Stacey and I caught. Luckily a local Hawaiian saw us catch it and gave us the secret recipie! (cut slits and add olive oil and sea salt) It was really tasty!

After lunch we headed back to the beach, making sure to bring all the necessities ;)

There are several turtles that just hang out on the beach. River was quite interested in them.

One thing that I find truely amazing coming from the Texas coast is how close these huge sportfishers fish to the beach. All the large offshore fish can be caught within earshot of the island, which is incredible.

We all took turns hanging out in the water and bodysurfing, swimming, and snorkeling. We just bought a Bocce Ball set which has turned out to be a huge hit. Its a great beach game that everyone can play.

River is constantly rolling around in the sand and getting it all over her face, but for some reason she really doesnt seem to mind. I know I would.

Here is the parting shot of the Maks crew from left to right; River, Stacey, Ryan, Carl, Mike, Jack, Jill, Cone, Dick, Callyn, Tank, and Bruno.

I hope you enjoyed. There will be more to come!

Maks

2009-05-04T10:38:00.012-10:00

It's been awhile since I last posted, so here we go. I have a lot to share, so this may end up in separate postings. Enjoy!

I got a call on friday about a last minute camping trip to Makalawena Beach. It was an instant "yes" because this is one of our favorite places on the Big Island. This was our third trip here, and this time we managed to avoid any mishaps that would leave us without a camera. Stacey, Alan, River and I rode together in my truck. The road down from the highway to the beach is extremely rough, and only half of it should even be called a road. The only way to get down is in 4X4 low, moving about 2mph most of the time. Stacey chose to walk with River because she has a tendancy to get motion sickness with all the rocking back and forth.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for some), there are a few choice pieces of furniture ripe for picking along the part of the road near the highway.

When we reached the end of the road, we were greeted by this view.

After looking around for a bit, we began to set up camp. Alan and I were assigned to a large tent that neither of us knew how to construct. After fumbling around aimlessly for awhile, we decided to check and see if the tent came with any instructions. After a little instruction, we got it up.

Afterwards Alan and I decided to climb this awesome tree and watch everyone else work.

After everybody had their tents set up, we headed down the coast to a little nicer, sandy beach just a bit south. I drove the truck with all the beach toys in it, and the rest of the crew walked.

Several different spots along this beach hold freshwater (brackish) ponds no more than 50 yards from the beach. The water seeps through the rock and comes down from the volcano. It is really cool and feels great.

Here is Mike with his dog Jack, and River taking a dip.

To make a long story short, we spent the day at the beach doing lots of fun stuff, which I will share with you in a future post. Around sundown we headed back to camp to cook dinner.

Stacey and I snuck off to fish for a bit and see if we could catch some dinner. I ended up losing the first fish, but soon after we landed this Blue-fin Trevally, or Omilu. A local told me that they are great to eat, but after seeing how much food we had for dinner we decided to save it for sunday brunch.

This fish was really beautiful, especially right after we caught it. And it later tasted pretty good, too!

After dinner we gathered around the fire and talked story for awhile. Slowly but surely everyone made their way to their sleeping spots, anxious for another day at the beach.

Another Visitor!!

2009-04-28T12:52:00.003-10:00

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

2009-04-26T11:05:00.003-10:00

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!

2009-04-24T17:31:00.002-10:00

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

2009-04-14T15:37:00.003-10:00

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

2009-04-05T16:37:00.006-10:00

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

2009-04-01T12:45:00.007-10:00

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?

South Point

2009-03-30T12:12:00.007-10:00

Stacey and I finally got a chance to get down to South Point this past saturday. It's a really neat drive to the very southern tip of the Big Island, which also happens to be the southernmost tip of the united states. Once you reach the end, assuming you have an off-road vehicle, you can take one of many old dirt roads back to the north along the coastline.

Most of the roads are extremely steep in some areas, and a few times we had to turn around and try a different route. On a few occasions we had to go through some spots that really had the truck at an angle. I knew Stace was getting a little nervous when she slowly put her seatbelt on.

Once we reached Green Sands beach, we parked and hiked down the cliff to the water. There were a few other people on the beach, as well as one other dog that River ran around with a bit.

The wind is really strong on this side of the island, with the trade winds blowing constantly. The sand would sometimes blow right up the face of the cliff and make it impossible to open your eyes. At times it was uncomfortable because of this. Here is River dealing with the sandstorm.

This beach is really pretty neat, especially with the view from the top of the cliff. At first glance its almost hard to find Stace in this picture because she looks so small.

I will put up another post soon about the cliff jumping we did off the cliffs at southpoint. It was really a blast, and we got some pretty good pictures.

Pics from the Hike

2009-03-28T11:27:00.004-10:00

This is image is taken from the beach, and its zoomed in pretty good. We were standing at the extreme opposite end of the beach when I took this picture, and the beach is about a 1/2 mile long. If you look closely you can see the zig-zag line on the hillside. That's what's called the Z trail, and we hiked to the top. It was a SUPER steep trail. You definitely need to be in shape to attempt hiking it.

An awesome view of the valley from one of the switchbacks on the Z trail.

A rest stop.

Carl did the hike bare-footed. He would do everything with no shoes if he could. He loves being in Hawaii because he's been to restaurants, the grocery store, and pretty much all over town with no shoes on, and no one has given him any problems. Actually, we always see other people with no shoes and sometimes not even a shirt. He's in paradise.

Waipi'o Valley

2009-03-23T18:00:00.006-10:00

On Saturday Carl, River and I went hiking at the most beautiful and magical place I've ever been. Its called Waipi'o Valley, and everyone needs to go there. You have to have a 4WD vehicle to get down there because (1)the road down into the valley is SUPER steep and 1 lane, (2) once in the valley the roads are not paved and are full of potholes and mini lakes, and (3) you have to drive through rivers, literally.

The photos in this post are only of the valley. We'll put up pics of the beach and the hike we did tomorrow or so.

Here's Carl checking a water hole before we went through.

This is one of the river's we had to drive through. Most of the tourists that go to Waipi'o have rental cars and can't make it down the steep drive into the valley, so they park their car at the top of the hill and hike down. When we drove through this river, and a few others, we had several people look at us like, "Do you seriously think you're going to make it through that?" I was never worried about getting stuck because I knew Carl wouldn't go through something he wasn't positive that we could make it through.

This is one of the waterfalls at the back of the valley. The mountain you see wraps all the way around the valley, but the road stops and the only way to get to the other valleys and rainforests along the coast is by foot. Carl and I had a Saint Paddy's Day party to get to later that night, so we were only able to do a mini-hike. But let me tell you, it was intense. We summited the cliff in the picture, and it was absolutely breathtaking, but rather difficult. There is another valley a 7.7 mile walk from Waipi'o that we're making plans to hike to and camp out at. It is completely uninhabited and has waterfalls and fresh water streams all throughout. We hear its unbelievable, and we can't wait to go.

There were several homes in the valley, which we were pretty surprised about. If you could see the road you have to go down to get there, you'd never believe that people live there. We did some research when we got home and found out that Waipi'o Valley used to be a bustling mecca of Hawaii. All of the Princes and elite of Hawaii had homes there, and much of the farming was done there as well. There was a school, a post office, a restaurant, a hotel, and a jail. Then, in the 40s, a huge tsunami hit Hawaii and completely wiped out the valley. It wasn't until very recently that people began moving back, and from what we hear they don't really care for tourists. We were pretty uncomfortable most of the time we were driving through the valley, for one because of the condition of the roads, but also because we felt like we were driving through people's property and someone was surely going to come out with a shotgun and run us off. Then we remembered we were in Hawaii not Texas, and our fears shifted to someone coming out with a koa wood club with shark teeth strung along the outside. As it turned out, though, everyone we came across was super nice and didn't seem to care that we were there at all.

New Traditions

2009-03-20T10:57:00.002-10:00

Carl and I started a new tradition. At the Bubba Gump's restaurant there is a bench with Forrest's shoes in front that have the backs cut out so you can stick your feet in. We decided we're going to take everyone's picture there that comes to visit us and hang it up/post it on our blog. Who will be next?

Sad, sad puppy

2009-03-16T18:30:00.002-10:00

This is what River looks like when we leave. We try to take her with us as much as we can, but during the day its way too hot in the truck for her if we need to go inside somewhere.

Road Trip

2009-03-16T00:00:00.000-10:00

Stacey and I decided to take a road trip on Saturday because it was such a nice day. Originally our plans were to head up to Waimea to the farmer's market, and then come home. But we decided to do a little exploring instead. Wouldn't you believe the camera ran out of batteries before we even made it to Waimea?

The first several pictures are during the drive north. Most of them aren't very good because we were taking them while moving, through the windshield, etc.. But they are better than nothing, I guess.

The drive up was spectacular. It rained on us a few times, and it really made the sky pretty. Everything is green when you start to head north on the island. This part of the island gets the most rain. This stretch of coastline, called the Kohala Coast, is some of the prettiest coastline Hawaii has to offer. One of the spots up hear is called Kiholo Bay, and it is one of the spots that we are most anxious to see. It supposedly has good surf periodically as well, but we heard an interesting story recently that makes me wonder if it is worth checking out. One of our friends is currently studying for her helicopter pilot's license. She was flying earlier in the week over Kiholo and spotted a large tiger shark between 12 and 15ft long. They hovered directly over it and got a good look at it. The scary thing was that there were some snorklers nearby that had no idea! Honestly, I think this happens alot and people just don't realize it. Sharks are more afraid of humans than humans really know. It would take a freak event for that shark to bother those people. Nevermind what you see on Good Morning America about those spearfisherman killing that tiger shark. I don't believe they were in harms way, they just killed it for fun. When the media got ahold of it, it became a "life or death situation."

Off to the left you can see the coastline where Kiholo and several other bays are located.

This is the town of Waimea. We drove around a bit and saw the farmer's market, which was great. All Hawaiian grown and local handmade things for sale at a great price. We also checked out the school that Stacey will start at in the fall. It was very small and neat looking. She is very excited about it.

This is the part of the trip where the camera runs out of batteries. We have already began planning another trip to take more pictures. The next few pics I got were with my phone, so the quality isn't great. But it will give you a good idea of what we saw. This pic is from up on the highway leaving town. There are some incredible homes up here with spectacular views. When I say incredible homes, I mean mostly the view and location. Most of the homes would be between the $100k to $350k back in Texas. The greatest part about Waimea is the elevation and weather. In this pic we are at around 3000ft. The temp is in the low 70's, and if you look to the left you see Mauna Kea with it's peak covered in snow. And if you look right you see the pacific ocean. There are rolling green hills with cows on them everywhere. And the Parker Ranch is spectacular, and has alot of great history.

In this pic you can barely make out the snow covered peak and observatory of Mauna Kea. It looks like clouds, but most of the white you see at the peak is snow. With the naked eye you can see it perfectly, as well as the observatory. But this is a phone camera pic and it is tough to see. Pictures cannot do it justice anyway. Nor can words.

So we decide to head up to Hawi (pronounced "Ha-Vee"). Hawi is the northern tip of the Big Island. This area is mostly local Hawaiian and very much resembles what Kona used to look like. We ended up taking an old dirt road back to this point that had a lighthouse on it. When we got there we realized that a large Northeast swell was hitting the island, and the surf was REALLY good. There were several guys out, and the waves were easily overhead. It looked really fun, but I had brought only my board and no trunks to get in with. We moved along the coast a short distance and found some guys being towed into huge waves with jetskis. At this spot the surf was 10 -15ft. These next few pics are some of those waves. Its impossible to tell how big they are with no one to show the scale, but they were some of the biggest waves I have ever seen.

The expression is "overhead" or "double-overhead" which means the top of the wave is over the head of a surfer standing up on his board. Double overhead means there is enough room for two people to stand up stacked one on the other. These waves were easily double overhead.

We travelled along further to this beach that is a long hike down. It was incredible, and there was a freshwater lake down there that River really enjoyed. After spending some time here, we decided it was time to head back. We are already thinking about when we will come back to these spots again.

I think you can click on most of these pictures and get a larger view, but I am not sure. Try it. Also, don't hesitate to leave a comment at the bottom of these posts if you like what you see! Or even if you don't!

Honaunau Pt. 2

2009-03-14T00:00:00.001-10:00

Like I stated in the previous post, Honaunau is a really unique spot on the Big Island. While walking around and checking things out, one can really get caught up in imagining some of the things that took place here. Besides it's stunning beauty, the history is incredible.

Hawaii once had a system of extensive laws, or "kapu." Some of the laws were as follows:

no man and women could eat together, nor could their food even be prepared in the same place
members of the lower class could not walk on, or even LOOK AT the same walking trails as the higher class
commoners could not speak to a chief, or "Ali'i," nor could their shadow fall across an Ali'i's shadow.

These are just a few, but you get the idea. The penalty for breaking this kapu was almost always death. You had a choice, either by fire, club, spear, or strangulation. Hawaiians believed that the Gods would not tolerate misbehaivor, and punishment came in the form of earthquakes, lava eruptions, tidal waves, etc.. So they were quick to exterminate any law breaking citizens. Sometimes, if the crime was bad enough, the criminals ENTIRE family was executed. Horrible, huh?

So what makes this place such a historic one is the fact that it was considered a "home-base" if you will. If a lawbreaker could make his way to this place of refuge before his pursuers could catch him, he was FREE! Here the "kahuna pule" (priest) would mandate certain rituals. After the escapee satisfied everything, he was free to leave, and the Gods would have forgiven him. Defeated warriors could also come here to await the victor of a battle. They could then pledge their allegiance to whoever won and live out their lives in peace.

This re-constructed thatched structure called Hale-o-Keawe ws originally a mausoleum, containing the bones of 23 chiefs. Bones were thought to contain supernatural power, or mana, and therefore ensured that the Place of Refuge would remain sacred. The wall you see to the left of the structure is called the Great Wall. It was built in the 1500's, ans is 1000ft long, 10 ft. high and 17ft thick in most places. It separated the Pu'uhonua and the Ali'i's palace grounds. The wall was made from un-cut lava rocks and no mortar, which I found amazing.

Around the structure are several hand carved statues of Gods, which are really cool looking and must have taken a long time and a skilled hand to create. There is also a large rock nearby that has a neat story. Supposedly one of King Kamehameha's wives (his favorite one) escaped to the Place of Refuge by swimming across the bay after an argument. She hid under this rock until he found her a little while later, and soon after they apologized and made up. The bay is beautiful, and it may be hard to tell from the picture, but it is full of tropical fish like these Yellow Tang. In this picture there are 5 or 6 of them swimming around.

Along the shore there are several places where you can see fresh water trickling into the bay. I am not sure exactly where it comes from, but supposedly this was one of the factors for choosing this area, because of its supply of fresh water. There is even a small freshwater pond full of freshwater fish a mere 25 yards from the ocean. Not sure how they got there, but they are there.This place really has some beautiful palm trees that seem to grow on top of solid lava rock. It is definitely one of the prettiest places we have been to on the Big Island yet.

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau

2009-03-13T09:26:00.006-10:00

While my mom was in town we decided to do some looking around. We stopped at this place, which is a short distance south of Kona, near Capt. Cook. It's a state park, and it has some really great history that I will share with you in another post. But the place was beautiful. When you walk up, there are several little stops with hand carved figures and things, and a recording of what took place here over the last several hundred years.
This will give you an idea of what the Big Island looks like. Notice the small volcano to the left (Hualalai, where we live) and the two larger ones, Mauna Kea on top and Mauna Loa below it. There is also a gecko on the wall just above the island.

This place is well maintained, and all of the sand is raked everyday. It is absolutely beautiful.

There are several replicas of ancient Hawaiian homes on the property. It is amazing what they used to construct out of wood and palm fronds.

They are all open to the weather for the most part, which allows that nice breeze to come in and keep you cool.

This is where Stacey and I live. We like it. A little cluttered, though. (just kidding!)

Next post will be about the history of this spot, and why they call it the "Place of Refuge."

Pine Trees

2009-03-10T19:47:00.006-10:00

Well we finally got to spend some more time at the beach. Pine Trees is a great little beach a little north of town that you have to travel down a ROUGH 4WD road about a mile from the pavement to get to. Supposedly this is one of the most consistent spots for waves near Kona. Notice all of the surfers out to the left in this picture.

It seems that Stacey is an aspiring photographer, as she snapped this awesome pic of the sun behind this old tree.

This is the first chance I have had to use my shortboard in Hawaii. I'm about to put the fins back on my board in this pic after taking them off for the flight over.

The Big Island, as well as the other islands, gets the best swell during the winter time. Today the surf was 3 to 5 ft, which is a great size for people with moderate experience (like me). These two guys were getting alot of waves. Most everyone in the lineup was very friendly, which is great. Some spots in Hawaii are fiercley guarded by the locals, and Haoles like myself are not always welcome. But Pine Trees seems like a great spot with a friendly vibe.

This is the view up the beach with all the trucks parked along the shore. The only things we don't like about this spot are the "no overnight camping" rule, as well as the "no dogs" rule. Apparently you can get a permit to camp out, but dogs are not welcome period. Kind of a bummer for River. But there are other beaches that she can go to.

Hope you enjoy!

Our First Visitor!!

2009-03-06T17:05:00.002-10:00

Carl's mom Becky arrived on Tuesday afternoon from Austin. We're super excited to have her here. So far we've gone to Holualoa (an adorable artist community up the mountain behind our house), a coffee orchard (Crackulated Coffee Co), Waikoloa Village (where most of the resorts are), the Farmer's Market, and a famous surf spot here called Banyans, but there weren't any waves. We also took a trip up to the house that Becky's parents built when they lived here. It was breath-taking. I'll let Carl do a more detailed post about that later.

Tonight we are going down to the Kona Inn, which is right off the water, to have coconut shrimp.

Everywhere you look, smiling faces

2009-03-03T17:42:00.002-10:00

Carl and I are constantly in awe of how incredibly nice people are here. Here are a few of the experiences we've had recently:

in the mornings when River and I jog, EVERY person we pass smiles at us and says good morning
before we had our cars (which we picked up yesterday, by the way) several different people pulled over to give us a ride when they saw that we were carrying groceries
the woman at the Driver's License place absolutely could not have been more polite and helpful if you paid her $1,000, and the same was for the woman at the vehicle registration place, the bank, and the list goes on
when we rode the bus over to hilo to pick up our cars, we called the owner of Town and Country storage to get directions to his warehouse so we could pick up our container. when he found out we were on foot he said, "stop where you are. i'll leave right now and come pick you up."
our roommate's car broke while we were driving it, and HE apologized to US for that happening while we had it. he said it must have been terrible for us and never once blamed us for anything or had any hard feelings.

So, in case you couldn't tell, we're super happy here. Life could not be any better.

This is the market we walk to and get our produce.

Not sure what this thing is, but I'm sure its spectacular. Maybe. In case you can't tell from the image, its about the same size as River.

River's Biggest Fears

2009-02-28T08:00:00.000-10:00

Until now we thought River's only fears were drains and cattle guards. Well boy were we wrong. Turns out an even bigger fear of hers, so it would appear, are these huge, banana shaped pods that fall off of a tree here that we haven't yet learned the name of (seen in image number 2). We noticed that she was unsure of them when we were walking to the beach one morning. When she noticed a pod on the sidewalk, she quickly moved to the complete opposite side of the concrete to avoid it. Carl and I, being the awful parents that we are, felt the urge to torment her a little. So we picked one up and set it next to her. She completely freaked out and jumped, and I do mean jumped, onto the grass. Little did she know, she landed right in a huge patch of them. I've never seen her leap so high as the moment she realized where she was standing. She panicked. We felt kinda bad for her, but it was REALLY funny.

Other than that she loves it here. The guys that share our property (from here on out known as Matt and Ryan) have 2 cats. For the last week River's been high-tailing it after them when she sees them. A couple of nights ago I was cooking dinner and I heard Carl whisper, "Stace, look at this." I turned around to see River sleeping on the tile and MashTun, one of the cats, was behind her sniffing her rear. We couldn't believe how brave the cat was. River bounced up when she heard my reaction to the sight, and the cat was out the door. We thought they'd never become friends, but today they semi- played together.

At lot of times during the day River comes back up stairs from playing outside and looks like this...

If I Were A Gecko...

2009-02-27T09:04:00.002-10:00

If I were a gecko Carl would:

Worship the ground I walked on

Cherish my every move

Think I was adorable, even when croaking so loud
I keep him awake at night

Take pictures of me 35 times a day

Grab me and stare into my eyes

Pau Hana

2009-02-27T00:00:00.000-10:00

Here in Hawaii, the word "pau" (pow) means done or over and "hana" means work. So, together they mean "after work." Stacey and I have been spending our pau hana time sitting on the old couch on our lanai, checkin out the view. Stacey has found a great website called Pandora that allows you to pick your favorite artist, and it automatically creates a station with alike artists. So we put on some good tunes and watch the sunset. The vog has created some strange, although beautiful sunsets. However, tonight was the first night that we actually watched the sun set into the water instead of a cloudy bank above the horizon. It was SPECTACULAR. I realize that a picture cannot do it justice, but here you go.

In these next two pictures you can see the lights at the north end of town. The bright white lights to the far right are on a soccer field. I know its kinda hard to see in the picture, but all of the street lights in Kona are yellow. This helps keep down the light pollution for the observatory on Mauna Kea. My first experience driving at night was strange, because it constantly feels like you are driving into a yellow traffic light!

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Ryan lent us his car.......

2009-02-25T00:00:00.002-10:00

Last friday our roomate Ryan headed over to Oahu to spend some time with his girlfriend. Stacey asked him if he needed a ride to the airport, and he said that would be great. He told us he thought it would be a great opportunity for us to borrow his car and explore the island a bit. He had already offered to let us use it as soon as we arrived, but we were perfectly content with the semi-short walk to the grocery store. Besides that, a very nice local woman had given us a ride back home after seeing us carrying a ton of groceries, as well as having another person offer to give us a ride on a different trip (the attitude in Kona is very friendly). But with Ryan heading to another island, no one would be using the car. So we agreed to take him to the airport.

Well, we took the car up the hill a ways to participate in a "Hash House Harriers" run, which Stacey will soon tell you more about. On the way up the hill, we noticed a strange smell coming from the car, which worried me. When we stopped, there was a noticable amount of smoke coming from under the hood. We checked it out, and we couldn't tell where it was coming from. We drove it home later that evening and parked it in the driveway. The next morning we looked out to see a nice puddle forming under the car! After closer inspection, it seemed to be transmission fluid. Not good. We threw some kitty litter over the puddle to soak it up, and that is as far as we have gotten. Ryan's birthday was yesterday, so he decided we should wait til today (wednesday) to work on it. He was incredibly understanding and does not blame us at all. After all, he says he only paid $500 dollars for the car!

On a lighter note, here is a picture of the sunset we experienced last night. The "vog" coming from the volcano can sometimes block the sunset, but at other times it actually enhances it.

GECKO INVASION

2009-02-25T00:00:00.001-10:00

So, one thing I was excited about when thinking of coming to Hawaii was all of the different plant-life and creatures that inhabit the island. I remember visiting my grandparents when I was a kid, and spending hours exploring. I was obsessed with catching all kinds of critters, including birds, mongoose, centipedes, etc.. I can also clearly remember an abundance of geckos crawling around at night eating bugs. The geckos I remember resembled the geckos we have in Texas. Small, almost transparent little creatures that could release part of their tail as a defense mechanism when threatened. But, almost immediately after arriving on the Big Island, I began to notice larger, green geckos with fat tails and red markings on their body. I knew that I had never seen a gecko like this before, for it would surely be something to remember. And strangely, these green geckos stayed out during the day. Last night I photographed this specimen as it was looking in our kitchen window.

As it came inside the window, I got a close-up photograph of it. If you ask me, these creatures are absolutely beautiful.

Apparently these critters are called "Gold Dust Day Geckos," and they come from Madagascar. The species is not native to Hawaii, and was supposedly introduced by a student at the University of Hawaii in 1974, when the student released eight of them that were originally kept as pets. The species is considered an "invasive" species, and could potentially upset the fragile ecosystem on the Hawaiian Islands. They consume bugs, pollen, nectar, and other geckos (which might explain why I have not seen any other types of gecko). They are everywhere in Kona, and they have been spotted on the East side of the Big Island, as well as on Oahu and Kauai.

These critters are everywhere, both outside and inside our apartment. We constantly have all the windows and doors open, so they come and go as they please. Which is really o.k. with us, seeing as how they eat all bugs at an alarming rate. Hawaiians consider these guys to be lucky, and so do we.

Every now and then you will hear them making a noise, called "barking," that sounds like a "kissing" sound. I guess that is how they communicate. Apparently males are extremely territorial.

Just to give you an idea how many there are, I was able to count at least 5 geckos from one position on the back porch in the span of about 30 seconds. Funny thing is, we have two cats roaming around, and according to the roomates, they have had an impact on the gecko population around our house. I can't imagine what it must have been like before the cats arrived.

For those of you planning on coming to stay with us sometime in the future, I guess you can consider yourselves warned. You will be forced to coexist with the "Gold Dust Day Gecko."

Kona Town

2009-02-24T00:00:00.001-10:00

This view is looking back up Hualalai Rd from Ali'i Drive. Further up this road is where my grandparants used to live.

This is looking north down Ali'i Drive. This road runs through Kailua-Kona along the waters edge, and is something like 6 or 7 miles long.

There are a ton of little shops and places to eat along this road. And the view is great from every one of them.

Towards the north end of Ali'i Drive the water comes all the way up to the road. The view is incredible, and you can see all different kinds of tropical fish swimming in the crystal clear water.

Through my polorized sunglasses you can see through some of the glare on the surface. There are a ton of little yellow fish, called "Yellow Tang" that are swimming around. We can't wait till our snorkeling stuff shows up.

Our vehicles will be here the first of next month, along with all of the things we shipped. Then we will be able to explore some of the more remote spots on the Big Island.

hammock troubles

2009-02-22T16:01:00.005-10:00

Well I thought I would make a quick post regarding a little hammock mishap that Stacey experienced just moments ago. As I am finishing a previous post on the blog, Stacey quietly made her way out to the lanai to sit in the hammock.

For some background info, the hammock hangs on two hooks that where installed by a previous tenant. But, when we are not using the hammock, it is more convenient to un-hook one side. I usually take the un-hooked side and hang it on a small nail near the other end of the hammock (marked by orange arrow). The blue arrow marks the hook that is identical to the other.

Shortly after Stacey headed outside, I heard a loud "thud" on the porch, and Stacey laughing. I come out to find Stacey laying on the ground. As I look up, I notice that she has taken the hammock off of the hook marked in blue, and connecting it to the opposite hook. Now the hammock is secure on one end, and hanging on a very old, rusty nail on the other. Obviously the nail was unable to hold poor Stacey.

Stacey was un-injured, luckily, because the hammock only sits about 1 foot off the ground. Here she is laying peacefully after we corrected the problem. And yes, I have her permission to post this!

Day at the beach

2009-02-22T13:38:00.001-10:00

Stacey and I decided to spend some time on the beach today because the sun was shining, and it was a beautiful day. This particular beach is located next to the marina right in Kona. It is where several tourists spend time snorkeling and renting paddle boards and outrigger canoes.

This beach is about a 15 minute walk from our house. If you look in the background, the mountain you see is the volcano "Hualalai" and is the volcano on which we live. This year marks the 208th year since it's last eruption.

In this picture you can see a guy on a paddle board heading out. Eventually we will get one of these so we can paddle around and stay in shape.

This was the most white guy on the beach, and it happened to be me!

We're Here!!!!

2009-02-20T12:41:00.000-10:00

On Tuesday, February 17th, Carl and I landed in paradise. And the best part is: we don't have to leave!!! I can't begin to tell you how excited and overwhelmed we are. Everything about our journey so far has been unbelievably perfect. Our landlords currently live in Seattle, but they have a large group of friends that live in Kona. Most of them are between the ages of 28-35, they go to a different beach on the island to camp at least once a month, they skate, surf, play games, and all kinds of cool stuff. A week or so before we arrived Melissa asked us if we'd like for one of her friends to pick us up at the airport, and of course we said yes. So when we arrived, Mike was waiting for us. He brought us to our new home, we dropped off our stuff, and we headed to the Kona Brewing Co. The 2 guys that live in the house we share a property with are the brew masters there, so we got a free pint and felt like locals within an hour of landing in Kona. Everyone we've met so far has been super cool. Last night Ryan, one of the brew masters, invited us to a poker party. We started around 7 and didn't quit til around midnight, and believe it or not I only lost $3. I bought in for $20 and walked with $17. Yay!

This is my view as I write this blog. Its taken from our lanai (porch). Its zoomed in a little, but not much. Our house is about 1/2 mile from the ocean. We're on a hill, so we have a perfect view.
This is a picutre of us on our lanai. Yes, Carl is wearing a hoodie. Believe it or not its pretty chilly here. We're really glad we brought our winter gear. During the day you definitely should wear shorts and t-shirts, but in the mornings and evenings the temperature really drops. Actually, right now its 1 pm, and I'm wearing a hoodie. We went for a walk earlier and were sweating, but once you get under the shade and in the breeze you cool off really fast.

When we landed at the Kona airport, which is spectacular by the way, Carl bought me this beautiful lei.

There is an awesome Farmer's Market by the water that we've been walking to every day to get our lunch. Before we moved here we had 1 of 2 reactions from most everyone we told we were moving to Hawaii: (1) that's so awesome! i wish i would have done something like that too. (2) its too expensive there. Well, our experience has been quite the opposite of the second statement thus far. Our rent is $300 cheaper than in New Braunfels- its a little smaller, but still cheaper. And the food at the market is CHEAP!!! A head of butter lettuce is $1, a box of cherry tomatoes is $2, humongous butter avocados are $1, yellow and orange bell peppers are less than $1, and the list goes on. All of you who buy those sorts of vegetables at the super market can understand my astonishment when I saw the prices. And to top it off, the produce is of such an amazing quality that you don't even need to use salad dressing. This is a picture of the salads we've been having every day for lunch. We bought some chopped macadamia nuts at the market to put on top as well.

We can't wait for all of you to be here in August!!!!

San Diego

2009-02-16T10:01:00.000-10:00

My mom, Susan, Kennedy, and Oliver met us in San Diego for an exciting, action-packed 3 days. We went to SeaWorld, the world-famous San Diego Zoo, and a really awesome Mexican restaurant in Old Town twice. We really enjoyed hanging out with them, although it seemed super short.
Here we are playing on the bed.
This is on the train ride at the zoo. The San Diego zoo is way too huge to be able to tackle all in one day, especially with a 4 year old, so we opted to take a bus tour in order to see the whole park. Its definitely the way to go if you're ever there. We were able to walk around quite a bit too, but the ride was awesome. I took this photo of a laughing hyena because it is sleeping just like Dan and Becky's dog Jackson, and I wanted them to see it.

Road Trip

2009-02-15T16:06:00.000-10:00

Stacey and I left for San Diego, California, at about 10am on Tuesday morning. We weren't sure where we would end up at the end of the first day, and the trip was quite entertaining. We headed west on I-10, and it wasn't long before we found ourselves driving into an incredible wind storm in Fort Stockton. The wind was a constant 50mph, with gusts into the 70's. It was hard to see at times because of all the dust in the air. After sitting it out in a convenient store parking lot for awhile, we finally decided to keep driving. It wasn't long before we were out of the storm, and the weather turned for the better.

Sheryl and Susan made reservations at the Hyatt on Mission Bay for all of us, including baby Oliver and Kennedy. The view from this 17th floor hotel room was amazing! Stacey and I are so lucky to have been treated so well by them.

This is the spectacular sunset that we experienced on the first night in San Diego.

Steak & Lobster

2009-02-13T15:41:00.001-10:00

Two nights before we left we were treated to an amazing evening of steak, lobster, cuban cigars, and good ole family time. The food was incredible!! For those of you who don't know, we've been living with Dan and Becky since January, and we've loved every minute of it. We've been away for 3 days now, and we miss them terribly. They made us the most wonderful dinners every night, and we played many games of spades. We always beat them of course (sorry Dan, I had to do it).

This is a photo of Carl, Dan, Carl's brother Brian, and Becky by the bbq pit.
about to dig in....

Dan and Jackson

and the feast....

saying good-bye

2009-02-08T14:22:00.000-10:00

Yesterday was a rather difficult day for me. I went to Hallettsville to say my final good-byes to my Dad and family and to my dear sweet Mema. It was really great seeing everyone, but it was pretty difficult saying farewell. August really isn't that far away, but right now it feels like it will be forever before I see them again.

Gettin close!

2009-02-06T10:09:00.001-10:00

Well, its to the point that we're saying our final good-byes. We went and had dinner with our good friends Brandi and Bill last night. It was really sad to say good-bye, but they are thinking about coming to visit in a few months. Brandi was supposed to be one of my bridesmaids, but a few weeks ago she found out that she's pregnant. That means she'll be 8 months pregnant during the wedding, and she won't be able to fly. I'm really sad about it, but I'm super happy for them. Since they can't come in August they're thinking about making a quick trip before she's too pregnant to fly. We already have one visitor scheduled- Carl's mom is coming out for a week in March. We're thrilled. We want all the visitors we can have.

These pictures are of me and Robin in DC.

Moving and Carl's Graduation

2009-02-03T08:36:00.000-10:00

I can't believe we're leaving Texas in 1 week!! We are excited beyond words. Carl found a place for us to rent when we get there. We'll be able to fly in and drive straight to our new home, and the key will be waiting for us under the mat. Its a studio/loft apartment in Kona, and its about a 5 minute walk from the water and the downtown area. I think its going to be perfect. By the time everyone arrives for our wedding we'll be in a new location because we're renting it on a month-to-month basis. Its pretty small, but it will most definitely hold us over until we find the perfect place to live in long-term.

These are some photos of Carl's graduation. I know its been a while, but I realized I hadn't put any up yet. We had a gathering out at his parents' house afterward, and it was a lot of fun. There was a time when Carl, and many others, never thought he would graduate, so this day was extra special. Yay Carl!! My Dad and family gave him a card, and on the front Dad wrote "Congraduations!" I thought it was really funny. Carl didn't even catch it- at first glance he thought that was how you spelled congratulations.

Text Books

2009-01-26T09:07:00.000-10:00

For any of you that are still in school or know someone who is, I highly recommend using www.sellbackyourbook.com instead of going to your school bookstore. Carl and I have a stack of books that we never sold back because we knew we'd only get a few bucks anyways, but we kept them during our move because I found this site. We recently went to the site and typed in the ISBNs, and we're getting $237!!!! And they even pay for the shipping!! That is absolutely unheard of in the selling back of textbooks world. So keep it in mind the next time you or someone you know has a textbook to get rid of. Its definitely worth the few minutes it takes to type in the ISBN.

2009-01-22T16:44:00.000-10:00

One of my favorite experiences of our trip was the "We Are One" Inauguration Concert on Sunday. There were tons of performers including James Taylor, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Sheryl Crow, Bon Jovi, Shakira, Beyonce, and many more. The best by far was Garth Brooks, which really caught me by surprise. He is most definitely my least favorite country singer, but he put on an incredible show. He was quite the entertainer, singing "bye bye Mrs. American pie" and "shout", invoking the entire crowd (500,000 people) to throw their hands in the air and sing along. The most moving part of the experience for me was that the entertainers didn't sing their own songs, they sang songs that every single person in attendance, from children to the elderly, Asians to African Americans, knew the words to. It was really awesome to look around and see such a diverse group of people all singing together and having an amazing time. Everything about the concert from the singing crowd, the diverse group of people, and the group of entertainers that spanned genres really reflected the overlying theme "We Are One", and I thought it was beautiful.

Inauguration

2009-01-21T11:09:00.000-10:00

Yesterday was by far the most memorable day of my life, and for many, many reasons. I'm in DC with my cousin Robin, and when I say that we're exhausted I mean it. As an example, we're still lying in our hotel bed, and its 4:15 pm.

Our day yesterday began at 3:15 am, kind of. Really it began at 9 am on Monday morning because we went to the Black Tie and Boots Texas Ball Monday night, got in at 2, lied down at 2:15, and set the alarm for 3. I really don't think I ever fell asleep in those short 45 minutes because I was so worried about missing the alarm. We left for the subway station at 4 am, and made it downtown around 5, at which time the metro station was already unbelievably packed. We got to the Mall (the strip of land between the capital and the Lincoln Memorial) at about 530 and remained in 1 spot until 1. The temp was in the low 20s, it was still dark for about 2 hours, and there were an estimated 1.8 million people in the Mall alone. When I say we were crowded it is an understatement. We were packed in so tight you were constantly squished between people and being pushed around from side to side. It was definitely a test of our balancing skills, and today we feel like 85 year old ladies. We were chaparoning a group of 17 high school seniors, and at one point while it was still dark, 2 of the girls needed to go to the bathroom. A short while later Robin gets a call that they were stuck and people would not let them back to our spot. So Robin, being the kind-hearted soul that she is, decided to go find them and escort them back. Well that, my friends, was no small task. She literally had to push, shove, bribe, and crawl over people to get to them. And then do the same to get back. I felt so horrible for her. But she finally made it.

Eventually the clock struck noon and the ceremonies began. Some time around 630 that morning I was quite certain I would never see 12 noon, but by the grace of God we made it. Once the inauguration began our lives got much better. It was very exciting, and most memorable. We have a great video of the crowd after Obama took his oath. Almost everyone on the mall had flags, and after his oath we were in a sea of waving flags and cheers. It was really incredible.

But needless to say, Robin and I both agreed that we would never do anything like that again. We are so excited to have been there, but next time will be perfectly happy to watch everything from the sidelines. I have great pics from the ball and other places that I will post later.

2009-01-17T07:45:00.000-10:00

I cannot believe we're leaving for Hawaii in 3 weeks!!!! Carl and I were talking yesterday about how that's a super hard thing to grasp. It really has not sunk in for us yet, but every once in a while we get unbelievably excited. Our plan is to rent an ohana house for a month so we can have a place to go when we get there. Then we'll have plenty of time to look around and find the perfect place. An ohana house is very common in Hawaii. Ohana means family, and most people have a 1 bed/1 bath detached apartment on their property. Some choose to rent it out. The only thing is that most of them don't have a kitchen. But we'll be fine without a kitchen for a few weeks.
Actually, I've already found the perfect place, but I doubt it will be available when we get there. Check it out:
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/apa/994266640.html
And here's where Carl wants to live. And I'm not kidding.
http://honolulu.craigslist.org/big/apa/990453581.html

Papaw

2009-01-09T06:38:00.000-10:00

Carl's papaw is in the ICU right now, and I want to encourage all of you to keep him in your hearts and prayers. He's an amazing man, and we can't wait to see him feeling better. He's been in Intensive Care for 15 days now, and Carl has had quite a few opportunities to visit him there. Today was my first, and to say it was emotionally overwhelming would be an understatement. In the few short years I've known Papaw I haven't had as many visits with him as I'd have liked, but none the less, each one has been nothing short of entertaining. His use of sarcasm will keep you laughing for weeks. Every time we leave him Carl and I remind each other for days of all the funny things Papaw said.
It was terribly sad to see him in the condition he's in today, but even with all he's experiencing he was able to give us the same smile you see below when he saw us this morning.
Carl has really been a pillar of strength for me over the last year since my Papa died, and he was for me again today after our visit with Papaw. He has an amazing ability to keep me centered and focused on faith rather than reeling with thoughts and negative emotions. I thank God every day for putting us together, and I feel so blessed to share my life with him.

Where's River?

2008-12-19T17:41:00.000-10:00

This picture is the afternoon after our garage sale. We threw some things into my truck to take to Salvation Army. See if you can find the stow-away that wanted to go for a ride!

Give up?

River loves to go for a ride any chance she gets. I think she is hoping that we are either headed to the beach or to the river.

"Waffle" Fest

2008-12-08T10:01:00.000-10:00

As much as Carl and I are ready for a new and exciting adventure, we're definitely going to miss living in New Braunfels. We were only able to spend 1 year here, but we've had a really great time. The things I'll miss the most are the really fun festivals New Braunfels has. My favorite two are Wurstfest and Wassailfest. Wurstfest is always the first week in November, and its a blast. I went this year with my friends Brandi and Bill, and we had a great time. We got to do a ton of really great people watching and polka dancing. At the end of the night we were walking by a stein booth, and Bill decided he wanted to pick one up. After about 15 minutes of going looking at each one he finally decided on the perfect one and the attendant went to the back to get it out of the box. While she was gone we picked up the mug to see the price, and it was a whopping $92!!! We were all shocked. Bill and I tried to bail, but Brandi wouldn't let us. So Brandi and Bill are now the proud owners of the beautiful $92 stein on the left.

Wassailfest was last Thursday. It was almost unbearably cold, but we went anyway. A few days before the event I called my friend Leila to see if she and her husband would like to go with us. She replied, having never been before, "oh, yeah, we'd love to, Ty loves waffles. Ty do you wanna go to Waffle Fest?" Carl and I got a pretty good kick out of it.

This image was actually taken at last year's Wassailfest, where Carl and I both discovered that Wassail is pretty much disgusting. But we still love the fest. It makes you really get into the

Christmas spirit.

surfing gustav

2008-12-02T13:49:00.000-10:00

It seems like every other post I'm saying this, but sorry for the huge time delay in posting. Carl and I decided a few days ago that as soon as we get to Hawaii we will begin posting every single day, so please don't give up on us. We know it will be a great way for our friends and families to keep up with our lives since we'll be so far. More and more of my family members have started blogs recently, and it makes it so much easier to stay informed.
While most people would get as far away from the water as possible during a hurricane, Carl heads straight for it. Well, not straight for it, but straight to a beach that's far enough away to be safe yet close enough to get huge swells. In early September Gustav headed our way, and we packed up our dog and our boards and headed to Corpus. (Mom and Shelly- Carl is a seasoned surfer and is always very, very safe.) Carl does all the surfing while River and I sit on the pier and watch. Some day I too will be out there, but not until after I've graduated from Titus Kinimaka's Hawaiian School of Surfing some time next year.
When it gets really hot River likes to bury herself in the dirt under the truck. She's such a good beach dog. I think she's going to hate Hawaii (ha, ha).
At one point River and I had to take the truck and go to a gas station to get some water. Luckily when I came back I parked at the very edge of the beach because while we were out at the end of the pier a HUGE swell came and washed away the beach. All of the sudden I turned around and saw people running and driving off. This poor guy wasn't fortunate enough to have moved his car in time, and his whole front end was submersed. It was terrible. I felt so bad for him.

This is a photo of us after Carl's surfing session. I love it when he gets to surf. It always makes him so peaceful. When we move to Hawaii he'll get to surf his little heart out. Hopefully I turn out to be pretty good myself, and if I like it even half as much as he does I think I'll have the time of my life.

HAWAII HERE WE COME!!!!

2008-08-25T14:55:00.000-10:00

I'm sure most of you already know this by now, but in case you didn't get the message- WE'RE MOVING TO HAWAII!!!!!!
We are both Super excited. We booked our flight yesterday for January 2nd out of San Diego. We will be driving there to drop off our cars at the port to have them shipped over. We are moving to the Big Island, and a cool site to visit for information about the big island is www.konaweb.com. There is a link on that site to a forum that is for people that are moving to the Big Island, and its been super helpful. We've learned so much about what all we need to have done before we leave, especially with River. She's going to have to be quarantined once we get there, and there's a whole boat load of stuff you have to do before you leave. Good thing we found out when we did 'cause we're already cutting it pretty close with time lines. The photo above is of Waipio Valley. We're thinking that may be where we get hitched (August 8th). Its full of waterfalls and beautiful trees and flowers (so Carl says). We hope to see all of you there!!!

2008-07-09T13:32:00.000-10:00

I apologize to any of you who may have been checking my blog lately. I lost our camera in May when Carl and I went to California, which is very out of character for me (ha, ha). Carl bought us a new one a couple weeks ago, so we're back in business.
A lot has happened since my last post. I guess the biggest information is- WE'RE ENGAGED!!!
It happened last weekend on the beach at South Padre Island. It was very sweet, and we are both super excited.
This picture was taken seconds before it happened, and you can see how nervous Carl is.

2008-05-19T08:42:00.001-10:00

I only very recently came to the realization that I cry A LOT. Hardly ever because I'm sad. Most of the time because I'm really moved by someone or something. In the book I'm reading, every time Greg gets a donation, I cry. I've cried about 8 times in the last couple of weeks listening to a message little Kennedy left me just because she's so cute and I love her to death. But the one thing that REALLY gets me is a crowd of people cheering. The first time I can remember crying for that reason was at the rodeo with my cousin Robin. We were probably about 12, and we both cried when a little kid finally got a cow he had been struggling with in the calf scramble. Today I cried when I read on the New York Times that 75,000 people turned out for Barack Obama in Portland on Sunday. just the sight of the crowd from the pictures and some close-ups of people cheering made me cry, and I wasn't even there! I cried at the fiddlers frolics twice. Once when they announced the 5th place winner for the over-all bbq contest. The prize went to a guy named Marty Patek, who I grew up with and is mentally challenged. The crowd went wild when they announced it, and he seemed so proud. Then, during the finals of the fiddle contest, a young man from Austin took the frolics by a storm and blew everyone away. It was pretty awesome. The pictures above are from the frolics. Kirsten and I were very proud to be photographed with Harvey, the MC who is 83 and is a legend at the frolics.

2008-05-14T10:00:00.000-10:00

check out carl's blog for photos of our shark fishing excursion last weekend with cousins Jason and Darlys

2008-05-12T13:39:00.000-10:00

With so many tragedies in East Asia lately its hard to donate your money anywhere else, but for those of you looking, I have a great suggestion. The organization is called the Central Asia Institue, and it was started by a wonderful man named Greg Mortenson. His story is told in the book Three Cups of Tea by David Relin, and it is absolutely incredible. I encourage all of you to read it, and if you feel it in your heart, donate a few dollars. It doesn't take very much to make a huge impact. It only costs $1 per month for one child's education in Pakistan, a penny to buy a pencil, and a teacher's salary averages $1 per day. I believe that approximately 55 schools have been built in the last ten years, all from donations. And one of the most incredible things is that this is the first time that girls have had a school to attend. Greg Mortenson and the CAI believe that improving communities begins with educating its women. Prior to 1999, 5-10 women per village died every year during childbirth. The first educated girl of her village in the Braldu Valley decided she wanted to do something about it, so she petitioned to the CAI for assistance to travel to the city and further her education. She became a midwife, and since her return to the Braldu in 1999, not one single woman has died from birthing complications. I think Greg's story is so amazing, and I know you will too.
www.ikat.org
www.threecupsoftea.com

i love my life!!!

2008-04-23T10:26:00.000-10:00

i'd like to start by saying how much i love living in new braunfels. its absolutely the perfect fit for both carl and me, and we absolutely are loving life. yesterday evening around 5, we loaded the kayaks (carl got me one for my birthday so now we have 2) and headed to cypress bend park, which is about 5 minutes from the house. we kayaked up and down the guadalupe for about 2 hours, and it was unbelievably peaceful. its still the off-season, so we pretty much had the river to ourselves. towards the end of our trip, i paddled under some trees, and carl noticed that there were two snakes mating right above my head. it freaked me out pretty good, but it was still cool to see. i've never seen snakes mating before. the female was huge- about 3 feet long and the width of my upper arm. carl says they were diamondback water snakes and not poisonous. we also saw a ton of turtles. when we got home, we grabbed river and walked down the street to buy some avocados and lettuce. when we were walking back home, we both couldn't stop talking about how awesome it is to live where we do. our quality of life is ten times better than it was in san antonio, and we couldn't be happier.

2008-03-17T11:38:00.000-10:00

Carl has a new blog. Its strictly dedicated to hunting and fishing. MaryAnne, you don't have to look at if if you don't want to. He was worried about you not liking it. The link is posted to the left.

2008-03-17T11:23:00.000-10:00

I realized that I never put up pictures from my trip to see my best friend, Kirsten, last summer. We had an awesome time, and I'm super excited because my step-dad Stanley gave Carl and I each a round-trip ticket to go back to Santa Cruz in May. We're going to spend most of our time on the beach in Santa Cruz, but we're also going to take a day to make the hour and a half drive up to San Francisco so Carl can go to Haight Ashbury(the famous neighborhood where the Grateful Dead got their start and played a ton of shows). We can't wait!!! Its no fun not having Kirsten around anymore, but I love that she lives in Santa Cruz cause it makes it so much more fun to go see her. Here's a picture of the two of us at Pebble Beach.
And this is in the car on the way to San Francisco.
This was taken in ChinaTown. When we walked in to the herbal markets I felt like I was in a dream. All the herbs that they sell at my school for $15 or so were being sold there for only $2!!
This is overlooking San Francisco Bay. As you can see, I was struggling with keeping my skirt from flying up. Within 15 minutes of being in the city I had to change into some pants. I forgot how windy it is there.
We tried to go to the wine country, but the traffic that day was horrific. We decided we could wait for that trip. Here's the view heading back into San Fran.

2008-03-06T13:43:00.000-10:00

The best thing about helping Mema clean out her closet is the new addition to my closet. Actually, its the second best thing because the first is a blue and white paisley robe that belongs to my bathroom. But back to my second favorite- I'm not quite sure what you call it. A top? An over-shirt? But whatever it is, I love it. Mema got it at a little boutique in Yoakum in the 70's, and it went with a white and blue dress. She says it was her favorite outfit, and she wore it all the time when she and Papa went out square dancing. I think its absolutely darling, and I am so happy to be its new and proud owner. I wore it to school yesterday, and three people came up to me to tell me how cute my top was. I told them all it was my Mema's and they all thought that made it even more awesome.

2008-02-28T11:16:00.000-10:00

Last week I had a break from school and went to Sheridan to spend it with my mema. We had the greatest time together, and man were we busy! We sewed, cooked, cleaned out closets, took buttons off of a mound of clothes as tall as mema, drove all over Texas looking for a sewing machine repair shop, voted, and the list goes on. But definitely the most labor intensive and time consuming part was going through mema's closet. She sort of tricked me into doing it in her sweet little way of asking, and instead of taking one hour as she projected, it took 6. And that doesn't include the additional 4 hours it took to take the buttons off of the clothes that she wanted to give away but couldn't stand to part with the beautiful buttons. But it was worth every penny. I can't even explain how happy she was to have gone through her closet. She had clothes in there from the 1970s that she's just been holding on to in case she might get the urge to wear them again some day. And let me tell you, they may be old and out of style, but they still look darn good. She taught me her secret to setting the color. You just have to add a cup of vinegar to each load, and it keeps your clothes looking like new for 30+ years. One of the many things I love about hanging out with mema is learning these sorts of tricks that she has. I was pretty spoiled as a child, and while it was awesome, I didn't really learn all the things about cooking, cleaning, gardening, etc. I've learned how to get by with all that on my own, but mema has really helped me with all the extra stuff that makes all the difference, like the vinegar and many, many more.

2008-02-13T10:13:00.000-10:00

My friend Leila and her husband Ty had a little girl on January 8. Her name is Emma Noel Harrington, and she is incredibly adorable. Leila and Ty live in San Marcos, and now that I'm only fifteen minutes away, I am a frequent visitor of the Harrington household. I visit at least once/week, and I am addicted to little Emma. And Leila's pretty fun too. Her mom came from Argentina to visit when Emma was born, and she just can't bring herself to leave.

2008-02-07T15:35:00.000-10:00

Last weekend Carl and I went to Sheridan and Hallettsville for the weekend. Friday night we stayed at Mema's house along with Aunt Gayle. Gayle was doing the master cleanse while we were there, and she inspired me to do the same. I've had allergies all my life, but recently(about 4 months ago) they started manifesting as swollen, red, dry eyelids. Its been so frustrating for me because some days I wake up with eyes so swollen it looks like I got punched in the face. The swelling became particularly bad last weekend, so I decided to buck up and try the cleanse. And here I am, miserable yet feeling great and without swollen or red eyelids, on day three. I'm miserable because you can't eat, but I feel great because you can't eat. As crazy as this may sound, my mind feels clearer than ever. I am totally peaceful and feel like I can work through all my thoughts with a clear and rational mind and not become angered or irritated over crazy things. And most importantly, my eyes look great! This is the first time in I don't know how long that the skin surrounding my eyes is the same color as the rest of my face. I still have a little swelling, but its very miniscule. I plan to go for 7 days, and believe me, I could never do it without Carl. He is so encouraging and keeps me straight. He even goes to another room to eat. He's so great.
And for those of you who don't know, the master cleanse consists of water, fresh squeezed lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. The combination of those ingredients is very detoxifying and gives you all the energy and nutrients you need to make it through the day.
I always like to put upt photos when I post, so here are some of all my adorable sisters.

2008-02-05T05:51:00.001-10:00

Carl and I went to my Aunt Debbie and Uncle Stacy's house last night for dinner. Stace made the most wonderful chicken parmigiana and some pasta dishes. While we were having dinner, we started talking about the trip that Carl and I took to La Ticla in May, and I realized that I never put up a photo of the famous Catrina. She's been around for quite a while, and anyone who's ever step foot on Ticla sand knows her. You just can't stop looking at her. When we were there, she didn't surface for about 3 days, and I was becoming concerned that maybe she had passed away. I asked some of the local kids if she was still around, they said she was. So I waited patiently untl finally, there she was. And what a beauty.

And when I said famous, I really meant it. Everyone loves Catrina so much that the town store started making and selling bumper stickers almost identical to the photo above but with an orange dog that says her name and La Ticla underneath it. And I have one.

2008-01-31T06:24:00.000-10:00

Yesterday was Carl's 3 year anniversary for being 100% clean and sober. We are all so proud of him. We read a statistic that only 1% of people that make the decision to become sober actually follow through with it for this long, and most of those people are in AA meetings every day. But Carl is special. He says that while he was still drinking every day he knew in his heart that it was not where he needed to be, but he just kept telling himself that today is not the day. Well, the day finally came, and he's made it this far without one day of AA. Many people told him in the beginning that he wouldn't be able to make it without attending the meetings, but he knew better. He found a tremendous amount of strength within himself and from God, and he could not be happier. He mentions all the time how grateful he is for everything in his life, and how none of it would have been possible had he not changed his life around. Here he is with some flounder he gigged about 2 months ago.

2008-01-30T11:45:00.000-10:00

Since I moved to New Braunfels, I only see my Little Heather once or twice/ month. We've been doing some fun stuff though in what little time we do have. Last time I picked her up we had a day of cooking. I taught her how to make brownies, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, and sauteed okra. She said she really enjoyed it, and the food came out great. She's a very picky eater, so sometimes we struggle with the whole food thing. While we were eating a commercial came on with a little girl grocery shopping with her mom, and she kept saying things like, "i don't like broccoli" and "i don't like tomatoes". She started laughing, and Carl asked her if they consulted her for that commercial.

2008-01-23T12:44:00.000-10:00

I hesitated to put up these photos because of a fear of appearing a hunting and fishing fanatic, but Carl is very proud of the buck he shot last weekend (and I'm proud too)- so here it is. For all of you who know about this kind of stuff, it scored a 197 and is a Boone and Crockett deer. His family owns a ranch in south Texas called the Tecomate, which is where he shot it. Carl helped me to find peace with hunting a few weeks ago when he explained that all the meat gets eaten, and they only kill bucks that are old in age and would die soon anyways. I think this one was seven. Its definitely the biggest buck I've ever seen.

2008-01-09T12:09:00.000-10:00

Carl and I went off-shore fishing about a week and a half ago. We went 185 miles out into the gulf to an oil rig and trolled during the day, threw lures at night. We had a lot of fun. Carl fished way harder than me, cause I didn't quite feel up to par. But I was still lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time and caught some pretty good fish. Here we are with two of the fish we caught. Carl's holding a yellow fin tuna, and I'm holding a mahi mahi (also known as a dolfin or dorado.) Our good friend Matt took this picture on our other friend's dock once we got back to Corpus. This was my first off-shore trip, and I'm definitely going back. The yellow fin put up the fight of my life. The rod I was using snapped, and the handle of the reel came off. Needless to say, after all that I had to hand off the rod to the mate. But I was able to reel it in almost all the way.

2007-12-19T13:25:00.000-10:00

I'm very sorry to report that my Papa, Del Sanford, passed away last Thursday, December 13, 2007. He was the most amazing man I've ever known, and I will miss him dearly. I feel so incredibly blessed to be his granddaughter, and my only hope is that I will grow to be half the person that he was. He was a man of God, a wonderful husband, an amazing grandfather, and a dear friend to so many. This was never more evident to me than at his funeral service. At both services (one in Texas and one in Oklahoma), there was standing room only. People came from all over to pay respects to a man that made such a tremendous impact on their lives. So many people stood up to tell their stories of how my Papa changed their lives and helped them get through good times and bad. He will most definitely be missed, but I know I'll see him again in Heaven and as long as I walk here on this earth I will carry with me the love and compassion that he so humbly exuded and instilled in me and all with whom he came in contact.

2007-09-05T16:46:00.000-10:00

About a month ago we went to South Padre Island to celebrate Carl's Papaw's 80th birthday. Carl's parents own two houses on the bay, and they hosted the party. We had a great time. Papaw is hilarious. Here we are on the deck before the party.

And this is a picture of the whole family(well, most of it). Papaw is in the middle. His
Granny is the one to the right of Papaw.
This is a picture of Carl with his brother Brian, Dad, Step-mother Suzanne, Granny, and Papaw.
For the dinner part of the party, there were tables set up on the dock. This picture may not do it justice, but it was beautiful. They always have such exquisite parties.
The next day we spent the majority of the time on the water. This is a picture of me, Matt, and Carl poling to a black drum we saw tailing out in front of the house.

2007-08-29T16:55:00.000-10:00

Time sure flies! I felt like I had just put up a new post, and then I noticed that it has been almost two months!
One of my really good girl friends got married two weeks ago. Kirsten, Dez, and I were all bridesmades. We had such a great time together. Kirsten flew in from Santa Cruz, and Dez flew in from Holland. It was great to all be together again.
Here is a picture of me and Brandi at her bachelorette party.

After the rehearsal dinner we took Brandi out dancing for a few hours. This is a picture of Dez and Brand.

And here we all are. We all worked together forever at the Hilton. Definitely the best group of people I could ever work with.

Kirsten's boyfriend Eric was a groomsman. It was his first wedding to be in and his first time wearing a tux. We all agreed that he was super handsome.

2007-07-04T11:40:00.000-10:00

this is my friend fernando. he would come hang out with me while carl was surfing. i taught him how to play slap jack. he thought it was so much fun, but he would cheat. every time i would catch him trying to slip a jack on the top of his deck i would tell him i saw him and he would just crack up.
this was our camp site. we used the tent to house all of our belongings, and we slept in the hammock. it was the most wonderful sleep i've ever gotten. it is a two-person hammock. i would put my head at one end, carl would put his head at the other, and it would pretty much make two hammocks. one morning i woke up (at i'm guessing about 7:30) to three donkeys. they were just standing about 5 feet away from us and staring. it was a pretty amazing sight.
the carnival came into town while we were there. it only consisted of these foosball tables, some trampolines, and a snow cone stand, but the kids went nuts over it. they would run from school and gather around the tables. i never had my camera when the whole herd was there, but i got this shot of two little boys playing. every time i snapped a picture they would run over and want to check it out.

the beach was filled with coconut trees. fernando shucked one for me and made a hole so i could drink the fresh coconut milk. man it was GOOD!

2007-07-03T18:26:00.000-10:00

well, its been quite a while.... carl and i have done quite a lot since february, including a 1 week trip into mexico. we rode a bus to the pacific coast, more specifically, la ticla in the state of michoacan. its a little surfing village. we had the time of our lives. we slept in a hammock, and did nothing but relax the entire time. i'll post more pictures later, but this is a little taste of what our week looked like. all of the photos were taken from our campsite, which was about 25 feet from the water. the weather was perfect, the people were wonderful, and we can't wait to go back.

2007-02-10T09:23:00.000-10:00

Unfortunately, I left my camera at Kirsten's house last weekend, so I do not have any new photos for you. Lorena Kanak had a baby shower for her sister Amy in Hallettsville, so Kirst flew in for the weekend. Since I had to work on Saturday, I went to Hallettsville on Friday after school. I had a lot of fun. Its always a blast hanging out with Kirsten's family. They're really great people- very genuine and tons of fun.
Carl and I have been out on the bay twice now since we've gotten the boat. The first time we were skunked, but the last time Carl caught this baby red. We decided we might wait for it to warm up a bit before we go out again. Carl could probably fish in a blizzard, but I'm just not that die-hard of a fisherman. Don't get me wrong- I really enjoy it, but when my hands and toes become numb, I find it a little hard to keep myself motivated.

2007-01-29T18:42:00.000-10:00

Well, after over 6 months of schooling I finally know how to administer acupuncture needles. Carl, of course, is and will continue to be my pin cushion. Here he is acting scared when I gave him his first treatment. He's such a great sport. If you look closely you can see one needle in each hand. I gave him a very simple treatment that consisted of one needle in each hand and one in each foot. My teachers call these the "American points". They are the best combination for stress, and apparently they are used with much more frequency in America than anywhere else. Carl is definitely a good candidate for such a treatment.

2007-01-22T10:45:00.000-10:00

Carl and I took the boat out for its maiden voyage this weekend. We went to Copano and Charles Bays around Rockport. We had such a great time, and I can't wait to go back. Hopefully we'll go this weekend again. As you can probably tell, the weather was not very conducive for fishing. I had on two pairs of pants, three long-sleeved shirts, wool socks, and a jacket, and I was still freezing! But it was definitely worth it.

Carl fished from the tower all day. I decided that because of my unexplained tendency to fall, drop things, and stumble, I'd wait until the weather was a little warmer to try fishing up there. Even Carl lost his balance once, so I think I made a good decision.
Here's the view from the tower.

2007-01-16T14:36:00.000-10:00

This is what Carl's boat looks like today. School is cancelled for today and tomorrow, so I've just been relaxing. I guess I really could be studying, but who wants to do that?

2007-01-13T12:20:00.000-10:00

Carl's boat finally arrived yesterday. He's absolutely ecstatic about it. I've never seen him more excited. Its a 14.5 ft Shoalwater Catamaran. Unfortunately an arctic front is arriving, so he can't take it out for a while.

Carl took this picture of River the other day. I think its super funny.

2007-01-11T14:51:00.000-10:00

There is a super cool park by my house that River loves to go to. What makes it so cool is that its more like an escape to the country than a park. There isn't a playground or anything, but there are tons of dirt trails that spread out over acres and acres of park. Even though you're in the middle of the city, you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. There are places like that in every town, and I'm sure glad to have one right by me. A couple of days ago River and I were driving by to go to the post office and noticed that there was not one single car in the parking lot. I just had to stop because River especially loves it when she can just run free and not be attached to a leash.

I don't remember if I've written about this already or not, but I started making duct tape wallets over the holiday break. Its really quite fun. I found about 6 different colors and just started going to town. Then I got the idea to paint designs on some of them. Here are a couple of examples.

2007-01-08T08:19:00.000-10:00

Heather and I went to the Witte Museum a couple of weeks ago. I told her we were going to start throwing a couple of learning days in with our play days. She was not at all enthused when I told her we were going to the museum, but she ended up having a really great time. The first two buildings had exhibits about animals and history, and I encouraged her to read all the descriptions. Then, we got to the last building- the children's part. They really had a lot of fun toys. Here she is on a bicycle that is suspended on a cable about 2 stories high. You can see the river below. There was also a huge treehouse and a room full of science projects.