Baby Hazel

Our new niece! Born just a few days ago to John and Shelly Hyde.

Hazel Anne

Sushi and Snowcones

Danny used to disdain sushi rolls and raw fish.  Now he loves it!  It is his new hamburger. He craves it all the time. We walked along downtown for snow cones after dinner. Gotta love Scandinavian Shaved Ice!  ...Notice all of the Ironman stuff?

Four Wheeling to Green Sands Beach at South Point

Beautiful scenery. Lots of wind. Melia hated the bumpy roads...the rest of us loved them. Sophie cried, "Weeeee!" and raised her hands in the air.

When we reached Green Sands Beach, it was too windy to climb down the hill to the green sand as the kids too little and Sophie was feeling sick, so we got back in the car and four wheeled the long loop home. Danny picked wild papaya and my legs got chafed from rubbing on my shorts so much from all the bumps. The kids fell asleep with one hour of the trip remaining, and Danny and I discussed topics like church voice vs. regular voice, the happily-ever-after syndrome in marriage, and the real definition of love. Sorry about the chest shot.

Fishing with Uncle CJ

Here is Danny's Surfer friend taking us out on his family fishing boat. He is kind, talks in Pigeon to other locals, and tells us stories about ancient burial grounds and pro surfing. 

Everyone on this island is related somehow. He says he is a descendant of the man who killed Captain Cook.  CJ is a kind friend and Uncle (all older men and women here can be called Auntie and Uncle. It is very endearing and fun, plus oh so handy when you can't remember someone's name!)

Harold H Higashihara Park

Paddling

I've started paddling three mornings a week with a retiree recreation club. The sun rises above Mount Hualalai as we make our strokes. 15 each side. I am clumsy at the switches but it's a nice core workout.

Hair Clips

Modeling

The New Digs

Here we are, in Kona! It has been two weeks now!

We are enjoying our new life, and trying to get it all figured out. It is exciting to see so many new things and go swimming each day. Danny is steadily adjusting to his new work conditions and duties. It is a fresh new challenge for him and he is going to do great.

Below is our turnkey condo we are renting. Ours is the only door you can see very well, behind the stairs on the right.

We love the location. Our condo is 5 minutes or less from Danny's job, church and the temple, the beach, groceries, and other big box stores. It is fun to be so close to everything, including the main tourist drag along the beach, Alii Drive. It is really quiet and peaceful here.

Our condo is brightly painted and furnished with contemporary ikea-ish furniture. It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a desk area off the side of the bar. The girls share a double bed that we pushed up against a wall and they like their light purple wall color and the flower pillows that came on their bed. My and Danny's room is sea green, white, tan, pink, and red. ...We definitely feel like we are staying in someone else's house! But even though it is kind of strange, it is also sorta fun and even nice to get to live in a place decorated by someone else.

We almost rented a condo at about the same price, that was much nicer, was closer to the beach, and was decorated very well in tans and browns, but we chose to live here instead because it had so much personality and it felt so open and bright, plus it had a lovely ocean view!

Some of the paintings and knickknacks drove me a little crazy and after a couple of days I put them all away in the garage and rehung some of the paintings. They were hung up really high on the walls. Aak!

We have a a wide, open view of the ocean from our back lanai, and sometimes there is a small breeze that comes through to cool off our condo a bit. Air conditioning is pretty expensive here so we don't have it and can't use it.

There is a nice little garden and walking path behind our complex. We haven't tried it yet, but Melia has been in Heaven looking at and picking all the flowers everywhere. She even adores all the strange bugs and lizards!


This lawn is across the parking lot from our front door. Isn't it pretty? The path to the pool is to the left of that brown sign in the grass. The girls love to go swimming. We are so lucky it is so close.

Below you can see the blue sky and the cloudy sky. The clouds are actually "vog," or volcano fog. It rolls across the sky often and so far, there have only been two vogless days. The vog is definitely not as pretty as the clear blue skies because it just looks overcast, but I like that it cools the temperature down a bit, plus it doesn't linger for days. The wind has blown it away each night.

Thanks so much to everyone for all your help and support with our move over here!
We are very happy to be here in Hawaii. We still feel like we are on some kind of extended vacation or tour, and there are many things about living here that are just bizarre, but it is so pretty and so interesting we can't help but love every adventure! This place is so diverse, so colorful.

I will do my best to keep you updated on our many upcoming adventures!

We love and miss you all!

Sunset at the beach of the King Kamehameha Hotel, Danny's current assignment, which brought us to Hawaii.

4th of July

We went to the parade today and had a good time. This place feels like a small town.  We hope to feel like we fit in before too long.