2 Adults 2 Kids

So, Hawaii was … interesting. On our first day at the beach we learned that Widget was deathly afraid of the ocean. I mean, Midget wasn’t too happy about getting in the water either, but at least she tried and she didn’t cry. The first time we walked Widget to the water he started screaming bloody murder! This instantly upset CM. He sat Widget down and began talking to him about not letting fear dominate you. I , of course, felt that he was being to hard on him, but he (CM) made a good point. He said if we don’t teach him courage now, when will he learn?

We ended up leaving the beach after that thinking that Widget would want to go back later and try swimming. He didn’t. The next day CM was sunburned and decided he was going to stay in the cabin. The kids and I built sand castles for hours when I finally decided it was time to get in the water. Widget screamed his head off again. This time it was me who was upset and we headed back in.

Widget’s refusal to get in the water made things a little tense because we had a ton of water activities planned for the trip. It wasn’t all bad though. We made a few food runs and we really got to see how beautiful the island is. Our cabins were on the other side of the island, far away from Waikiki, so there weren’t a lot of chain restaurants and stores.

We stayed in a cabin that was about 30 feet from the beach. It was awesome being able to watch the sunrise over the ocean in the morning. The only bad thing: ants. I remembered when I registered for the cabin there was a clause in the paperwork that said ants weren’t a justification for a refund because all beaches have ants. I didn’t think anything of it. Then we went to the cabin. They were tiny little buggers, but there were so many of them. Now that I think about it, I can’t for the life of me figure out why I didn’t take any video of them.

And that was how our first few days in Hawaii went.

Just a quick post to say that we’re back in California. Now that I’ve got a good internet signal I can fill you in on everything that happened! Be sure to check back tomorrow.

“We do not inhereit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children”. – Tahitian Marine Biologist

I tried to post yesterday, but I couldn’t get a signal. Today I’m posting from my phone. CM and I finally came to an agreement about the remainder of our time in Hawaii. Instead of the volcano we are going to buy tickets to awesome local activities.

Yesterday we went to Sea Life Park and swam with dolphins. We all had a wonderful time. Today we plan to go kayaking.

You would think that we learned our lesson last time. But no, we didn’t! We’re still making plans and counting on money that we don’t have on hand. We did it with the RV and we got burned. We didn’t learn our lesson and we did it with this trip and we just got burned again! (more…)

So, CM and I had an “animated discussion” yesterday about moving to Hawaii. I asked him if given the choice to buy a house in Hawaii or buy a house in New York, which would he choose. Believe it or not, the cost of living in Hawaii is slightly higher than it is in New York, so the housing markets are somewhat comparable.
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After a long trip across the country we made it to the Aloha state. It feels so good to be here. KJ and I used to live here 6 years ago and this is where we met each other and got married. I had forgotten how beautiful it was though.

We saw a lot of things along the way here which we will post about later. I just wanted to say I was greatful to be here.

We have just been on the go since our last post. I can’t say what we’ve been doing a lot of sightseeing. More than anything, we’ve been doing a lot of driving. We were on the this little road, I think it’s called US-58, and it took us up, down, and around several hills. After the “incident” at the Grand Canyon I’m still spooked by heights, so I was a little tense, but for those few minutes that I forgot where I was at, I was able to really enjoy the beautiful scenery.

It’s weird how there never seems to be enough money or time. I think a person could easily spend years traveling around the country and still never see everything there is to see.
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Yesterday we finished our leg of the journey that took us on Route 66 and I thought I would reflect for a minute. I really enjoyed driving the road. It was much better than the interstate for me. (more…)

My mom died of cancer 5 years ago. Most days I don’t think about it, but today her life and death were front and center in my mind. Nature has a funny way of revealing things about your true character. It illuminates things that were so hidden away inside of you that you didn’t even know they were there. At least, that’s what happened to me today at the grand canyon.
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