Hilo Hawi'i Week 2-3

March  5th - 20th

We are entering our last week here in Hilo and I'm already so sad our time in paradise is coming to an end! I'm also sad I didn't make time to journal for week 2 because there is so much to catch up on, and already I'm forgetting what we did!

On Friday March 7th we drove to the Kona side of the island to whale watching with Dan McSweeny's whale watching- a Marine Biologist. We were SO excited and had to get up early (7am) to drive across the island (2 hours) to get to the harbor on time. But we got SKUNKED! We didn't see a single whale! We did get to see spinner dolphins, which was awesome, and they got super close to the boat and the kids loved that. They spun in the air and everything. But after 3 hours, still no humpback whales. Luckily they have a whale sighting guarantee, so we got 5 certificates to come back and try again. 

Although apparently my family gets motion sickness- Alida threw up, Jacob threw up on the boat, and Michael had to take some medicine too. So we decided the next time we went we would split things up so poor Jacob wouldn't have to be rocked and motion sick again, and same with dad.

Even though we didn't see whales, it was a beautiful trip and the kids liked being on the boat, for the most part. Afterwards we got to go to a historic beach park, the same one I went to when I was here last year with the Abide Retreat ladies. There we saw our first sea turtle taking a rest on the beach. Then we headed up the coast to the Fremont Orchid beach- one that used to be public and wide and beautiful with white sand. I've been to this beach in 2022 with Plexus, 2024 with Abide retreat and now this year with my family. They changed it quite a bit, and now the access road is blocked off with private residences, but we were still able to play on the sand for a few minutes, watch the sunset and Jacob got to dine on white sand. He LOVES eating sand. 

I also got to teach my FIRST BYU Pathway religion class on Thursday March 6th, and that was a neat experience. I have about 14 students, and 2 of them are from Congo, a couple are from South America, and some are from other countries. Some single return missionaries, some single moms raising kids, some men finishing degrees- but all living in Utah. Such a diverse class, but such a sweet experience to feel the Spirit around the world and talk about Jesus Christ and His gospel.

On Saturday March 8th, we stayed close to home. Dad's been stressed about the kids damaging the house we're staying in- and it is stressful! She has a white couch and chair cushions on the lanai out front, and white chair cushions on the dinner table chairs. Of course kids spill everything all the time, so we have a rule against drinks with any red in them, and every drink has to have a lid. Having limited dishes has been nice- especially since we have to wash dishes by hand, which, surprisingly, isn't that much more work than rinsing them and loading them in the dish washer. The home owner only has ceramic plates though, so we  made a priority to go to Walmart and get cheap plastic plates and bowls and cups so we don't destroy that. We also bought a rice cooker, a plunger (needed on the first night! my boys and their bowels), cleaning wipes and a Swiffer to mop the floor. Bridjet, our host, was nice enough to purchase a high chair for us for Jacob and some beach toys for the kids. She also has chairs, a beach umbrella, snorkel masks, towels, and a boogey board we've been able to use at the beach. It's been so nice! Anyway, Saturday we stayed home and let dad decompress and I stayed home with the kids and did some water color pictures for Dad's birthday. We also visited a little beach out in Hilo that had white sand and some tidepools the kids could play in.

Sunday March 9th I woke up early and watched our Utah church on zoom at 7am, and then relaxed on Sunday until the Waikahe 2nd Ward at 1pm. I love church here. It's been fun getting to know people as well.

Monday March 10th, after studying a map that was in our Air BNB, we decided to go to the Isaac Hale Park Beach on the Hilo side of the island. From the map it looked like there was a direct road, so we tried to find a way through- only to realize that the map was older than 2018 when lava flow from the Kileau volcano came through the region and wiped out the snorkeling beach we were looking for!

But we did find the Pohoiki Bay hot springs, where they are rebuilding roads and beaches, and got to travel through some pretty cool jungle roads and see some neat plants and just more rustic forgotten areas of the island. 

Tuesday March 11th the kids, especially the boys, needed some time apart. They are SO wild when they are together- they are like ferral monkies. So I took Caleb and Alida to the Mauna Loa Macademia Nut farm, just up the street from our house. It's so much more quiet when those two are separated. 

There we learned about how Macadamia nuts are the hardest nuts in the world, and how it takes 300 pounds of pressure to break them open! They have 2500 acres of macadamia nut trees, and they harvest the nuts by hand still! Then they dry them, crack them open, roast them and dip them in chocolate or put flavors on them. So yumm!

Later that day dad took the kids to Rainbow Falls and found a GIANT Banyon tree that the kiddos got to play on. It was magical for them. I heard all about it. I got to go see it later and realized just how massive it was. Probably 100 feet high and it covered a whole park area with it's different shoots. So fun.

Macadamia nuts from the trees at Mauna Loa

Wednesday March 12th

Wednesdays and  Thursdays have been work days for me, so I have to spend 3-4 hours working on grants for Heroes and Horses. Often I'll wake up early, at 4am, so I can work mainland hours. But we still were able to get out in the evening and go to the Lavaloha Chocolate farm above Hilo and the kids got to show me their Banyan tree. We scheduled a tour for the chocolate farm on Saturday for the whole family to learn about how Cocao beans turn into chocolate. The farming areas above Hilo and where they grow coffee beans are just beautiful.

This tree is tree fort paradise!

Thursday March 13th was just a work day for me, and preparations for my BYU Pathway class, but we did go to Hilo post office to mail our postcards to Grandma, Grandpa, Henli, Max, the Barclay girls and the Hicks. It was also a blood moon, and the kids thought that was pretty cool. They also found some Coqui frog eggs and were super super excited about the possibility of hatching them out.

On Friday March 14th we went back across the Island to Kona for a second attempt at seeing whales with the 2 oldest. I just went with Levi and Alida and it's just so much easier being with just 2 kids vs. 4. Michael stayed home with Caleb and he basically watched screens all day and Michael stayed with Jacob. Meanwhile Alida, Levi and I had a great time and saw tons of whales! And of course Alida made a new friend from North Dakota on the boat. We learned to take the motion sickness pill BEFORE the boat and she did much much better.

Afterwards we went to a little snorkeling beach right by the marina and had a great time looking at all the little fishes and floating around. Levi did get stabbed by a sea urchin and got bowled over by the waves a couple of times by the waves and so did Alida, but they learned to manage as well. I was proud of how hard they tried. I like that the ocean requires our kids to learn new skills, face fears and be resilient. We snorkeled and Levi boogie boarded and spent ALL our energy swimming back to shore. 

Alida also found a little doggie to play with on the beach and loved it. We got out of the water about  4pm and I was EXHAUSTED. We went to the car wash to clean and vacuum out the car, went to Costco to get groceries and a pizza and headed home. 

Saturday March 15th

We agreed I would stay home to recover on Saturday (that 500 yard swim against the tide to pull the kids back into shore was intense and my body was so sore) and dad would take the kiddos to the chocolate farm in the morning. I was exhausted and really wanting a day to just chill with Jacob and catch up on journaling and scriptures. So although I wanted to know more about the process of making chocolate, I let the other 4 go without me.

The kids liked the chocolate farm and learning about how to turn cocao pods into chocolate. But they were sorely disappointed to see the chocolate bars cost $15 (!!) each. Welcome to Hawaii. They came back home around 1pm and we all decided to go to the Hilo farmer market together and then to another little snorkeling beach- Carl Smith Beach. We had a great time at this beach, even with Jacob, and there were turtles everywhere. We each got to swim with the turtle for a long time, snorkel out to a little island, Jacob got to play in the sand, the kids built sand castles. It was a great little experience. Who says the Hilo side doesn't have good beaches? It was delightful.

Sunday March 16th was daylight savings in Utah, but not Hawaii! That means Utah lost an hour, but we didn't. But I still managed to get up at 6AM! And watch Zoom church for Thurber ward. 

It was also MICHAEL's birthday! So I let him sleep in, took care of the kids, did all the dishes, made breakfast and let him take it easy. We got a cake mix at the store and made cake and chocolate frosting, and also got Michael a cream pie from Costco that's as close to vanilla cream pie that you can get. We put up a little banner and blew out candles and sang, but it was certainly nothing extravagant. 

Jacob was super tired on Sunday and fell asleep before church, and then slept the whole time. That should have been my first indication that things were a bit off. Michael stayed home with him and I took the other 3 to church. I was really looking forward to going to Gospel Doctrine but got hijacked by a guy named Jason Smart, who had lots of interesting things to say about non-verbal autism and methylation and all sorts of stuff. I like learning people's stories but it's a little uncomfortable to be backed into a corner by someone who keeps over sharing, including this guy. But I learned a lot and recognized the innocence of his intention. But I was sad to miss gospel doctrine by my new friend Steve Farley.

When I got home I realized that Jacob had a fever- Michael had stayed home with him, for the second day in a row, and determined to take him to urgent care the next day. We had a little fun celebrating Michael but the celebrations were interrupted when Jacob woke up miserable and Michael and I had to spend the night giving him medicine and tending to his needs. We spent the whole night trying to comfort him but it was obvious that he was in pain and need some help. He hardly slept at all. That was a bummer for the birthday celebrations.

Some of the foilage in Orchidland Estates on 39th street where our AirBNB was

My wonderful curly hair in the humidity, despite all my efforts!

The kids were obsessed with all the geckos

Monday March 17th I needed to take Jacob to urgent care, as he was sleeping more and more and had a fever for the 3rd day in a row. He slept until noon. Also, to my horror, I realized that our children had accidentally been disenrolled from our health insurance (perfect for an emergency in HI :/), so spent the morning trying to figure that out on the phone between the Marketplace and the Department of Workforce Services, and CHIP and got nowhere. We did figure out that what happened was the marketplace thought our kids qualified for CHIP and never got a denial letter so they simply didn't enroll them with Select Health. that explains all of the bills I've been getting for them! Grr!

I got Terri Farley's number, Steve (the Korean speaker's) wife and asked if we could come and get some eggs from them, which turned out to be such a lovely experience. They showed us ALL of their fruit trees and animals, and chickens and ducks and puppies and gave us SO much fruit that grew on their trees- icecream bananas, passion fruit, papaya, duck eggs, chicken eggs, showed us their Talapia farm and hydroponics. I talked to Steve more about Korea, and hip replacement, now they got to HI, they are from Erda originally, and just had a lovely chat in general. Alida was with me and said it was the highlight of the trip.

She came with me to take the trash to the transfer station and then she talked me into a "mommy daughter date" and we went to the Zoo and to the Farley's house since Jacob was asleep and I wanted to let him rest after being up all night.

Anteater

Albino peacock!

Banana tree with flower

Terri Farley showing us some of her fruit trees

Their Talapia farm with Hydroponics

They gave us this fruit that tasted like caramel pudding!

After Jacob woke up, I took him to the Urgent care in the afternoon in Keeau around 2pm and waited for 2 hours to see a nurse practitioner. She determined that he was probably still struggling with the strep that we treated him for a month ago and gave him 2 antibiotic shots in his leg, poor kid. But he did sleep through the night and I could tell he felt MUCH better the next day. He was happy and had his energy back. He also discovered POG juice and decided that was better then milk.

Ditching milk for POG

Alida collecting fruit from the Farley's 

Opening a Lilikoi or passion fruit

Rambutan, scary looking on the outside, delicious on the inside

Levi being one of the lost boys, going around without his shirt all the time

I loved all the hibiscus flowers

Fresh aloe for sunburns!

Tuesday March 18th was another Kona whale watching day! This time it was Caleb's turn to go whale watching, but we decided to bring the whole family over. Just Caleb and I went on the boat (dad didn't want to) and dad took the kids to Hapuna Beach up North. We did get to see a couple of whales, but Caleb was so tired the whole time, he didn't really enjoy it. When we got back we caught a Lyft up to Hapuna Beach- I thought it was only going to be $14, but it ended up being a $80 Lyft ride! Apparently there are 2 Hapuna beaches on the Kona side. But we met up with the kids and had the best time on the biggest, white sand beach. The kids body boarded and boogie boarded, Jacob had fun eating sand, and we just enjoyed the day.

Hapuna beach was a gem for body boarding- soft white sand, nice gentle waves. We should have spent the whole day there! But we had a good time for a couple hours.

    

Wednesday March 19th was a work/homeschool day, and after a somewhat distressing email about whether or not I was making up my contract pay for Heroes and Horses, I worked all day. But Wed. evening the Volcano started going off again, so we decided to pack up and head up the mountain to see if we could catch it fountaining. It was erupting, but it was not shooting up, so we didn't get to see it again except on the camera. But we did get to see the orange glow as night fell.

These plants are SUPER resilient, growing in lava rock, and with spores on their leaves that close when they sense too much sulfuric acid from the volcano

Beautiful flower

We didn't realize the observation site was sacred and thought someone had just left to leis there on accident or as a throwaway- not as an offering- and took them thinking they had been discarded. Ooops!

Today, Thursday March 20th, has been another work day. We got home late last night and finished watching the Fellowship of the Rings (Levi just finished the book) and then we all fell asleep soundly. I woke up early to work again (4am is when I've been getting up some days, to be up and at 'em at 8am Mountain time to call businesses, etc). It's always funny when people call at 6:30am Hawaii time and find out they woke us up. But mostly I sleep until 7am unless I'm trying to catch up on work, which I was. I headed to McDonalds to work early before anyone was awake, and finished an application before having a good conversation with Erika. She indicated she didn't mean to startle me with the email, but my response about runway needed for grants put everything at rest, and I can rest assured that they aren't going to terminate my contract after May. That has been a great relief!!

Now I need to go home and prepare for my 3rd week of Rel250B: Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel! Tonight is on the Redemption of the Dead and Kindness and Gathering everyone into God's Fold. I've loved the excuse to make extra time to study the gospel. It's been wonderful, although it does tie us down for a day. But it brings such a wonderful spirit.

Here are some side notes about our stay in general:

We have love love loved staying on the Hilo side of the island. It's so much less popular and therefore cheaper- our AirBNB was only $110/night, so just over $3300 for a month. We rented a 2018 Pacifica, so we're very familiar with the vehicle and how to drive it- it was just under $2000 for the month, so about $70/day. Then our plane tickets were less than $2000 for all 6 of us, so just over $300 round trip. That put the initial costs at about $7500.

However, what's killing us is the FOOD! I cannot believe how expensive food is here! I mean I understand because they have to import everything. But even shopping at Costco, bread is $7-$10/loaf. Milk is $8/gallon. Eggs are $11/dozen. The first thing we did when we landed was go to Costco and stock up on essentials- but that first trip was $300 just for basics like bread, eggs, PB&J, lunch meat, ramen, etc. I had budgeted twice our normal amount for food, but I was sorely mistaken. Each week we're spending like $1500 on food- and that's without ever eating out. Gas is also expensive- $4/gallon is the cheapest but we usually have to pay like $4.40 at the SafeWay on the Hilo side. But we only have to fill up once a week or so, so that's manageable. The food is killing us!

But it's a small price to pay to be here. The time has been so so wonderful. All said and done, we spent about $300/day in Hawaii- $110/day on lodging, $100 on transportation, $75 on food, and $25 on fun/entertainment.

The kids have been learning the skills of snorkeling. The kids are getting braver, and better at snorkeling, so that's been fun. They've each gotten to see sea turtles up close- both on the land, and in the water swimming with them. They are learning to navigate lava rocks and black sand beaches. 

We were able to go to the Isaac Hale beach but realized we had been looking at an old map (2010) before the 2018 lava flow that destroyed the tide pools that used to have amazing snorkeling. But we went anyway on this amazing little tour through the jungle of the windward side of the island and it was amazing. Saw lots of little farm stands that sold things like guava, cocoa pods, sugar cane and all sorts of fruits. The rainy side of the island is SO lush.

The first week we were here it didn't rain at all, but the last week and a half we've had rain every day. There's never thunder or lightening- which is so strange, but it comes down hard for about 30 seconds and then stops. On and off all day sometimes, but mostly only for a few minutes, and then clears up. It feels like getting misted at the vegetable section of the grocery store.

Everything gets moist. Levi learned the hard way if you leave your snacks out, like nutter butter or gold fish or crackers, they are floppy and mushy in the morning. There are also geckos all over the house that love to eat crumbs. At first they were cute but now they are annoying. We have to work hard to keep the food and crumbs cleaned up and contained so they don't get to it, and so the microscopic ants don't find food. And that is a challenge with Jacob. We bought a swiffer for the house and some mop pads, some cleaning wipes, etc to try to keep the floors and counters clean. We also bought them a plungers because...my boys. And a rice cooker. We cook at home as often as possible. We've only eaten out at McDonlads and Costco- where you can get a whole pizza for $10.

Well that's all for now. We only have a few more days here and I'm already sad about it. This place has started to feel like home.