March 5th, 2025
Well we have been here for 1 week and it already feels like we live here!
I have to say I'm so glad we're staying longer. It feels like it took us 3 days just to get here (pack/leave Monday, stay in a hotel, fly out Tuesday morning, fly all day, pick up rental car, drive 2 hours, get to our house at 11pm). After we got here on Wednesday last week, I feel like it took us 3 days just to adjust to the time change for everyone!
We went to some little local beaches on the Hilo side, went up to Volcano National Park with Levi one morning, went up to Mauna Kea on the new moon to see the stars. But every late night (8pm) felt like midnight. All of us get super tired around 7pm- 10pm Utah time, and crash by 8. So yeah, we're still adjusting.
The good thing is all of the kids slept through the night each night, and it is incredibly delightful going to sleep with the sound of coqui frogs and waking up to the sound of thousands of bird songs.
The days are warm, by the evening you are hot and sweaty from humidity, but night time cools off and in the morning it's a bit cool without a jacket (which I forgot!).
I try to wake up early each morning- 5:30am or 6:30am, before everyone else, to read scriptures/have some personal time on the lanai. That worked for the first couple of days, but now Jacob wakes up at 6:30am too. He's been really tired, but still has a hard time falling asleep without utter exhaustion. So he goes to bed late when we do, and wakes up early, and is tired most the day. We still haven't gotten him either to nap during the day, or to go to bed early. Maybe with a little more time he will.
Sounds of the Island:
1. Coqui frogs at night
2. morning doves in the morning
3. songbirds when the sun comes up
Sights of the island:
1. Coconut trees, banyan trees, fruit trees, hibiscus flowers, red leafed plants with berries. It is SO lush on the winward side. More rain = more green.
Snorkeling
We decided to go over to the Kona side on Saturday- a 2 hour drive, and go to Kahalu'u bay to go snorkeling. Not only was the tide high and the water rough, but the place was absolutely overrun with visitors! It was then that we decided to make Monday and Tuesdays our outing days, work full days on Wednesdays and Thursdays (including dad doing homeschool with the kids), and then hanging out at the house on the weekends.
Snorkeling was fun and the kids did see lots of fish- bright yellow fish, parrot fish, iridescent fish, etc. Alida and I also tumbled over a sea turtle at high tide while trying to get to shore and got tumbled together in the waves. It was so fun, but we also only had 3 mask and had to share. And every beach outing means one of the adults gets to stay on shore with Jacob.
Levi was terrified of the sea urchins, and Caleb had a hard time seeing through his mask and figuring out snorkeling, as did Michael and Levi. Alida figured it out pretty quickly and we had a good time floating around observing all the fish. We went home exhausted but had a good time.
We decided to go back on Monday and I'm so glad we did. The tide was low when we arrived instead of high tide (12:30pm), the water was calm and warm. All the kids figured out how to use the snorkel masks. Michael got to play with the kids in the water for a long time. We saw lots of fish- Parrot fish, sun fish, yellow fish, blue fish- and best of all, we saw the sea turtle again!
The kids collected sea shells and Alida caught some little crabs. Jacob was tired of course, but we got him out to play in the shallows for a bit and he enjoyed eating a lot of sand. Haha. He's been such a good sport being in the car and stroller so much. He really enjoys being at the house and slow mornings and snuggles.
Sunday Church
I got up early to watch our Zoom church on Sunday at 7am Hawii time, and remembered our fast for moisture. What a contrast to think of needing moisture while in the rainiest city in the US. Michael and Caleb slept in until 11am HI time- which is amazing. Caleb is another early riser and goes to bed the same time as everyone else, like Jacob, but really needs more sleep. Everyone had a slow, sleep in morning and I got time to myself.
We went to the local church just down the street from Orchidland Estates at 1pm. It was a special day for the ward. In addition to Fast and Testimony meeting, their building had just been announced as a new stake center. The middle of the building was open air, and all the doors were open with fans on. Everyone was Hawaiian or Asian, there were only 2 while families in the ward. It felt so...local, which I love. I bore my testimony and shared a little about our family. Afterwards, went to gospel doctrine and the teacher had served in Korea as well. I shared about how it took until the end of my mission to realize the worth of souls in the sight of God. Also talked about our sweet Jacob, how service to him helps to bind me to him and redeem us. Had someone come up after and tell me about his non-verbal children, but how the spoke eventually at age 6, 8, 12. That gives me some hope for Jacob! Afterwards we lucked out and the ward was having a big linger longer- with fried rice and a bunch of delicious Hawaiian deserts. Bonus! Sat and talked to James and Jen Pearson- she's a Nurse Practitioner and he drives tour bus to the summit of Mauna Kea observatories. So fun to connect with so many neat people.
On Monday we went back snorkeling, like I mentioned, and yesterday, we had a slow morning and then the kids went to the Zoo while I took some time to figure out my institute teaching class- my first one for BYU Pathway. I teach Thursday evenings at 9pm, or 6pm Hawii time. Then we heard that Kileau was erupting again! It erupted for about 12 hours when we flew in and we saw the glow on the drive to our home, but we didn't realize how big of a deal it was! Then it stopped 12 hours later, and has been silent since. But Wednesday I got an alert that it was erupting again, and we got to go just in time for sunset. That means we got to see it both during the day and during dusk and dark. It was nothing short of spectacular. It was windy and rainy but that didn't matter one bit- it was totally magical! Luckily we were close enough to get there within an hour or two of notification because it seemed that all of Hawii came out to look by the time we were ready to go.
The truth is we're living like super poor people! I'm still looking for 1 more client and we're living on half of what we usually do right now. But we have some savings, and the majority of this trip was paid for by our UFA scholarship. We got a deal on flights (all 6 for less than $2000), a deal on our AirBNB ($3000 for the month), and a pretty good deal on a van too ($2500 for the month). So $7500 to get here, have a place to stay and a vehicle. I budgeted $600/week for food and sundry and so far we've been able to stay somewhat in budget. We'll splurge on the whale watching on Friday ($670 for us all), but other than that, all our activities will be free. The food and gas here is SO expensive, even shopping at Costco and getting the gas as cheap as possible. But we're eating mostly at home, and basically doing this trip as cheap as possible. And I think it will be a once in a lifetime memory for the kids.
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