Tsunami 2011

I am not a professional blogger...that is for sure. I haven't posted since November but our life on Maui has been good since then. We have created great friendships, enjoyed exploring the island and when not having to work, we have relaxed on the beach. On March 11, we got a little surprise we have never had to deal with before...a tsunami warning. We were sitting down for dinner when we were about to turn the tv off and noticed a yellow ticker-tape message on the screen informing us of a huge earthquake in Japan and putting us on tsunami "watch." Our eyes were glued to the tv from then on...Abbie has been studying tsunamis since we got to the island by checking books out at the library and knowing her facts about them. She was so excited to experience a tsunami watch/warning that she said she couldnt' wait to tell everyone about it! At around 9 pm, we were put on tsunami warning. We had made plan since we were on the borderline of the tsunami evacuation area and we decided to not take a chance! After being worried about whether or not the Safeway or the Sharkey's (the local chuck-e-cheese type place) buildings would be safe, we put RJ to bed. Abbie stayed up late with her eyes glued to the television and fell asleep on the couch around midnight. Our plan was to head up the hill at around 2 am since the tsunami was supposed to get to Maui around 3 am. Before then, we had all of our important items and some clothes and food packed up in the car and ready to go (just in case). I stayed up and watched the news while Terry took a little nap because he had just gotten home that day from Washington. At 2 am we all got up, stuck the kids in the car and headed uphill. We parked on a side street and Abbie, Terry and James got out the lawn chairs and waited while RJ and I slept in the car. We listened to the radio and when Terry thought it was all clear, we headed home at around 5:30 am. South Kihei/Wailea didn't get hit but the water came up pretty far in North Kihei and in Kahului Harbor (at least 1/4 mile). There was some damage but not as much as in Japan. We pray for the people of Japan and hope they can recover quickly from this natural disaster.

Happy Fall!

Fall has officially begun on Maui...I think! We are enjoying an extended summer here in Kihei with little rain and lots of sun. It is still 80+ degrees during the day! This was our first Halloween we didn't have to bundle up and actually found ourselves overheating! Wow! What a difference! We had a fun-filled weekend with the kids by attending Abbie's school party Friday night with trick or treating in the classrooms, cake walk, games and even a hula/fire dancer show! Then we attended our friend's Fall Festival at the Montessori School and played more games, enjoyed wonderful music and good food. Abbie even participated very well in the hula hoop contest! On to the Kula Country Farms Pumpkin Patch...in the rain! It was just like back home and was very nice to get a little drizzle here. The kids didn't mind it and we enjoyed searching through the huge pumpkins to find the right ones...not too big! We enjoyed a slow Sunday and got dressed up for trick-or-treating in our little Wailea Kai neighborhood with the kids down the street. The kids had all the neighbors ready by setting up what time we were coming and making sure they all knew we would be coming! Abbie enjoys stopping by the neighbors homes often to say hello. She is just a little bit of a social butterfly, ya know! We are still enjoying the pool but it is, believe it or not, getting a bit colder for swimming in the pool. It is getting harder to just get right in! We are looking forward to whale season! Terry read in the paper a week or so ago that the first one was spotted off the shores of Kihei! Someone even told us we can see the calves being born from the shore! WOW!

Anne and Shawn were here for an extended weekend which was a wonderful visit...it was too short but much needed! I think they enjoyed it too! It is always hard to see those from home go back but it is so fun to share Maui with everyone who comes! We are getting to be regular tour guides :)

Another update...

It's been longer than I thought since I've written. My Aunt had to write me a reminder to update the blog :) Things are going well here on Maui. We are enjoying our new home with a wonderful neighborhood full of very nice neighbors. Abbie and RJ have made great friendships with the only children (same ages) in the small cul-de-sac and they are with each other as much as possible. I don't even see them much on the weekends now! It was Abbie's dream come true to have a friend in a neighborhood she could ride bikes with and go hang out at their house. Our jobs are going well and we are settling in a bit more. We haven't had many visitors this last month but have been spending time with our new friends here. Our last visitor was Alejandra, who was such a pleasure to have visit. I can just see how much she loves the kids and we can't help but love her!

Abbie is doing well in school. She will have her conference this week. She is getting great extra opportunities for work in Math and Science! She is also taking an art class I found online which is titles "Painting the Animals of Hawaii." She is really enjoying that. Abbie is also involved in the girl scouts here too...just like back home. RJ just changed preschools and is doing quite well now. He is still involved in the gymagery class with Uncle Chris where they get to act out stories with movement.

Terry got to go "home" to Washington for a few days to assess the house and make sure it was in good shape although our friends are doing an amazing job! We are renting it out still as a vacation rental. While home, he got to see friends, drive his truck and bring back some missed items such as, RJ's steamroller and Abbie's bedspread! We are looking forward to heading home for Christmas this year. We are planning on being in Washington from Dec. 18-29, which will be a great break!

We have been enjoying opportunities here on Maui. We still feel like we haven't explored enough of the island but we got up to Kaanapali last weekend. It was beautiful! I even found a Brighton Store!!! How exciting! We walked down the beach walk and had lunch at the Hula Grill. It rained just a little but it wasn't long-lived. We enjoyed some relaxation in the hammocks and explored the hotels with beautiful landscaping, pools and even flamingos! We finally got to see TURTLES! Abbie was only about 2 feet away swimming with a huge turtle, she tells me was a girl, near Turtle Beach. We saw a few from the shore too!

I just started taking walks on the beach in the morning whenever possible! It is too nice to pass up the opportunity! The mornings are so beautiful and calming walking along the shore. Also, I will be starting ukelele lessons in November. I thought I needed a little music in my life :) and maybe some hula too!

Island life is good!

Labor Day

Grammie (my Mom) came yesterday! We were all counting down the days and are so happy to have her here. We moved into our new rental this weekend and it only took two trips and three cars! Pretty good! We didn't have much to move since we only brought a few boxes and our clothes. We are living in an amazing, hard-to-believe-we-are-living-in, house! Abbie and I both think we are in a dreamworld as we swam in the pool in our backyard yesterday. We now have lots of room for guests! Four bedroom home in Wailea, where Oprah has two homes! Unfortunately we could never buy here but it is sure a beautiful place to borrow! It is a great house and a quiet neighborhood (although we do have some traffic noise). We are about a five minute walk to the beach and if we don't have too much traffic noise, you can actually hear the waves crashing on the beach. Terry has sure outdone himself!

Last night we had our friends over for a nice bbq with Grammie and Terry made his famous bbq chicken! It was delicious! We had daquiries by the pool while the kids went swimming. It was a great night!

Unfortunately, RJ woke up throwing up and Abbie the same today. Now I am sick and we are all having to sit around this beautiful house while Grammie nurses us back to health :) Luckily, I think it will be a shortlived sickness...just a tummy bug. We haven't even gotten to take Grammie to the beach! We are just happy she is here although she may not be at the moment!

We have some things planned while she is here like taking her to the beach, aquarium, Lahaina for shopping and just hanging at the pool. Her and I got to do a little shopping today at the Shops at Wailea so that was very nice!

All in all things have been going very well. My job has gotten a little crazy and then not crazy and then crazy again. I am covering for the manager of the bigger building for the company I work with while she is on vacation and last week it made a bit crazy but it is getting better. Terry's job is going well although he does not particularly like the drive up and down the mountain. They said it would take a long time to adjust...months. The kids are doing well in school and making new friends.

We both feel like we need to explore the island a bit more. We will get there. It is nice not to have to do everything all in a week or two. We are taking a little at a time. We are happy to just catch the sunset a couple of times a week from the beach. That is living!

Road to Hana

The kids, Aunt Sharon and I took the Road to Hana while she was here visiting. Terry wasn't too interested since he drives three hours a day for his commute up to the top of Haleakala. Aunt Sharon got us a CD to listen to as our tour guide and we were off down the road with plenty of water and a picnic lunch. Our first stop was by one of the first bridges we came to. It was so quite and we took a little walk to find part of the irrigation system on the island. The road is full of turns and one lane bridges (37 to be exact) and we drove 25 miles per hour most of the way. You have to watch out for local drivers since they know the road and will be going much faster. We just got over quickly so they could pass us and we were fine. The views were spectacular. That side of the island is much greener even though Maui is in a drought right now, I hear.

We saw many waterfalls and many different types of plants/flowers: bamboo, helaconia, African tulip trees, white and yellow ginger and many more different plants. Our picnic lunch was eaten at a little state park overlooking a bay. It took us about four hours to get to Hana. The trip is definitely about the journey and not about the destination. The kids were a bit disappointed...and honestly I think so were Aunt Sharon and I. It was funny, before we left we told RJ Hana was a magical place and Abbie elaborated on that idea during the trip. I have always wanted to see Hana but knew I really wanted to see the seven pools and those were another 10 miles or so from Hana. We knew the kids wouldn't make it any further we resolved to see what there was in Hana and go home. We ended up hanging at the black sand beach of Hana Bay. That was very cool! The kids were so happy to get out and enjoy the sand and water for awhile. Then we headed up to "town" to see Hasagawa's General Store which has been there for 100 years or something. That was about it! We couldn't even find ice cream anywhere! So we headed home before it got too dark and found a cute little ice cream hut outside of Hana and got homemade smoothies and ice cream to go! The mosquitos were eating RJ and I up. On the way home, we took a little side trip and found this amazing little place called Kaenae. It was amazing! The view of Haleakala, the little stone church, the waves crashing on the rocks. It is one of the most beautiful places I've seen since I've been here. On the way home, Abbie ended up getting a little car sick and RJ fell asleep (finally) and all-in-all I think we were happy we did it! However, I still haven't seen the seven pools! We found there is another (shorter) way to get there from where we live on the island and will try that next time when Terry can go. So, at the end of the trip when RJ was able to tell Daddy about it this is what he said...."well, it wasn't magical at all, there weren't even any unicorns!" Bummer...I think we all would've liked to see that!

Visitors...Already!

We were so blessed to have our friend, Bryce, help us pack up and get ready to move. Terry told him if he helped, we would bring him to Maui for a week! What a deal! He had such a good time and spent time with Terry before the kids and I got here. He had never been much out of Washington State before let alone paradise!

It is so amazing that we have had many people around us from home already! Before we even got here I connected with some people from Forks whom I haven't seen in 20 years! The Moulton's and McIrvin's were here on vacation when Abbie, RJ and I got here AND we could see where they were staying from our condo! When they left, they were so generous and gave us all of their leftover goodies including boogie boards that we use ALL the time! Thank you guys! We still have lots of blueberry jam :)

Soon after we were here, I also got a call from a good friend of mine from Sedro Woolley who was staying on Maui for a couple of weeks with her family right down the way. That was great fun! We got to visit with them a couple of times and it was great for the kids to see some of their old friends! After everyone had left to go home, we were VERY, VERY blessed to have my Aunt Sharon from Oklahoma come to stay with us for a bit. When I called her to tell her we were moving to Maui, she was so supportive and offered to come and help us transition and take care of the kids while we started our new jobs. That was such a relief not to have to worry about childcare as soon as we got here. She spoiled the kids rotten and we had a great time with her! She is amazing! She really spoiled me too because she did my laundry, dishes, cooked and took care of my kids! All I did when I got home from work was play with the kids! What a life! We spent time going to the beach for sunsets and picnics, playing at the pool, on the road to Hana and back and just having some great bonding time. After she left, I got a call from a friend from Mount Vernon who said her and her husband would be here for a week on vacation! What a treat! We met them a few times while they were here too and had a great visit! So far, all of this has helped me not to be too homesick! Of course, I am still but life here is good and we are glad we didn't pass up the opportunity to try it!

What we've been doing....

It has been six weeks since we moved to Maui. The time has flown by so fast. I hear from the locals that weeks go by so quickly here. It is so true! I have been at my new job now for a month. It has been a good transition from working with children to working with adults. I am the Therapy Program Manager and Speech Therapist for Hale Makua (a long term care facility) in Wailuku. Terry is loving his new job as a civilian police officer working for the Air Force. He works four-ten hour shifts and every shift he drives up to 10,000 feet to work at the top of Haleakala (the crater) to "protect the telescopes." I love saying that! The kids, Aunt Sharon and I even got to go up and see the big one! It was amazing!

My last post was done very late so I shortened it up a bit at the end. I was saying that Abbie had to start school on Aug. 2 which was a month sooner than she would normally start. It has worked out well though and good to be back on a schedule. She is going to a public school called Kamali'i Elementary and started the fourth grade this year. I had heard some bad things about the public schools here but I think so far, so good. There have been a couple of things I didn't like but all in all it is fine. RJ started preschool at the Kihei Baptist Preschool this past week. He is loving it! It is a very small class and they are teaching him manners :) and how to pick up after himself. Yeah!

We met a wonderful family here just as soon as we got here really. We think it was fate. I was looking at schools for RJ and went to visit the Montessori School here and met the head of the school who just so happened to have moved here at the same time AND has a girl who is 9 and a boy who is 5! Perfect! We were all fast friends! We have spent a lot of fun time on the beach together and even got to go out on a date night with them! What a treat!