Summer Activities

I typed 3 pages on a Word document, but then couldn't get it to cut and paste into my blog! I was going crazy trying to figure it out, but with a little persistence and help from the Lord, here it is...our summer update! The summer is going by quickly! It always amazes me at how fast summer vacation goes! We have had a great summer so far, and we still have about a month to go. Jenna goes back to school on August 24. Since I haven’t done a very good job of blogging the past several months, I thought I would summarize our summer activities so far.

In early June, AJ’s Aunt Tudy and a friend of hers came for a visit. As usual it was great having guests! They were able to watch Jenna so we didn’t have to pay for a babysitter, which has become almost expensive as school itself! Although since we know the girls babysitting, I think we are getting a pretty good deal! AJ was able to get a little time off of work to spend some time with his aunt. We snorkeled, kayaked, gave them a tour of where AJ works, and tried new foods. It was great! Jenna was a great tour guide. I think Tudy and Rosie enjoyed spending time with her, but since they both either do not have kids or the kids are grown, they just about had their fill when they left!!

Jenna had Vacation Bible School for a week in June. It was an Australian theme and the logo had a boomerang on it. She had a great time learning about how we live “all comes back to Jesus.” She has 2 babysitters for the summer. One is 14 yrs old and I usually take Jenna to her house. She has 3 sisters, a brother and lots of animals! Jenna loves it there! The other sitter, Amber is 16 and has her license. It’s been so nice. She took Jenna to swimming lessons, to Petco, and to her dog agility training classes. Jenna enjoyed watching that! Amber also brings a craft project of some sort every day she comes. We have been very blessed with 2 great babysitters!!

A few weekends ago, AJ’s boss treated us to night’s stay at a fancy resort called The Kona Village. It is a resort that is supposed to be like “old Hawaii” with no TV or phones. The rooms, or hales (pronounced "holly", which is house in Hawaiian) are like straw huts from the outside but really nice on the inside. It was first class all the way! The pools were beautiful. We had a very short walk from our hale to one of the pools, so of course Jenna wanted to live there! We were also right next to the ocean. Gus managed to get Jenna out of the pool and into the ocean so I could swim and snorkel for a while. It was nice. AJ took an outrigger canoe out to see how similar or different it was from canoeing on rivers. He had to take a mandatory lesson before he was allowed to go out on his own. He learned a few things and did really good handling the canoe. Then he took out a one-man canoe by himself. He went out for about an hour. While he was out there, a pod of dolphins swam next to him. He said they were jumping in the air in front of him and swimming all around. He said it was pretty cool! I guess so!! I wish I could have been out there with him! I just love watching the dolphins swim and play! It was a short, quick stay but it was fun. It is usually very expensive, but since we live here we can get a “locals rate.” We think that we may go there again for some special occasion and stay a few nights--one night was not enough!!

The weekend after we went to Kona Village, I worked at Camp Erin. Camp Erin is a camp for kids that have lost a loved one. It is sponsored by hospice. I worked as a “big buddy,” or a camp counselor. I stayed in a tent with another Big Buddy and 4 girls, ages 5-7. We all slept on cots so just about every inch of the tent was filled! It was very interesting trying to get anything in and out of bags or walk in there. We had 2 small walkways; otherwise we just climbed over the cots. The camp was held at a ranch at about 6000 ft elevation. It was nice during the day, but it got cloudy, misty and cold at night. We had some rain, but not as much as last year I guess. One girl told me she could see her breath when she woke up in the morning last year! Thank God I was not there last year!!! Little Miss Wimpy would not have tolerated that very well!! I took AJ’s down sleeping bag and slept in sweatpants, 2 shirts and a hooded sweatshirt. I slept with the hood up the first night because it was cold! Overall, it was a really great experience!! I loved getting to know the girls and it was amazing to see how the kids bonded with and supported each other! Many of them had a parent, grandparent, brother, sister, or other relative die. They were all so brave and a real inspiration! It was an exhausting, but very rewarding weekend. I enjoyed it so much and I am looking forward to next year already!

Jenna just finished up with swimming lessons. We enrolled her in level 3 because I wasn’t sure how the classes compared to what she had taken in Darlington. She had taken level 3 last summer, so this was a refresher for her. She did really well. The instructor said that she was the best swimmer in the class! I guess it helped that she was familiar with the strokes learned. One of her instructors said that Jenna could maybe be on the Novice Swim Team. Jenna is excited about that. It involves a lot of practice and swim meets, so we have to really evaluate it before we commit to something like that.

AJ celebrated a birthday on July 24th. Jenna had a big surprise planned for him. She wanted to make him a meal. We made his favorite dish, Cheesy Potato Pork Chops. We also made rainbow jello and chocolate cupcakes. I had never made layered jello before, so it was an experiment from the start! We started making it 4 days before his birthday. We were able to make 2 layers a day, and by Friday, it was ready to go! Jenna and Amber (the babysitter) made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkles on them. I hurried home from work and got the dinner in the oven. I got off a little later than I wanted, but thankfully AJ was working late that day too, so it worked out really good! Jenna made a menu and made his gifts too. I just bought him badly needed shorts!

Jenna had this big story all figured out about how we would get him to get ready and surprise him. When he got home from work, we asked him if he wanted to go to the Outback for his birthday. Of course he did, so he went to shower. When he came out, Jenna told him Amber had told her about this new restaurant in Kona called the Kona Diner. She wanted to try it out. He was hesitant and asked a bunch of questions, but agreed to go. Jenna told him we had to leave out through the lanai (deck). She was so excited, she could hardly contain herself! It was so cute! We walked out onto the lanai and she said, “Here it is!” She helped him to sit down and showed him the menu. She had written 2 choices—liver and onions and “the surprise special.” Of course AJ asked for the liver and onions. Jenna went into the kitchen and came back saying “I’m sorry. We’re all out of liver and onions.” (We had practiced that because I knew AJ would do that.) So he settled for the surprise special. He had asked earlier why the oven was on and told him I was making bread to take to church on Sunday (which I really did have to do-at some time anyway, just not at that moment!) I went in and dished up his meal and Jenna served him. Then AJ asked if we would like to join him. So we had a very nice dinner together. The jello turned out great and the cupcakes were really good too! After dinner we watched a movie together. It was a great evening! The only somewhat bad and scary thing about the whole surprise is that we learned that Jenna is VERY good at making up stories, and at keeping a straight face while telling the story!! I hope she doesn’t have a future of lying to her parents and making up stories about where she is going!! Oh, by the way, we took him the Outback on Saturday night and we enjoyed another nice meal!

Now that you are updated on our summer activities so far, I will tell you about our trip to Maui. Hopefully it won't take a month to get it posted! So, until next time...aloha!

Happy 4th of July!

Well, here I go again. It has been almost a month since I posted a message! I cannot believe how fast time goes!! Where did the month of June go?? I can't believe the 4th of July has come and gone already!! The 4th of July was our ten month "anniversary." It's been 10 months since we moved! Can you believe it??!! Again, I say, I cannot believe how fast time goes! It was one year ago on July 1 that Gus called AJ and offered him a full-time job. I remember sitting on the front porch of our house on July 4th talking to my sister about the offer and getting her advice on whether we should move or not. It feels like we had that conversation yesterday...AGAIN I say, I cannot believe how fast time goes!!!

We love it here and feel like God has really blessed us with this move. We have settled in and are enjoying all that the Islands have to offer. For the 4th of July, Jenna and I were in the parade. We helped decorate the Hospice van, walked in the parade and handed out candy. It was hot! but fun!! We actually left the parade early because we were going on a dinner cruise after the parade. We got on the boat at 6:30pm. We had a great dinner and there was a band and hula dancer. After dinner, we watched the fireworks from the boat. The fireworks were pretty good, but really short!! The fireworks for Canoe Fest are actually A LOT better!! We were surprised at how quickly they were over. We both said, "they can't be done." But...they were! We enjoyed it, but not sure we will spend the money to do it again. There were several people that I work with on the cruise too, so it was nice to get to know them better outside of work.

We have plans almost every weekend for the rest of July! That will really make the month go fast! Next weekend we are going to a "fancy-schmancy" hotel for a "manager's weekend" for Kona Queen. We will be staying at this remote, super fancy room on the beach at a really, really nice resort north of Kona. Gus treats his managers to a special get away each summer and he chose this fancy resort this year. It's something we would probably never spend the money on ourselves, so it will be fun to experience!

The following weekend is Camp Erin. Camp Erin is a grief camp for kids that have lost a loved one. The kids participate in all kinds of activities that help them deal with their grief and it allows them to be around other kids that have experienced the same thing. I'm going to be a camp counselor or "Cabin Big Buddy" as it is known. I will be at the camp from Friday until Sunday. AJ is coming up on Saturday to help with the archery activity. Jenna is allowed to come on Saturday too. She is going to help set up the obstacle course and games. I'm really looking forward to it. I think it will be a lot of fun and a great experience too!

The last weekend, we are flying to Maui for 4 days to check out the sights over there. We're not really sure what we are going to do, but the plans are in the works!

We had visitors in early June and are looking forward to our next visitors in August! I still have so much that I haven't told you. One of these days I am going to write a really long entry, just to fill you in! But...not tonight! It's late and I want to go to bed. So until next time...aloha!