Visitors!

We have been enjoying having many visitors this winter! In February our friends Steve and Diane came for a short visit in between visiting other Islands. Jenna and I took them to see the volcano and we all went kayaking to the monument. We didn’t see any dolphins, but the snorkeling was awesome as usual!

In mid-February we had our dear friends Brock and Karen visit. We did so many fun things! We went to Parker Ranch and went horseback riding. Neither Jenna nor I are real comfortable riding horses, but the horses were trained so well that most of them could have walked the trail by themselves. Jenna’s horse was named Buzzy, mine was Geronimo, I can’t remember Karen’s, but hers was a little testy. I’m glad she was on him and not me! Brock rode Tiny, which was one of those paradoxical names for a horse…”Tiny” was huge! We had a great time riding through the pastures of Parker Ranch. It was so beautiful! It was a sunny day and the mountains looked amazing!! Jenna did so good riding her horse! I was a little nervous for both of us, but she was very brave and did awesome! By the end of the ride, she was having her horse trot! She did great! I’ve posted a few pictures.

After horseback riding, we went to Hawi (pronounced ah-vee.) We drove way off-road to see a lighthouse. The lighthouse wasn't much to see, but the scenery was beautiful! There used to be a lot of equipment along the shore for some project, but the coastline has eroded over time and all of the equipment fell into the ocean. You can still see parts lying on the ground. I posted some pictures. After the lighthouse, we went to a look-out at the most northern part of the Island and hiked on a trail to the ocean. The trail was kind of rough, but it was worth it! The sites were beautiful!

We also went kayaking with Brock and Karen. As usual, the snorkeling was awesome! On our way back to the landing, we saw a humpback whale out in the ocean just a little way from the Bay where we were kayaking. We decided to paddle out and get a closer look. I couldn’t see for sure where it was I was nervous that we were getting too close. I kept telling AJ, “I think we’re close enough!” Jenna and Karen were nervous too. As we got closer I realized that we weren’t that close and now I wish we WOULD have gone closer! It would have been cool to see a whale close up! While we were sitting in the kayaks watching this whale, ANOTHER whale came up behind us!! If we had stayed in the Bay like we usually do, we would have been VERY, VERY close to it!! That would have been scary, but really COOL too!!! We had a fabulous time with them and didn’t want them to leave. It was really hard to say good-bye and we look forward to seeing them again soon. We didn’t have much time to lament Brock and Karen leaving because one week later, our next guests arrived!

My other dear friend Julie and her brother Kevin came for a couple of weeks at the beginning of March. We had a great time just sitting on the beach talking, and spent a lot of time snorkeling. After the first week, Julie’s husband John came for a week. We were spoiled by their service while they were with us—we had a live-in nanny, cook, and maid! All of our guests are wonderful and help with things around the house, but I think I relied on them to take care of Jenna more than our other guests – and I am SO grateful for that! We enjoyed their company so much and were very sad to see them go. After they got home, Julie called to tell me that they almost missed their flight out of Kona! United had 2 flights leaving within 30 minutes of each other, so it took a while for them to get through security. I think it was God’s way of telling them they shouldn’t be leaving! :-)

We are now awaiting the arrival of our next guests. A classmate of AJ’s is coming today and Jenna’s babysitters from Darlington are coming on Sunday. We can’t wait to see everyone! It will be fun to show people around the Island we love so much! I will post another update after they all leave. Until then…aloha!

Daylight Savings Time

Just a reminder that Daylight Savings Time starts today! We are now 5 hours behind Wisconsin time. It will make it more difficult to call, but we will do our best! We are enjoying having visitors and I hope to post an update soon!

I will be making a short visit to Wisconsin at the end of March. My cousin has a brain tumor and he is starting to get weaker. It will be a very quick visit but I am looking forward to seeing him and his family.

I hope to post an update on our visitors soon, so until then...aloha!