Well, the Mahalo Party on Monday night was another great experience! We had to wait in line about half an hour to get in the gate, but it was well worth it! We each got a big fanny pack that says Ironman Triathlon on it and we put our names in for the raffle drawing. They gave away some really cool prizes. The top items were 3 bikes, really nice bikes that triathletes use. They also gave away exercise equipment… 2 stationary bikes and a stepper. They gave away tons of smaller prizes too. Of course, we didn’t win anything!! The lady sitting next to me won twice! Oh well. There’s always next year I guess!
When we first got there we were fed a really awesome meal. There was salad, corn, sweet and sour chicken, kaluha pig, roast beef, lasagna, buns, about 5 different desserts and water, Gatorade, pop, and beer to drink. We ate pretty good! While we ate there was a program to thank everyone for volunteering at the event. All the different chairmen of all the different areas that put together the Ironman spoke and thanked their workers.
The man that was the top finisher for the Big Island spoke and thanked everyone for their help. And then, much to my surprise and delight, the top male and female winners overall got up and spoke! I was just really amazed that these professional athletes took the time to thank us personally for what we did. Chrissie Wellington of Great Britain and Craig Alexander of Australia were both very appreciative of the volunteers. I posted some pictures of them. They may look a little grainy because I took pictures of them on the jumbo tron since they were too far away to get a better picture.
The other speaker was a father whose son had Cerebral Palsy. The son had his umbilical cord wrapped around his neck during delivery and he had brain damage. The doctors told the family that he would not survive. The family was determined to make his life as normal as possible. They thought that he was able to understand things, he just couldn’t speak. They bought him a computer and he began to communicate with them. He finished high school and college and now he lives by himself in an apartment. When he was a young boy, he and his father participated in a race for a local charity. The father ran and pushed his son in a wheelchair. The son told his father after the race that it was the first time that he didn’t feel handicapped. So they kept entering races and eventually started doing triathlons. They showed footage of the two of them in last year’s Ironman. It sent chills down me to see the love, dedication, and hard work that this father went through for his son. He pulled him in a rubber raft during the 2.4 mile swim; he had a seat put on the front of his bike and the son sat there during the 112 mile bike, and he pushed his son in a wheelchair for the 26.2 mile run!! It was so amazing so see!! They finished the race in something like 15 hours…unbelievable!! This father and son team was inducted into the Ironman Hall of Fame.
They also showed video taken during the race of various athletes biking or running. I was wrong when I said the oldest participant was 66. On the video, they interviewed a 71-year old and a 75-year old!!! They asked the 75-year old what his secret to long life was and he simply said, ”Well, I take care of myself and do things like this,” meaning participating in an Ironman!! WOW!! That’s amazing!! I really have no excuses for not getting out there and doing SOMETHING!! I know that at least one of these men finished because they showed it on the video. Pretty cool, huh?
The Ironman Triathlon will be aired on NBC on December 13. We have seen it in the past and it is always very well done. They usually tell the story of a few people and then follow them throughout the race. And of course they follow the professionals that are expected to do well. I really like the stories of the Average Joes. Those are the stories that are so inspiring! Well, that’s all for now. Until next time…aloha!
Hawaiian Sunset at Hapuna Beach
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
WHAT A DAY!!
Wow! What a day! What an adventure! I don’t even know where to begin telling you about working at the Ironman Triathlon!! I guess the best place to start is to give you some information about the Ironman. The Ironman Triathlon consists of a 2.4-mile swim in the ocean, a 112-mile bike ride along the Kona coast, and a 26.2-mile run (a marathon). The Ironman Triathlon held here in Kona is considered the world championship of Ironman competitions throughout the world. The athletes participating have to qualify to even be here. There are a few spots available for local athletes that don’t qualify at another triathlon around the world. In May, they have what they call a half-ironman, or “Tinman,” as I’ve heard it called. I’ve also heard that it is called “Honu,” which means turtle in Hawaiian. There is also a lottery system where, I think, names are drawn and people then have to prove that they deserve a spot on the field.
There are all sorts of athletes that participate…professionals that do triathlons for a living, and just “regular” people who like the idea of competition. There were people of all ages and athletic abilities in the race on Saturday. It was so amazing to see! Of course there were the professionals, who were chiseled and looked like they were out for a leisurely jog (well, OK, not all of them), and then there were the average Joes that weren’t in as great of shape. The oldest person in the race was a 66 year old man from Kona. He finished the race in 15 hours, 36 minutes and 21 seconds. It was his first time participating in an Ironman! Can you imagine??!! One day at the age of 66 deciding to participate in one of the world’s most difficult sporting events?? At age 66?! That just amazes me! There was a 62 year old man participating in his 11th Ironman! That’s unbelievable!! There were plenty of “older” women participating too. It was so inspiring to see all of these people with all different abilities running or walking past us. The youngest participant was an 18 year old man that finished in 14 hours, 6 minutes, and 51 seconds.
In the days before the race the local newspaper was printing articles about athletes to “watch.” One that I thought was very interesting was a 32 year old man that was hit by on car when he was riding his bike at age 12. He broke his clavicle (collar bone) and his right arm has been paralyzed ever since. He started running cross country when he was in junior high. He loved the sport and started running races and eventually started doing triathlons. He has worked with trainers to learn how to swim and bike with one arm. He straps the arm to his body when he runs and swims, and when he bikes he straps it to his bike. We saw him when he ran through our aide station. It was yet another amazing sight to see! He finished with a time of 13 hours, 7 minutes and 21 seconds…can you imagine?... doing ALL of that with ONE arm?!
We also saw a number of men in wheelchairs participating. They not only have no use of their legs, but they have to use their arms for the entire race! I’m told they don’t get an extra help for the swim, so I’m not sure how they do that. But then they have to do the 112-mile bike and the 26.4 mile run pushing the wheels on their wheelchairs! I also saw at least 2 men with a prosthesis for a leg. They ran like nothing was any different about them. That’s what I think is so cool about all of these athletes. They don’t let anything get in the way of their dreams. They don’t feel sorry for themselves and the situation they may be in. They just compete. And they do well. It’s so cool!
There were people participating from 49 different countries and 45 states. I saw a couple of people wearing Wisconsin shirts so we had to cheer them on nice and loud!! The top male finisher was from Australia. He finished the race in 8 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds. He was in 11th place at the start of the run and he managed to pass all of those people to come in first place! That is amazing to me…after swimming 2.4 miles and biking for 112 miles…to still have the energy left to pass people on the run. He got 2nd place last year. The top female finisher was from England. She also won last year. She finished in 9 hours, 6 minutes and 23 seconds, a little less than 11 minutes behind the women’s record for the race. She lost 10 minutes during the biking part because she got a flat tire and the air canisters that she had with her wouldn’t work. One of her teammates stopped and gave her the one she had. If she hadn’t had trouble with her tire, she could have possible broke the record! The overall record to break is 8 hours, 4 minutes and some seconds (I can’t remember.) I can’t imagine completing the race in a little over 8 hours!
The athletes have 17 hours to finish the race. If they don’t get to the transition sites by a certain time, they are disqualified. There were 1808 triathletes that began the race. 1636 people finished. One of the top professionals that was expected to do well (He got 1st last year) had to drop out during the bike part. He had a gear cable break on his bike and the technicians told him it would take 20 minutes to fix. That’s a lot of time to make up in a race like this.
One of the things that make this race so difficult, besides the obvious difficulty of the length and endurance needed to complete it, is the elements. The race is stated at 6:45am in order for the athletes to get some of the race done before it gets too hot. They have to be done by midnight or they are disqualified. The articles in the paper this year stated that the ocean was really choppy. I know how hard it is to try and swim in choppy waters! It’s not only exhausting, but for weak swimmers like me, it’s scary! The top professionals finished the swim in about 50-55 minutes. Most of the amateurs did it in 1-2 hours. I can’t imagine swimming in choppy ocean water for 2 hours! I’d probably drown! After they survived the swim, they had to get on their bikes and pedal up the Kona coast, 112 miles to a town called Hawi. The Kona coast is known for having BIG hills to climb and for being REALLY, REALLY windy!! I guess this year was exceptionally windy. The articles in the paper stated that people were getting blown over by the wind! Even the professionals said the wind made the bike more challenging. AND THEN, after enduring the bike, they have to run a marathon!!! I ran a half marathon in May, and I was so happy to be done! I can’t imagine running a full marathon AFTER doing the swim and bike! I know I’ve said it a hundred times, but these people are AMAZING! On top of all of this, the temperature reached as high as 108 degrees during the day. I think between the direct sun beating on them and the black top absorbing heat, the temperatures really go up fast!
Working at the aide station was so rewarding. It was so neat to see all of the athletes running past. A number of them, professionals and amateurs, were walking by this point, but they were not going to quit! There was all so appreciative of our help. We had water, Gatorade, cola or coke (depending on what country you are from :-) ), ice, oranges, bananas, power bars or gel and pretzels and crackers available for the athletes. They would come running by yelling what they wanted and grab it in mid-stride. Most of them even thanked us! I wouldn’t even be able to talk at this point much less thank someone for giving me a cup of water! Toward the end, some of the athletes were even throwing their own garbage away! They usually just throw it on the ground so they can keep running.
We had a few athletes that didn’t look so good when they stopped at our station. One guy had to sit down and he looked really bad. I thought he was going to pass out. One of the helpers at our station put ice on him and put cool, damp towels on him to cool him off while we were waiting for the medical crew to come. I was getting a little nervous because it was taking them forever to get there and this guy didn’t look so good. But when they did get there, he was able to walk to the van. I’m not sure what happened to him, but I presume they took him to the hospital for fluids. We also had a lady who walked through that didn’t look so good, but I couldn’t get her to stop. I don’t think she spoke English, so she may not have understood what I was saying. I hope she was OK. Early on in the race, one of the professionals came running through and must have been over-heating. He stuck his head right in one of the barrels of ice water we were using to cool the drinks! I got a few pictures of that. Hopefully I will be able to post them for you.
We were signed up to work a 4-hour shift, but ended up being there for about 8. We just really enjoyed what we were doing and Jenna was having a ball. She started handing out ice. She thought it was really cool when the athletes would take her ice. AJ got some good pictures of one of the top guys taking ice from Jenna. Later in the day, she was handing out sponges. The athletes use these to squeeze cold water on themselves to cool off. Those of you who know Jenna well know that she LOVES water and will take any opportunity she has to get wet! She was “holding” sponges in her t-shirt to hand out as people ran by, and of course she got soaked! One of the athletes running by was going to take a sponge from one of the volunteers, but he said “no I want to get it from her!” and he pointed to Jenna. She was thrilled! I wasn’t there to witness it, but she was pretty excited! I didn’t get any pictures of her handing our sponges because I was busy at my station, but I did get a few of her “after-the-fact.” I’ll try and post them too.
I’m sorry to be so long-winded today! I could go on a long time about this. It was such a great experience!! We will definitely be volunteering again next year! Tonight there is an appreciation dinner for all of the volunteers. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the people that we worked with. It’s called a “mahalo for your kokua” party, which means “thank-you for your help.” Kokua (pronounced like it looks, ko-ku-a) means help or service in Hawaiian. We got t-shirts that say “kokua crew” on them. Pretty cool. I’ll tell you all about the party tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be done reading this post by then! :-) Until next time…aloha!
There are all sorts of athletes that participate…professionals that do triathlons for a living, and just “regular” people who like the idea of competition. There were people of all ages and athletic abilities in the race on Saturday. It was so amazing to see! Of course there were the professionals, who were chiseled and looked like they were out for a leisurely jog (well, OK, not all of them), and then there were the average Joes that weren’t in as great of shape. The oldest person in the race was a 66 year old man from Kona. He finished the race in 15 hours, 36 minutes and 21 seconds. It was his first time participating in an Ironman! Can you imagine??!! One day at the age of 66 deciding to participate in one of the world’s most difficult sporting events?? At age 66?! That just amazes me! There was a 62 year old man participating in his 11th Ironman! That’s unbelievable!! There were plenty of “older” women participating too. It was so inspiring to see all of these people with all different abilities running or walking past us. The youngest participant was an 18 year old man that finished in 14 hours, 6 minutes, and 51 seconds.
In the days before the race the local newspaper was printing articles about athletes to “watch.” One that I thought was very interesting was a 32 year old man that was hit by on car when he was riding his bike at age 12. He broke his clavicle (collar bone) and his right arm has been paralyzed ever since. He started running cross country when he was in junior high. He loved the sport and started running races and eventually started doing triathlons. He has worked with trainers to learn how to swim and bike with one arm. He straps the arm to his body when he runs and swims, and when he bikes he straps it to his bike. We saw him when he ran through our aide station. It was yet another amazing sight to see! He finished with a time of 13 hours, 7 minutes and 21 seconds…can you imagine?... doing ALL of that with ONE arm?!
We also saw a number of men in wheelchairs participating. They not only have no use of their legs, but they have to use their arms for the entire race! I’m told they don’t get an extra help for the swim, so I’m not sure how they do that. But then they have to do the 112-mile bike and the 26.4 mile run pushing the wheels on their wheelchairs! I also saw at least 2 men with a prosthesis for a leg. They ran like nothing was any different about them. That’s what I think is so cool about all of these athletes. They don’t let anything get in the way of their dreams. They don’t feel sorry for themselves and the situation they may be in. They just compete. And they do well. It’s so cool!
There were people participating from 49 different countries and 45 states. I saw a couple of people wearing Wisconsin shirts so we had to cheer them on nice and loud!! The top male finisher was from Australia. He finished the race in 8 hours, 17 minutes and 34 seconds. He was in 11th place at the start of the run and he managed to pass all of those people to come in first place! That is amazing to me…after swimming 2.4 miles and biking for 112 miles…to still have the energy left to pass people on the run. He got 2nd place last year. The top female finisher was from England. She also won last year. She finished in 9 hours, 6 minutes and 23 seconds, a little less than 11 minutes behind the women’s record for the race. She lost 10 minutes during the biking part because she got a flat tire and the air canisters that she had with her wouldn’t work. One of her teammates stopped and gave her the one she had. If she hadn’t had trouble with her tire, she could have possible broke the record! The overall record to break is 8 hours, 4 minutes and some seconds (I can’t remember.) I can’t imagine completing the race in a little over 8 hours!
The athletes have 17 hours to finish the race. If they don’t get to the transition sites by a certain time, they are disqualified. There were 1808 triathletes that began the race. 1636 people finished. One of the top professionals that was expected to do well (He got 1st last year) had to drop out during the bike part. He had a gear cable break on his bike and the technicians told him it would take 20 minutes to fix. That’s a lot of time to make up in a race like this.
One of the things that make this race so difficult, besides the obvious difficulty of the length and endurance needed to complete it, is the elements. The race is stated at 6:45am in order for the athletes to get some of the race done before it gets too hot. They have to be done by midnight or they are disqualified. The articles in the paper this year stated that the ocean was really choppy. I know how hard it is to try and swim in choppy waters! It’s not only exhausting, but for weak swimmers like me, it’s scary! The top professionals finished the swim in about 50-55 minutes. Most of the amateurs did it in 1-2 hours. I can’t imagine swimming in choppy ocean water for 2 hours! I’d probably drown! After they survived the swim, they had to get on their bikes and pedal up the Kona coast, 112 miles to a town called Hawi. The Kona coast is known for having BIG hills to climb and for being REALLY, REALLY windy!! I guess this year was exceptionally windy. The articles in the paper stated that people were getting blown over by the wind! Even the professionals said the wind made the bike more challenging. AND THEN, after enduring the bike, they have to run a marathon!!! I ran a half marathon in May, and I was so happy to be done! I can’t imagine running a full marathon AFTER doing the swim and bike! I know I’ve said it a hundred times, but these people are AMAZING! On top of all of this, the temperature reached as high as 108 degrees during the day. I think between the direct sun beating on them and the black top absorbing heat, the temperatures really go up fast!
Working at the aide station was so rewarding. It was so neat to see all of the athletes running past. A number of them, professionals and amateurs, were walking by this point, but they were not going to quit! There was all so appreciative of our help. We had water, Gatorade, cola or coke (depending on what country you are from :-) ), ice, oranges, bananas, power bars or gel and pretzels and crackers available for the athletes. They would come running by yelling what they wanted and grab it in mid-stride. Most of them even thanked us! I wouldn’t even be able to talk at this point much less thank someone for giving me a cup of water! Toward the end, some of the athletes were even throwing their own garbage away! They usually just throw it on the ground so they can keep running.
We had a few athletes that didn’t look so good when they stopped at our station. One guy had to sit down and he looked really bad. I thought he was going to pass out. One of the helpers at our station put ice on him and put cool, damp towels on him to cool him off while we were waiting for the medical crew to come. I was getting a little nervous because it was taking them forever to get there and this guy didn’t look so good. But when they did get there, he was able to walk to the van. I’m not sure what happened to him, but I presume they took him to the hospital for fluids. We also had a lady who walked through that didn’t look so good, but I couldn’t get her to stop. I don’t think she spoke English, so she may not have understood what I was saying. I hope she was OK. Early on in the race, one of the professionals came running through and must have been over-heating. He stuck his head right in one of the barrels of ice water we were using to cool the drinks! I got a few pictures of that. Hopefully I will be able to post them for you.
We were signed up to work a 4-hour shift, but ended up being there for about 8. We just really enjoyed what we were doing and Jenna was having a ball. She started handing out ice. She thought it was really cool when the athletes would take her ice. AJ got some good pictures of one of the top guys taking ice from Jenna. Later in the day, she was handing out sponges. The athletes use these to squeeze cold water on themselves to cool off. Those of you who know Jenna well know that she LOVES water and will take any opportunity she has to get wet! She was “holding” sponges in her t-shirt to hand out as people ran by, and of course she got soaked! One of the athletes running by was going to take a sponge from one of the volunteers, but he said “no I want to get it from her!” and he pointed to Jenna. She was thrilled! I wasn’t there to witness it, but she was pretty excited! I didn’t get any pictures of her handing our sponges because I was busy at my station, but I did get a few of her “after-the-fact.” I’ll try and post them too.
I’m sorry to be so long-winded today! I could go on a long time about this. It was such a great experience!! We will definitely be volunteering again next year! Tonight there is an appreciation dinner for all of the volunteers. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the people that we worked with. It’s called a “mahalo for your kokua” party, which means “thank-you for your help.” Kokua (pronounced like it looks, ko-ku-a) means help or service in Hawaiian. We got t-shirts that say “kokua crew” on them. Pretty cool. I’ll tell you all about the party tomorrow. Hopefully you’ll be done reading this post by then! :-) Until next time…aloha!
Friday, October 10, 2008
Hawaii 101
I've decided that I will attempt to teach you some things about Hawaii as I learn them. Hopefully it will reinforce my learning and help you learn new things too. Today I will start with the Hawaiin language. Now, I have NOT mastered the Hawaiian language and I doubt that I ever will. I still have a lot to learn, but here are a few things I have learned. There are only 13 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. The vowels don't sound the same as ours do. I meant to bring my Hawaiian dictionary with me to the internet cafe with me today, but I forgot it, so I will have to tell you what sounds the vowels make another time.
Aloha means "hello" and "goodbye". Mahalo (pronouced ma-haw-low) means "thank you." Keike (pronounced kay-key) means "child." In hawaii, they don't refer to a deck as a "deck." It's called a lanai (pronounced lan-eye.) We have pretty quickly adapted to calling a deck a lanai. We sit on the lanai and have dinner every night. It's great! It's cooler out there than in the house and we have a pretty good view of the ocean too! Most houses over here have a living space underneath or sometimes behind the main part of the house. In Wisconsin we might call that an apartment or a basement. In Hawaii, they call in an ohana (pronounced pretty much like it looks, o-ha-na.) Appetizers are called pu-pu's (pronounced poo-poo). I'm not sure if I spelled that one right.
That's all for today. I know a few more, but I don't know how to spell most of them. I'll write more when I have my book with me.
Not much new to report on. I got a massage from Sandy yesterday. It was great! I also found a chiropractor. In talking with him, I learned that he is into canoeing. He is interested in getting together with AJ sometime to paddle. AJ was just talking about getting wanting to get back into canoeing (sorry if I keep spelling that word wrong. It's a strange one!) so it's cool that I met someone interested in canoeing too! He is doing good. Work has been good too. He is adjusting to his role as foreman pretty well. We are all looking forward to working at the Ironman tomorrow. I probably won't write since the road to this internet cafe will be closed for the race. I'll try to get her on Sunday, otherwise it will be on Monday. So until next time...aloha!
Aloha means "hello" and "goodbye". Mahalo (pronouced ma-haw-low) means "thank you." Keike (pronounced kay-key) means "child." In hawaii, they don't refer to a deck as a "deck." It's called a lanai (pronounced lan-eye.) We have pretty quickly adapted to calling a deck a lanai. We sit on the lanai and have dinner every night. It's great! It's cooler out there than in the house and we have a pretty good view of the ocean too! Most houses over here have a living space underneath or sometimes behind the main part of the house. In Wisconsin we might call that an apartment or a basement. In Hawaii, they call in an ohana (pronounced pretty much like it looks, o-ha-na.) Appetizers are called pu-pu's (pronounced poo-poo). I'm not sure if I spelled that one right.
That's all for today. I know a few more, but I don't know how to spell most of them. I'll write more when I have my book with me.
Not much new to report on. I got a massage from Sandy yesterday. It was great! I also found a chiropractor. In talking with him, I learned that he is into canoeing. He is interested in getting together with AJ sometime to paddle. AJ was just talking about getting wanting to get back into canoeing (sorry if I keep spelling that word wrong. It's a strange one!) so it's cool that I met someone interested in canoeing too! He is doing good. Work has been good too. He is adjusting to his role as foreman pretty well. We are all looking forward to working at the Ironman tomorrow. I probably won't write since the road to this internet cafe will be closed for the race. I'll try to get her on Sunday, otherwise it will be on Monday. So until next time...aloha!
Thursday, October 9, 2008
This-n-That
Well, yesterday I accomplished quite a bit. I finally finished emptying boxes in our bedroom and bathroom. I can actually see the floor in the bedroom! Woo-hoo!! I think I finally have the kitchen set up like I want it. I still have cupboard space left, but I have vowed that I will NOT fill it up!! We do not need as much stuff as we had at our old house. I'm trying really hard to just have the basis with no extras. It's becoming more appearant to me that all the "stuff" we have is really not that important...my relationships with the Lord and my family and friends are FAR more important!! Afterall, we can't take it with us, right? I already have things in mind that I should sell at a garage sale. Sad, I know. It was hard to know exactly what we would want or need when we were packing. Now that we are here, I realize that there are things that are not as important to me as I thought they were. But I guess that's one of many things that I will learn on this adventure! I'm ready to learn more Lord! Bring it on!
Jenna reminded me that I forgot to mention one more thing for her. We had a green gecko in the house the other day. This WILL happen when you are here, but don't worry they don't get too close to you. They are generally afraid of you and run if you get close. Actually, they are usually high up on the wall or ceiling. Anyway, this particular gecko chose to come close to the ground and Jenna started chasing it, trying catch it. She almost did! She caught it by it's tail and the tail came off! This is normal and is a defense mechanism for geckos. If they are being chased by a predator, they will loose their tail and the tail keeps wiggling. This supposedly makes the predator go after the tail while the gecko gets away. Of course, our soft hearted little Jenna felt terrible! But when I explained to her that she didn't hurt the gecko, she was OK. We have seen the gecko around outside since then and the tail is starting to grow back. Jenna refers to him as the "tail-less gecko." I hope we get to see him around until the entire tail grows back!
I have another Jenna-ism I need to share with you. She is such a hoot. Sometimes she really cracks me up!! Since the election is getting close, the supporters of all the candidates are standing along side the road again waving at everyone as they drive by. This drives Jenna crazy! She calls them the "annoyings." The other day when we were driving to school, she suddenly goes, "OOOH NO!!" I was like, What's wrong?! She said "The annoyings are back!" I just starting laughing! I don't know where she comes up with these things!! You know, she's only 7, but she knows a lot about the election. Well, at least more than I would think a 7 year old would know. She knows who the presidential candidates are and she knows that no matter what the outcome is, this will be an historic election for our country. I'm sure I didn't pay any attention to any of that when I was 7!!
Well, I think that's all for today. I hope that everthing is going great for you. I miss you and I miss this time of year in Wisconsin. Fall is my favorite time of year. Please run through the leaves for me and Jenna. Make sure you find some really dry, noisy ones. Those are the best, and mine and Jenna's favorites!
Well, OK! One more thing! I'm sitting at this outdoor internet cafe and I usually have a gecko that crawls around the table and down the umbrella post. Once in a while he looks at me over the top of the laptop. I took a few pictures with my cell phone, so if I can figure out to get them onto my computer, I will post a few on my blog. Today, he was sitting on the umbrerlla post and a tiny little bug, like a gnat, sat on the post too. Well, that bug ended up being breakfast for the gecko! He just stuck out his little tongue really fast and "zap!" the little bug was gone! Pretty cool to see actually. This gecko is very friendly...he is hanging around a lot longer today than normal. When you come and visit, I will bring you here and hopefully you can meet him. I'll have to bring Jenna down to see him and she can name him. She'd probably like that. OK. I'm done this time, so until next time...aloha!
Jenna reminded me that I forgot to mention one more thing for her. We had a green gecko in the house the other day. This WILL happen when you are here, but don't worry they don't get too close to you. They are generally afraid of you and run if you get close. Actually, they are usually high up on the wall or ceiling. Anyway, this particular gecko chose to come close to the ground and Jenna started chasing it, trying catch it. She almost did! She caught it by it's tail and the tail came off! This is normal and is a defense mechanism for geckos. If they are being chased by a predator, they will loose their tail and the tail keeps wiggling. This supposedly makes the predator go after the tail while the gecko gets away. Of course, our soft hearted little Jenna felt terrible! But when I explained to her that she didn't hurt the gecko, she was OK. We have seen the gecko around outside since then and the tail is starting to grow back. Jenna refers to him as the "tail-less gecko." I hope we get to see him around until the entire tail grows back!
I have another Jenna-ism I need to share with you. She is such a hoot. Sometimes she really cracks me up!! Since the election is getting close, the supporters of all the candidates are standing along side the road again waving at everyone as they drive by. This drives Jenna crazy! She calls them the "annoyings." The other day when we were driving to school, she suddenly goes, "OOOH NO!!" I was like, What's wrong?! She said "The annoyings are back!" I just starting laughing! I don't know where she comes up with these things!! You know, she's only 7, but she knows a lot about the election. Well, at least more than I would think a 7 year old would know. She knows who the presidential candidates are and she knows that no matter what the outcome is, this will be an historic election for our country. I'm sure I didn't pay any attention to any of that when I was 7!!
Well, I think that's all for today. I hope that everthing is going great for you. I miss you and I miss this time of year in Wisconsin. Fall is my favorite time of year. Please run through the leaves for me and Jenna. Make sure you find some really dry, noisy ones. Those are the best, and mine and Jenna's favorites!
Well, OK! One more thing! I'm sitting at this outdoor internet cafe and I usually have a gecko that crawls around the table and down the umbrella post. Once in a while he looks at me over the top of the laptop. I took a few pictures with my cell phone, so if I can figure out to get them onto my computer, I will post a few on my blog. Today, he was sitting on the umbrerlla post and a tiny little bug, like a gnat, sat on the post too. Well, that bug ended up being breakfast for the gecko! He just stuck out his little tongue really fast and "zap!" the little bug was gone! Pretty cool to see actually. This gecko is very friendly...he is hanging around a lot longer today than normal. When you come and visit, I will bring you here and hopefully you can meet him. I'll have to bring Jenna down to see him and she can name him. She'd probably like that. OK. I'm done this time, so until next time...aloha!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Jenna's turn
Hello! I'm sorry again that it has been a few days since I've written. It's so hard to not have the internet available whenever I want! It is sometimes a challenge to get to the internet cafe to write something. I called again yesterday about having them come sooner to get everything hooked up, but unfortunately they can't. How did we ever survive before the internet??!?!
I guess not having TV or internet is not all bad...I have been "fortunate" enough to miss out on the Packers getting beat. We get the newspaper occasionally, but for some reason, they don't talk much about the Packers! Hard to believe, I know!! Oh well, the season is young. You never know what might happen.
Jenna has been asking me to write about a few things for her, so I hope I remember everything. When we were still staying at Gus and Sandy's house, we saw a preying mantis on the steps one day. It was pretty cool to see. Jenna said that it looked like it was praying and that's why they call it a "praying" mantis! I thought that was pretty cute. That same day when we were driving to school, we had a gecko on the windshield of my car. It ran to the top of the car, so I don't know what happened to it, but we had a lot of fun pretending to be the gecko...saying what we thought if would say, telling it to hang on, etc...
At our house we have porch covered with a tarp like material that sometimes catches rain. The birds like to walk on this tarp and take a "bath" in the pools of water that collect on it. It's pretty funny to watch the birds walk on it and flap their wings and flutter about in the water. All you can see when they walk is their feet...it's like a perfect impression of a bird footprint above you. They fan our their tails and flap them into the water. It's hard to explain, but when you come to visit, we'll show you!
We also saw a cat walking around in the neighbor's yard. The next time we looked, which was only a minute or less, the cat was on top of the house, walking along the very top of the house! Jenna thought that was so cool! We haven't seen it do that since.
This Saturday is the Ironman Triathlon. AJ, Jenna and I are volunteering at one of the aide stations to hand out water and food. I am really looking forward to it! I think it will be really cool to see all of the athletes and everything that happens at a competition like this. I'll keep you posted. Well, that all for today. I have to go get Jenna from school. By the way, she still loves school and is doing great! She said her favorite thing about school is that she gets to pray during the day! How cool is that?! It doesn't get any better than that! Praise God!! Until next time...aloha!
I guess not having TV or internet is not all bad...I have been "fortunate" enough to miss out on the Packers getting beat. We get the newspaper occasionally, but for some reason, they don't talk much about the Packers! Hard to believe, I know!! Oh well, the season is young. You never know what might happen.
Jenna has been asking me to write about a few things for her, so I hope I remember everything. When we were still staying at Gus and Sandy's house, we saw a preying mantis on the steps one day. It was pretty cool to see. Jenna said that it looked like it was praying and that's why they call it a "praying" mantis! I thought that was pretty cute. That same day when we were driving to school, we had a gecko on the windshield of my car. It ran to the top of the car, so I don't know what happened to it, but we had a lot of fun pretending to be the gecko...saying what we thought if would say, telling it to hang on, etc...
At our house we have porch covered with a tarp like material that sometimes catches rain. The birds like to walk on this tarp and take a "bath" in the pools of water that collect on it. It's pretty funny to watch the birds walk on it and flap their wings and flutter about in the water. All you can see when they walk is their feet...it's like a perfect impression of a bird footprint above you. They fan our their tails and flap them into the water. It's hard to explain, but when you come to visit, we'll show you!
We also saw a cat walking around in the neighbor's yard. The next time we looked, which was only a minute or less, the cat was on top of the house, walking along the very top of the house! Jenna thought that was so cool! We haven't seen it do that since.
This Saturday is the Ironman Triathlon. AJ, Jenna and I are volunteering at one of the aide stations to hand out water and food. I am really looking forward to it! I think it will be really cool to see all of the athletes and everything that happens at a competition like this. I'll keep you posted. Well, that all for today. I have to go get Jenna from school. By the way, she still loves school and is doing great! She said her favorite thing about school is that she gets to pray during the day! How cool is that?! It doesn't get any better than that! Praise God!! Until next time...aloha!
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Past few days
Hello! I finally have a few minutes to sit down and write something! We moved into our house on Wednesday, Oct. 1. I moved everything from Gus and Sandy house while AJ was at work. I was driving AJ's truck and I had it packed full to the top! He got this soft cover, like a topper, with his truck and I had stuff piled to the top of that. His truck has an extended cab and I had that full and the passengers seat full! I'm not sure how we accumulated so much in three weeks, but somehow we did! Most of it was suitcases. I also had 4 patio chairs in the truck Sandy and I had to work pretty hard to get them in, but we did it! I met with the realtor in the afternoon to go over the final paperwork and we were offically in the house! We were so excited! I emptied the truck so Jenna would have a place to sit when I picked her up from school. Then she and I went to Walmart to pick up a few things. When AJ got off work, he meet me at the house to unload the mattress. 4 guys from our church came over and AJ and they went and picked up the furniture from the people we bought everthing from. When they got back there were 2 people from AJs work that helped unload it all and carry it into the house. We had it all done in less than 2 hours. It was great! We worked those guys pretty hard. The only way to get into our house is to go up a long flight of stairs. So everything they carried, they had to go up the stairs. I felt bad for them, but I fed them pizza, pop and water. Hopefully that made up for something!
The day before we moved, I called and had the electricity and water switched to our name. I also tried to have the cable and internet set up. Things work pretty slow over here, but I didn't realize just HOW slow it is! The cable comapny can't send someone over to hook up the cable and internet until Oct 24!! I couldn't believe it! If I had known that I would have called 3 weeks ago! So, I may only be writing about everyother day. I will try to do it more often, but I'll see how it goes. Things should settle down now that we are mostly moved it to the house.
This morning I went to garage sales to see if I could find Jenna a dresser and a few other household items. I wanted to get things like an iron, vaccum cleaner and lamps without having to buy all new. I did quite well! I found a lot of stuff at the first place I went and things were being sold pretty cheap. I even bought a coffee maker for when we have visitors. AJ and I don't drink coffee, but we wanted to have some available for those of you who do. I'm told the pure Kona coffee is good, but pretty strong. The guy that helps Gus with his coffee grove gave us some, so it's ready and waiting for you to come and visit! I have to tell you about my crazy morning. I had been our garage-saleing (sp?) since about 6:45am. I was trying to find a dresser for Jenna so I kept stopping at everyone I came to. I started about 45 minutes away from our house and ended up about 10 minutes from our house (Thank God!) At the last house that I stopped at I found a 2 lamps, one for Jenna's room and one for the guest room. I'm not sure what I did, but when I was putting them into the trunk somehow I dropped my keys into the trunk without realizing it and, yes, you guessed it! I shut the door and locked my keys in the trunk! I thought that I had unlocked the car so I was going to pop the trunk from inside the car, but no, that was locked too! So I had to call AJ to come and get me. I just had a spare key made, but with the move from Gus's, I had no idea where it was. So after AJ picked me up we went home so I could look for the key. Fortunately, I found it quickly, so back we went to get my car. But, the key would only open the door of the car and not the trunk. The lever to open the trunk would not work either! I couldn't believe it! So I called a lock smith, but he wasn't going to be available until 5pm. It was about noon at this time. He suggested that I go to the Toyota dealer have have a master key made. The other key that I had was appearently just a vallet key, so it will only open the doors. Anyway, he made me a key, but said that it looked like it was the same one that I had and he wasn't sure that it would work. We thought we would try it, but figured we would probably have to call a lock smith to open it. We tried the day and it wouldn't open the trunk either, but it did make a sound like it was turning something inside. We tried the latch inside the car and it worked! Yippee!! I was so happy! This whole process took about 2 hours!! Not exactly how I planned for my day to turn out, but oh well. It worked out in the end. I took a chance and stopped at one more sale on my way home and I found a dresser for Jenna! I didn't lock the door this time! :)
Well, I have more that I could say, but it's getting pretty long and I have been gone from the house for a while, so until next time...aloha!
The day before we moved, I called and had the electricity and water switched to our name. I also tried to have the cable and internet set up. Things work pretty slow over here, but I didn't realize just HOW slow it is! The cable comapny can't send someone over to hook up the cable and internet until Oct 24!! I couldn't believe it! If I had known that I would have called 3 weeks ago! So, I may only be writing about everyother day. I will try to do it more often, but I'll see how it goes. Things should settle down now that we are mostly moved it to the house.
This morning I went to garage sales to see if I could find Jenna a dresser and a few other household items. I wanted to get things like an iron, vaccum cleaner and lamps without having to buy all new. I did quite well! I found a lot of stuff at the first place I went and things were being sold pretty cheap. I even bought a coffee maker for when we have visitors. AJ and I don't drink coffee, but we wanted to have some available for those of you who do. I'm told the pure Kona coffee is good, but pretty strong. The guy that helps Gus with his coffee grove gave us some, so it's ready and waiting for you to come and visit! I have to tell you about my crazy morning. I had been our garage-saleing (sp?) since about 6:45am. I was trying to find a dresser for Jenna so I kept stopping at everyone I came to. I started about 45 minutes away from our house and ended up about 10 minutes from our house (Thank God!) At the last house that I stopped at I found a 2 lamps, one for Jenna's room and one for the guest room. I'm not sure what I did, but when I was putting them into the trunk somehow I dropped my keys into the trunk without realizing it and, yes, you guessed it! I shut the door and locked my keys in the trunk! I thought that I had unlocked the car so I was going to pop the trunk from inside the car, but no, that was locked too! So I had to call AJ to come and get me. I just had a spare key made, but with the move from Gus's, I had no idea where it was. So after AJ picked me up we went home so I could look for the key. Fortunately, I found it quickly, so back we went to get my car. But, the key would only open the door of the car and not the trunk. The lever to open the trunk would not work either! I couldn't believe it! So I called a lock smith, but he wasn't going to be available until 5pm. It was about noon at this time. He suggested that I go to the Toyota dealer have have a master key made. The other key that I had was appearently just a vallet key, so it will only open the doors. Anyway, he made me a key, but said that it looked like it was the same one that I had and he wasn't sure that it would work. We thought we would try it, but figured we would probably have to call a lock smith to open it. We tried the day and it wouldn't open the trunk either, but it did make a sound like it was turning something inside. We tried the latch inside the car and it worked! Yippee!! I was so happy! This whole process took about 2 hours!! Not exactly how I planned for my day to turn out, but oh well. It worked out in the end. I took a chance and stopped at one more sale on my way home and I found a dresser for Jenna! I didn't lock the door this time! :)
Well, I have more that I could say, but it's getting pretty long and I have been gone from the house for a while, so until next time...aloha!
Friday, October 3, 2008
Technical Difficulties
OK, I know that it has again been too many days since I've written anything significant, but I don't have access to the internet at our house yet. I'm short on time today, so I can't write too much. I'm planning to spend some time at the internet cafe tomorrow, so I PROMISE that I will write more! But I cannot be responsible for people falling asleep because I write a book and bore people to death! :) Until next time...aloha!
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