Well, I can't believe that another week has gone by! Time goes so fast!! Time is confusing enough for me right now without it going so fast!! It's so hard for us to really know what time of year it is since we haven't experienced the seasons changing this year! I can't bellieve that it is the 10th of November already! Oh well! I guess there is nothing I can do about it!
In case you are wondering about my title today, allow me to explain. A few nights ago we were sitting on the lanai (deck, for those of you who don't remember) eating dinner. We were watching a little baby, brown gecko crawling across the rafters. It was small, maybe an inch or an inch and a half. We also saw a larger green gecko on the rafters. All of the sudden the baby gecko stopped moving. The green gecko was only a few inches away from it. He stopped moving too and just stared at the baby gecko. Then, in the blink of an eye, the green gecko snapped up the baby gecko in its mouth!! I couldn't believe it!!! I said (rather loudly) "He just ate it!" AJ said "Yes, and now all the neighbors know too." We have been told that the green geckos are agressive toward the brown ones, but I thought they just meant they chased them or something. I never would have guessed that they ATE them for dinner!! It makes me look at my little gecko friend from the marketplace a little differently! Poor little thing. Jenna is now on a mission to scare away the green geckos whenever a brown gecko is around!
I forgot to tell you that I saw the first whale of the season last weekend! When we went to the "Movie-star beach," I was standing in the water watching Jenna try and "surf" on her boogie board, I saw a humpback whale breech!! A breech is when the whale jumps out of the water and lands on its back and makes a huge splash. It was so cool to see. This one was completely out of the water! The humpback whales come down from Alaska from about November-March to mate and have their babies. It was November 1 when I saw it, so I guess they are right on time! Those of you coming to visit this winter will likely see whales too!
We had parent-teacher conferences for Jenna last week. She did very well. The curriculum is a little harder this year, so she has had to work a little harder than usual. She got all A's!! She got a ribbon for getting on the "Superior Honor Roll." There are a few areas that she needs to work on, but overall, she is doing great! We are very proud of her. She doesn't have school tomorrow for Veteran's Day. She is starting a unit on Indians. I am planning to go in again and show the kids how to make Indian headbands and necklaces. It should be fun. I really enjoy doing that.
Things are still going good for AJ. He enjoys his work and based on what he tells me about some of the other guys that thought they deserved his job, he was definately the best choice! Some days are rather challenging, but overall, he likes it a lot! That's it for today, so until next time...aloha!
Hawaiian Sunset at Hapuna Beach
Monday, November 10, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
2 months already!
I can't believe that it has been two months since we got on that plane and started this adventure! It actually seems like we have been here a lot longer than that. Things have gone so well with getting everything together and getting settled in; it just feels like we've always been here. I feel very blessed that we had the opportunity to come over here so many times in the past. It has really made the transition easy and made this feel like "home" very quickly. Of course we still miss everyone in Wisconsin, but we plan to be home for Christmas and we hope to have visitors here on a regular basis! (hint, hint!)
Jenna didn't have school today due to the election. She painted the head board that AJ made for her bed. We plan to cover it with fabric and stuff it with fluff. I'll post some pictures of it when we get it done. I've posted some more pictures of Jenna and her friends from school. Some of the pictures are from Colonial Day and one is from halloween. As for the election, no matter the outcome, it is an historic event. I pray that the new president will lead this county with honesty and integrity. He will have a big job ahead of him!!
In Hawaii the elected positions are a little different than on the mainland. Each island is a county, so there are 4 counties in the state of Hawaii (some of the islands have one elected official for 2 or 3 islands). Each island has a mayor. There is not a mayor for each town or city...the mayor is the mayor for the entire county! That is a little odd to me, but that's how it works over here. The towns have city councils that help make decisions, but there aren't near as many elected officials as most other states. You may not care to know any of this, but I thought it was kind of interesting...
That's all I know today, so until next time...aloha!
Jenna didn't have school today due to the election. She painted the head board that AJ made for her bed. We plan to cover it with fabric and stuff it with fluff. I'll post some pictures of it when we get it done. I've posted some more pictures of Jenna and her friends from school. Some of the pictures are from Colonial Day and one is from halloween. As for the election, no matter the outcome, it is an historic event. I pray that the new president will lead this county with honesty and integrity. He will have a big job ahead of him!!
In Hawaii the elected positions are a little different than on the mainland. Each island is a county, so there are 4 counties in the state of Hawaii (some of the islands have one elected official for 2 or 3 islands). Each island has a mayor. There is not a mayor for each town or city...the mayor is the mayor for the entire county! That is a little odd to me, but that's how it works over here. The towns have city councils that help make decisions, but there aren't near as many elected officials as most other states. You may not care to know any of this, but I thought it was kind of interesting...
That's all I know today, so until next time...aloha!
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Busy, busy week!!
Well, again I have to apologize for my long absence in writing! Last week was really busy! I was at Jenna's school every day helping with the activities for Colonial Day. The whole school participates in this week. The theme this year was Celebrate America. Each class chose a time period in American history to study and prepare a presentation for the rest of the school. They have different activities all week. I went in on Monday and showed the kids how to make marbles out of clay; on Tuesday I helped the kids with painting projects; on Wednesday I helped the kids make homemade butter and then I set up the display of the colonial shops that I have been working on. I posted some pictues of my feeble attempt and of Jenna's final product. Thursday was the day that Jenna's class presented their projects to their class and parents. Jenna showed her kitchen that she has been working on. She did a great job presenting to the class! Her class had a traditional colonial meal with stew, pot pie, corn bread, fruit, pumpkin pie and chess pie (custard pie.) On Friday, each class presented their time period to the school. They did presentations on the playground in front of the entire school and parents. After the presentations, each class went from class to class to see the individual presentations by the students. The kids presented their projects to kindergarden through 5th grade. They all did a great job! It was really fun to help out all week. I've enjoyed getting to know the kids, parents and teachers. When I helped in Jenna's class in Wisconsin, the kids always called me Mrs. Howery. In Hawaii, everyone is called Auntie or Uncle, whether you are related or not. So all of Jenna's classmates call me "Auntie Lynn," or just "Auntie." It was kind of strange at first, but it's kind of neat too.
As you know Friday was Halloween. This was the first Halloween that I have ever experienced that it wasn't cold, snowing, raining or absolutely miserable! Jenna could wear her costume and not have to wear her winter coat over or under it! She wore her Little Mermaid outfit that we she got at Disney in August. I'll attach some pictures of her. It was really nice to be able to trick-or-treat and not worry about the weather. Sorry. I'm not trying to rub it in! I know how bad it can be. I thought that it wasn't supposed to be too bad though...how was it? Instead of going around the neighborhood, we went to an organized event at the old airport. It was called "Candy Land." It was like a fair. They had rides and games and food, except everything was free! She got candy as prizes. It was fun for her and we didn't have to walk all over. She didn't get as much candy as she would have, but that's OK, because AJ and I usually eat most of it anyway!!
Saturday we went to the beach that we call the "movie star beach." We went snorkeling and made sand castles. It was fun. We haven't been to the beach for a several weeks...poor Jenna was going through withdrawal!!
We had our first snow in Hawaii last weekend! It snowed on top of Mauna Kea, the biggest mountain here on the island. It's been so cloudy here lately that's hard to see the top of the mountain, so we can't see the snow anyway. It's strange to think of it snowing in Hawaii! AJ remembers a time when he was here when they actually had to close roads near the top of Mauna Kea because of white-out conditions! Very strange!
Jenna has been wanting me to tell you about a van that we see almost every day on the way to school. It's a very colorful van...think 70's peace symbol...the whole van is colored all different colors. It's very easy to pick out and Jenna thinks that it is really cool.
Well, I think that brings us up to date. So, until next time...aloha!
As you know Friday was Halloween. This was the first Halloween that I have ever experienced that it wasn't cold, snowing, raining or absolutely miserable! Jenna could wear her costume and not have to wear her winter coat over or under it! She wore her Little Mermaid outfit that we she got at Disney in August. I'll attach some pictures of her. It was really nice to be able to trick-or-treat and not worry about the weather. Sorry. I'm not trying to rub it in! I know how bad it can be. I thought that it wasn't supposed to be too bad though...how was it? Instead of going around the neighborhood, we went to an organized event at the old airport. It was called "Candy Land." It was like a fair. They had rides and games and food, except everything was free! She got candy as prizes. It was fun for her and we didn't have to walk all over. She didn't get as much candy as she would have, but that's OK, because AJ and I usually eat most of it anyway!!
Saturday we went to the beach that we call the "movie star beach." We went snorkeling and made sand castles. It was fun. We haven't been to the beach for a several weeks...poor Jenna was going through withdrawal!!
We had our first snow in Hawaii last weekend! It snowed on top of Mauna Kea, the biggest mountain here on the island. It's been so cloudy here lately that's hard to see the top of the mountain, so we can't see the snow anyway. It's strange to think of it snowing in Hawaii! AJ remembers a time when he was here when they actually had to close roads near the top of Mauna Kea because of white-out conditions! Very strange!
Jenna has been wanting me to tell you about a van that we see almost every day on the way to school. It's a very colorful van...think 70's peace symbol...the whole van is colored all different colors. It's very easy to pick out and Jenna thinks that it is really cool.
Well, I think that brings us up to date. So, until next time...aloha!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Gone too long!
Hello! I'm sorry for the delay in posting a blog. To be very honest, I have been lazy and have not felt like doing it! But since it has been a few days, I will probably have more to say!
Of course, the most exciting news to report since I last posted is that we now have internet, TV and local phone service at our HOUSE!! Yeah!! We were quite excited for that to happen. Unfortunately, the Packers had a bye so I didn't get to see them play, but oh well. There's always next week! I will miss my little gecko friend at the marketplace, but I guess I can go and visit him when I want. I took some pictures of him drinking water off of my water bottle. He was licking the condensation from the outside of my bottle! It was pretty cool to see! I tried to get a few pictures of him peering over the top of the laptop, but of course he wouldn't stay still long enough! Camera shy, I guess! I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to post pictures of the chameleon too, but he wasn't at church this week, so guess I'll try next time.
We have had a few nights of rain here lately. The rain brings out the slugs and the snails. We had a really big snail slowly making it's way across our driveway on Saturday. Jenna and I watched it for quite a while. You could see it move, even though it took forever! It was eating grass...you could actually see the grass moving while it was eating it! We took some pictures of it that I posted. Hope you find it as interesting as Jenna and I did!
Jenna's project is almost finished. We have just a few things left to glue in place. We were going to put a roof on her kitchen and make a door to look through, like a diorama, but we decided that it would be too hard to see everything. And I personally think that things look so cute that we want to make sure that peoeple can see everything clearly! I am working on a "town." I am making 3 stores out of cardboard that are supposed to represent what sort of businesses were around during colonial days. I have put my project off until this past weekend and it needs to be set up on Wednesday afternoon, so I am sure that mine will not be as cute as Jenna's! She and I painted the walls of the stores on Sunday, which she loved because she got to get all covered in paint AND she got to play in the water!! So much fun!
AJ did not get to go deep sea fishing. The person he was going to go with was not able to borrow the boat from his friend. He will have other opportunities, so he was OK with it. Instead, he built a headboard for Jenna's bed. We are going to cover it with fabric and stuff it with that fluffy filling you put in pillows. She's looking forward to that. AJ also built racks to hold our bikes, and he put together the grill that we bought. We have been looking at grills and they were on clearance at Lowe's so we decided to get one. When AJ first starting looking at grills about a month ago, he came home and said that it was very strange to seek lawn mowers and Christmas trees out at the same time!!
I got a letter from the state Board of Nursing saying that I could practice in the state of Hawaii. I haven't recieved my actual license yet, but this will suffice until it arrives. I'm working on updating my resume, even though there aren't too many jobs out there right now. It might be too late to get the job for working at flu clinics, but I am still going to send my resume and see what happens.
I'm going into Jenna's classroom this afternoon to make marbles out of clay. As you know, her class has been learning about colonial days. They talked a little about the toys that the children of that day played with and how most of the toys were made by hand because they didn't have toy stores to go to. Last week I went in and taught the kids how to make dolls out of spoons and fabric, today I am making the marbles and on Wednesday I am going in to help the teacher show the kids how to make butter. I think it will be a lot of fun. I really enjoy working in the classroom and getting to know the kids in her class. I'll let you know how it goes. I better get working on my town, so until next time...aloha!
Of course, the most exciting news to report since I last posted is that we now have internet, TV and local phone service at our HOUSE!! Yeah!! We were quite excited for that to happen. Unfortunately, the Packers had a bye so I didn't get to see them play, but oh well. There's always next week! I will miss my little gecko friend at the marketplace, but I guess I can go and visit him when I want. I took some pictures of him drinking water off of my water bottle. He was licking the condensation from the outside of my bottle! It was pretty cool to see! I tried to get a few pictures of him peering over the top of the laptop, but of course he wouldn't stay still long enough! Camera shy, I guess! I mentioned in my last blog that I was going to post pictures of the chameleon too, but he wasn't at church this week, so guess I'll try next time.
We have had a few nights of rain here lately. The rain brings out the slugs and the snails. We had a really big snail slowly making it's way across our driveway on Saturday. Jenna and I watched it for quite a while. You could see it move, even though it took forever! It was eating grass...you could actually see the grass moving while it was eating it! We took some pictures of it that I posted. Hope you find it as interesting as Jenna and I did!
Jenna's project is almost finished. We have just a few things left to glue in place. We were going to put a roof on her kitchen and make a door to look through, like a diorama, but we decided that it would be too hard to see everything. And I personally think that things look so cute that we want to make sure that peoeple can see everything clearly! I am working on a "town." I am making 3 stores out of cardboard that are supposed to represent what sort of businesses were around during colonial days. I have put my project off until this past weekend and it needs to be set up on Wednesday afternoon, so I am sure that mine will not be as cute as Jenna's! She and I painted the walls of the stores on Sunday, which she loved because she got to get all covered in paint AND she got to play in the water!! So much fun!
AJ did not get to go deep sea fishing. The person he was going to go with was not able to borrow the boat from his friend. He will have other opportunities, so he was OK with it. Instead, he built a headboard for Jenna's bed. We are going to cover it with fabric and stuff it with that fluffy filling you put in pillows. She's looking forward to that. AJ also built racks to hold our bikes, and he put together the grill that we bought. We have been looking at grills and they were on clearance at Lowe's so we decided to get one. When AJ first starting looking at grills about a month ago, he came home and said that it was very strange to seek lawn mowers and Christmas trees out at the same time!!
I got a letter from the state Board of Nursing saying that I could practice in the state of Hawaii. I haven't recieved my actual license yet, but this will suffice until it arrives. I'm working on updating my resume, even though there aren't too many jobs out there right now. It might be too late to get the job for working at flu clinics, but I am still going to send my resume and see what happens.
I'm going into Jenna's classroom this afternoon to make marbles out of clay. As you know, her class has been learning about colonial days. They talked a little about the toys that the children of that day played with and how most of the toys were made by hand because they didn't have toy stores to go to. Last week I went in and taught the kids how to make dolls out of spoons and fabric, today I am making the marbles and on Wednesday I am going in to help the teacher show the kids how to make butter. I think it will be a lot of fun. I really enjoy working in the classroom and getting to know the kids in her class. I'll let you know how it goes. I better get working on my town, so until next time...aloha!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Just another day
I know that I have pretty boring lately, but there is really nothing exciting going on! I still have nothing of any significance to report. Jenna has been busy working on her Colonial Day project. Her focus is food and clothing of the colonists. She has been making pumpkins, apples, corn and Johnny cakes (like pancakes or corn bread) out of clay. She is very grateful to her friend Ellie P. for showing her how to make things out of clay. She made a really cute pig. It has a little snout, and the legs are very realistic. I'll attempt to take a picure of it and it I'll post it if it turns out. We made a fireplace and a table with popsicle sticks. I didn't want to attempt to make people, especially with my artisic abilities. We just found pictures of people in colonial day clothes and cut them out. We glued sticks to the back of them so they will stand up. I think it will turn our pretty cute. I'm excited to see the final product!
AJ is hoping to go fishing on Saturday. He went one other time when he was working over here and caught a pretty big one. He's hoping to get something even bigger this time! I hope he does too...we'll have fresh fish to eat!! Yum!
We get internet, TV, and phone hooked up Friday morning. I can't wait! It will be so great to just get on the internet whenever I want instead of trying to remember everything I want to look up or check out when I get here. We will be getting a local phone number so I will let you know what it is. You can still call us on our cell phones if you want. I know nothing else today. So, until next time...aloha!
AJ is hoping to go fishing on Saturday. He went one other time when he was working over here and caught a pretty big one. He's hoping to get something even bigger this time! I hope he does too...we'll have fresh fish to eat!! Yum!
We get internet, TV, and phone hooked up Friday morning. I can't wait! It will be so great to just get on the internet whenever I want instead of trying to remember everything I want to look up or check out when I get here. We will be getting a local phone number so I will let you know what it is. You can still call us on our cell phones if you want. I know nothing else today. So, until next time...aloha!
Monday, October 20, 2008
The Weekend
We had a pretty quiet weekend. I went to garage sales on Saturday morning and got a bookcase for Jenna and a desk for us. Now I can finish setting up the "office." We don't really have an office. It will just be an area in the basement, but it will be nice to get all of that kind of stuff organized and out of the boxes.
Sunday after church some of the kids found a Jackson Cameleon on one of the trees. They picked it up and started playing with it. It was pretty cool to see. It looked like a triceratops in a way. I'll bring my camera with me next week and I'll post a few pictures. They put it on me because I was wearing a brown shirt. They wanted to see if it would change colors. It crawled around to my back so I couldn't see if it changed colors or not. I was OK with it being on me as long as it didn't get near my face or on my skin, which it didn't, thank goodness!!
In the afternoon we went to the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." It was pretty cute. Not a movie that AJ and I would have picked out, but Jenna really liked it! Anyway, pretty boring today. We get internet hooked up on Friday!! WOO-HOO!! We are pretty excited about that. Internet at the house...that will make things easier! We'll finally have TV too...maybe we can catch up on what's happening in the world! So, until next time...aloha!
Sunday after church some of the kids found a Jackson Cameleon on one of the trees. They picked it up and started playing with it. It was pretty cool to see. It looked like a triceratops in a way. I'll bring my camera with me next week and I'll post a few pictures. They put it on me because I was wearing a brown shirt. They wanted to see if it would change colors. It crawled around to my back so I couldn't see if it changed colors or not. I was OK with it being on me as long as it didn't get near my face or on my skin, which it didn't, thank goodness!!
In the afternoon we went to the movie "Beverly Hills Chihuahua." It was pretty cute. Not a movie that AJ and I would have picked out, but Jenna really liked it! Anyway, pretty boring today. We get internet hooked up on Friday!! WOO-HOO!! We are pretty excited about that. Internet at the house...that will make things easier! We'll finally have TV too...maybe we can catch up on what's happening in the world! So, until next time...aloha!
Friday, October 17, 2008
More pix
Not much to report on today. Things have been going good. Jenna is enjoying school. She is studying Colonial America right now. She has a big project that she is working on that's due at the end of the month. She had lots of different options for a project, but she chose to do hers on food and clothes of colonial times. She has been busy making a kitchen scene out of popcicle sticks and clay. She's pretty excited about it!
AJ was invited to go deep sea fishing with one of his co-workers next weekend. He's looking forward to that. I finally got everything together that I needed to get my Hawaii nursing license. Hopefully I will get it soon. There have been ads in the paper for nurses to work at flu clinics. I'd love to do that.
I've attached a few more pictures today. One of our house. One of the first sunset from our lanai (deck), and a few more of Jenna. That's all for now. Until next time...aloha!
AJ was invited to go deep sea fishing with one of his co-workers next weekend. He's looking forward to that. I finally got everything together that I needed to get my Hawaii nursing license. Hopefully I will get it soon. There have been ads in the paper for nurses to work at flu clinics. I'd love to do that.
I've attached a few more pictures today. One of our house. One of the first sunset from our lanai (deck), and a few more of Jenna. That's all for now. Until next time...aloha!
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