WHEW!! What a whirlwind of activity we had over the past several months! We started with guests in February and continued through the end of March. I’ve already told you about most of our guest’s visits; there are just two left. AJ’s classmate Brian, his wife Stacy and their daughter Alyssa came and stayed with us for about a week. We had a great time with them! Jenna and Alyssa hit it off right away! AJ and Jenna went with them to Hilo to see Mauna Kea and the waterfalls (Lynn was working.) Lynn and Jenna showed them around town and AJ enjoyed a luau with them. It was fun having them here and we look forward to seeing them again this summer at AJ’s class reunion!
While Brian and Stacy were here, our friends and Jenna’s babysitters, Kevin and Janette came for a week. It was so good to have them stay with us! Jenna was on Spring Break, so she was their tour guide. I think they ALL had fun with that! I was told that she did a great job as a tour guide. I believe it…I’m sure she knows her way around the Island better than I do!! I think it was a pretty relaxing vacation for Kevin and Janette, as Kevin was recovering from knee surgery. Hopefully, nothing got damaged from Jenna sitting on his lap so much! She loves her Peachy and Papa! It was fabulous having them stay with us and maybe next time, some of the kids will come too!
Kevin and Janette were Jenna’s babysitters in Wisconsin from the time Jenna was 3 months old until we moved. They are like family to us. In Hawaii, they would be considered “hanai” grandparents. Pronounced (han-eye); it’s like an adopted child or grandchild without the legal paperwork…someone who you are very close to, but not related to. They always took such good care of Jenna, and I had to ask them to do it again while they were on vacation! I decided to go back to Wisconsin to see my cousin who has a brain tumor. I left while they were still at our house. I felt really bad leaving, but at the same time, I really wanted to see my cousin. The timing was not great, but it’s what worked at the time, and in hind sight, I’m glad that I went when I did. I was able to spend a lot a good quality time with my cousin and I got lucky enough to have Easter dinner with my family and AJ’s family too! I also snuck in a quick lunch date with my two best friends! All in 2-1/2 days!! Not too bad! Of course, traveling to Wisconsin and back to Hawaii in less than 4 days in not real smart, but it worked. I was very tired and not sure what day it was for a while, but that’s OK! I am very grateful that Kevin and Janette were here because I’m not sure it would have worked otherwise with AJ’s busy work schedule! God is good and He will always provide a way!!
So, now you are updated on our guest visits. We don’t have anyone else scheduled to come at this time; however we have a few people talking about coming! We look forward to having more company!! Maybe by the next time we have guests, we will be in a different house! We have started looking at buying, but we haven’t made any decisions yet. I’ll keep you posted on our progress.
AJ continues to be very busy with work. We have had some rain, but it is still very dry. Things are looking good for him despite the dry weather. I continue to keep busy at work too, but not crazy. Just nice and steady. I’m sure that will change, but I’m enjoying it for now! Jenna is doing great in school. She is ready to be done for the summer. She is in Awana, an organization that teaches kids about the bible. She had to memorize about 30 bible verses this year! She had a book that she had to work through and if she finished the book, she would be eligible to go on the camp-out with the rest of the group. She just finished her book last night and she was sooo excited when she came home that she could hardly sit still. It took her about half an hour to settle down before she could go to sleep! We are very proud of her!
I think that’s the latest update! I hope everyone in the Midwest is enjoying the Spring weather. I’m beginning to learn/see the differences in the seasons here. Right now, the plumeria and jack-aronda trees are all in bloom. The Plumeria smell fantastic and the jack-aronda have these beautiful purple flowers on them. They are so pretty! Well, that’s all I know for now. Until next time…aloha!
Hawaiian Sunset at Hapuna Beach
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Easter, AJ and Jenna
Happy Easter to you all! We had a beautiful day here! We got up bright and early and went to the community church service called the Sonrise Service. It started at 6am. We arrived at 5:30 so we could get a seat. The paper said there was about 1000 people in attendance!! It was a beautiful service! There was great music and hula dancing, but the best part was the pastor’s sermon to the children. He was talking about 2 crowns for Jesus – a thorny crown and a crown made of plumeria flowers. At the end of his sermon a HELICOPTER flew over the crowd and dropped plumeria flowers all over us!! It was so cool!! The kids were running all over the place trying to catch the flowers. After this service, we went to our regular church for our Easter Service and then had a potluck afterwards. It was a long, but great day! Praise God for the Resurrection of our Lord!
AJ has been very busy with his bee work lately. We are in the middle of a severe drought right now. People that have lived here for a while say that this is the worst drought they have ever seen. There is very little moisture for the plants so there is not much nectar for the bees to collect. AJ is working hard to keep the hives growing. He and his crew have had to feed them more than usual. We have been praying for rain and have gotten a little lately, but we need a lot more to get things going again. AJ says that there is a lot of pressure to keep his hives going because the nuks where they produce the queens need the bees from his hives. It’s such a snowball effect – he needs to have a lot of bees so they can be used for the nuks for queen production which beekeepers around the world need in order for their hives to be productive. AJ describes it as his operation is the root for so many other businesses and people’s livelihood. It’s very stressful. I pray that we get more rain soon!! I don’t like seeing him so stressed, but am impressed that he is handling it pretty good overall.
Jenna had a Science Fair at school recently. Her subject was “How to Read Invisible Ink.” She did a great job with her presentation. We didn’t spend as much time preparing as we probably should have, but we/she pulled it together nicely. She fortunately has her Daddy’s gift of public speaking! She placed 5th and got a nice ribbon. She was happy with that. Third quarter has ended and Jenna did very well in all of her classes. We are very proud of her! Every time Jenna gets a report card, AJ says “They must grade differently now than they did when I was in school because I never saw grades like this!” Maybe his grades were letters a little further down the alphabet…hmmm. :-)
I'm working on my note about our latest guests visits. I'll be posting soon. Until then...aloha!
AJ has been very busy with his bee work lately. We are in the middle of a severe drought right now. People that have lived here for a while say that this is the worst drought they have ever seen. There is very little moisture for the plants so there is not much nectar for the bees to collect. AJ is working hard to keep the hives growing. He and his crew have had to feed them more than usual. We have been praying for rain and have gotten a little lately, but we need a lot more to get things going again. AJ says that there is a lot of pressure to keep his hives going because the nuks where they produce the queens need the bees from his hives. It’s such a snowball effect – he needs to have a lot of bees so they can be used for the nuks for queen production which beekeepers around the world need in order for their hives to be productive. AJ describes it as his operation is the root for so many other businesses and people’s livelihood. It’s very stressful. I pray that we get more rain soon!! I don’t like seeing him so stressed, but am impressed that he is handling it pretty good overall.
Jenna had a Science Fair at school recently. Her subject was “How to Read Invisible Ink.” She did a great job with her presentation. We didn’t spend as much time preparing as we probably should have, but we/she pulled it together nicely. She fortunately has her Daddy’s gift of public speaking! She placed 5th and got a nice ribbon. She was happy with that. Third quarter has ended and Jenna did very well in all of her classes. We are very proud of her! Every time Jenna gets a report card, AJ says “They must grade differently now than they did when I was in school because I never saw grades like this!” Maybe his grades were letters a little further down the alphabet…hmmm. :-)
I'm working on my note about our latest guests visits. I'll be posting soon. Until then...aloha!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
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!
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!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Tsunami alert!!
There is a tsunami heading our way because of the earthquake in Chile! So far, there hasn't been much action. We are watching the events on TV. Most of the action is on the other side of the Island from us. The water has sucked out from the shore and is now coming back in. The water will keep on doing that until the event subsides. The weather man says it could take hours to days before we see the full effects of the tsunamai. I will keep posting updates as things happen. Thank you for your prayers, emails, and calls. We appreciate your concern.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Jenna's Birthday
January 6 was Jenna’s 9th birthday. It’s so hard to believe that she is that old already! Where does the time go?? We let her have a birthday party with her classmates…thankfully she has a small class!! We had 13 kids there and it went really well. We held it at a park not far from our house. The best thing about that is that I didn’t have to entertain the kids! This park is awesome and has tons of things for the kids to do. I had a hard time getting them to come back for cake and ice cream! Jenna wanted a Hello Kitty themed party, so I asked a friend of mine to make her a Hello Kitty cake. It turned out sooo cute!! I provided a few snacks, the cake and ice cream, and that was it! The park provided the rest of the fun! It was great and Jenna had a lot of fun. AJ and I bought her a stand up paddle board for her birthday. Stand up paddle boarding is just like it sounds. You stand up on a board and paddle. It takes a lot of balance and core strength, which I don’t have much of! We tried it before Christmas and thought it was a lot of fun. Jenna was a natural! AJ tipped over a few times, but he was being a lot more daring than me! I was just glad that I could stand on it and not fall over! The water has been pretty rough since we got it, so Jenna has only had it out once since we got it, but I’m sure we’ll get out there more. That's all for now. Until next time...aloha!
Friday, February 19, 2010
2009 Year in Review
I actually had a little extra time this week so I finished writing my "year in review." It's really long, so you might want to grab a cup of coffee! :-)
2009 – Year in Review
January – We began our first full year in Hawaii! It was strange to have mid-70’s to 80 degrees for temperatures, but we were not complaining after just spending Christmas in Wisconsin with below zero temps!! AJ was busy at Kona Queen, working 5-6 days a week, 10-12 hour days. Jenna started school again after a 3-week break. Lynn was busy working on her resume and applying for jobs.
February – AJ continued to be very busy at work—working long days. This is the busiest time of the year for Kona Queen. Lynn started working for Hospice of Kona the first week of February. She had her first day of work the same day our first visitors came! Dick and Jody from Darlington stayed with us for 10 days and we had a great time showing them around the Island. After they left, more friends came. This time, John and Julie and their 3 kids from Iowa came. It was so great to see them! Having visitors is like having built in babysitters for days when Jenna is off school and AJ and I are both working! It’s awesome!!
March – AJ was still busy at work, but not working quite as many weekends. Lynn was in full swing with her job at Hospice. She had 2 or 3 weeks of training and then was given a full load of patients and was completely on her own. It was quite stressful, but it all worked out. On the job training is often best in hindsight! We continued to have visitors - Jeff and Karen from Mineral Point, and Tueschers and Vitures from Darlington. We love sharing the beauty of this Island with our friends and taking them to our favorite places to eat!
April – More of the same for AJ and Lynn – keeping busy at work, and Jenna at school. AJ’s Mom and her husband came and spent time with us. Jenna was on Spring Break, so she got to spend more time with them than AJ and I! She was their personal tour guide which we discovered she is very good at and had done several times since!! I got my hair cut just before Easter. I realize that getting my hair cut is no big deal, but the story behind it is actually pretty funny and worth putting in the “year review,” especially since I didn’t tell the story when it happened. I had been thinking about doing something different with my hair, but wasn’t sure what to do. I’m not real talented in that area! The day I got my hair cut, I had gotten a massage in the morning. After the massage I took a shower and just let my hair dry on its own. When I do that it just hangs in my face, flat as a pancake! It looked pretty bad when I went into the salon. I was a little nervous when I first walked in the door because I thought the lady cutting my hair only cut “older” people’s hair. Now before I get myself in trouble with the “older” generation, let me explain! She had red hats and purple things everywhere in her salon! I was really hoping that she would know how to cut someone’s hair that was not a “red-hatter!” She asked me what I wanted done with my hair. I told her I wasn’t sure, but I was open to suggestions. She promptly said, “Good, ‘cause I’ve got some!” I was a little taken back at first, but then I was like “well, she’s right. I do need some help!” She showed me a picture of the style she was thinking of and I liked it, so I told her to go for it. I figured it I didn’t like it, it would always grow back, right? Well, she cut and she cut and the end product is what you see in the pictures. I like it and it is really fast and easy to style, which for me, is a huge bonus!!
May – Our friend Marleen and her cousins came for a visit. It was great having them, but it was way too short of a visit!! School…work…etc…some things don’t change!
June – Jenna finished her first year at Kona Christian Academy. She did great and made a lot of good friends. We learned that it is quite expensive to have babysitters in Hawaii! Thank goodness I only work part time! AJ’s Aunt Tudy and her friend Rosi came for a visit. It’s always so nice to have family come and see where we live. Jenna was again the tour guide and she did a great job! Except that I think she talks too much! I wonder who she gets that from…?
July – Jenna took swimming lessons. She got through Level 3 without any difficulty. On to Level 4 next year! We took a family vacation to Maui and since I never got around to telling you about it then, I will give you the story now. Sorry it took me so long to tell you and I’m sorry it’s so long!! Enjoy! It was a short, but fun trip…that almost didn’t happen! We were scheduled to leave on Thursday. I was verifying our flights online on Tuesday night (at about 10pm) and I read that we should check in 24hrs in advance. I thought this was kind of strange, especially for an inter-island flight. I called the airlines and shockingly discovered that this particular airline no longer flew out of Kona! The airline had made the change about 2 weeks before and apparently didn’t feel the need to inform any of their customers!! Our options were minimal and awful! We could fly out of a different town, but we would have had to get up at about 3am and drive for an hour to catch the plane. Plus we couldn’t come back until Monday, which would have caused problems for both of our jobs. So after much discussion at 10:30 at night, we decided to cancel the tickets we had and book on another airline. Of course that airline had closed its ticketing office at 10pm, so I had to wait until the next morning to book them. And because I was booking them so late (we were planning to leave the next day) of course we paid an enormous amount of money for them!! But we had a car and hotel already booked, so we decided to just book them anyway.
Thankfully, we didn’t have any other problems and had a very enjoyable trip. The first day, we left before daylight and arrived in Maui as the sun was rising. It was very pretty. We rode on a 9 passenger sesna plane. It was actually very smooth and the flight was only about 20 minutes. We picked up our rental car and drove to the other side of the Island to a town called Hana. The “Road to Hana” is actually a well known tourist attraction. It is a very winding road and claims you will cross 56 bridges. We tried counting, but lost track. Some of the bridges were very cool. There were dates on most of them – some dating back to 1908! Many of them were made of white cement…There are many beautiful overlooks, one in which we stopped at specifically because I was getting car sick after driving around so many curves!! Unfortunately for AJ, he had to drive the whole thing while I took a nap so I could get over feeling sick! When we finally arrived in Hana, we went to the Haleakala National Park (pronounced Ha-lee-uk-a-la). We hiked 2 miles up a rough trail, over rocks, tree roots, over a couple bridges and through a beautiful bamboo forest. It’s my favorite part of the hike! Jenna liked it too-she thought it was “fun, great and cool!” I’ve posted a few pictures. At the end of the hike we were treated to a view of Wiamoku Falls--a beautiful waterfall!! It flows 400 feet down a rocky wall. It is really worth the time spent hiking! We hiked the 2 miles back out with Jenna, our fearless leader leading the way! She did such a great job and didn’t get tired or cranky at all! We checked out an area called the “Seven Sacred Pools” where we could have gone swimming, but we didn’t have our suits on and we needed to get driving to the hotel. We headed back up the “Road to Hana” and just about the time I was getting sick again, we had to stop for road construction. We were stopped for about 45 minutes, which got really old, but we all took naps and I got over feeling car sick! It was a pain, but it worked out OK in the end!
We went to a couple of different beaches. One called “Big Beach” was appropriately named as it was a VERY big beach! The water was pretty rough. Jenna didn’t want to get too close the water for fear of getting pummeled by the water or swept away! She had a ball just getting tossed around in the water after the waves broke on shore. I joined her in letting the waves push us and roll us around. One time I had my back to the ocean (exactly what I am NOT supposed to do!) and a wave took me by surprise. I did several summersaults before I could get myself back on my feet! That’s not very fun…trust me! The other beach we went to was nice too; not quite as rough. We tried to snorkel, but the water was not real clear. There was a race going on while we were there. People were swimming in the water and running on shore so we tried to stay out of the way! Even though the beaches were great, they did not compare to the pool in Jenna’s eyes! She would have stayed at the hotel all day and swam in the pool if we would have let her!
Our second day in Maui we went to the Maui Aquatic Center. It was a great aquarium and we had a lot of fun! It was shark week, so we learned a lot about sharks and saw the biologists in the tank WITH the sharks! That would have been so scary!! They didn’t seem scared at all. They claimed that there is only something like 5 deaths per year worldwide from shark bites. They didn’t mention how many attacks and injured people there were each year! I don’t think I really want to know that anyway! We saw them feeding the sting rays. That was pretty cool. I got some good pictures. I posted a few.
We strolled along Front Street, which is the street that goes right along the ocean. There are all kinds of shops and restaurants along the street. One whole block along Front Street contains a HUGE, GIGANTIC banyan tree. The tree literally takes up the entire block! It’s so cool! Banyan trees continue to grow by putting more roots down into the ground from their branches. It’s hard to believe that this is really just one tree, but it really is! Pictures don’t do it justice, but I posted a few just to give you an idea.
One of the last things that we saw was the ‘Iao Valley and ‘Iao Needle. This is a historical place in Hawaii where the people used to watch for their enemy from the ‘Iao Needle, a tall projection of land that allowed the warriors to see the enemy coming from a long way away. The story goes that the king from the Big Island came to battle the king on Maui and a terrible war ensued. So many people died that the valley was full of dead bodies and the river was clogged up! That’s amazing… and gross too!! It wasn’t super exciting, but it was neat to tour and learn a little more history of the Islands.
August – Our friends Scott and Sharon from Darlington visited. We got to “meet” their baby and we looked forward to meeting her for real in December! Jenna was not in school yet, so she was again the tour guide. She affectionately became known as, “J”PS instead of GPS! She started 3rd grade at the end of August. She’s growing up too fast!!
September – We celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary of living in Hawaii. We were amazed at how fast it went! AJ’s work got busier this month as the mite was discovered in bee hives on this side of the Island. He spent many hours with Gus and Bob going to meetings, and learning from researchers and experts about the best ways to treat their hives. Even though treating for mites was not new to AJ, treating them in a queen bee operation was different and he learned there are different things to take into account. It was a busy time for him, but things went well.
October – This year all three of us helped at the Ironman Triathlon again. Jenna was at an aide station for the volunteers and AJ and I were fortunate enough to be at the Finish Line! We were “catchers.” We got to help the athletes after they crossed the finish line. We got to be there when the “Pros” came in. We saw the winners cross—Craig Alexander for the men and Crissy Wellington for the women. They both set records. Craig for the fastest marathon (the 3rd leg of the race! I don’t know how he had the energy left to run that fast!) and Crissy for the fastest time for a woman to finish the race- in less than 9 hours! That’s amazing!! It was so cool to see all the athletes finish the race. It was fun to talk to people from all over the world. Some of them were disappointed in how they did, but I think anyone that even tries to do this race is amazing!! It’s such a grueling competition and a really long day! Some of the athletes needed the entire time to finish—17 hours!! I went back at the end and saw the last few people finish. It was so amazing to see their resolve to finish. I got to see a former Biggest Loser contestant. He finished with only a few minutes to spare! I was paired up with a man for catching who was waiting for his wife to finish. She didn’t finish the race on time (she missed it by about 20 minutes) but she was so determined to finish that she had people helping her to walk. When she crossed the finish line, she was crying, her husband was crying, her children were crying and of course when I saw all of them crying, I had to join in too!! It was an amazing, beautiful sight! After they put her on a stretcher and started wheeling her away, I could see her lift up her arm to check her time on her watch! Always a competitor, even when she was down! It was so wonderful to be a part of the experience! A few weeks later, Jenna and I dressed up for Halloween. She was Dorothy and I was the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. It was a lot of fun! We also got Midnight, our pet guinea pig, this month.
November – This month was a time for celebrating. My Birthday and our Anniversary! We were able to get dressed up and go out for a nice dinner - something we don’t do very often. For Thanksgiving we went to our church for dinner and after that, we went to Gus and Sandy’s for more food! Don’t you just love the holidays!?
December – We enjoyed Jenna’s Christmas concert for school and AJ and I participated in their churches Christmas program. Aj ran the sound booth and I sang with the choir. I actually sang a duet/solo too! Scary I know! I’m not a good singer, and it was really scary, but it actually wasn’t too bad. I don’t think I will do that very often…too much stress! We had a great time over Christmas spending time with family and friends in Wisconsin.
We can’t believe how fast the year went by! It was a great year and we were blessed in many ways. In addition to what is listed here, we enjoyed many hours of fun in the sun, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, watching dolphins, fish, and humpback whales…all interspersed throughout the year. Thank you for keeping up with what’s going on in our lives and we look forward to sharing more with you as 2010 unfolds! Until next time...aloha!
2009 – Year in Review
January – We began our first full year in Hawaii! It was strange to have mid-70’s to 80 degrees for temperatures, but we were not complaining after just spending Christmas in Wisconsin with below zero temps!! AJ was busy at Kona Queen, working 5-6 days a week, 10-12 hour days. Jenna started school again after a 3-week break. Lynn was busy working on her resume and applying for jobs.
February – AJ continued to be very busy at work—working long days. This is the busiest time of the year for Kona Queen. Lynn started working for Hospice of Kona the first week of February. She had her first day of work the same day our first visitors came! Dick and Jody from Darlington stayed with us for 10 days and we had a great time showing them around the Island. After they left, more friends came. This time, John and Julie and their 3 kids from Iowa came. It was so great to see them! Having visitors is like having built in babysitters for days when Jenna is off school and AJ and I are both working! It’s awesome!!
March – AJ was still busy at work, but not working quite as many weekends. Lynn was in full swing with her job at Hospice. She had 2 or 3 weeks of training and then was given a full load of patients and was completely on her own. It was quite stressful, but it all worked out. On the job training is often best in hindsight! We continued to have visitors - Jeff and Karen from Mineral Point, and Tueschers and Vitures from Darlington. We love sharing the beauty of this Island with our friends and taking them to our favorite places to eat!
April – More of the same for AJ and Lynn – keeping busy at work, and Jenna at school. AJ’s Mom and her husband came and spent time with us. Jenna was on Spring Break, so she got to spend more time with them than AJ and I! She was their personal tour guide which we discovered she is very good at and had done several times since!! I got my hair cut just before Easter. I realize that getting my hair cut is no big deal, but the story behind it is actually pretty funny and worth putting in the “year review,” especially since I didn’t tell the story when it happened. I had been thinking about doing something different with my hair, but wasn’t sure what to do. I’m not real talented in that area! The day I got my hair cut, I had gotten a massage in the morning. After the massage I took a shower and just let my hair dry on its own. When I do that it just hangs in my face, flat as a pancake! It looked pretty bad when I went into the salon. I was a little nervous when I first walked in the door because I thought the lady cutting my hair only cut “older” people’s hair. Now before I get myself in trouble with the “older” generation, let me explain! She had red hats and purple things everywhere in her salon! I was really hoping that she would know how to cut someone’s hair that was not a “red-hatter!” She asked me what I wanted done with my hair. I told her I wasn’t sure, but I was open to suggestions. She promptly said, “Good, ‘cause I’ve got some!” I was a little taken back at first, but then I was like “well, she’s right. I do need some help!” She showed me a picture of the style she was thinking of and I liked it, so I told her to go for it. I figured it I didn’t like it, it would always grow back, right? Well, she cut and she cut and the end product is what you see in the pictures. I like it and it is really fast and easy to style, which for me, is a huge bonus!!
May – Our friend Marleen and her cousins came for a visit. It was great having them, but it was way too short of a visit!! School…work…etc…some things don’t change!
June – Jenna finished her first year at Kona Christian Academy. She did great and made a lot of good friends. We learned that it is quite expensive to have babysitters in Hawaii! Thank goodness I only work part time! AJ’s Aunt Tudy and her friend Rosi came for a visit. It’s always so nice to have family come and see where we live. Jenna was again the tour guide and she did a great job! Except that I think she talks too much! I wonder who she gets that from…?
July – Jenna took swimming lessons. She got through Level 3 without any difficulty. On to Level 4 next year! We took a family vacation to Maui and since I never got around to telling you about it then, I will give you the story now. Sorry it took me so long to tell you and I’m sorry it’s so long!! Enjoy! It was a short, but fun trip…that almost didn’t happen! We were scheduled to leave on Thursday. I was verifying our flights online on Tuesday night (at about 10pm) and I read that we should check in 24hrs in advance. I thought this was kind of strange, especially for an inter-island flight. I called the airlines and shockingly discovered that this particular airline no longer flew out of Kona! The airline had made the change about 2 weeks before and apparently didn’t feel the need to inform any of their customers!! Our options were minimal and awful! We could fly out of a different town, but we would have had to get up at about 3am and drive for an hour to catch the plane. Plus we couldn’t come back until Monday, which would have caused problems for both of our jobs. So after much discussion at 10:30 at night, we decided to cancel the tickets we had and book on another airline. Of course that airline had closed its ticketing office at 10pm, so I had to wait until the next morning to book them. And because I was booking them so late (we were planning to leave the next day) of course we paid an enormous amount of money for them!! But we had a car and hotel already booked, so we decided to just book them anyway.
Thankfully, we didn’t have any other problems and had a very enjoyable trip. The first day, we left before daylight and arrived in Maui as the sun was rising. It was very pretty. We rode on a 9 passenger sesna plane. It was actually very smooth and the flight was only about 20 minutes. We picked up our rental car and drove to the other side of the Island to a town called Hana. The “Road to Hana” is actually a well known tourist attraction. It is a very winding road and claims you will cross 56 bridges. We tried counting, but lost track. Some of the bridges were very cool. There were dates on most of them – some dating back to 1908! Many of them were made of white cement…There are many beautiful overlooks, one in which we stopped at specifically because I was getting car sick after driving around so many curves!! Unfortunately for AJ, he had to drive the whole thing while I took a nap so I could get over feeling sick! When we finally arrived in Hana, we went to the Haleakala National Park (pronounced Ha-lee-uk-a-la). We hiked 2 miles up a rough trail, over rocks, tree roots, over a couple bridges and through a beautiful bamboo forest. It’s my favorite part of the hike! Jenna liked it too-she thought it was “fun, great and cool!” I’ve posted a few pictures. At the end of the hike we were treated to a view of Wiamoku Falls--a beautiful waterfall!! It flows 400 feet down a rocky wall. It is really worth the time spent hiking! We hiked the 2 miles back out with Jenna, our fearless leader leading the way! She did such a great job and didn’t get tired or cranky at all! We checked out an area called the “Seven Sacred Pools” where we could have gone swimming, but we didn’t have our suits on and we needed to get driving to the hotel. We headed back up the “Road to Hana” and just about the time I was getting sick again, we had to stop for road construction. We were stopped for about 45 minutes, which got really old, but we all took naps and I got over feeling car sick! It was a pain, but it worked out OK in the end!
We went to a couple of different beaches. One called “Big Beach” was appropriately named as it was a VERY big beach! The water was pretty rough. Jenna didn’t want to get too close the water for fear of getting pummeled by the water or swept away! She had a ball just getting tossed around in the water after the waves broke on shore. I joined her in letting the waves push us and roll us around. One time I had my back to the ocean (exactly what I am NOT supposed to do!) and a wave took me by surprise. I did several summersaults before I could get myself back on my feet! That’s not very fun…trust me! The other beach we went to was nice too; not quite as rough. We tried to snorkel, but the water was not real clear. There was a race going on while we were there. People were swimming in the water and running on shore so we tried to stay out of the way! Even though the beaches were great, they did not compare to the pool in Jenna’s eyes! She would have stayed at the hotel all day and swam in the pool if we would have let her!
Our second day in Maui we went to the Maui Aquatic Center. It was a great aquarium and we had a lot of fun! It was shark week, so we learned a lot about sharks and saw the biologists in the tank WITH the sharks! That would have been so scary!! They didn’t seem scared at all. They claimed that there is only something like 5 deaths per year worldwide from shark bites. They didn’t mention how many attacks and injured people there were each year! I don’t think I really want to know that anyway! We saw them feeding the sting rays. That was pretty cool. I got some good pictures. I posted a few.
We strolled along Front Street, which is the street that goes right along the ocean. There are all kinds of shops and restaurants along the street. One whole block along Front Street contains a HUGE, GIGANTIC banyan tree. The tree literally takes up the entire block! It’s so cool! Banyan trees continue to grow by putting more roots down into the ground from their branches. It’s hard to believe that this is really just one tree, but it really is! Pictures don’t do it justice, but I posted a few just to give you an idea.
One of the last things that we saw was the ‘Iao Valley and ‘Iao Needle. This is a historical place in Hawaii where the people used to watch for their enemy from the ‘Iao Needle, a tall projection of land that allowed the warriors to see the enemy coming from a long way away. The story goes that the king from the Big Island came to battle the king on Maui and a terrible war ensued. So many people died that the valley was full of dead bodies and the river was clogged up! That’s amazing… and gross too!! It wasn’t super exciting, but it was neat to tour and learn a little more history of the Islands.
August – Our friends Scott and Sharon from Darlington visited. We got to “meet” their baby and we looked forward to meeting her for real in December! Jenna was not in school yet, so she was again the tour guide. She affectionately became known as, “J”PS instead of GPS! She started 3rd grade at the end of August. She’s growing up too fast!!
September – We celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary of living in Hawaii. We were amazed at how fast it went! AJ’s work got busier this month as the mite was discovered in bee hives on this side of the Island. He spent many hours with Gus and Bob going to meetings, and learning from researchers and experts about the best ways to treat their hives. Even though treating for mites was not new to AJ, treating them in a queen bee operation was different and he learned there are different things to take into account. It was a busy time for him, but things went well.
October – This year all three of us helped at the Ironman Triathlon again. Jenna was at an aide station for the volunteers and AJ and I were fortunate enough to be at the Finish Line! We were “catchers.” We got to help the athletes after they crossed the finish line. We got to be there when the “Pros” came in. We saw the winners cross—Craig Alexander for the men and Crissy Wellington for the women. They both set records. Craig for the fastest marathon (the 3rd leg of the race! I don’t know how he had the energy left to run that fast!) and Crissy for the fastest time for a woman to finish the race- in less than 9 hours! That’s amazing!! It was so cool to see all the athletes finish the race. It was fun to talk to people from all over the world. Some of them were disappointed in how they did, but I think anyone that even tries to do this race is amazing!! It’s such a grueling competition and a really long day! Some of the athletes needed the entire time to finish—17 hours!! I went back at the end and saw the last few people finish. It was so amazing to see their resolve to finish. I got to see a former Biggest Loser contestant. He finished with only a few minutes to spare! I was paired up with a man for catching who was waiting for his wife to finish. She didn’t finish the race on time (she missed it by about 20 minutes) but she was so determined to finish that she had people helping her to walk. When she crossed the finish line, she was crying, her husband was crying, her children were crying and of course when I saw all of them crying, I had to join in too!! It was an amazing, beautiful sight! After they put her on a stretcher and started wheeling her away, I could see her lift up her arm to check her time on her watch! Always a competitor, even when she was down! It was so wonderful to be a part of the experience! A few weeks later, Jenna and I dressed up for Halloween. She was Dorothy and I was the Scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz. It was a lot of fun! We also got Midnight, our pet guinea pig, this month.
November – This month was a time for celebrating. My Birthday and our Anniversary! We were able to get dressed up and go out for a nice dinner - something we don’t do very often. For Thanksgiving we went to our church for dinner and after that, we went to Gus and Sandy’s for more food! Don’t you just love the holidays!?
December – We enjoyed Jenna’s Christmas concert for school and AJ and I participated in their churches Christmas program. Aj ran the sound booth and I sang with the choir. I actually sang a duet/solo too! Scary I know! I’m not a good singer, and it was really scary, but it actually wasn’t too bad. I don’t think I will do that very often…too much stress! We had a great time over Christmas spending time with family and friends in Wisconsin.
We can’t believe how fast the year went by! It was a great year and we were blessed in many ways. In addition to what is listed here, we enjoyed many hours of fun in the sun, snorkeling, swimming, kayaking, watching dolphins, fish, and humpback whales…all interspersed throughout the year. Thank you for keeping up with what’s going on in our lives and we look forward to sharing more with you as 2010 unfolds! Until next time...aloha!
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