Emergency Remodel Update

Yep, the carpet was toast. There goes more money out the door. Oh well. Not to say that I was really fond of the carpet but I certainly was willing to live with it for a bit while we worked on other things.

So the weekend began with finishing emptying out the bedrooms and ripping out the carpet. It was really starting to stink by that point. The problem wasn't exactly the carpet, it was the padding underneath it. Yuk. It was that musty locker room smell. The good news it that once we got it all out of the house and gave the lovely 70's retro tile work that had been hidden beneath a good mopping, the smell was completely gone.

Today started with a fresh coat of paint in our room. This was especially exciting for me since I HATED the white walls in there. We decided that if everything was out and the floor was about to be redone, why wait? Two coats later it was on to installing the new floor. We decided to go with laminate. Boring I know, but after the expenses of the last week, we were really looking for something reasonably priced.

So long story short, we're not quite done with our room, the extra bedroom has not even been started and the dining room is jam packed with all the stuff from the two bedrooms. Did I mention our mattress in on the living room floor? One thing I will say though is that watching the giant HDTV from bed is actually kinda cool :)

At long last

Okay, so I know by now most of you are thinking, nice start but what gives? What happened to this blog anyway? It's been over a month since anything! SLACKER!!!!!

Very true but I have a long string of excuses that start with having been very lazy in the beginning to very busy in the middle to a complete lack of internet access most recently. I have actually been writing the occasional entry but usually get interrupted somewhere along the way and just save it off for later. The many posts that follow are what I had been trying in one form or another to get out to you guys all along.

All in all I apologize for having neglected those who care enough to continue to check this thing from time to time and I truly hope that today’s over-abundance of backlogged posts makes up for my slacker-ness at least in part. SORRY :(

The past 48

Well, Mom always said when it rains it pours. Just when things were supposed to calm down following two and a half weeks of constant company and travel, our world gets crazy again. In the last two days, we have had two majorly expensive, completely irritating, and totally depressing things happen…

First our fridge completely died requiring a total replacement and loss of most of the contents. I was not completely taken out by this because the silver lining was that in the midst of finding a replacement I got to spend Valentines lunch with Yooper and had an hour or so of shopping by myself at Ala Moana, something I had been craving since our arrival here. Found a great deal but still over $1K poorer than when I woke up in the morning once you throw in the chest freezer that saved a few bags worth of groceries.

Then there was yesterday. Tanner and I came home to a river of water flowing down the driveway. I ran into the house to have my worst fears come true. Kona had chewed through the water supply line on the toilet in the bathroom where we lock him up during the day. Almost the entire back half of the house was under water, over an inch deep in some areas. I immediately hit the shutoff but the damage had been done. By the time we stopped the shopvac last night, we pulled out well over 100 gallons of water and the place is still pretty soupy in areas. There’s no telling how long the water was flowing but it had to be hours.

Our bedroom and the extra bedroom took the worst of it. Somehow Tanner’s room was completely unscathed. Yooper was pretty quick to cut some blocks to get our bedroom furniture up off the floor but we’re pretty sure the carpet in both rooms is a loss. We managed to empty most of each room into the dining room and set up our mattress in the living room. We’re actually pretty lucky that the house is built directly on slab and the single wall construction means there was no drywall to damage. Had this happened in Minneapolis, we’d probably had one heck of an insurance claim to file today.

I imagine tonight and the rest of the weekend is going to be damage control. I really hope this isn’t as expensive as I fear it could be. And No, I didn't take any pictures.

Trip to Maui

Well, just before we actually came clean with our master plan of moving here, Aren's parents were already in the midst of planning a trip to Maui with Pearl, Janet & Joe, and Tim & Kathleen. They finally arrived in the islands late last week and we managed to meet up with them over the weekend for a quick visit.

Saturday began with an ocean side renewal of vows of Tim and Kathleen in celebration of their 10th anniversary. It was an absolutely beautiful day with very clear views of Molokai and Lanai. There were even several whales surfacing in the background. Picture perfect.

After the ceremony, we drove into Lahaina for some shopping and lunch. I know I had been there as a kid with Amma & Bopp but I have little memory of anything but the Old Banyan Tree. It's gigantic. The thing about banyan trees is that as they grow they send out long draping roots off of the branches. If these roots are so lucky to establish contact with the ground beneath, they soon bury deep, become rigid and essentially become a new, additional trunk for the tree. This goes on and on until you have a tree like the one in Lahaina that spans the entire block. It's not the kind of tree you want in your yard because the rooting can be quite destructive to foundations but I LOVE looking at them. Very "Scooby-Doo". Tanner calls the hanging roots Monkey Swingers because they remind him of one of the opening scenes in the Disney movie Dinosaur.

Saturday evening the whole group of us went to our (Aren, Tanner & I) first official Luau since moving here. Again, I went to one as a kid with Amma & Bopp in Maui. My memories of that even are again a little foggy. I remember the unwrapping of the pig in the imu pit. I did not like the smell but for some reason took and entire roll of pictures thoroughly documenting the whole process. I also remember Aunt Lisa bugging to make me eat the poi. Yuk. Let's just say it's an acquired taste and I knew enough to stay away from it this time around. The luau was fun though. Tanner REALLY liked it. Not sure if the scantily clad ladies with the coconut bras were part of that but he was dancing around the whole time all the same. I liked the fact that he finally got a chance to see some of the native culture here even if it was a tad cheesed up for the sake of the tourists.

Sunday brought a crack of dawn rainforest & waterfall hike. Have to admit that I was less than thrilled with the 6:30am wakeup call and lack of sufficient caffeination during the ride out but the hike itself was actually much more fun than I had anticipated. I will say that I am very impressed with the monkey like behavior and mountain goat skills of the group as a whole. There were several boulders, large roots, and a vertical cliff at the end that even I didn't try. Nice work Wilson\Moraska\Cleven’s :)

After the completion of the hike, we continued down the road to finish the entire loop around the West Maui Mountains. The road is very precarious in places with single lane passes and questionable bridges but a beautiful drive. After lunch and a bit of pool time for the munchkin, we hopped our plane back to Oahu. On the drive back from the airport, Aren and I were discussing how strange it still feels to be "coming home" to Oahu. I imagine that will take a while...

Tim & Kathleen

Hanging from the Monkey Swinger

Tucked in amongst the roots

Crawling across the long horizontal branches

My monkeys :)

Enjoying the Luau

Descending the trail towards the waterfalls

The whole group

Finished! He makes it!

Relaxing after the hike

Mom & Eric's Visit

The second official visitors to our new home were my mom and Eric. I guess they weren't our guests in the traditional sense since they stayed at an oceanfront rental house about 30 minutes away from our place but they were here to see us so it still counts. They arrived Friday, the day after Tanner and I got back from the Molokai trip so no time to tidy the house or complete any of the pre-parental-visit chores I usually do.

Saturday after they had managed to recover a bit from the jet lag of their terrible trip the day before, Tanner and I met them at their place and proceeded northward along the windward side of the island for the standard tour. We stopped at Turtle Bay for snacks and drinks, we got out at Pipeline to try and see some surfing, we watched the giant waves pound into Sharks Cove higher and more powerful than I had witnessed previously, and we pulled off at the top of the hill on the east side of Waimea Bay to finally catch a couple of surfers actually ride a few. The conclusion of the expedition was a stop at our new house for a tour.

Even though their initial tour of the house was in less than perfect state, it was VERY clean & tidy on Sunday for our Super Bowl Party. The Super Bowl party was fun because it was great to see that our small circle of friends is beginning to grow a bit. It was also fun because Aren got to show off his new gigantic TV. It was nice that Mom and Eric also got the opportunity to meet everybody.

Tuesday began with a drive to Waikiki where Tanner, Mom, Eric, and I went on the Atlantis Sub ride. Very cool. We actually completely lucked out with amazing visibility. Saw tons of fish, turtles, and even a few sharks. Tanner was thrilled of course. He was also thrilled to be able to show off for grandma at gymnastics too. He can be such a show off. After gymnastics, the three of us (Tanner, Mom, and I) met Aren, Eric, and Liz for a really nice Birthday dinner for my 31^st. Very ironic in that I spent my 30^th with Liz in Honolulu not having a clue that I would be living here less than a year later. Who would have thought?

The rest of the week was low key. Dinners together with Tanner headed back with Bumma afterward. It was also nice that things were quiet at work so I could spend a little extra time with them. On Thursday night, we grilled some steaks at our place in celebration of Eric’s birthday this time and also as a farewell dinner since we were headed to Maui the next evening. The visit certainly seemed quick. I am glad though that Mom finally got the chance to see where we’re living and where her grandson spends his time.

Tanner and Bumma at Turtle Bay

His best flamingo impression

I have no idea but it makes me laugh :)

My Birthday Dinner

Feeding the fish from the dock at Coconut Island

Molokai

Immediately following dropping Dan off at the airport, Yooper dropped Tanner and me off for our trip to Molokai. The two of us had the opportunity of accompanying the Coconut Island Coral Reef Team on a research trip to Molokai. Incredible really in that not only did I get to join in on the research tasks, but so did Tanner. It was too cute. His main job was to monitor the coral samples for temperature and aeration (bubbles) to make sure they were "happy" although he had several other tasks too. The two of us got to do everything from prepping and assembling equipment to tagging coral. I'll have to let the pictures tell most of the story on this one.

It's still pretty strange to me to think about the contrast of this job as compared to my last. I went from a normal (kind of I guess) office environment in a cubicle in a city to a research lab on an offshore island. Then throw in the field trips in puddle jumper airplanes with my kid in tow to remote outer islands. What a total contrast. Weird, but I REALLY like it all the same. :)

Tanner with a Brittle Star that came off of one of the coral heads.

The bin used to stain the coral. Each coral that was stained was also weighed, tagged, and returned to the field with a GPS reading. They will retrieve the same corals next year, weigh them again and saw them in half. The coral will have a pink "tree ring" that shows the growth from the last year.

Checking the temps on the bins. He also helped to fill bags with ice when they got too warm.

Paul and Tanner digging out a crab tunnel.

Tanner helping put together Ku'ulei's tent.

Assembling the aerators for the staining bins

Balancing Opihi shells on all 10 fingers at once! Look at that determination :)

Dan's Visit

Our first official visitor!!! He said he'd be the first and I doubted him. I'm so sorry Daniel. I won't ever doubt you again :)

Very fun weekend though. We didn't actually do a ton of stuff other than chat lots and catch up on life but it was great that way. I miss those conversations with Dan. Philosophical to hilarious in the blink of an eye. Good stuff. I really miss living close to friends that you can have such great conversations with.

Here are a couple pictures of the excursions we took when we did manage to escape the house :)

At Shark's Cove on the North Shore

Whale watching at Sandy Beach

Sunset in Hawaii Kai

Legos before coffee. Silly Boys...

North Shore

We did manage to make a brief trip up to the North Shore a few weeks back. We only had time for two quick stops before heading to Haleiwa Joe’s for dinner. The first stop was at Shark’s cove to watch the waves break across the huge rock formations in the bay. Crawled around a bit on the rocks, watched some crabs hold on for dear life, and took a few pictures. Next stop was at Waimea Bay to watch the waves. That place is incredible. Pretty moderate wave sizes, actually small for the time of year, and it’s still so impressive.

Here are some pictures from along the way.


These pics were taken about 1-2 seconds apart of the same wave. You could feel the impact through your feet that day. The two men in the picture are really close to the break point so the scaling is actually pretty good.

At dinner that night

Slacker

Yes, I know I have neglected the blog in the past few weeks. We have been very busy with our first visitors, school, work, and a trip to Molokai for Tanner and I. I have actually written several entries but haven't downloaded and organized the pictures to go with them. Stay tuned though. I will be working on all of this in the upcoming week. PROMISE!!!