In church, a woman came up to me and said, "Ms. Jessie?" It turns out it was the mom of one of my preschool students, Ryan! He and Hawk were great friends when they were 3 and 4 and 5, and it turns out they are great friends now, when they were 13! Ryan didn't know it, because Jenn, his mom, was there in church alone, so she and I devised a plan to surprise him at the beach the following day. We stayed and played with them at Hanalei and reconnected. It was so fun!
When it was time to go for Kids Club, the Rogers kids came with us. It was great. The more the merrier.
Then we went and played tourist with them in Kapaa Town, then shave ice and more shopping, then dinner. I love that they let us take over so much of their vacation.
Lullaby and I went with Lea, Dorothy and Margaret to volunteer for Malama Kauai again, but this time they wanted us too clean out these big plastic bins with the STINKIEST cleaner ever. It was bad.
Beach day with homeschool friends at Anini Beach. So much to see under the water, but not great for boogie boarding, now we know.
Each month, we went to Game Stop to get a free Pokemon pack for the kids. We loved it. It has closed the location near us since then, but we did it every month until then.
We got the wood, drywall and siding we needed to build in the carport and divide it into two rooms. We took the form off the cement we poured and it was awesome! So happy with how it came out.
Sweet sleepy Snow Baby.
Break at the beach between wall building and homeschool.
The Rogers invited us to boogie board with them at Anahola Beach.
Hawken lost a tooth. He will not pull them out early, they have to fall out after being wiggly forever.
Our counter top guys flew over from Oahu with our stone. It was quite the process. They worked really hard and did a fantastic job. I cannot believe how great it looks with a real counter top after having either no counters or this wooden one since we moved in!
We went adventuring with the Rogers to the Makauwahi Cave Reserve, then to see the tortoises and then to the beach. Another fun day. We love them!
After the hike back out, we went out to eat for dinner. The foliage around the restaurant was so beautiful.
Kids Club with lots of friends, plus Paul went snorkeling off the cliff below the neighborhood center where we do the Kids Club. He said it was pretty good there!
Getting mail is always fun. That huge binder is already full of Pokemon, but he ordered more cards... Yikes!
The kids go down to the falls and I get these cute messages sometimes. This particular one, they sent to a friend. I love their life here.
The yard isn't level enough and has many small stumps so the grass can only be cut with a weed whacker... Slow work, but it gets the job done.
I facilitated a class at our church called "Emotional Resilience" that was 12 weeks long, and when it was done, we all had a party. It was a great class and we all learned a lot.
Annie and Kathy invited our family to go to the church and learn more about how to use the Family Search app, and input more information. They asked that I bring some photos, if I had any, of someone in my family who died. I brought this one of my dad. We added it to his name. They taught us how to search for family members with very limited information, and then made us a snack from Germany, because of all the family we have from there. SO fun. We learned a lot!
Curiosity Kids fun, I especially love the tomato soup art that the oldest three kids painted.
Matix made fresh garlic bread to share with everyone, and it was a hit! Also, check out Hawken's face. He thinks he is SO funny.
Time to get to painting! I had lots of helpers! This is the inside of what used to be the carport.
I love seeing the red headed cardinals. They make me think of my dad. We had a great beach day at Hanalei.
Snuggles in the morning are my favorite.
Mother's Day treat from church.
Life with Paul is never boring. He is a video from some night time fun with him.
Sweet Snow Baby with Lullaby.
Measuring to the center of each of the new rooms so Paul could wire for the new ceiling fans and lights.
Out for dinner on the beach with the missionaries.
We were invited to a dinner party at a new friends house. They live right across from the beach and we went over to play there after we ate.
Hawk found a sprouted coconut at the beach and brought it home to plant.
I tried a fun texture technique that I learned from YouTube. It looks really fun in real life, but in pictures it's not the best. Then I painted it yellow and added some rainbows. We call this the Rainbow Room now, and use if mostly for homeschooling.
Working in what is now our bedroom, Paul was adding the door to the closet, that we used as a tool shed.
Solace had an activity with other kids his age from church. They made pizzas and then ate them. Great little project for that age.
Paul and Hawken went up in the attic to get everything rewired and add outlets to both rooms from the used-to-be carport. Hawk figured out a problem when they got up there and should probably be an engineer of some sort when he grows up. He's SO smart. Paul came down from the attic grinning from ear to ear with Hawk's ingenious idea!
I got these from 14 years ago in my email. Some photo printing service that I haven't used since then sent me a link and reminded me of Paul graduating from ASU, and baby Matix. Seems like several lifetimes ago.
Getting ready for some house guests, and picked up some mattresses and trim for the new rooms. Everything just barely fit in the van, but it did fit! Then back home and back to work!
Paul got the new fans and lights up, one in each new room.
I finished the wall painting and then got to the floors. Hawk started with me, but in the end, I did the majority of all the painting.
Break for Kids Club.
Finished floors! They were pretty sticky for the first 2 days and we were worried they might always feel like that, but it got better and feels just fine now.
Snuggle break with Pumpkin.
Solace helped write down the number if inches of trim while I measured. Matix lived with ear buds in listening to music while he worked.
Silly Matix brought in a jabong for breakfast, but cut it in half to put in his shirt first. I have a video, but YouTube took it down. So funny.
I got the curtains hung just in time! The Hunt family came to stay with us for a couple weeks and we all got to take a break from the renovations! Woohoo! And a video of the renovations for May.
Straight to a fruit stand on the way home and then to Kealia for a beach day.
Hawken and Jonny brought back a few coconuts to eat. Yes please.
We went to Anini for a day full of snorkeling, free-diving, sea cucumber collecting, and sea shell finding.
Look at this wild thing in Ross with no shirt and no shoes... He was freezing and needed a new sweatshirt so we could go eat shave ice. Ha ha ha.
We put out 4 mattresses on the ground in the rainbow room for the Hunt kids. It also made a great spot eo play the Switch together.
Solace entered a bet with Becca, that he could drink a raw egg, swallow it and not throw up for $5. He is so crazy.
More fun at Curiosity Kids.
After Curiosity Kids, we headed up to Hanalei to spend the rest of the day at the beach with the Hunts. Paul slept on the way up. Andy got some great drone shots and the kids played the whole time.
We hiked down to Lumahai, played in the waves, and hunted for fish. Such a beautiful beach.
Beach dog hanging out with us on the beach all day.
The boys cracked open some coconuts for a snack! Yum!
Shave ice to cool down after a hot day, always a treat.
Amy, Andy, Paul and I went out to eat to celebrate Paul and my 17th wedding anniversary! Woohoo! While we were there, the kids texted us with pictures of a little kitten. I tried to get them to put it back outside, with no luck. By the time we got home, it had a name, Mousey, and she was officially ours.
Swishy needed extra reassurance that he's still our favorite pup.
Lullaby cuddled with her outside nearly every night until she had to go to bed. Pets don't sleep in the house.
We went to Tunnels for some snorkeling, free-diving, boogie boarding and beach napping. Yes please.
We made the long drive up to Waimea Canyon. Always so picturesque.
We went up the road to the river rope swing and jumped and jumped until it rained us out.
We took this picture of the kids in 2018, so, 5 years later we decided to recreate it. Quite a lot of changes!
Snow Baby is our most tolerant big kitty, and Mousey wanted so badly to be her friend.
We went for a night time walk on the bike path, just the adults. It was so lovely to have them here.
Lullaby went with her friends and leaders to Oahu for Girls Camp! Letting the kids fly alone without me, is scary! But Lullaby took the kid phone with her and had a great time.
One of the first stops was to get Chick-fil-a, YUM!
Mousey has become our sleepiest and snuggliest baby. She is such a lover.
We all went to Kealia for an afternoon of boogie boarding, coconut opening, marshmallow roasting, and dancing under the moonlight. What a great day.
Andy, Amy, and the kids ran down to the falls and Andy got some great drone shots, as usual. He's so talented.
