Our first week on the Big Island was a blur. We spent lots of time with the Dortch family before they left, and had a great time swimming in their vacation rental pool, going out to eat, and touring through some lovely Big Island destinations.
One of our favorite places they showed us was Coconut Island. It's so pretty!
They spent some time at our house, and we went to theirs. The kids waited out the storms watching tv, while the parents watched the skies over the ocean.
They took the kids to see the farm sanctuaries that took their ducks when they evacuated.
Moving day seemed to be longer than most days, and we did lots! First, I dropped off Tutu and Sharkie for their flight on their fancy Air Cargo flight, since Hawaiian doesn't accept guinea pigs.
Then we said our good byes to our neighbors who came over and brought gifts. We miss Debbie and Victor, they were so kind to us.
Next to be dropped off was Swishy, since he's too big to ride with the luggage he had to be under our plane in the "extra-large cargo" hold. He was really worried, but did great.
Bus ride after dropping off our rental car.
Last to be dropped off was Snow, the kitty. She got to ride with our luggage and didn't make a peep.
These kids are professional travelers, people are always commenting on how well behaved they are at the airports.
The first flight was to Oahu, and the treats from Debbie were perfect.
When we got to that airport, ready to switch planes, we ran into some of our favorite Kauai friends! Who knew! So we had a super fast hang out with them before saying goodbye.
Our first glimpse of the Big Island and the kids were really excited!
Our friends, the Dortch family, had picked up our car, and came to the airport in that and their truck to get us all.
Then we drove home, to a house we had never been to before. It was very exciting!
They had delivered our shipping container to the house, so it was ready and waiting for us to unload it when we arrived.
The house didn't have much, so right away Paul and Chris bought a refrigerator and pushed it slowly up the millions of stairs...
Hollie and I went shopping at Target (!!!) for some house things I needed, and some I just wanted. She was really embarrassed when I asked a stranger to take our picture inside, but it was really exciting!
By the nighttime, we had unloaded all the boxes, the beds and mattresses and everything was safely under the house.
We went to get dinner, a little later than usual, and got to see the red glow in the sky from the lava. It was surreal.
The kids slept on their mattresses in their new room until way later in the morning than they usually do, which was really nice.
Swishy loves his new house and all the lanais that are around the house for him to look out and bark from. He's a great protector.
The views of our land are amazing. I'll never be sick of it.
So there it is, welcome home! The house itself has 4 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms, and feels more like a fort than a house. We love it. We move a lot, and when counting it up, we laughed. Matix was born in Arizona, moved to Dominica, then Florida, then Georgia, then Utah (just for a few months, but it counts), then Texas, then Oahu, then Kauai, now Big Island... That's nine places, and Matix was 9 when we moved here...
