We're Havin Fun Now!

Hey everybody! We've been here for 12 days now and we're starting to settle in nicely. Here's a recap on the past few days!!


Thursday we found a car- a Mazda 5 Protege. Cute little 5spd hatchback that we're real comfortable driving around the island in.


Friday we went back to Walmart, Macy's and to some more garage sales to find furniture. The apartment is coming along and feeling a little more homey every day.




Saturday was Car's pic for something adventurous and she picked the Portlock Spitting Cave. This was a cool drive down the coast passed Waiminalo and a hike down a little trail to an open view of the ocean.



We found the little cave we read about in the side of the lava rock where the way the water hits it..it spits it out looking almost like smoke!


VIDEO: :)



Saturday night we went to the Univ of Hawai'i football vs. New Mexico State



UH won 50-13!! GO WARRIORS!


Sunday we tried a new church and Kev's adventurous pick for the day was Manoa Falls. This was only a mile hike, but steadily uphill and rocky terrain. At the end was a 160 ft waterfall that landed in a little pool Kev cooled off in.



Here's a video... you have to watch it SIDEWAYS.... sorry.









Monday we took a nice long but beatiful drive to our new favorite beach: Waimea.





In the summer, it's tranquil and good for swimming and snorkeling, but in the winter its THE CRAZIEST SURFING WAVES IN THE WORLD! We went right in between seasons.

On our way there, we caught a few minutes of a surf competition at the beach down the road...


Tomorrow is more JOB HUNTING! WE BOTH HAVE INTERVIEWS! WISH US LUCK!

Get your PENS ready!

We have an ADDRESS!!

44-707 Puamohala St.

Apt. 305

Kaneohe, HI 96744

We went to breakfast on friday morning planning another day of house-hunting when the phone rang... WE WERE APPROVED and ready to sign the lease for the apartment we were hoping for later that morning!

I know we said we were going to live in Kailua, but we practically do. Kaneohe is the next town over and we actually live on the road that goes between them. We are 5 minutes from downtown Kaneohe which has more shopping and restaurants, condo buildings, and activity... and about 8 minutes to Kailua beach park.... aka PARADISE.

Our apartment is in a building on a hill that's about a block from Kaneohe Bay. Our view from the third floor lanai is of the entire bay, some of the Pali (cliffs), the Marine Corps Base on the far side of the bay, and the entire Pacific beyond it all! The view sold the apartment.

It's a one bedroom with a decent sized living room that flows into the kitchen with a short partition so it feels like 2 rooms. The price is perfect and our Super is the most wonderful and giving Christian woman we've ever met! She offered us her car until we find one and she gave us her air mattress with blankets until we find a bed (hopefully we won't need either if our luck continues like this!).

We're really excited but now we have the task of furnishing the entire thing. There's so much turnover here on the island that there's garage sales, moving sales and Craigslist GALORE for anything and everything you could need.

Saturday we did some garage sale-ing and then Wal-Mart-ing but feel like we barely put a dent in what we need. No worries though, plenty of time and no shortage of stuff available...

Our First Day in Hawai'i

Ok. Our adventure has begun. We'll start at the beginning...

We stayed up packing until about 4:00am on tuesday night and Becky stayed over to drive us in the morning. We each had 3 bags to check, a carry on, and a shoulder bag (Kev carried the laptop). One of the checked "bags" was actually a cardboard box that contained most of the liquids we were transporting--due to the new flying regulations we couldn't carry ANY with us.

So the first leg was ok... 5 1/2 hrs to Phoenix

and we were exhausted after 4 hours of sleep so we napped a bit and watched "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" then we changed planes and airlines and grabbed a sandwich and a few gimlets at the Phoenix airport and before we knew it, it was time for the second leg. UGH... this one lasted FOREVER. Watched "Spiderman 3" and "Blades of Glory" and complained most of the way over the Pacific.


Finally we landed and lo and behold, 5 bags come easily off the carousel, but no sign of the box. So we moved forward, rented our Jeep (got a 4 door), and used our navigation feature to get to our vacation rental room in Kailua. Arrived at about 9:30pm Honolulu time, but it felt like 3:30AM our time.... but it made little difference... it was just a messed up feeling.

Our hosts could not have been nicer! They greeted us with a hug and showed us their beautiful house. The back yard has a saltwater pool with a waterfall, a hot tub, and a free range bunny. Our room is great...big comfy bed, plenty of room for our stuff, little fridge for snacks, and a nice bathroom.

Got to bed at a decent hour and woke up BRIGHT AND EARLY to make appointments to see apartments. We looked at 5 places, got to know the roads and landscape, had some local food, and enjoyed the sunshine all day after taking the roof off of the jeep!

We finished the night by going to Ono--an authentic Hawaiian restaurant in Waikiki that we fell in love with two and a half years ago and have been dreaming about ever since!

Hoping tomorrow is just as productive! We'll keep you posted. :)

Thank You For Coming!

We want to thank everyone who made it to our going away party, it was awesome to have all of you there to send us away! Here are some fun pics!