Hawaii One year later

This weekend we mark one year in Hawaii.

Anniversaries as always good for looking back. There were so many uncertainties when we took this leap. So many ways things could have gone wrong. We knew that going in, debated it over and over...

We're leaving everyone we know, would we make new connections? Yep, we did. Some friendships are just starting to develop, others we already feel close and comfortable to. We can never replace those we left behind. But, I'm happy to report, we've enriched our lives with many new friendships and the promise of more friends in the future.

Would the kids adapt? What about the schools. Scary... But, I knew if we could get the kids into HAAS it would all work out fine. And it did. It's been more than fine, it's been wonderful. Life here is just what I've wanted for them. Jayden told us today that we are not allowed to move away from here. :) I'll do my very best to honor that little buddy.

We had a wonderful house in MN, would we miss it? Regret selling it? Well, it's been a busy year building our new place. Frustrating in the initial searches, finding one place after another that either just wasn't right or was right but gone. In the end we've got a place that's completely ours, we designed it, we built it and we love it! Scary - yep you betcha. Rewarding, incredibly so.

So do I ever get home sick? Would you believe me if I said no? I can't say I don't get nostalgic for times gone by - certainly I do. But do I want to go back home? No. Minnesota will always be my home and I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel about it when I do go back again. But, I'm not hungry for home. In fact, I suspect a trip away from Hawaii back to Minnesota will have us a little home sick for Hawaii.

It's been a whirl wind year. Chasing flying cockroaches... Figuring out a new town, new state, new culture and a new climate. Meeting so many wonderful people along the way. Settling in.

I know moving here seemed crazy. And I was told by folks on both sides of the pond that it might not work out and we might move back. I pretty sure odds were made and bets were placed on whether we were making the biggest mistake of our lives... It was a risk moving here. It was a crazy thing to do, no doubt. But it was the right thing, oh so the right thing. Makes me wonder about the other leaps I'm afraid to take. Are there other right things out there to do? Probably. Time will lead me there I hope.

One thing I've learned through this experience, if there's something calling you. Something in your gut telling you do this or that, maybe for no particular reason. Listen to that. It maybe scary or crazy, but think for a second, what if I don't try? Can I live with that? If the answer is no, I can't live with not trying. Then you know what you've got to do. Put the naysayers out of your mind and move forward. That's it.

I ku ka makemake e hele mai,
hele no me ka malo`elo`e.

If the wish to come arises, walk firmly.

If you wish to come do not be hesitant,
for you are welcome.

School

The boys have been off school this week. I have to say, I so love their school.

It's a charter school, and it's fabulous! From what I've read charters around the country can be hit or miss, sometimes they are better than the zip code schools sometimes they are not.

This one is better, so much better... I feel so privileged to send my kids here. We owe that to Hudson, my oldest. He tested into REAL class, which is a more high performing 5th and 6th grade. So his getting into that last year got Morgan and Jayden sibling priority in the lottery for new students this year. Still, neither got drawn on the initial drawing and were put on

waiting lists. By an incredible stroke of luck, some students decided not to join HAAS and my kids got in!!

What's so great about this schoo

l? Great facilities? Not universally, Jayden's school is in a little house in our neighborhood and Hudson's is in an empty store in a strip mall. Morgan's school is pretty amazing, but it's no marble palace. Just some small wood buildings in a grove of pine trees. It's a magical place, with a stage and a tree fort.

It's the teachers, the culture of this school. The teachers want to be here. They have the freedom to set the curriculum as they choose. They choose very well. They're excited about teaching! They also get to know the kids. In elementary school they're with the kids for multiple years (called looping). In some cases, from kindergarten all the way to 5th or 6th grade.

The kids, teachers, parents and aides are together, for years.

The parents want to be here to... There's no apathy, everyone is engaged. Not in a pushy, hovering, you've got to be the best kind of way. But, in a supportive, encouraging way.

Does all this goodness help the kids? The boys have been home for a week and want to go back to school. They love their days there! Hudson is thinking critically and imagining how he can build a better world... For a kid with dreaming of being a scientist or engineer, it's perfect.

Morgan is learning though art and song. He's taken up the Ukulele. Morgan is the creative, clown of the family, perfect again. And my baby Jayden, fearless kid. He's exploring the world everyday at school. Not just ABCs and 123's but planting a garden, & keeping a science journal.

This is the best school I could imagine for my kids. THE BEST. I'm so grateful. I wish everyone could have this.

Morgan summed it up best when I asked him if he did anything fun in school, his reply was "Yes, all day".

Tsunami Day

We had our first Tsunami warning on 3.10.2011 The earthquake in Japan triggered our first Tsunami watch at 8:45pm HST. Then a Tsunami warning around 9:15 pm.

I saw the warning break in on our usual TV show briefly and didn't think much of it. Chad was already dozing on the couch. I checked the evacuation zones online and confirmed that we weren't in one and we both decided to go to bed.

Then, I thought - ah, I'll stay up and watch the news, it started at 9:00. Just to be safe, and see what this is all about. That's when I saw this:



Is this coming our way? Now I was up, and the hours flew by. The news alerted us of the watch moving to a warning. The buoys were reading a 2 meter raise in the ocean levels. I had no idea what that meant but the news guys said is was significant.

They gave out all the details, when the wave was expected, 3:00 am in Kauai first, then working it's way through the island chain, ending with the big island at 4:00 am.

How big? How bad? We couldn't get a good answer on that, I got the impression that it's just not predictable at this point.

By now it's 11:00 pm, I've got extra water stocked up, we've got plenty of food. I've left word with family, work and facebook, knowing people will be wondering when they get up in the morning.

The news and civil defense said, stay home if you're not in an evacuation area.

Nothing else to do but wait now... Logically, I was sure we were going to be fine. Might as well get some sleep.



Yeah that didn't work. Imagine trying to sleep wondering if something like that is coming at you? So I made a deal with myself, I set the alarm for 3 am, figured if that was coming our way, an hour would give us enough time to get to higher ground. (Remember, we already are on high enough ground - but how do they know, what if they're wrong? - thoughts buzzing around in my mind when I try to sleep.) We could get to about 2500 ft in 30 minutes so I figured we could get to safety in an hour, even with traffic.

Then the sirens starting going off, every hour I think - letting people in the inundation zone know, get out of there! The rest of us just had to stay put and try not to worry.

I get up at 3 and it's the same thing as before, no Apocalypse, so I doze.... I woke up at 4:30am and the waves had started to come, and I was still dry!

I kept the news on as the waves came in over the next 4 hours or so. Slowly the warning was down graded to an advisory and life returned to a sleep-deprived normal.

So that's how I got through the tsunami.

Were we in danger? No. The coast in our neighborhood is 20 or so feet up from sea level to begin with, with no deep inlets. Then we're a few miles back, up hill, from the coast.

Is it impossible for a Tsunami to get us, no probably not. Do I worry? No, but I'm aware. The real danger to me is an earthquake on the island itself. There's PSA announcements on this all the time. I couldn't find a video but the basic message is - a. If you feel an earthquake, get to higher ground. b. If you see the water draw back, really far, again, head for the hills.

The whole thing is scary, gives me pause. But, in the end, I can either be afraid or not, it's a choice. I've decided against fear, protective as it can be. I'm more afraid of the certainty of missing out on life than I am of the possibility of something terrible happening. It's a personal choice, no right or wrong answers there.

Just another day

Since moving here, there's been several examples of this...

So we were out a construction site talking to a framer and the home owners he's working for. This house was pretty cool, right on the coast so the views out the windows caught us immediately - I wish I would have taken pictures but I didn't have my phone. This one give you an idea tho.

As we were talking business Jayden tugged on my shirt and says "Mom, are there dophins out there?" I laughed and as I was about to say 'no', I saw one. Then another, it was a whole pod of Spinner Dolphins, with babies, there frolicking in the ocean. Jumping spinning and teaching their babies to swim. We all had to stop and watch....

Yep, just another day in paradise, it's not perfect but boy oh boy, sometimes it is really good.

Every now and then, this place catches you - you're involved in your day to day business and then you'll see something. A rainbow, sea turtles, or a warm breeze. Whatever it is and it just stops things. Even those who've been here a long time stop and admire what's here.

The same thing happened back home in MN, especially with the deer or the snow. It would just stop things and remind you - you're lucky to be alive.

I think I live a little more on the edge of that sentiment now. Maybe it's the exotic nature of this place, that everything's new. Whatever it is, I'm grateful, for every moment that makes me stop my business and enjoy.

Oh and Jayden would like to live in that house, he sat out on the Lanai and watched the dolphins and drew a picture of them. Lucky kid.

I Did it!

When we moved here, I pretty much stopped driving. I navigated, Chad drove. Working from home, I don't need to commute into work. So, outside of a shopping trip here or there, I really don't drive much.

It's a big deal when I do the small things - like today, I picked up the kids from school, all by myself. I only missed one turn and I don't think I screwed up any of the traffic rules :) I even drove Chad's truck - bonus! Of course, my four year old, Jayden did offer helpful advice and driving criticism. (Everyone's a critic.)

The rules of the road are different here - Right turn off a highway yields to a driver making a left turn across the highway. (A very smart rule) Speed limits are guidelines, set randomly on the highway. No one drives overly fast. But, speed traps are universally ignored. When it comes to parking and turning on/off the street, politeness is the rule, taking turns overrules right-of-way. (So unlike the mainland)

My other big adventure was driving Saddle Road. It's the quickest route from Hilo to Kona. But, it's also notorious for being a dangerous road. Most of that reputation comes from before much of the repaving was done. (It was horrible.) The road runs up 6000 ft between the two mountains on the island (Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea).

From Hilo you start going up, pretty steady climb but the roads curves gradually, easy driving. Then there's road construction, repaving work has been in progress for the last year at least. Gotta be a little careful there as, rain can move through and wash the road a bit, creating some pot holes. The road can change over a day, depending on the rain.

After you're out of the construction you're in the clear - high flat road beautiful!!!!!

Then you've got to get back down.... That's when it gets a little dicey... The road narrows, and the shoulder can be washed out occasionally. And it get's hilly, really hilly, raise you out of your seat hilly, can't see the road ahead of you hilly. For a plains girl, this is weird.

See how the road just disappears here...

Did I mention the one lane bridges? Interspersed in between the hills are one lane bridges with one side yielding to the other. (Usually the traffic going up hill yields to the guy careening down the hill) That's fine too but there's a lot of tourists around. (duh, it's Hawaii) And they don't always see the yield sign. (ahhh hit the brakes!)

I think this gives you the feeling.....

So I think you get it - it's a scary road. Not horrible and surely better than it was. I started out not being able to look, as a passenger. Now, I drove it, slowly.

The boys made fun of me but we got to the beach, safe and sound! (Did I mention that everyone's a critic?)

Paradise does not equal Perfect.

Our first full day on the island, we went to our rental house. We'd only seen pictures of it from the outside, it looked nice enough:

But, when we walked in the door - dead cockroaches everywhere. The big ones... The house smelled, from the bug bomb. Dust, cob webs, dirty windows....

After a little complaining, we got to work - went into Hilo and bought cleaning supplies and started sweeping everything, mopping everywhere, and moving the land ladies stuff out of the way so we'd have room.

That was the morning - around 2 (supposed to be noon) the container arrived and we started moving our stuff in.

We were both upset about the condition of the place - but, the property manager just blew us off - 'This is how it's is on the island'. Well maybe it is, or maybe we just got a bad deal. Funny but that first impression, when your exhausted from a flight and a move, made a big impression on us. It just didn't sit right, it was a blight on our big change.

It turned around tho - a few months later, it dawned on me that we might be here for a year before the house we're building is complete. I realized that as much as I didn't like it, I had to fix up this place as much as I could, to make it our home.

So we cleaned the nasty windows, organized as much as possible, and then we cleaned some more. It's not up to my usual standards and I can't fix what's inherently wrong with the house (like the lizard hiding places) But, I did what I could and felt a lot better about it.

One more step, Hawaii feels a little more like home now.