Go Moms!

So I should have done this post for Mother's Day but oh well. This is possibly my favorite Taylor Swift song. I cry when I hear it (not every time anymore but often enough, even this morning on my run). It makes me love my mom more and want to be a better mother for Anna. (Sorry about the words, I couldn't find a copy without them.)




Then there is this video from the church. Anna wanted to watch it one day because she liked the babies. Needless to say, I bawled through this one too.

Where are we again?

This has nothing to do with India, it's just a gorgeous spot along the road.

Jason and I have noticed that being here reminds us of India. It's like India but in the US, the perfect mix. Here are the similarities:
- Tropical climate: We are actually 4 degrees closer to the equator here than we were in Ahmedabad.
- Which leads to Tropical fruit: We have papaya trees in the backyard, pineapple grows in the front yard and the mangoes are sweet and juicy, yummy.
- Different language: Hawaiian is all around, particularly in place names but also just thrown into conversation.
- Hard to understand English: They have a slang here called pidgin. Fortunately, I don't hear it much personally.
- No sidewalks
- People have their own way of doing things: Between 'island time' and strange Indian bureaucracy we have to figure out how things work.

Then there are the differences because we are still in the United States:
- Street names and addresses: It was always tricky figuring out how to get places, now we can use mapquest.
- Paved roads: There may not be sidewalks but there isn't any dirt sitting around on the side of the road either.
- Traffic order: People stay in their lanes here and no one drives against traffic on a one way street.
- Animals: Cows are kept behind fences and on the table, dogs all belong to someone and monkeys are only in the zoo.
- Mail: It may take longer but we can still send a letter for one stamp.
- Box stores: We have a Wal Mart, a Borders (although it's closing), a Sears, Ross, Costco in Kona and Target is coming to our side of the island next year.
- And most importantly the Church: There is a stake in Hilo alone and a temple in Kona, a far cry from having church in our living room with just the two of us.

It should come as no surprise that we are in the mood for Indian food a lot more here than we were in California or Philadelphia.

Hawi

Pu'ukohola Heiau

We have been working on going on day trips on Saturdays to see this island of ours. Last weekend we went to the far north to a place called Hawi. As we were driving up and over the volcanoes (have I mentioned there are 5 on the island) we took a wrong turn and had to modify our plans a little bit.

In front of the temple was a flat space and this tower. I assume it was for speaking to people but it didn't really say. It's amazing that the ocean can be right there and things can still be so dry.

So first we went to Pu'ukohola Heiau. This is a big temple that King Kamehameha built. He was the first king to unite the Hawaiian Islands and is a BIG deal. The story goes that he wanted to unite the islands so he sent to a kahuna on Kaua'i to find out how to do it. The kahuna said that if he built this huge heiau (temple) to his war god then he would be able to do it. So he got "volunteers" to help him build it and be used for sacrifices along the way. He actually worked on it personally. Then when he was done, he invited his enemy there and sacrificed him. Not so much a peaceful people back then.

The previous temple that the larger one replaced.

It was pretty cool to go there. There was a little visitor's center then a path to walk along with a couple of stops along the way. Unfortunately, we couldn't actually go in it because it is still used by Hawaiians (I don't think they still do human sacrifices, they seem a lot more mellow these days).


Then we drove up the coast to Hawi and Kapa'au, two very small towns. The former had some really yummy ice cream and the later had an impressive statue of King Kamehameha that is just like the one in front of the judiciary building in Honolulu.

Overlooking the valley. The mist made it extra amazing.

From there we went on this amazing hike. It's called the Pololu Valley. The parking lot is on top of a cliff with a beautiful view of a black sand beach and more cliffs.

The view from the parking lot.

Then there is a 15-20 minute hike you can take down to the water. We figured if we drove all that way (an hour and 45 minutes) we might as well go down. The hike down was a little tricky because it was rocky and Anna had to be carried at times. She did pretty well though.

Us sitting on a bench swing after our hike.

Then at the bottom we ended up in a grove of trees that had some tire and bench swings then was the beach. We didn't have swimming stuff and the current wasn't such that we could have really gone swimming but that didn't keep us from getting our feet in the water. Or more than just our feet in Anna's case.

Running out

Running back

After playing for a bit it was time to get back up. This was hard and took quite a bit longer to do. Amazingly, Anna decided that she wanted to walk and ended up doing so for the last third of the hike, all up. She was such a rock star. By the end, she was so tired she was almost crawling. We kept suggesting we could carry her but she wanted to do it herself.

Fun Outside

In an effort to not have to go to the beach every day, we got Anna some fun stuff for playing outside.


Dora is her current favorite thing. While this bike is a bit big for her to pedal, that doesn't stop her from wanting to ride it. The buttons have different songs and sounds of Dora saying things like 'turning left' or 'turning right'. At first we thought it might be a bit on the annoying side but then we noticed the off switch. Fortunately for our neighbors, she doesn't play any one button nonstop.


Then there is this pool. Now she can wear her swimsuit at home for a reason. I spend my time in the chair in the corner and we both have fun. She's also wearing her floaties in this picture. When we go out to the beach she always seems to want to be out as deep as Jason and me but doesn't want us to hold onto her. Hopefully now she can do just that.

I know it's dark but I just love her face in this picture. She is getting ready to be able to ride her bike for the first time and is way excited.

Funny story on a quasi-related note, one day when we were coming home from the beach, she told me, "Someday, I'm going to go to the beach by myself and walk out by myself." I'm thinking she's not thrilled with our constant hold on her in the waves.

Regression

Moving always takes a bit of adjustment. I'm thinking Anna is having a hard time with it. She seems to be doing ok but she has regressed with her potty training. It's been three weeks since we came here and another two and a half since Kristen's family went on vacation. So for over a month we've been having issues. I like to think it's getting better but then we have more problems. Basically, if I can get her to sit on the potty she will go but she won't initiate anymore and sometimes when I try to get her to sit on the potty, she doesn't want to. Occasionally, she has accidents but I try to prevent that. We've been using a sticker chart to help her want to go potty but it seems to be losing it's effectiveness. I'm thinking of using candy again to inspire her to let me know when she needs to go rather than me having to prompt. We'll see how this goes.

She has also started to talk more about Brennan and her other cousins. In her prayers she asks that her cousins can come visit. She really doesn't get the idea of them being really far away. I think it's interesting that she didn't bring them up when we first came. We're working on making a book of pictures of everyone so that she can look at them when she wants. Today she helped me choose which pictures she wanted. I'm hoping that helps too.

Another thought I've had is that while we took away all of her friends (essentially) we haven't replaced them with anyone else. Sure, she has gained grandparents, whom she loves greatly, but they aren't the same. I've started looking into moms groups in the area but haven't been able to find anything. There are a few kids in her nursery class at church (which she enjoys, last Sunday she just ran right in) but I don't know yet which of the women go with which kids so it makes it hard to set anything up.

I did take her to the park the other day. She had fun playing there and there were other kids for her to play with, although they were generally older than her. She didn't have a problem with that (sometimes I think she doesn't know she is only two) but I think they did. At one point she came over to me on the bench and said the girls wouldn't play with her. I told her that they just didn't know her and she should ask them her name and tell them hers. I couldn't really tell if it worked but she was happy to go.

I'm hoping that as she has more friends and pictures to look at of her old ones, she will be happier and the potty training will work itself out.

Hawaiian Cultural Festival

A little bit ago we went up to the volcano to check out a Hawaiian Cultural Festival. It was a lot of fun. They had music and hula, crafts to buy and crafts to do and games. We weren't able to do much of the crafts because they were mostly sit and focus types of things and Anna would have none of it. We found some kids booths where Anna could paint and play with music instruments.

Anna with the one craft I was able to do. The feathers are tied onto the stick with string.

Anna working on the paper. She was supposed to put the paint onto a stick and press it on the paper like a stamp but decided the sponge got more paint on the paper.

One of the booths with painted gourds for sale.

The weaving palm fronds booth. Jason wanted to do this one but the sign-up sheet was full for the whole day by the time we checked.


Anna playing with the musical instruments. These are both used along with a hula and she had a lot of fun. There was a baby there with us and they had fun together.

Here is a little video of the dancers. We didn't record the whole thing, just a little bit to give you an idea of what it was like. I came in in the middle so I'm not sure what it is specifically but it was fun to watch for a while.

Ben's Wedding

I finally got the video uploaded! Now I can talk about the wedding that happened some time ago.


A couple of weeks ago, my little brother got married. He is the youngest one in our family and the last one to get married. All of my brothers and sisters were there (not all of their kids though) and it was great.

So happy!

They got married in Kristen's backyard since Barbara hasn't been a member of the church for a year yet. It was pretty crazy getting the house ready but once we did, it was beautiful. We were able to borrow the decorations from a friend of a friend and two other friends did the food and the pictures. It was a small, simple affair with just family.

Here is the group I grew up with. We joked that Ben should sit on my mom's lap.

After the ceremony, we all had dinner. Then, after dinner we took the pictures. I love the idea of eating before the pictures. That way, no one minds how long the pictures take because they have already eaten. We had to kind of hurry with the pictures though because the sun was setting. The light was beautiful though so it was worth it.

The complete group. There is definitely a complete feeling now that we have our last sister.

On the spur of the moment, we grabbed shaving cream and toilet paper and decorated their car. Then Alec got some bird seed so we could throw it at them as they left. It was so much fun. Anna really got into the birdseed. On the way back to the house, she was throwing it over her head while walking. It was really funny. Here they are making their getaway.