Remember the Saturday when....

I rolled over and noticed Micah wasn't in bed? I assumed he was doing dawn patrol-we always talk about how on Saturdays that's the only way to have fun out surfing. I rolled over and went back to sleep. Taj came up to cuddle just before 7. I told him it was early. At 7 the sirens I had heard as a kid for tsunami warnings went off. I had to think, was it really the first work day of the month? What is going on? And why have the downstairs neighbors been making so much noise?
Taj and I got up to see what was going on. Turns out I had slept through the first tsunami siren and a few phone calls. We turned on the news and Micah searched the Internet for info about evacuation zones and locations. We got water, food, sleeping bags, first aid kits and put it in the car. We got us ready and kept researching. The more we learned we were on the "safer" side of the island and not in the grey evacuation zone the more we got to thinking we'd stay home. By 10 am we had to decide and we committed, for better or worse. I guess I'm a little jaded from all the false evacuations I went through as a kid.
We went for a walk because the kids were making us crazy- they knew something different was up and didn't know how to deal with it. It was eerie. A ghost town. We walked over to the stables to check on the horses, and even they had evacuated. I kind of questioned our decision at that point. It was a beautiful beach day. Stables was breaking so clean. We got a little angry that Mother Nature didn't plan this for a Sunday, or ugly beach day. Poor us huh.
At home we watched the news anxiously to see what would happen in Hilo. The tsunami was late. Once we saw some action in Hilo it was awesome. The tide began "inhaling" at an amazing rate. Withing a minute you could see a foot or two of reef exposed. It was receding so quickly that it made white water, like a rapid. Then a minute later it came rushing back in with the opposite effect. It was a little alarming, but that was just about the worst of it. I felt bad for all the people that evacuated at 4:30 in the morning, like some nice tourists a few condos down had. It was a wise move- better safe than sorry. I'm so so very grateful that we were all safe and sound.

This is what we would've rather done. Oh, and Malik's birthday present is still sitting on the counter. The kids were pretty disappointed in missing that. I love the hours of operation sign. It's assumed in Hawaii, so it's refreshing to see someone be honest about it.

Busted

We got this scooter for Taj last time we were out here. He LOVES it. When we got it home we found out from other Turtle Bay kids that it's not allowed in this hood. We decided to pretend we didn't know until one of the helpful security guards officially informed us. I got a little too comfortable with scootering. I started to think it was one of the rules that they posted, but didn't really care about or enforce. Well, we got busted.

Taj was sad, but was very understanding. I took him over to the other Turtle bay side which is under different management and let him ride. He missed his scooter.

Today when Micah got back from surfing, or that's what we thought he was doing, he had a surprise for Taj....

He said that while he was driving around looking at the blown out surf he kept thinking about what a good kid Taj is. He got Taj his new ride. I love my husband and the father of my sweet kids.

Taj is so pleased. Here's a celebratory papa willy/ pop a wheely.

Honolulu Zoo

The Honolulu Zoo is way way way way cooler than I remembered it. Jake, Mariko, and Amaya had a big something to do with it. They invited us to go with them last Friday. The grounds were breathtaking with huge fields, gum trees, umbrella trees, animals from around the world that acted like they were waiting for us to come see them. I remember loving the "monkey islands" as a kid, and was pleased to find that they are still as cool as I remembered. The petting zoo was clean and totally child friendly, just like the rest of the zoo.

I didn't take any pictures but don't worry- the amazing Jake and Mariko took over that role.

Somebody pinch me

I feel spoiled. And as I should. We are living in our favorite playground. I go for runs next to the ocean. I see whales jumping out of the ocean daily. I run and laugh with the kids in the warm sun and tire out with them laughing and splashing in the water. We get to do a playgroup with some of the funnest kids (and Mom's) around- and even get to go surfing while the kids just play. Oh, and I'm getting more time with my husband out here. Life is good. Almost too good...

* thanks again for giving us a ride to Aloha Monday Ashley. We are so very spoiled.

Critters

We found this little guy in our house the other day. I was shocked when Taj gently scooped him up and carried him around for a long time (I talked him into putting him in some bushes to live).

I've been so proud of the kids and their love towards these harmless geckos along with a bunch of other animals. They've held sand crabs, hermit crabs, sea cucumbers, gently touched spikes on sea urchins. We look for chameleons and frogs every time we go out and feed our left over bread to birds outside. I kind of think it's a building block for understanding how special this place is, and teach them to love and care for it's animal life. I could do without centipedes and blue bubbles, but I guess everything has it's place.

Speaking of taking care of this place, is anyone interested in a family style beach clean up? I want to do one with the kids and feel like making it a big multi-family event with a pot luck after would be fun and memorable. Let me know if you're interested and we can work out the details!

Word on the streets

The word on the street is the Alligator rock is the place to be. We went once last year and had fun, but before that I hadn't been there since my brother Jake had his finger nearly chewed off by an eel when we were kid. We set out to see what all the fuss was about.

It was a glorious time. Taj keeps asking me if it's still winter in Utah. I can't believe it either. We are living a dream.

M.I.A.

We've been here in Hawaii for 2 weeks now, and there hasn't been a sign of us on the web. It's not that I have nothing to say, but because I have too much to say. I don't know where to start. Do I start with how overwhelming the beauty of this place is, or how much I love seeing my kids toes, or about the fun friends and family we've been playing with, or how I've never heard Taj giggle so much, or how I didn't realize what a beach bum Eden is. We are in heaven.

These are some pictures we took while ending the day with a picnic dinner at the beach with Aunt Alissa.

We love exploring and climbing outside. Sunday mornings are always gorgeous here, so we are out enjoying it and feeling the love of our Savior in everything we see/feel/smell.

We went to Sea Life Park with Nana on her birthday and still talk about it. It's amazing.

We are here and loving it. I'll get back in the blogging swing of things, but for now just know we're doing something fun and smiling.