Puna Laii

Greg had met his dad in Hawaii during the week that we closed on our house in AK. Greg loves to vacation, infact he has multiple personalities. Greg on vacation and Greg in the real world. I love both of them. Greg in the real world finds any excuse to become Greg on vacation. While in Hawaii his dad took some pictures of the home we have there. So I am posting them. Here are a few things that I didn't know about Hawaii until recently.

1) The Big Island, Hawaii, consists of two totally different climates. Lush, green and absolutely breath-taking. The other climate is very, very dry and desert like. But within 20 minutes from where we bought you can have either climate.

2) There are signs all over for donkey's. Appartently there are wild donkeys. I wonder how wild they are? I got a good laugh everytime I saw the caution sign for them.

3) On top of Mount Kilolea (I am not sure of the spelling) is one of the world's largest telescopes. It looks like you are on the moon when you get to the top. I posted some pictures earlier of me by one of the telescopes. It kinda looks like the ball when you enter Epcot Center in DW. There is a little lake at the top that is very unusual. It snows at the top, but only stays for a little while. The sun melts any sort of water except this little lake. So what feeds it? It can't be something above it because you are on the top of the world. They say it is still water from the Ice Age that is keeping the lake around. Pretty cool.

4) The Ironman takes place on this island. They always have re-runs of it on TV and these people are amazing. I always have a tear or two after I watch it. It will be inspiring to take my kids to watch it one day.

5) There are "real" cowboys in Hawaii. All sorts of people that raise cattle and ride horses. I didn't realize this.

6) There are all sorts of legends linked to the Hawaiian people. The one that I love is about a king that wants to prove how tuff he is so he carries this huge bolder around everywhere he goes. There is a bolder on the side of the road claiming to be "the bolder". It has a sign there and everything. So FUNNY!

7) This is the only island that still has an active volcanoe. You can actually see the steam and lava flowing from it. Because of this, the island can still grow. Hawaii is the baby of all the islands.

It will be fun to bring the boys next year. My plan is to go and stay a month in the summer while Greg is working...so if you feel like you want to come and visit, let me know.


This flower is from the lemon/lime trees. Funny story. While we were there Greg was on the phone with Larry, his friend/buisness partner we bought the house with, and he told me to go and start pruning the fruit trees because the fruit was weighing the branches down. So I got the wheelbarrow and started picking the big fruit, which looked like overgrown limes. When I was just about to the last tree, with a full wheelbarrow, Greg was off the phone and said I had picked the wrong stuff. I picked the lemons that were going to be ripe soon. He wanted me to pick the fruit that was just starting to grow on the tree. Oops! Maybe he shouldn't have been on the phone!!

This is a poinsetta flower growing in the garden. Since the house is on the dryer side of the island we have no grass, just gardens. Thanks to Larry who loves to do this kind of stuff, the yard is very beautiful.

This is not the house...it is the view from the back yard. The house is in a gated community and one of the perks they offer is a horse stable. If you have horses you can board them here. Also there is a gym down in the building.

This is the lanai in the back of the house. It wraps around the whole back deck. Around the corner is a more private area that has an outdoor shower. That was fun.

This is the front of the house...and yes that awesome truck is ours. Someone that our realtor knew was selling everything he owned and leaving Hawaii. So we bargained with him and furnished the whole house, plus a truck, plus tools and gardening equipment and beach stuff. There is no way we could've purchased all the stuff we got for the price he basically "gave" it to us.

Ahhhhhhhh...nothing like brotherly love!

So what do you think happens when I leave two little boys in my room to watch TV while I get some work done around the house? They were very quiet for a while, then I heard them coming down the stairs. So I went to see what was up. They had done a makeup job on each other. It was so great. But hey, they didn't get any on the carpet or the walls.




Then a little later that day they are downstairs playing and I hear them fighting, but they fight a lot and I usually let them work it out. There was lot's of crying along with the fighting. Then it was quiet. Then it starts back up, but I hear my friends (Robyn) little boy screaming also. So I go downstairs. Ryder is looking very guilty, Mason is holding his head and screaming, and Peyton is riding the rocking horse with blood all over him. He just says, "hey, mom" when I come into the room. I think Ryder went on a hitting frenzy. Mason couldn't stomach the blood. He was crying from getting hit, but then he would look at Peyton and gag. Again brotherly love.

Just had to throw this statement into the mix. As I was downloading pictures I see Ryder stuffing his pockets full of labels from the file cabinet. When I look at him he says "Nossing", holds his pocket and walks off. What am I in for?

SURPRISE!

The end of march I turned a year older. Birthday's are just another day. Infact I had to go and get my teeth cleaned on this day, then go to lunch with my hubby afterward. A few days before, I was trying to find a sitter for the twins so I could get my teeth cleaned. I asked one of my friends, Bobbi, whom delayed in answering me. When she did answer me she says that she can't watch them, but another friend, Robyn, will watch them. I thought how sweet of her to find a sitter for me...I know I have amazing friends though, right. Well, it gets better. Robyn picks me up because she is heading to Cathie's house for lunch. That way the four little boys can play together and Robyn would pick me up after. Cathie lives just around the corner from Greg's office, so this did not seem the least bit strange to me.

When I am getting out of Robyn's car I was going to leave my purse because it had diapers and sippy cups in it. She was very pushy about me taking my purse and leaving the twins stuff. Before she drops me at Greg's office I get a call from Greg saying that we need to drop his partner and wife off at the airport before we go to lunch. I was a little bummed because he only took an hour off for lunch and that would cut into that time. Selfish me. So she drops me at Greg's office and I sign in, just as I do when I am getting work done on my teeth. I take Greg's diet coke back to his office and he is in normal everyday clothes. I only think for one second that this is odd. Then Greg tells me that he canceled my cleaning appointment and we have to go now to take Larry to the airport. So we get to the airport. I stay in the car. Everyone else gets out. Greg says "hey Melinda you need to come and help them get their luggage." I was thinking that they only had a couple of things, why would they need my help. But I get out to help. I notice that they have all the same things we have. They have the same pillow cases and make-up bag and carry-on. I even tell them that they have the same stuff we have. That did hit me strange. Then I realized something strange was going on. Greg says "Do you want to go to Hawaii with them?" I was shocked. Of course I did, but I have four kids at home to care for. He assured me that it was all okay and the boys all had places to go. He even had a list of where they would be at different times (thank you Robyn). With five AMAZING friends my boys were well taken care of. Thank you so much to Robyn, Bobbi, Cathie, Nichole and Katie. They all knew about Greg taking me for a week or so and didn't even hint to me. They even lied a little, (bobbi).

So of course I had to forget about everything that I left at home, clothes still in the washer, a repairman coming for my stove. I had so much fun with Greg in Hawaii. I finally got to see and stay in the house that we purchased. It is in Kona, so we had to hop a smaller plane to get to the island of Hawaii. We did so much fun things. Saw a few different beaches. Saw a beached whale. Hiked (in flip-flops). Shopped for the Hawaii house and went on long drives all over the island. We also had to do a little clothes shopping for myself since Greg only packed a few swimsuits and my make-up bag.

I must say that this was the best birthday ever! And I thought I saw him hiding my birthday present at Robyn's house! Silly me!!