Dolphins

On Sunday we met some of Aaron's college friends at Kamakahonu beach for some fun. Everyone else was getting ready for a snorkel when we spotted a pod of spinner dolphins in the bay. All the SUPs and kayaks were rented except for a single kayak - so Autumn and I hoped on in and took off. At first I thought the dolphins had gone, but their were still a bunch of kayaks and SUPs sitting around out further. We kept paddling and then we spotted the dorsal fins coming right at us. Blowholes grunting, tails flapping, jumping... they just made circle after circle around all the people. What a show! Autumn saw them and had such a ball. They stuck around so long that she finally got bored and decided she needed to be the one paddling! We head back to the beach with her holding onto the middle of the paddle 'helping' me. I was certainly a moment imprinted in my mind for ever! Autumn has been with us when we see them from the shore, but I don't think she has ever actually seen them. So this was fun for her to really experience them!

After some beach play we all headed back out on SUP boards, me with Autumn sitting on the front of my board. Amazingly the dolphins were still hanging out, and this time closer to we didn't have to paddle very far. Again they came feet from our board and jumped all around us. Autumn would exclaim "dolphins jump" and one would come flying out of the water less than 20 feet away! Crazy crazy fun!!!

What a treasure - I definitely had the "I love this place, I never want to leave" thoughts while we were out there! God is so great and we get to experience his creation in such a beautiful way all the time!

First Job!

I had the pleasure of getting to shoot a friends vacation rental this evening! I learned so much, being my first time shooting indoors without the ease of good natural lighting. I used tricks similar to these to help me get enough light into dark places. I still struggled and didn't get any photos I really liked of the living room because of the harsh lighting coming in the windows. I'm going to need to go shoot a few more pictures in them morning when the light is pointed the other direction. Here are some previews.

Dinking with online editing software

pixlr.com

I had no idea that free online photo editing was available - it does many of the things I do in Photoshop and has some fun automatic edits and retro things!

3 Foot and Glassy

Technically it was more like 2 foot and windy - but it was such a nice evening. Our friends that live in our building have invited us out to their surf spot multiple times and it just hasn't worked out for us to join. This weekend we committed and had such a nice time. It is a whole group of friends that has children and surfs together at Pine Trees. We all brought potluck food and took turns with our spouses surfing. The waves were smallish and I wasn't sure that I wanted to paddle out. Then my friend talked about taking the kids out. We had Autumn's life jacket, but hadn't taken her out before so I wasn't sure about it, but wanted to try! My friend showed me how to paddle with her on the front of the board and took her on her first wave. No standing is involved, so it is a bit more like boogie boarding on a surf board, but it is a fun ride! Autumn crawled over to my board and we rode a few more. Daddy headed out, I think mostly because he was nervous - but it turned into a really fun family surf session! After a few more waves Autumn asked to surf with Aaron and so we switched boards and she rode with him. We even paddled together and they rode next to me while I popped up and rode one in. It was so much fun and she just loved it! Even the water in the face as we'd paddle back out didn't bother her. She's a charger! We have no photographic evidence of the surf session or the whales on the horizon as the sunset! It was such a fun evening with new friends, fun waves, and whales - definitely makes us want to keep going back for more!

Kamakana Playground

Pursuit of fine photos...

I have a little dream to be able to run a side business of taking affordable professional family photos at the beach. I got my first DSLR camera today, which is the same as my mom's, so I put it together and headed to the park! I'm hoping to study and practice and see nice improvement in my photo's over the next year! Here's day 1!

Autumn 2 years 4 months

Autumn, instead of a detailed monthly report of your development I think I'm going to switch to intermittent "A day in the life of Autumn" written/photo journalism reports!

Today we had so much fun. You ran into our room at about 7, crawled up in our bed, snuggled for about 2 minutes before you started asking questions like. "Mom and dad, did the sun come up?" Daddy final crawled out with you when you requested cereal. Once you got to the living room, you became much more interested in doing puzzles than eating. I got up and went to change you and asked if you would go sit on the potty. You didn't want to, so I had Elmo doll go and try. You decided to as well and made a little pee pee in the potty. We then ate breakfast and said good bye to daddy. We had a girls day out planned! As we walked out the door you shouted, "bye daddy" and gave him a skype hug (which he couldn't see)! On our way to Waikoloa the sky was so clear we could see all the mountains. They are volcanos - which you adorably call 'lavacanos.' We talked about them and when I said, "That is Hualalai." You asked, "We live on that lavacano, right?" "Yes, we do." Lately you've been trying to figure out where we live. We talk about Kona, the Coffee Villas, and the volcano mountain we live on and our island. It is pretty complex stuff for a two year old. We started talking about family and you asked if they live on their island. It is good logic - if we live on an island - they must too! I tried to explain that they live on a continent, but it is just a bit too complex for the time being. You do recognize the Big Island on a map of Hawaii and always ask us, "Is that our island?"

We got to the Hilton public parking and walked in. You wanted to see the dolphins first so we walked that way. You spotted pink flamingos that I didn't see and haven't noticed before. After checking them out you wanted to touch all the statues of animals and people. It was a theme for the morning! We got to the dolphins and they were doing programs where people got to be right down with them. Surprisingly you had no interest in watching or being the one down there right next to them. We walked over to the other holding ponds and watched the mamma and baby for a bit. That didn't last too long before you wanted to ride the train. They have a light rail and boats for guest to use to get around the property. The plan was to right the train out and take a boat back - but the boats we're going to start running until after we left. We walked out to the grass and played for a while on a cabana before you decided you needed a snack. We changed your diaper in a gazebo before hoping on the train back to the lobby. We rode the elevator one last time before heading to the car and then to Arby's for lunch. We practiced saying Arby's a few times as you kept calling it Ardy's. (-: We shared a roast beef sandwich, curly fries and water before we went out looking at flowers and coy fish. We even found a little train to play with. We then went in the hat store to look around. You busted through the door and yelled, "Are there hats in here?" Everyone laughed and commented on how cute you were. I thought you would fall asleep as soon as we got on the highway, but you were still awake as we approach Kukio, so we drove to Kukio Beach to see if there were turtles to look at.

It was a great stop, you loved walking along the sand beach looking for shells, there were plenty of turtles and I got to see a whale splashing on the horizon. We even got to sit and watch a turtle climb down the beach out to sea while another one climbed up to take a rest.
On our way back to the car Kait called and you played nicely 'driving,' honking and crawling around in the car while I caught up. We hit the road and you were out in like 2 minutes! You slept for the drive home and then woke up as soon as I took you out of the car. Thought you might transfer, but no luck. We came in and you cuddled for like 3 minutes before looking up and me and saying, "can we go play." We played for a bit after getting cleaned up. You love playing with your little people, you even had them all sat up in chairs around the play table when we went to play. You move them around, have them talk to each other and take care of each other.

We had such a fun day! Love you baby girl!

Astonished

Today at lunch Autumn made a totally random comment about using knife to plant plants. I figured that she must have seen Tutu do that at daycare and said that my grandma used to plant her plants that way. Autumn asked, "Grandma Nona?" I explained to Autumn that she hasn't met this grandma because she went to heaven before Autumn was born. Then she asked, "Does Grandpa Alfred have dollies?" We said that yes there are dollies at their house. Then she asked, "do they have hats?" Our jaws dropped because she must be remembering the last time we were at their house - in July. Yes, they do have hats. Grandma has a couple of dolls that stay on the couch that have crochet hats that Autumn plays with when we are there. She kept going, "and they had a stunk?" A what? "A stunk" Oh, a skunk. Aaron, Autumn and Grandpa drove the 4 wheeler around and there as a recently dead very stinky skunk that she remembered. I continue to be in awe at her little memory - I never dreamed that she would be able to recall specific memories from 6 months ago back when she was 21 months old! She remembers lots of other things that surprise me, but this is the first time it has been something a long time ago that we haven't talked about since. We aren't going to be able to slip anything by her... (-:

The Future?

God knows the future - and it is a good thing because we sure don't. We live a funky life, one that is not real settled. We have secured housing through May 31st, one way tickets to go see family in Maryland and then... we have no idea. We have hopes to settle and feel like one community is home base. It is looking more and more like Kona is where we will put in some deeper roots. But the timing is unknown. God's provision of income sources, desires for me not to work much for another chunk of time, desires for where and when we have our next child all play heavily into what our next move is. I think we'd like to take a summer mainland break and then head back to the warmth of "our island" (that's what Autumn calls it), but the above factors muddle that idea. So Lord, one day at a time help us see your will and direction for our family.

Super Excited about this movie!

2011 Year End Review

2011 is over! Seems totally crazy. A year ago we were in Pullman, WA just starting our next adventure away from Colorado. We had a 16 month old who slept in a pack and play, only had a few words and was still nursing 3-4x a day. Now we are in Kona and have a 2 year 4 month old that talks in full sentences, sleeps in a big girl bed and is learning to swim. It has been a full, blessed and wonderful year. Thank you Lord!

Here is a summary of where we were when and what we were doing.
January, Feb and 1/2 of March we were in Pullman, WA. We lived in Kaitlin and Phil's 1st level for about 6 1/2 weeks and in a farm house with a family for the other 4. I worked 4 days a week at a nursing home in Colfax helping older folks get better and Aaron worked many many hours on a project for Group Publishing in a closet office. Although very cold and fairly stressful with us working a lot, being away from Autumn more than we were accustomed, we look back on our time in Pullman with smiles. We pretty much attribute this to the amazing time we had bonding to the Watson's - sharing fine meals, going swimming, shopping and just living everyday life together. We sure miss them!! The other perk was that we made money for our Hawaii/Asia adventure.
In mid-March we took off on a 6 week adventure. Aaron's best friend and his wife live in Myanmar and so we thought going to see them in SE Asia was an opportunity not to be missed. Since frequent flyer miles could be used for 1/2 the miles to get to Asia from Hawaii, we decided that would be a good starting, hang out with friends and finishing point for our 10 days in Asia. We started by flying into Maui and seeing our dear friends there, then onto Kona to reconnect with our ohana there. Our amazing former landlord in Kona let us stay in our old apartment for free for almost 3 weeks - it was a treat to have our own space for the first time since before Christmas. We really enjoyed seeing everyone and soaking in the sun. We had shipped our green car from Washington in preparation for our move out to Hawaii in July. We didn't know that we were going to end up in Kona for the 2011-12 school year, but this time sure made us miss it and talk more about what it would look like to move out here. We wrapped up our time in Kona, packed our car to store for a few months and headed to the airport. Off to Asia! Here is my very lengthy journal entry about our time in Thailand and Myanmar. On our return we spent 2 days in Waikiki relaxing and adjusting to the time change, 1 day in Molokai and then a few days including Easter with the Hassell's again in Maui. All in all we were gone 43 wonderful days.
We returned to Seattle, flew to Pullman, spent a day with the Watson's and packed the other car to drive back to Colorado. We drove through Utah and spent a couple of wonderful but chilly days catching up with Connie and Ryan. It was so cold and Autumn just wanted to play outside! We arrived in Glenwood Springs, hugged on Papa and Nana for a couple of days, unpacked our car headed for NoCo. There we reunited with Aaron's family before hopping on another plane to Maryland to see my brother's family and our friend's in Arlington. Here are some crazy stats (ones that Aaron has no intention of us ever repeating) From April 8th until May 13th we didn't spend more than 3 nights in any one bed, we were on 19 different airline flights and drove about 1300 miles. Praise the Lord for safe travels and thank you so much to the 7 families that hosted us!! We love you all and feel so blessed that we got to see everyone!
We spent the rest of the summer jumping back and forth between NoCo and Glenwood Springs spending time with friends and family. Amazingly, because Aaron just needs phone service and internet to work, he pretty much worked everywhere we went except for in Asia. Up until early June we had assumed that we were being placed in Maui for the 2011-12 school year. The OT gal that took over in S. Kona schools when I left in 2008 informed me that she was moving to an early intervention position. We waited patiently for weeks and finally on July 1st found out that I had received the contract placement back in my old position. We were so excited about this for a few reasons. We consider Kona our Hawaii home, and although Maui would have been nice we felt like it would have been another 10 month vacation from real life and being able to integrate ourselves into a community that we plan to make part of our life for a longer time. Also the job in Kona is less stressful, most of our friends are in Kona and we honestly just like life on the Big Island better. YEAH - we were so so so excited!!!
Mid July we started packing up, shipped our second car and got ready to be gone for 10 1/2 months. On July 20th we flew to Kona and got a ride to our car (thank you Ang for being our taxi/rental car :-)) Unfortunately the car wouldn't budge... after one mechanic made us certain we'd need to tow it, Aaron's brother and our Kona Mechanic convinced us to hit the gas harder as it seemed likely that the brakes had rusted. Luckily they were right and we were on our way with no ill consequences. We started the process of figuring out priorities - food, housing, daycare, belongings... it was a long few days of looking at housing/condo rentals with the complexity of nap times, snack times and tantrums. We made it through without permanent damage and secured a top floor condo 3 miles from my work and a few units away from some friends. The next weeks were filled with yard saleing, thrift store shopping and craigslisting to find everything we needed to make it more homey. Luckily beds and most necessary kitchen items were found during the first weekend!
Aug-Nov.: We've been living a mostly routine life of work and Autumn going to daycare. We celebrated 8 years of marriage with a night in Waikoloa, had Aaron's brother and our niece out for a bit, I completed my first Olympic sized triathlon, celebrated Autumn's 2nd birthday on the beach and I turned 30. I also started volunteering at the Christian pregnancy center in town by helping Thursday nights and teaching pregnancy nutrition and infant safety classes. We've had a fair bit of illness which slowed us down, taught Autumn deeper compassion for pain and unfortunately we're still dealing with aftermath. We haven't made it to the beach as much as we'd like and are still figuring out navigating island life with a 2 year old. We've spent some time with friends and look forward to more of that in 2012.
December: Family month! Aaron's whole family got to spend a week at the Aulani in Oahu. Aaron and Autumn got to join them for the week and I got to go for a long weekend. It was a nice time with a lot of time spend on the slides, hot tubs, on the beach and in the lazy river. They had great entertainment with shows, story tellers and crafts. Autumn thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her Grandma, Papa, all the cousins, Uncles and her Aunt! We all went to the Polynesian Cultural Center for an afternoon, then dinner and the Ha Breath of Life show (which was amazing). The last night Aaron, Autumn and I met Jeremy and Camry in Waikiki for all you can eat sushi and everything else under the sun buffet. Yum yum yum! Autumn even enjoyed the octopus!5 days after we returned to Kona, we packed up and met my parents for a week in Kauai. This is the last of the major islands we had yet to see. It is called the garden isle for good reason - both for the beauty and the intermittent and random showers. All the islands are so different and beautiful! Kauai is certainly a treasure! We had a great time exploring and relaxing, Dad and I even got to do a helicopter tour - so spoiled, what a treat! Autumn really loved shoulder rides with Papa, bath times with Nana and all the other time with extra attention and playmates! We all flew back to our home on Christmas Eve and spent Christmas enjoying special gifts, cooking and playing at Kua Bay. We ended the year in Waikoloa enjoying our last condo stay after seeing a bunch of turtles at Kukio Beach!
Na Pali Coastline from the Helicopter

All in all it has been a pretty dreamy year with a lot more adventure than we ever imagined having with a small child! We continue to learn, grow and have God shape our hearts. Our compassion for the poor and suffering and our world view continue to define who we are and what we want to spend our lives doing. We really sit with a blank slate for the coming year. We will continue to dream and let God sort out where and what we will be doing a year from now.

2011 Reflection Questions:

1. What was the best thing that happened to me this year? Do I have to choose 1? Getting to spend so much time with Kait, my life long dream of seeing Thailand, getting to spend this school year in Kona

2. What did I do this year that I'm really proud of? Completing an Olympic Triathlon, being more generous financially

3. Who did I really help? My clients at the nursing home and my students

4. Who do I need to thank and acknowledge for having been there for me? During our fight with MRSA I really appreciated the calls and check ins from friends and family - there are many of you.

5. What are the top three lessons I learned? I need to spend more time having fun with Autumn, I need to be less controlling (this one is so so so hard, especially after the MRSA), face to face time is so valuable.

6. What increased my happiness and joy this year? my husband and daughter

7. What's something I got through that was really tough? our awful experience with a MRSA infection on Autumn

8. What did I avoid that I must pay more attention to in 2012? I wouldn't necessarily call it avoiding - but I would really like to spend more time in the Word of God this year.

9. What character trait did I develop most this year? Patience with difficult 2 year old behavior- it is slowly but surely developing...

10. What new people did I meet that are now in my life? the Teagues, McNeills, Tresters, Erin and Natalie

A few fun adventure stats from 2011:

Number of nights in hotels/condos/bungalows/resorts - 39
Average price we paid per night - $31 (thanks to heavily subsidized family vacations)
Number of nights staying with friends/family (rent free) - 79
Individual Airline Flight segments - 29
# of employers - 4 in 3 states

Goals for 2012!

1. Get pregnant again
2. Spend 20 minutes 5x a week in God's word
3. Spend more time learning Aaron's business so I can work for him some
4. Keep a prayer journal 3-4x a month
5. Surf 3-4x a month until I'm 15 weeks pregnant (when ever that might be)

Conversations with Autumn

I've been trying to write our 2011 year end review in my head - but tonight I wanted to write down some of the things Autumn's been saying.

Tonight she pooped at the restaurant and on the way to change her I asked if she felt herself needing to poop and if she could have told me to take her to the potty. Her response was, " Mama, they don't have potties in the restaurant."

Trying to get her down for bed tonight she crawled up to cuddle with me and laid her had on my chest and said quietly, "Mamas milk?" (side note, she has not said a thing about mama's milk since I weaned her in September) I told her I didn't have any milk anymore, it went away when she turned two. Then she asked, "milk come out of your nipples?" I replied, "not anymore." She said, "Daddy has milk?" "Nope, only mommies have milk for their babies. Like the baby dolphin was drinking her mammas milk tonight." (she wasn't there when this happened - so I'm still clueless where this all came from.) Autumn, "Oh, babies drink mama's milk. I'm still a baby." Me, "But mommy doesn't have milk anymore." "Okay." Off to dreamy land she went.

Today at the beach she say some birds pecking in the sand and said, "The birds are eating the sand.... (pause) that is pretty disgusting."

Papa came and sat next to her on the bench, "Papa be careful and don't fall off." Papa said okay. "Don't fall there or there or there or there (pointing) and not on to the ground either."

Autumn got a really cool layered body puzzle with an educational book with it from her aunt, uncle and cousin. She has done the puzzle about 40 x since Christmas and has us read the book each night. One of the pages talks about the body taking nutrient from our food and getting rid of the rest. Expecting to get to explain more to her, I asked, "do you know how are body gets rid of the rest?" She quickly replied, "We poop!" I asked everyone there who taught her and nobody knew. It is a mystery how she picked that one up!