Big Girl Bed

When we moved to Hawaii, Jeremy and I thought we were so smart bringing the travel crib...playpen...with us for Jillian's sleeping place. Within days she had mastered the art of climbing out and escaping the room. When we moved into the house we decided not to set up her crib. We didn't want her to climb out, fall, and hurt herself. So, until we could get a big girl bed, we set up the air mattress. This worked so great....it sat low to the ground and was easy for Jillian to get in and out of bed. It was also big enough for one or both of Jillian's parents to lay down with her. I started laying down with her for 2-3 hours each night, waiting for her to fall asleep. We decided we needed a new plan.

Yeah! Jillian now has a big girl bed! :) And a new bed time routine. Jeremy has taken over the nigh-nigh routine and Jillian is loving it. They read 5 books and then Jeremy leaves to work on the computer...within sight of Jillian. She plays quietly for about 2 hours in her room, then gets in bed and goes to sleep. During this, I am either at work or in bed reading a book. We're not crazy about the 2 hour playtime, but she stays in her room and right now we are just thankful for that.

Play-Doh

Jillian has discovered Play-Doh and she just LOVES it! When I take her to my MOPS meetings, the kids play with Play-Doh and she would talk about it all weekend. We picked some up for her and it is the greatest activity! :)

She is so serious! :)

Potty Time and Nibble Tray

Jillian is potty training now...we started a bit at the condo but have really made progress since we've been here in the house. She does great at home....I still put her in a diaper at night and during trips away from the house. Those will be the next milestones. :) One night, we were all just hanging out at home. Jillian came to find us and told us that her baby was going potty. :) Jeremy and I thought, hmmmmm.....after following Jillian to the bathroom, this is what we saw. I had to get a picture, it was so cute. I don't think my reaction was appropriate though because since then I have thwarted many attempts for toys to "go potty".

I am reading "The Discipline Book" by Dr. and Mrs. Sears. Its really great....it is one of those books where I REALLY agree with some things and REALLY disagree with others, very interesting. Anyway, they write in the book about making a nibble tray for their children. They would take an ice cube tray and fill each section with a different, yummy treat and leave it in the fridge, within reach, for their kids. I tried a variation of this for Jillian....I made her a nibble tray using a chip-n-dip dish. I gave it to her at lunch and put the leftovers on the bottom shelf in the fridge, so that she could help herself throughout the afternoon. Oh and I left the fridge unlocked for her. :) Normally it is locked because she will get in there and eat everything and anything she can get her hands on....like condiments. She loved it! I had her help me make it too. This nibble tray has steamed veggies with a small bit of cheese, chips and salsa, plain noodles, mandarin oranges, goldfish crackers and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cut into crustless bite-size pieces.

Happy Halloween

Jillian was a pretty princess this year for Halloween...which is a major holiday in Hawaii!! :) Especially compared to Alaska where it is usually too cold to want to leave home. Jillian loved her costume and wanted to wear it every moment until the big day. As soon as we got her dressed for the evening (which I waited until the last minute, right before we were about to walk out the door because I didn't want her to get anything on her dress) she decided the dress was itchy and she didn't want to wear it anymore. Ahhhhhhh! Fortunately, we convinced her that she was mistaken, the dress wasn't really that itchy after all.

To prepare, I put Jillian's hair up in hot rollers. We made eye contact in the mirror and she told me "I'm pretty". Oh, I thought that was so cute that she felt pretty doing fun things with her hair....I told her I think she is pretty ALL the time!

A local church sponsored a free Halloween party for the kids...it was massive! They had taken over the community gym and a portion of the parking lot. Outside there were games with prizes, food booths, a climbing rock wall, a couple jump houses (which we did not brave), and a DJ from a local radio station. Inside they had made a life-size Candyland game. It reminded me of a haunted house because it was so dark (Jillian even started crying when we went through the doors into the darkness), but instead of scary stuff there was a path of painted squares on canvas and colored lights and all sorts of things from the game. Along the way, girls were dressed up as game characters handing out candy. Jillian loved it!

Here is Jillian getting a piece of candy from one of the girls. Actually, I think she was supposed to be Little Red Riding Hood...she's not in the game, right?

While staying at the condo Jillian and I met another mom and her 4 year old daughter, Teegan. Monica and Teegan, dressed as a very cute Jasmine, met us at the gym for a fun evening! We arrived at opening time (6 pm) and it was already packed. By the time we left around 7, it was wall-to-wall craziness. I am so glad we went early!
By the time we got home from the gym, the 3 of us had pretty much devoured all of Jillian's candy. So, we decided to trick-or-treat the neighborhood. We walked around and visited our neighbors and replenished her candy stash. :) About half the houses were having big parties. Many families had moved their BBQ grills to the front lanai or driveway and had set up tables for their guests. At the first house we wondered, is this private get together, maybe we should skip this one. Then we learned that they were set up to see the trick-or-treaters. We think that sounds like a great idea for next year. Pull the grill out front and have a party. Want to come party with us? :)

Pumpkin Carving!

Jeremy carved Jillian's pumpkin the night before Halloween. This was her first pumpkin ever and our first since we were kids. We cleaned him out...but could have done better (you can see the stringy things in the picture hee hee)...then we toasted the seeds, yummy! :)

Jillian was very interested in what Jeremy was doing!

Kiss the pumpkin! :)

Pumpkin Patch Festival

One afternoon Jillian and I were out running around and decided to stop at a deli for lunch. We saw a flyer for a pumpkin patch festival in a town about an hour north of Kona...Kamuela. We convinced Jeremy to go and we all had a fun day. Jillian got her first pumpkin and she loves it so much! Pumpkins are a new favorite this year. We learned that the festival is an annual event sponsored by the Hawaii Preparatory Academy....we can't wait to go again next year!

The students set up a variety of games and rides...Jillian REALLY wanted to ride on a horse. Jeremy and I were too nervous for that (maybe next year) and she had to settle for a train ride. I was fine while the train did a little circle for the parents to get pictures....then he left to ride around the tents, out of my line of sight, and was gone for quite a while! I started to get a tad nervous, but all the other parents were acting like this was normal procedure. Right when I thought we should go find them, the train came back. I probably should have been paying attention to the train's travel destination from the beginning. Jillian had a ball and is still talking about her train-train ride. :)

We ended the morning with lunch and a hula performance. I can just see Jillian taking hula lessons, how fun! :)

We've Moved!

WooHoo, we have house keys! :) We did the final walk through on Friday, October 12th and were given the keys to the house! Yeah!!!! Most everything is done...a few little things remain, but we are so happy to be here!

Our first sunset. The sunsets here are gorgeous! Immediately after the sun goes down, its very dark. There is no "dusk" and so few street lights. It feels odd to be warm AND dark! :)

Number One priority: paint the garage floor. Once that was done, Jeremy and I hung the blinds.

While we were hanging blinds, Jillian was creatively learning the best way to escape. Now there are chains on every door. Jillian is going through a naked stage...I just can't keep clothes on the girl. Before we put on the chains, I caught Jillian in the front yard wearing only socks! :) We had a plumber come out this week and I had a talk with Jillian about how we were having company and needed to stay dressed for company...the minute he walked out the door she started stripping! What could I say, she stayed dressed for the company! :)

Our household goods were delivered on Monday. We had so many boxes, they couldn't fit in the house! The moving guys filled up the lanai and then the yard with the extra boxes. Jeremy and I worked nonstop to empty all the boxes and get everything inside. We weren't fast enough....by the time I got to my craft room I found a cockroach in with my scrapbooking things. Euwwwwww! I have no tolerance for bugs and the house was sprayed before we moved in...but, there is only so much you can do with the outdoors. I immediately put the box back outside and waited for Jeremy to help retrieve the remaining items from the box. I hate bugs! Alaska really spoiled me in that way!

All tuckered out and nowhere to sleep. Jillian took her nap on the blue chair while I finished unpacking in her room. Mostly she did all her own unpacking, we popped open the boxes with her toys and clothes and let her take charge! This kept her busy for hours and allowed Jeremy and I to make progress in other areas of the home. It was like Christmas in October!

South Point

After we left the turtle beach, we drove to South Point....the most southern tip in the United States (supposedly it's not the Florida Keys like many people believe). This cliff is not actually south point....but many people stop here because it is the closest you can get by car. (Unless you have a 4X4.) The point is a bit further and you hike to get there. Jillian and I opted to sit in the car and eat pie while Jeremy went for the hike....mmmm, homemade lemon creme from a local diner, yummy! :) This is a popular spot for cliff diving. In this picture you can see the old boat lifts...now being utilized as diving platforms. We saw a girl jump...Jillian looked at me horrified and said, "Mommy, she jumped the side!" Yep, she jumped off the side, but she climbed back up and was OK.

This is the metal ladder that can be used to climb back up. The water here was amazing....very, very pretty. The cliff protects the water and makes it very calm. The water is clear and you can see for hundreds of feet...which is why we read that this is a good place to snorkel. WOW, can you imagine getting your gear down and back up?

Before we left some local guys came to cliff dive.

Another jumper.

This is actually South Point. There are no cliffs here but the water is too strong for swimming.

I think this is the monument for the King who was swept out to sea.

Windmill farm on the way to the cliffs.

Punalu'u Black Sand Beach Park

Yesterday we went on a little adventure. We drove about 60 miles south to see our first black sand beach and it was very cool. We brought all our beach gear and planned to go swimming. But, it was a very windy day and the waves were crashing! We saw 2 turtles on the beach and Jillian just LOVED them! We took tons of pictures and all of us got close enough to touch them....even though we did not. After the photo shoot, we walked down the beach and saw a sign that said stay back 15 feet from the turtles...they are resting! Ooops, next time we'll be better behaved.



The sand is very fine, ground up lava. That being said, compared to normal sand, it is a bit rocky. And super HOT to walk on! Overall, the beach is very, very pretty!

Our New Home

We found a really cute house and are hoping to close on Tuesday. They have done quite a bit of work since we took these pictures...we'll get updated shots next week during the final walk through. We are very excited that Jeremy will only have a 5 minute drive to get to work...he could practically ride a bike! And we'll definitely live close enough for him to come home for lunch. And NO travel! We are just very excited, period. :)

Front of the house....Jillian is walking back up to me. She runs down this hilly dirveway so fast, it makes me so nervous!

The ocean...a bit of the view will go away, there will be 2 houses built across the street.

From the back.

Kitchen.

Dining, entry and the door to our bedroom.

Jeremy in the living room...the living area, dining area and kitchen are one room. I really love the open floor plan. :)
Jillian could live in our closet. :)

The Worst Place on Earth

We are renting a condo while we're waiting to move into our home. We don't like it here and can't wait to move. If you ever happen to find yourself coming to Kona for a visit, let us recommend that you stay away from renting anywhere from www.ownerdirect.com. Also stay away from units at Kona Sea Ridge and anyplace managed by the local managers at Property Network. To be fair, I must say that Jeremy thinks the folks at Property Network are fine. I disagree and that's way I'm glad they always call/e-mail Jeremy when they need anything. Thankfully, Jeremy has been up for complaining about all the numerous problems that have needed fixing.



As I was uploading these pictures to the blog, I thought this place doesn't look too bad. Don't be fooled. The condo smells musty and moldy. When we moved in the place was dirty and the first thing we did was spend a small fortune at Costco on cleaning supplies. The fridge has broken down twice. When we moved in all 5 smoke alarms were inop and maintenance men have been out several times working on other various little things throughout the unit. The bugs have been unbearable.....thankfully I have only found 2 small cockroaches and both were dead. We've had ants, centipedes and a horrible spider infestation. One evening, we were getting Jillian settled in bed when Jeremy saw something in her closet. It was a spider bigger than any we have ever seen...3-4 inches, as big or bigger than my fist. Jeremy rescued Jillian and I when he killed the monster. Then we noticed the closet ceiling was like a blanket of her babies....there must have been hundreds, but Jeremy will tell you more like several dozen. I could be exaggerating slightly, I just remember it being horrible. I removed all of her items from the room and proceeded to disinfect everything. We shut the door and completely duct taped all 4 edges. Jillian started sleeping with us. After 3 days, the property manager finally sent over a maintenance guy with a can of bug spray. That did nothing but motivate the baby spiders to get out of the room. After another few days, an exterminator was sent to spray the entire unit. Her room remains taped shut and she is still sleeping with us. We are too creeped out to even enter the spider room. I am not into bugs and this is going to be a hard transition for me. We think the spider was a cane spider. If you're interested, check out this site for some fantastic pictures of the beast. http://www.instanthawaii.com/cgi-bin/hawaii?Animals.cane

Kitchen and living area.

Living area.
Jillian eating lunch and watching Dora in our room.

The pool....the pool is great and almost redeems the complex.

Jeremy and Jillian having fun swimming. She LOVES the water! :)

On our way to the car, we like to count the slugs and centipedes. We usually see between 5-10 slugs and 2-5 centipedes. Jillian loves all the insects! In this picture, I thought she was pointing to a squished slug. Alas, no, she is actually touching the icky thing.