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.

The Burson's, Jillian, And The Zoo

Luke and Jillian walking down a path at the Anchorage Zoo.

This afternoon I was looking in my purse and found a camera chip. The day before we left for Hawaii, the Burson's watched Jillian so Jeremy and I could run last minute errands. They took her to the Anchorage Zoo and she had the BEST time! Tim and Joy transferred all the pictures they took that day to a chip and I placed the chip in a very "safe" place. I completely forgot about it until this afternoon. Jillian and I downloaded the pictures today and had a good time thinking about our friends that we miss so very much!



Jillian, Josh and Luke looking at the polar bears. Luke is sharing his iPod headphones with Jillian, she loves to rock! :)


Uncle Tim and Jillian


I really like this guy's hair! I think he is from the petting zoo.

Jillian snacking on some root beer. Hmmmm, who is holding the bottle for her? :)

Josh and Jillian looking at the black bear exhibit....I believe.

Jillian with 2 handsome guys.



Jillian, Josh, Aunt Joy, and Luke

Thanks guys for giving Jillian a fun afternoon to remember! She keeps asking to look at the pictures over and over. We miss you all soooooo much!

We Made It!

We made it to Kona on the Big Island! We left Alaska on August 17th and have been missing home everyday since! It is super HOT here, the temps have been high 80's (almost 90!) most days. We are soooo not used to temps that high....not to mention the humidity! :)

Jeremy and Jillian at Hapuna Beach, the first beach we visited. It was gorgeous and the waves were super strong. They knocked me over twice while I was holding Jillian! This is supposed to be a good place to boogie board....hmm, we might have to try that sometime....if I decide to be brave enough.

Jillian playing with the sand at Hapuna. She ate much sand this day! :)

We took this picture from one of Jeremy's sites. From this site you can see 3 of the other islands....Maui, Molokai and another island starting with L that I can't remember right now. It is very hard to see in this picture...but, in between the clouds and ocean is land. Maui! I could see all 3 islands surprisingly well on this day, very cool!

Summer in Alaska

A few weekends ago we decided to take advantage of a warm, sunny afternoon and took a short little car ride. We stopped along the road at a turn-off and were blessed with this amazing view!
Our destination was the Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood. We rode the tram to the top of the hill and took more photos. We watched paragliders take off from the side of the mountain and Jillian got to meet a 3 month old puppy already in training to be a rescue dog....cute!

Deep Sea Fishing

While Jillian spent the night with the Burson's, Jeremy and I drove down to Ninilchik and went halibut fishing! The day was cold and rainy and I was sick the entire time...but, we still managed to have great fun. :) Here Jeremy and I are posing in front of the fish we caught (4 belong to us, the rest of the fish belong to the other people on our boat.) If you know anything about halibut, you'll recognize these are just babies....but, we're pleased and they'll taste just as yummy! :)

This is a picture of the boat crew...just 2! Captain Keith is on the right and Tiffany, his deckhand, is on the left. Tiffany worked her butt off...she baited all the hooks and reeled in many of the fish (even one of mine when I was too sick to do so myself!). They were both alot of fun and totally made the day!

On the way back home, we stopped for ice cream at Summit Lake. Alaska is breathtakingly beautiful! We will definitely miss the amazing outdoor scenery when we move.

Jillian and The Bursonators

Last weekend Jeremy and I drove down to Ninilchik to go fishing for Halibut. Jillian had a sleepover with the Burson's...she pretty much spent 2 days and one night with them. They were so thoughtful...Jillian was in bed sleeping by the time we got home!!!!! :) She had a total blast! She had so much fun that she was too busy to talk to me every time I called. And I called approximately every 4 hours. Except through the night. In this picture, Jillian is taking a car ride, probably to McDonalds or some other super fun place.

Tim and Jillian. Sorry Tim, I know you have your eyes closed - but the picture is too cute not to post! :)

Here is Jillian coloring. This is why Tim and Joy are more fun...at home she has to take off her coat and shoes in the house and then to color at the table, I have to find a big sheet of newspaper or something to place underneath. Which is probably why coloring doesn't happen very often....and thats very sad. I think I must have too many silly nonsense rules.

Jillian in the bath. What a great picture guys!

Joy has a snowman couple in her entry. Jillian LOVES them! Here is Jillian with Mrs. (I think) Snowman, giving her a hug.

Joy has told me that when her boys were little their favorite thing to do was to go to McDonald's and play in the PlayLand. Jillian has never been before, so they took her! And let her play for hours! What an awesome idea! Joy said she had a ball and was exhausted by the time they went home. Jillian, that is. Actually, I'm sure Joy was exhausted too, Jillian is a wild thing. Luke was the hero of the day, and climbed through all the tunnels with Jillian...teaching her the ropes. :)

Thats Luke and Jillian peering out of that big ball! Thanks Luke! Can we bring you along the next time we go? :)

Jillian and a Bug

Sick Kid! Almost 2 weeks ago, Jillian caught a flu bug and out of the blue was a sick little girl. We spent many hours watching TV, reading books and sleeping.

Feeling better! After 5 days, Jillian was well enough to sit on the counter again. :)

Fun Times

Jillian playing in the ball pit! :)

Spring is here! Jeremy took this fun pic one afternoon when they were out playing on the deck. :)

Happy Easter!!!

The Burson family invited us over for Easter dinner this year. We had a ton of fun! Thanks guys!!!!! :) Jeremy missed out on the fun because he has been on Oklahoma taking a class for work. The food was amazing and the company outstanding! Thanks Burson family for a fun, fun day!

Jillian is enjoying free reign over the candy bucket...thanks Uncle Tim! Jillian has never had so much candy in her entire life as she did this one day. Thankfully, all the activity and excitement helped counteract the sugar high and she slept very well that night. :)

The meaning behind this thousand yard stare is still up for debate. Some think Jillian is in a chocolate coma. Others believe she is asking for even more chocolate. Hmmm, maybe its both -in her trance, Jillian might be saying more, more, more. :)

Josh and Jillian on a scooter. Josh and Luke play so well with Jillian and she just loves them!

Luke is excited for Easter! Or maybe its the Mountain Dew!!! :)

Jillian's honorary Aunt and Uncle, Joy and Tim, how cute are they?


Gwen Burson and Jen Withrow

Wendy Delaurentis, Tina & Bob Butcher

Missouri and Illinois

After leaving Ohio, we flew to St. Louis for a week and stayed with my Grandma.

Here is my mom, in back with her mom. I am the oldest of four and the shortest, how fair is that? I am sitting on Katie's lap. Next is Allison (with the green bead necklace) and she is holding the baby, Natalie. Natalie will graduate high school this year, young thing. :)

Poor Jeremy, hanging out with my family will lead anyone to drink. :) Sorry girls, it is so true!
The Butterfly House in St. Louis was soooooo neat! There were thousands of butterflies, everywhere. They would land on you and all around you. Inside the dome was incredibly hot and humid, Jillian's hair immediately turned to curls.

Outside the House was this fun carousel. Jillian and I just had to go for a spin.

My Dad, Grandpa John, aka PaPa. We drove to Illinois to visit my dad and see Lisa (our fav photographer). On the day we left we asked Dad to watch Jillian while we packed. I came downstairs and saw Jillian sitting on the dining room table eating Girl Scout cookies from the box.......and chocolate ones at that! And yes, this was a supervised activity. :)