I'm getting in a post for May at the very last minute! It would be very sad to skip a month....I'll try to do better in June. Jillian is playing with sidewalk chalk.
Tonight Jillian's friend Grace came over to play. We are swapping babysitting times with her parents for date nights. Its lovely! Jillian and Grace playing with the tricycle.
Athena made it home safe and whole, Thank God! She survived her flights and the incredible journey. She is in Hawaii and acclimating to her new environment. She is going through the same transition we went through....Hawaii is way HOTTER than Anchorage!!!!!! (Especially this time of year!!!!) She spends most of her days resting and trying to keep cool. She is a shedding monster....we have filled up over 1/2 a grocery sack with hair from brushing. We think she is also missing the Burson's a bit. Which is a good thing, I think we'd all be sad if she didn't.
Jillian is crazy about Athena! The first night was a little exciting....Jillian was whacked in the face by an Athena tail within the first 30 seconds of greeting, this was something Jillian had forgotten about Athena. Her tail is lethal!!! Jillian is acclimating to life with a dog and they are both doing great! Athena is extra gentle and tolerant with Jillian. And Jillian is loving playing with her.
At the airport....Athena flew on Aloha (cargo) from Honolulu to Kona. Here is the guy bringing Athena around on a forklift.
The kennel was much too big to fit in our trunk or back seat...even with the seats folded down. So, we improvised and strapped it to the hood. If you look closely, the 2 green dots in the windshield are Athena eyes. :) Thank goodness we live 5 miles (or less) away.
The Burson's picked up a larger kennel for Athena to fly in...she was too big for her other one! She almost looks like a small puppy in this GIANT kennel.
We are so thankful for the Burson's! They loved and cared for Athena during our move to Hawaii...she lived with them for 9 months and became part of their family during that time. They spoiled her every minute...in this picture she is sitting ON their couch! Joy tells me that Athena is allowed on all their furniture and even sleeps with Josh. Athena is a very lucky dog to have two families who love her so much!!!!!!! Thanks guys, we love you!!!!!
I took Jillian to the pet store yesterday to pick out a "welcome home" present for Athena. She chose this super cute Princess Hedgehog and takes this toy everywhere...even to naptime. :)
Jeremy is outside enjoying a vog-free, windy afternoon on the lanai. :)
Kilauea Volcano is active right now and the lava is flowing. A few weeks ago, we drove over to the park to see the lava. This made me VERY nervous....we've all seen the touristy pictures of people standing so close to the red stuff and I have no desire to be that close to red lava. Plus, protecting Jillian adds an extra level of paranoia for me. Jeremy thinks the volcanoes are so cool...he convinced me to take the trip and off we went. As soon as we arrived, I noticed the massive amount of state officials working and all the yellow barrier tape...I immediately felt at ease with the situation. They only allowed us to get so close to the flowing lava and close ended up being something like 3 football field lengths away. That was close enough for me.
We were not able to see the actual red, flowing lava enter the ocean....we could see steam on land along the path it took and then also above the water as the lava reached the ocean. This picture is of crashing waves and lava steam. It was a neat experience, a fun family road trip, and I would definitely do it again.
Not only does an active volcano create obvious lava hazards, it also emits a toxic sulfur dioxide gas that is very harmful to breathe. Right now state officials are evacuating many areas on that side of the island. On our side of the island, the SO2 gas has created a dense vog that makes the mountain and ocean around us appear hazy. Many mornings we can't even see the mountain and the ocean looks very gray (instead of blue). When we first moved in, our neighbor told me she never opens her windows and runs their A/C year round to keep the vog out. Now I know why, the dust in our home builds up fast. I should probably dust, vacuum and sweep daily. The vog dust is more like dirt....I wiped off my scrapping table the other day and the dust was thick and brown. WOW, that is what we have been breathing! And we are physically far from the active volcano! It is no wonder the state is evacuating closer residential areas.
We had a nice Easter at home this year. Jillian is still having allergic issues with pork...so we voted and everyone agreed a Costco pizza would take the place of a ham dinner. You can not imagine how unbelievably easy that was for me!!!!!! :) And Jillian thinks pizza is such a special treat.
What Daddies do for their little girls.... :) It looks like Jillian is supervising the Barbie hair brushing.
After a rest...because sadly, naps are on their way out the door...Jillian went hunting for Easter eggs. Jeremy and I both had fun hiding the eggs. He found the BEST spots...like this one...the egg was perched on top of the water fall.
My mom made Jillian a dress for her birthday this year. Jillian loves it and would wear it every day, and to bed, if I let her.
Last week a mom from my mom's group (MOPS) had an Easter Egg Hunt on their coffee farm. It was Jillian's first egg hunt ever and she had a ton of fun.
Jenny (in yellow and green) is telling all the kids to "go, go, go!".
Jillian is finding an egg under one of the coffee trees.
There are some views that simply take your breath away. This is the view from their farm...and my camera didn't even capture the entire bay.
Last week Jillian added an entire bottle of bubbles to the waterfall fountain. After that all of her toys had to take a bubble bath....Jillian is just finishing up with Barbie. :)
I took Jillian to see the dentist for the first time last week. I thought I was early in doing this...but, the dental assistant informed me that I was actually LATE!!!!!, that children should see a dentist as soon as they start getting their teeth. Hmmm, ya learn something new every single day. :)
Jillian had a complete blast...she loved the sucking tool, they called it "Mr. Thirsty". She loved it so much they gave her the top piece that is replaced with every patient to take home and play with. She says "Look Mama, it's Mr. Thirsty!" :) Jeremy was a tad embarrassed that I actually had the nerve to take the camera into the dental exam room. Of course I did....he was still in OKC on this day, so he wasn't subjected to my obsessive-every moment is a photo op behavior! Hee Hee!!!! :)
Last week was Jillian's birthday...she turned 3 years old! When asked, "how old are you?" Jillian would answer, "Three in March!" I thought that was so cute. Jeremy was traveling for work over her birthday, which was a little sad to celebrate without him. So we had two celebrations, one with just mom and one with mom and dad....which was a total score for Jillian. The night before her birthday she slept with me and in the middle of the night I snuck into her room to set up the new table and chairs and the rest of her presents. That morning I made her wear a blindfold to add to the suspense.
I wanted to make a Barbie birthday cake....the kind of cake that has the barbie doll on top and the cake is decorated to be her skirt. Jillian and I went to the store and picked out her first Barbie. I used my oven-safe mixing bowl to bake the cake....it took 2 boxes and almost 2 hours to bake!!!! When cooled, I wrapped Barbie's legs in press and seal wrap and stuck her down into the cake. The cake was tall enough to just cover her knees....and not even close to her waist where we needed. If I had another mix, I would have made another round cake to sit as a pedestal and add extra heighth. Bummer, I'll do better next year.
Jillian LOVES bugs! She gets so excited every time she sees a bug and here in Hawaii that's alot! :) We try to point out the icky ones (like scorpions and centipedes) so that she knows what they look like and what to do when she sees one......get Mom and Dad! Many mornings we'll wake up to find a cockroach in the garage.....gross, gross, gross. Jillian LOVES it and wants to give them hugs and kisses. She is allowed to "blow" hugs and kisses to the bugs....but not directly touch them. Bugs, especially roaches, creep me out beyond reason and I am trying soooo hard not to pass my fears on to her! They are usually no longer alive, so we sweep them into the yard where the grass is a much nicer place for them to sleep.
There is this amazing park just south of town. One afternoon we went to play there and Jillian met a little girl with a very long and hard to pronounce Hawaiian name. She told Jillian that everyone calls her A'oo. She was very sweet and took Jillian by the hand and showed her all the best things to do. Jillian now refers to this place as A'oo's playground. :)
One afternoon we met Teghan and Monica there to play. The girls had fun swinging.
And talking.
Jillian is climbing on a ship.
Jeremy is holding a mongo butter cream avocado we found at one of the farmer's markets. YUM!! Allie, how does this compare to the ones in Costa Rica?
The next day we went back and found this little unmarked road that actually lead to the service entrance for the hotel. At the end of this road, past the service entrance, was A-Bay. This is my favorite beach so far....the coconut trees are so pretty and provide awesome shade! Now the sand here is not the best...its a little rocky. Jillian is sporting her Spiderman band-aids, her favorite!
A Bay is easier to say.
Jen and Jillian standing in front of the coconut trees.
Jeremy and Jillian standing in the ocean. The waves here were very calm...but they still made Jillian nervous. She wouldn't go in alone. Actually, none of us went swimming....the water was toooooo cold!
There was this wall of sand that extended the entire length of beach...all the way up to the next hotel. I'm not sure what purpose it served...maybe to keep the tides from coming in too far? There was enough beach in front of the wall to play and sit. I wanted to stay in the shade though. I am turning into my grandmother with sun paranoia.
When we first moved here I saw a postcard of this beautiful place called A-Bay and ever since then I have wanted to go. We read about A-Bay in our favorite guidebook, Hawaii: The Big Island Revealed and it was highly recommended. This past weekend we went on a mission to find A-Bay. There was a sign from the highway, but when we turned off into Hilton Waikoloa Village, there were no more signs directing us to the bay. So we parked at Hilton's public shoreline access and hiked along the trail to another hotel. The hike was beautiful and the path ran parallel to the ocean. The path was mostly made of white coral rocks. By the time we reached the Marriott, I was tired....I had been carrying Jillian...and ready to turn back, even though we had not made it to the bay.
Along the way we stopped to take a few pictures.
When we left in the morning, it was a little chilly and Jillian was a sleepy girl. We brought Gi-Gi (her fav blanket) and a pillow in hopes that she would nap in the car. She doesn't look too comfy, does she?
Inside the park is a beautiful area for picnicking. The tide pools there are very neat! Fish are washed into the shallow-ish pools with the tide. We have friends who've seen an octopus one day in a tide pool here. Sadly, this day there were no fish. We'll just have to try again on another day.
Thought I'd add one more picture from my recent trip to the mainland. On Christmas Eve my sisters and I drove from St. Louis, MO to Chatham, IL (near Springfield) to see Dad, his girlfriend Leslie and her kids Graycen and Colton. I didn't have any pictures from our trip until I commandeered this one from my sister's blog...thanks Allie! :)
