Not all bugs are creepy

This little praying mantis landed on our screen door and so we went out and played with him for awhile before w elet him go. Jillian knows that these guys are friendly and and that they actually eat the yucky bugs. This guy started crawling all over Jillian and she had a great time with him!

This was the first picture that we took when he started crawling on Jillian's face and she said it tickled and could not stop laughing.

Home Sweet Home

There is no place like home!

Here is a picture that Jeremy took from the summit of Haleakala at 10,023 feet. This picture is looking southeast towards the Big Island and you can see three of the volcanoes. Mauna Kea is on the left, Mauna Loa in the middle, and Hualalai is the little one on the right. At the base of Hualalai is where Kona is at and our home.

Maui was fun and probably our favorite island of all we have been to, but there is no place like home and it was good to get back to Kona!

Yummy eats in Maui

Joy's Place in Kihei

Joy's Place is one of the spots on Maui that we went for lunch one afternoon because it got an Ono in our travel book. Ono means "good or yummy" for all you mainlanders. We also liked the name and wanted to send this picture back to our good friends the Bursons.

Jeremy was excited about going to eat at Joy's Place but it turned out that he liked the price even less than the food. The deli had a lot of organic foods (aka fruu fruu food to Jeremy) and it did not sit well with his taste buds. Jeremy is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. In this picture Jeremy is looking at the bill and giving the stink eye. Jillian enjoyed her food... she is just imitating her Dad.

Two shakas up from Jen and Jillian on the food from Joy's Place in Kihei, Maui.

The Valley Isle (Maui)

Off to Maui! Here is Jillian being silly while we are waiting at the Kona Airport for our flight to Kahului.

On our first full day on Maui we went to the Maui Ocean Center in Ma 'alaea after church. We all had an amazing time seeing all the sealife. Here is Jillian pointing to a hammerhead shark.

The Hana Highway! The tourist literature says there are over 600 turns on this road, but we're not sure how you can count turns since the road is never straight. Jillian is not feeling well in this picture from all the turns... which gave her motion sickness. Poor Jill! The sights along the road are beautiful and at the end is 'Ohe'o Gulch (aka The Seven Sacred Pools).

THE SEVEN SACRED POOLS

We took this picture at the end of our trip to the Seven Sacred Pools. If we had made the trip to Maui before Christmas then you would have been seeing this picture in all your Christmas cards instead of the one we sent from Kukio Beach.

Jeremy and Jillian went swimming in one of the pools and it was very COLD! The pools are fed with fresh water that falls as rain further up the mountain. Jillian was very brave and swam with Jeremy all the way out to the waterfall. It is very deep at that end where the water falls from the next higher pool. We're not sure how deep it was at that end, but fearless teenage boys were diving from the next higher pool.

Here is a picture looking up the falls. There are two more pools where the water is trickling down and then the others are behind us. It was tough to count all seven pools because the water flow was weak and so all the pools were not full of water.

More Oceanarium

I wanted to post more photos from the oceanarium on Maui. This place was really cool. I can't say enough about how much fun we had! :)

I took the next few photos of the shark tank. Twice a week, they let (for a fee) divers, dive with the sharks. These guys ARE wild animals - but since they are fed, they are more tame then the sharks that actually live in the wild. Jeremy and I think that diving here would be soooo neat. But, we aren't certified yet. Maybe someday before we leave.

The tank is ginormous!

This cool guy painted letters in the gift shop. Very pretty.

Daddy dives off a cliff!

Jeremy decided to dive off the cliff at south point while his family was in town. Jill and I stayed home this day. The height makes me nervous and there is NOTHING for miles to keep the little ones from jumping (or falling...) in. It is beautiful there though. The white poles in the distance are a wind farm - south point is always very windy.

Jeremy is setting up the video camera - remember the last DVD intro? If not, check it out on the Black Lab Studios page on You Tube.

Getting ready...

JUMP!

Now the hard part - climbing back up. Yuck! Shouldn't they have an elevator or something? The tide was out this day so Jeremy had to use the rope you see in the water to climb until he could reach the bottom of the ladder.

Merry Christmas!

Jillian loved opening her presents. :)

Jeremy is explaining the awesome-ness of do-rags, or whatever they are called. His fav gift from "Uncle" Peg. :)

Nana and Jillian before Christmas Eve service. Jill had to wear long sleeves because it gets chilly when the sun goes down - it probably got down to 75 degrees that night. Brrrr. She is going to freeze her little bahonka off when she goes to Alaska this June!

Snow in Kona

Jeremy and Jillian took the snow from Mauna Kea and made a snowman in our front yard! He didn't last long, but he sure was cute!

Jill, Jeremy and Aunt Eileen with our snowman.

Jillian and Nana having a snowball fight.

Jillian and Jake having a snowball fight.

Jill with snow in her hair! When Jeremy first opened the cooler it took her minute to think of "what" it was! She had forgotten "snow"!

Mauna Kea

In December, during Nana's visit, Jeremy, Jake, Justin and I went up to Mauna Kea to watch the sunset. Jeremy has been wanting to go ever since we arrived in Kona - but it is unsafe for children under 16 years old. At 16,000 feet (or so), the altitude is just too high for the little ones. We took advantage of Nana the babysitter. :) It was breathtakingly beautiful! God's world is amazing!

The summit gets so cold, it actually snows!

Jeremy and Jake filled a cooler with snow to bring back for Jillian.

Here we are: Justin, Jeremy, me and Jake. I was freezing! Most of the time, I watched from inside the warm Jeep. We had to rent a Jeep because you need a 4X4 to make it up the mountain. Everyone talks about the scary Mauna Kea mountain road - but it was nothing compared to the road to Denali. Talk about scary! Nothing we've seen in Hawaii (so far)compares to that road!

Pool Time

One of their favorite things to do during the day (and a few evenings too!) was to go swimming at the fun pool at their condo. Jillian loves to swim!!

Jeremy and Aunt Eileen sit out to watch.

Nana and Aunt Eileen

Uncle Jake is throwing Jill so high in the air. She LOVED it!

The first time I tried to get that shot, I didn't realize how HIGH she was actually going in the air and I only capture her legs in the photo. No wonder she was loving it so much - she is such an adventure girl.

Jill and Justin and Jake.

Jill and Jake

Jill and The Brothers.

Nana and Jill

Four Buckeyes in Paradise

Nana, Aunt Eileen, and Uncles Justin and Jake (AKA The Brothers) came to visit us over Christmas. Jillian was beyond thrilled! :) They were able to help us with watching Jillian while Jeremy and I had to work. During their 2 week visit, they took an insane amount of pictures. I'm not sure how many total, but we copied 1,953 photos from their chip before they left. I'm going to post a bunch on the blog - but I know I won't be able to share them all.

Nana

Auntie Eileen

Uncle Jake

Wake Up Uncle Justin!