It's a rainy Saturday morning in Puna, the kids are playing some computer (and getting along!) while Aaron is outside doing some yard-work. I woke up early this morning and went down to the beach but the wind was blowing hard and the surf was small, so I went to the tide pools and took a swim instead. It was nice, a quiet, lonely swim with coral and fish and a rather large zebra eel that hid when I swam by. Eels are always a bit exciting to see for some reason, maybe because they look so much like snakes.

I finished my first week of classes: an Education course and a computer science course that is a pre-req for the next education class I'll need to take. The education courses are all on-line, so most of the work will be done from the couch.

Thursday was open-house night at Emi's school and she had fun with that. Mostly because the playground was available, and then there were the cookies and fruit punch.

These pictures are from last weekend, when we went to the other side for a night and spent Sunday at Beach 69, right past Hapuna. It's a great place for the kids because of the sand and shade, and there is snorkeling right next to the beach. Emi spent hours with the mask and fins on, chasing fish around the rocks. Charlie even put on his goggles, but he's a bit more cautious and once the water looks like it might be over his head he wants to head back to the shore.

Thursday Morning

We're almost at the end of the third week of school (already!) and life has fallen into its school-pattern. Charlie and I keep busy in the day with projects and chores and then some sort of outing. Yesterday we went to the bank, lunch, and then the humane society. The boy loves to pet the dogs, puppies, and kittens. We can easily spend a half-hour sitting in the cat area, Charlie delighted with the kittens that climb onto his lap. He's an animal lover and his confident, gentle way with the kittens mean that they are quite happy to have him visit. Our afternoons have been busy with lots of play-time. The neighbor boys moved back from Idaho, where they were for nearly a year, and suddenly the kids are having hours-long games of tag, kick-the-can, and pretty much any game that includes running. They all end up sweaty and happy.

I've on-line a lot lately, getting signed up and ready for school myself. I'll be in UH Hilo's teaching certification program. I'm looking forward to taking a couple of courses this fall. I've also been going in to Emi's class a couple of days a week, continuing volunteering there. I really like her teacher and I love meeting all the kids in her class.

I'm off to take a walk with Sparky. We finally got a bit of a break from the intense, muggy heat we've had the past few weeks. It's a bit overcast today but the cooler air is a relief! We don't get heat waves that dry us out (at least not very often!), instead we get heat waves that come in on a flood of moist air so that the outside world seems way too much like a sauna. The pavement, in the mornings, doesn't dry out from the night-time dew. It simply steams for a good hour or two. This is, of course, why our side of the island is so lush!

Welcome to our blog-

I thought this would be a good way to keep in touch, to let everyone know the ins and outs of life here in Hawaii. With two kids things have a way of moving faster than I do and even though I love to stay in touch with family and friends in an immediate way, sometimes a second best just has to do. I've had a couple of friends set up blogs and I love having the updates, to know what is happening in their lives. I hope this can serve the same purpose for all of you.