More Pictures of Hawai’i

June 9th, 2007

On Thursday we made a trip to the southern most tip of the island, and consequently, the southern most tip of the US (yes, contrary to what you may think, it’s not in Florida!). What is at the southern most tip?

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Windmills, three rows of broken down, rusty windmills. Further off was a row of more modern, functioning windmills. It was quite windy, and so they want to harness some of that energy somehow!

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Blue ocean… the picture doesn’t do it justice, but the water was a deep sapphire blue. So beautiful.

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And a rocky, rugged coastline.

Two and a half miles from the southern most tip, there’s a very unique beach that we really wanted to see. It’s a green sand beach. The pictures, again, don’t do justice, but on closer look, we did find the sand to be actually green. It was soooo weird!

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Here’s a picture of the green sand beach. To reach the beach, there was a steep path down a rocky cliff… not exactly the sort of thing a pregnant person would want to do, so we didn’t make it down to the actual beach.

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Here’s an idea of what that cliff was like.

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After persuasion from Andrew, we made our way to a rocky beach, which had some green sand, though it wasn’t the main green sand beach. There, Andrew searched for the semi precious green stone which makes the sand green. There were small chunks of it in the cliffs around the beach.

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This is the cliff that we had to climb down in order to get to the rocky beach. It was really dirty.

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Our feet, our legs, our hands, our arms were all covered in dirt once we got back from our 5 mile hike and our trip to the rocky beach. It was quite the adventure!

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Our lizard friends still liked us, even though we were dirty.

Last night, we went to one of the resort hotels on the beach, and went to see the turtles come out of the water for the night at the hotel’s bar. We sat on a little patio over the water, and there were lights shining on the water so that we could see beautiful tropical fish swimming by as we had our drinks. It was hard to get any good pictures, but we did see lots of turtles and fish. We also got to enjoy yummy tropical drinks while listening to authentic Hawaiian music. Andrew had a passion margarita, and I had a virgin lava flow drink, which was a pina colada with a yummy strawberry syrup at the bottom. It was so fun! Tonight we might try going to another hotel down the beach, where you can watch manta rays swimming at night. Andrew wanted to go snorkeling with the manta rays, but I have to admit that I’m not that comfortable with that idea. Maybe next time we’re in Hawaii, we’ll bring along someone who will go with him :o).

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If you look closely, you can see a really pretty Moorish Idol fish in this picture

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My yummy drink. Doesn’t it look neat?

That’s all for now! We have two more full days here, and then we’re back home to see our sweet little boys again. As fun as Hawaii has been, I’ve really, really missed them. We’ll be home soon…

Hawai’i

June 7th, 2007

10:09pm, Wednesday, June 6, 2007. This is our fifth night on the island. The sound of frogs or some other tropical creature that makes chirping sounds is emanating from outside of our room. The fan is on, which is good because it seems to put at least a small dent in the runaway mosquito population. Suffering with slightly-slower-than-back-home Internet access and a non-HD TV in alternating freezing and sweltering constant 75 degree weather has been our life for the last few days. Then there are the Others. In line ahead of us at the store, clogging the roadways during rushhour and swimming around us at the beach. It’s been terrible. Absolutely awful.

Okay, so maybe not quite so bad. But it’s definitely been different. We’re staying in Kona, a lush part of the island. The terrain is definitely tropical. Banana trees, all sorts of weird flowers and fruits and palm trees all around us.

Here’s sunset from where we’re staying, overlooking the town.

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Some parts of the island are just old lava flows. In fact quite a bit of the south-eastern part of the island is either recent or current lava flows. Here’s an idea of the contrast.

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Other parts (like Hilo on the eastern side) look similar.

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The trees are beautiful.

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As are all the colorful flowers…

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Yesterday, we spent much of the day exploring the island. One of the most spectacular sights was crossing the island on Saddle Road. It’s one of the few [only?] roads that cuts across the central part of the island between two of the massive mountains. It was built in the 1940’s by the military for strategic purposes (i.e. hastily and carelessly). Although they’re currently trying to fix it and have significantly upgraded part of it, much of the road is essentially a 55 mph single lane road. All the bridges have yield signs and car rental agencies have a specific clause denying insurance coverage on that stretch. The views are amazing. It alternates between stark…

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and terrain that looks very unlike Hawaii…

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Horse farms and the largest cattle ranch in the U.S. seem very out of place.

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It’s been a lot of fun so far, but we’re missing our little guys back home. We’ve heard conflicting reports of their behavior and we’re now unsure what to believe. We’re thinking about adding another member to the family. Patrick and Sammy, want a sibling pet? They’re cute AND they can help you save up to 15% on car insurance!

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We miss everyone at home and although it’s fun to be away we’re already kind of wanting to get back. Until then,

Getting my two cents in…

June 6th, 2007

Hi. I’m Patrick. My close friends and family call me “Pat-Rat”, but I’m starting to catch on that being called that is not a good thing… hm.

So.. what is up with this Sammy stuff? How embarrassing!!! Do all of you really believe what he has to say?

Sometimes I don’t even want to be seen with him… he is that ridiculous!

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Well.. despite whatever Sammy said in the last post, I would like to declare that I, in fact, I have been a very good boy.

I am teaching my aunties a very important life lesson on how hard it is to have kids… in hopes that I can keep down the amount of grandchildren. That way I can always be the spoiled grandchild!! (muwahah! Don’t tell them!)

On the grandparent note.. I have been taking good care of my Opa Feucht, because I hear he is not feeling too well. 🙁 So I make sure I behave around him to help him get better. I love you, Opa!

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I guess Sammy also is trying to help him feel better too…

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but Sammy doesn’t matter.

Anyways, Auntie Rachie and Auntie Dee-Dee found out my secret… I am obsessive compulsive!

Every night after my aunties tuck me in, I secretly turn on the lights, and line my blocks up in my bed in a unique and orderly fashion.

Since my blocks are on the bed, I sleep on the floor. Yes, I was caught on camera:img_4528.JPG

Why do I do it? I’ll never tell.

I really don’t mind sleeping on the floor anyways. As long as I have my Duck-Dog I’m happy:

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Well… since the weather has been cooler lately, I can’t play in my pool. It makes me grumpy, and when I’m grumpy, I get spankies. Spankies aren’t any fun.

Speaking of spankies, I’m probably am going to get one if they catch me playing on mommy’s computer.

But just remember, I am just as innocent as the little suck-up Sammy:

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(Look at his shirt! It says “brown-noser” all over it!)

(If you’re having trouble reading it, it says “With this smile I can get away with anything!”)

Well I hope this little misunderstanding is sorted out. It ‘s time for me to go to “sleep” aka block-arranging. Unfortunately, Auntie Rachie cleaned up my room so I have to go find out where she put all my blocks. GRR.

we miss our mommy and daddy!

June 3rd, 2007

hi my name is sammy.

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perhaps you have heard about me – my mommy loves to write about me on this blog.

well my mommy and daddy left me… for hawaii! how could they do that to me!

at first i was a little sad… that’s for sure. but then i found out that i get to stay with my two favorite aunties in the whole wide world!

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rachel had a friend over for a few days. her name is laura and she was nice. they let me play in my brother’s pool for awhile.

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later that night rachel and laura made sure that my brother and i got our baths. i love baths. here is laura and me:

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i’m being a very good little boy. my brother (on the other hand) has a severe case of seperation anxiety. he sent these pictures to my mommy and daddy the day they left:

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he got a bath too… but i’m pretty sure he needed it a lot more than i did.

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maybe he enjoyed it a little too much…

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auntie rachie and auntie dee dee make sure that patrick and i get fed – it takes a lot of eating for me to keep my fat rolls looking as good as they do.

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well, i better get going before auntie rachel and auntie dee dee realize that i’m playing with my mommy’s expensive computer.

to end, here is a picture of me and my two aunties. oh – and my brother displaying his cranky side… er… i mean his separation anxiety:

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just kidding. we are ALWAYS happy.

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well, mommy and daddy we miss you, but don’t worry! auntie rachie and auntie dee dee are doing a super job of keeping me and patrick happy.

love, sammy aka mee-mee or the samster

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