Saturday March 3 Update

Okay, I’m rested. I figured it out! Dana, thanks for leaning me toward the card reader, but that’s over my head. The cord is coming, so that’ll be good. It dawned on me tonight that I could put the card into my old camera and upload it to the computer using that old camera and cord. Duh. I am so stumbling along, but I’m making it! Here are pictures we took today! This first one is Garrett and Elena.

Here’s little miss Elena having a wide awake moment:

She’s smiling, again, here. She’s such a charmer.

Okay, I’m happy, now. I can use the pictures! All is well, here. I’m having a time remembering to take my meds without the alarm on my phone to remind me. UGH. Bob is such a dear, though; he has it on the way to me. I’m totally confused about the time, anyway because we are on Easter Standard Time, here. Coming from Hawaii Time; it has me totally in a fog about time. The rest of the fog has cleared, though. A couple of good sleep nights were wonderful!

Tonight Gretta went to a fun raiser and Joe took Garrett to do some Laser thing he wanted to do. So, we got to BABY-SIT Elena! How fun was THAT?! She was perfect and didn’t need us a bit. Daddy and Garrett got home in time to feed her a bottle Mommy had pumped. She drained that and was still hungry, so I got to feed her a drink of water and she was great with that. Mommy got here just in time to make her really happy. She is really a good baby! Well, you could just ask her Grammy. Ha!

BTW, it’s snowed off and on all day here. Of course Don and I are whining. It would never have done for us to spend the winter here at home. We are becoming snowbirds and wondering where we will go for the winters for the rest of our lives. We’re not liking the idea of spending them anywhere cold!

Thank God for grandkids! I remember my grandparents with such love; I hope ours will think of us the same way. I love you all, too. Thanks for keeping up with us.

PS: The rest of the story is that I can't get connected to get this sent. Ugh. Technology is making me late, but I'll get it out sooner or later. Thanks for hanging tough with me!

Saturday March 3 Update

Here’s the deal. I’m doing good to get a message on today, so be patient with me about pictures, please! We made it just fine to Gretta’s house last night. After admiring Elena and exchanging hugs with everyone we crashed and slept until 10 this morning. I can’t believe I’m in a house with a 10-day-old baby and two huge labs, and two cats and it was the BIRD that woke me up! The bird was meowing! All is well here. God is showing off; we have snow. I’m asking Him to help me to appreciate that it’s not sticking instead of wishing for warm Hawaii weather. He’s working with me; He’s so good!

Elena is absolutely adorable. She had an appointment to check her weight at the pediatrician yesterday and she’s up to 5 lbs. 4 oz. That’s 2 ounces above her birth weight, so that’s good that she’s back up from her initial loss. She’s amazing.

I found a new cable for my camera on ebay and it’s already been shipped, so pictures will be back on here before too long. Right now , I’m going to concentrate on Elena and Garrett while we’re here.

Today I taught Garrett to play Boggle and Cribbage. He’s pretty amazing too. I’m out of here to go play with my grandkids. You go enjoy whoever is most special in your life, too! Love from us!

Thursday March 1 Update

Whew! I’m ready for that nap! Is this a precious picture of Elena and Dad napping or what? I love it and can hardly wait to see them.

We have made it to the mainland. We had a WONDERFUL visit with Trish and family and then headed east. We stopped to get a sandwich for Don to eat on the way and by the time we got out it was too dusky for either of us to see and drive smart. We were so sleepy and tired and then had blurred vision from wearing motion sickness patches. It would have been stupid to drive. So, we got a motel room on the edge of town so we can head straight out at 6 or so in the morning.

I sat down to do the blog and realized I didn’t have the camera box! I have the camera in my pocket, but the connections to the computer are in the box I just got when I traded the camera yesterday on our way to the airport. After I searched all the bags, not remembering where I’d put it, we finally remembered that we stuck it up with the carry on bags on the plane. DIDN’T bring it off the plane with us! UGH! So, I’ve searched to find how to notify lost and found, etc. So, you wont’ have my pictures for a while, unless Dana can walk me through how else to get them online. I know I can fill up the card and go have a cd made. That’ll work, but it’s time consuming. Maybe I can find a cord that will work to buy, but I doubt it. I can still report and send pictures from Gretta’s house if she takes them with her cell phone like the one above.

What a fiasco this trip has been. It’s been safe, but frustrating. I left the cell phone in Bob’s car, so we don’t have a cell phone. Ugh. He’s mailed it to Gretta’s already, though, so I’ll have that soon. That’ll make me feel better because all my numbers are in there. I don’t even know how to call anyone if I find a pay phone! I hate to be so hooked and dependent on that phone, but I sure appreciate it.

For tonight I’m taking a bath and going to bed! Tomorrow I can think more clearly, I hope. Those patches will wear off. I pray we don’t have bad weather for driving. Terri, pray for those travel mercies, again!

Love you all! Thank goodness God is looking after us. If He weren’t watching out for me I’d probably get lost from Don!!!

Tuesday Feb 27 Update

I’m almost ready for bed. We’ve got the place all ready except for the last minute things tomorrow. Then we’ll hit the road and head for Kona. We have some things to do around here in the morning, then we’ll have lunch and leave. We’ll probably do some last minute whale watching on the way to Kona, and then we’re making a last minute trip to Wal-Mart to trade in the new camera, which isn’t working right. (The lens cover won’t close, and I replaced the last one because of the damaged lens, so I’ve got to get this replaced.). Then we have to be at the airport at 5:30pm to leave at 7:30pm. We’ll be in Houston tomorrow a little after 9am and we hang around there for nearly 4 hours. I hope Don can sleep; no doubt I can. We’ll get to OKC around 4 and Trish will pick us up and take us to grab hugs from all her family before we head off toward Louisville. We’ll spend the night somewhere on the way and be in Louisville Friday night! Whoopee!!!

As I reflect back on this trip, I know that the best part was the folks who came to share it with us. Pictured below are: Jo and Sam with Don; Susan and David; Tom and Linda; and Jerry and Doris with Don.

We had some rain and some wind, but we had lots of very warm weather compared to the ice age happening at home. We thought we were in heaven the whole time. Thanks so much to everyone who came and helped to make this time special. Thanks so much to Bob and Dee for opening their home to us and even furnishing us with a kitty to keep my feet warm at night and one to hug me when I do laundry. They are wonderful company, but don’t meet up to the great folks who came; we all felt at home here.

I’m checking out and will be back as soon as possible. Tomorrow night I’ll be on the plane, so there may not be an update tomorrow; maybe I can write one in the Houston airport while we wait, though. We’ll see what happens, but don’t worry if you don’t see anything new tomorrow. Here’s one last picture of our newest grandbaby smiling in her sleep; I still think she looks like me because she’s short and she loves to sleep. J Praise God for her and all our family and friends. I thank Him for all our safe travels, safe births, and for our safekeeping during this time. I ask Him to guide me through winning over this cancer and to guide us all through each day as we face new challenges in a way that is pleasing to Him. I love you all.

Is she precious, or what??? She’s precious Elena Morgan! J

Monday Feb 26 Update

Okay. Looking to the future. This tree house is where we may be house sitting this fall. Just kidding. The tree house is in the yard, but the cottage lanai (porch) is on the left and the cottage is below:

I love this little place. The house is little, but the yard is 3 acres. She says the rams will do the ‘mowing.’ Don would love THAT! Here are the 3 acres in front of the cottage and the view from the lanai:

The lady who lives on this place was painting Bob’s house the first month that we were here. We enjoyed knowing her and she liked the way we kept Bob’s place. Her place will be lots easier to keep. She hasn’t determined exactly when she is going, so she’s got details to fine tune. Also, Bob may need us to come again in the fall. If we could work two house sitting ‘jobs’ into one flight over and back, that would be nice. I sure wish it could be in the winter, again. It’s been wonderful to miss all that cold weather! I’m just dreaming to think we could do this again, but somebody has to do this stuff! I’m not sure where we’ll be with my cancer come fall, so we have those details to fine tune, as well.

I will go for a full body thermogram on March 6^th in Florence, KY. That will tell us the status of the cancer in my breast and it will determine if it is anywhere else in my body. That will give us the information we need to know how to plan our attack when the meds I’m taking are finished. I am in the 13^th week of this 16-week protocol, so it’s time to look at what happens next.

I’m still losing hair, but I must grow it nearly as fast as I lose it. It’s thin, but it works and I’m content with it. It doesn’t fly past me in the wind anymore, so maybe it’s not falling out so much. I feel just fine and I have enough energy to walk and hike and clean. I do lots of exercise because that’s important for the de-toxing my body needs to be doing. The more I can sweat the better, I think. I’m really good at sweating. One of my old boyfriends reminded me that girls ‘glow,’ not sweat. I’m really glowing these days. I haven’t worn make-up for 3 months, so it’s sure easier to wipe the glow off my face. I think I’m going to keep up the no make-up habit.

Don got the yard mowed today and I swept the garage and workshop. We washed the car and the truck. Tomorrow we’ll get the inside of the house in perfect order and pack. Then Wednesday we leave. We’ve kept things pretty much in order all along, but at the last I want to leave it like we found it; without a smear or dust anywhere. We’d love to have this opportunity again, so we do the best job we can. Don has been an angel to do all the outside work and he runs the vacuum for me inside! What a partner! No wonder I’m feeling so good; he’s doing all the hard work! God bless him and all of us! I love you for caring.

Sunday Feb 25 Update

Today you get the ‘out takes:’ the pictures we didn’t show before but I bring them out now because we’ve run out of exciting ones. J

The first one is a little gecko buddy I found in Serena’s bedroom today. I was practicing my macro photography and he was just the thing for it! He is really only about an inch and a half long. This picture makes him look huge, but he’s not. They live in the house and eat bugs and spiders. I don’t think he’s had many, yet. The next picture is one Doris took when they were here. It tells you something about her personality. I asked her to take a picture of us, so she took it from the back so we’d have the ocean in the background. Yes, this is Don’s sister, so that makes sense, right? At least it proves that only Jerry has a bald spot, yet. It also proves that my rump is about the same size as Don’s. All this proof is a little tiresome to me. J Doris has a great sense of humor, and I’m working on mine. J This is a picture of us watching for whales.

Things are a little boring around here with no company. We worked around the house today getting things ready to pack. I packed one box to send to Tricia’s house with our papers in it, hoping to keep the weight out of our suitcases, so we don’t have to sweat that weight problem. It’s tricky figuring out what to wear home to 40 degrees when we are leaving from 80 degrees. I’m taking layers in my carry on so that we can be warm in the plane and won’t freeze when we land until we can get coats out of the car. We’ll be heading straight to Kentucky, after we collect hugs at Tricia’s house. We hope to be able to make it to Joplin or Springfield and then drive the rest of the way on Friday. We hope we don’t have to slow down too much for jet lag, but we’ll do whatever we have to do to be safe. I’ll keep you posted the best we can. I love you all. God bless and be with us all!

Saturday Feb 24 Update

Well, we’re getting ready to leave, so we’re making sure everything is in order. The first picture is NOT from this property. It’s an entertaining place we pass on the highway nearly everyday. Of course it is very entertaining to someone with very little hair. I have enough hair to get by, so I’m not complaining, but this place has always caught my eye.

The other pictures are of the girls’ rooms here at the house. It’s a very welcoming, lovely home, and it’s been our pleasure to live here for two months. The cats are dear. The cows are, too. I would never make a good farmer’s wife; I get attached to all the animals! This isn’t a farm, by any means, but dealing with the cows has been a lesson to me. We’ve been so blessed to have this opportunity to escape at a time when we needed it more than we realized. It’s been fun to have company and share this great opportunity.

Thank you all for keeping an eye on the blog and keeping up with us. I’ll continue the blog, but there may be some spaces, as we will be traveling the 28^th – March 2^nd. I doubt if I will have computer access during that time, so please take no news as good news. As soon as I can I will be online for sure. It might get really boring when we get home. We’ll see. Trish is so good to keep me posted. I hope she will show me how to do it when we get home so she can have a break. I love you all!

Friday Feb 23 Update

These are more of our brother-in-law, Jerry’s photos. I meant to put these on the site yesterday, but I got so excited about the whales I forgot to do it! These pictures were so good of the volcano. The first one is of the flow coming down the side of the mountain. That is about what we usually can see, after it gets dark, but you can see that it wasn’t even dark when Jerry got these pictures! The second picture is where the lava is flowing into the ocean, plus you can see if falling down the cliff over to the left. We were sitting across the way on another point to view this. Two years ago Don and I hiked 3 miles out over the lava to see this because you couldn’t see if from this point. Three weeks ago, David and Susan hiked out there to see it, too. We couldn’t believe we could get such a good view just from the ranger station, and Jerry could get such a good shot.

The pictures don’t do the real site justice, but it’s the best we can do. Thanks to Jerry for sharing these shots. I don’t do near that well with my photography. It’s so awesome to get this first hand look at God’s handiwork. We have awesome sunsets and great mountains and wildlife at home, but these things are unfamiliar and exciting to us.

Today, Don and I hiked down to the ocean several miles, again. I think he’s wearing me out, but I don’t give up easy. It’s really good for me to hike like this and it’s great for de-toxing. He’s a great trainer. We’ll miss this when we get home! This time next week we’ll be on the mainland and holding our new grandbaby. Woo-Hoo! I love you all!

Thursday Feb 21 Update

Now, THESE are awesome whale pictures. They’re nothing compared to grandbaby pictures, but they are such great whale shots! These are a couple of shots that Jerry, my brother-in-law got when they were here. I was right there with him, but I am just not that quick on the trigger. They just got home today and he’s already got these pictures to us. Is he awesome or what? The second shot is not one, but TWO whale tales in one shot. Wow! The first one is a complete breach right beside a boat, watching the whale. Pay attention to the SIZE of that whale compared to the boat with a load of people; that gives you an idea how big that whale is! I was proud of my pictures of the geckos until I got these!

Today Don and I hiked to the ocean from the highway, looking for an ever better place to watch for whales. I did two hikes and took a break while Don did the middle one by himself. How he keeps going, I’ll never know; I had to rest. Anyway, they were all pretty hard hikes and we are pretty worn out. It was good for us, though. The best part was the last hike. We got so close to some whales that we could HEAR their blows. It was way awesome. They didn’t breach for us, but did they ever blow! There are a couple of other hikes that Don wants to do Saturday. Tomorrow Don’s friend (and his wife) from high school and college, who retired on the eastern side of the island are coming to see us. We’re looking forward to their visit.

Our Baby Doll went home with her Mommy today, so she is spending her first night in her house with her Daddy and big brother tonight. We can’t wait to see them! We praise God for her and all the other 13 grandbabies and the one on the way. How blessed are we! We love you all, too; thanks for checking on us.

Wednesday Feb 21 Update

There is no way I can follow yesterday’s picture of Elena. She is too much the dolly. Just wait until we get there and I take a million pictures of her! I promise not to put them all on the blog, but there will be some more! In the meantime you’ll have to put up with what is entertaining me.

My good friend, Dana, keeps prodding me about my pictures. I finally discovered the delight of taking a macro picture, thanks to her guidance. I had some fun today taking pictures of things up close and personal. The first one is some of the sea glass I collected a couple of weeks ago.

The next one is a ruby throated gecko I saw out the kitchen window. He was so cool! Gabe, these pictures are for you! I thought I saw a red leaf on the tree and did a double take because there aren’t supposed to be read leaves on that tree. Upon closer inspection I saw that it was this guy blowing a red balloon with his throat. I was so excited! I grabbed the camera and took a couple of shots through the window that didn’t work. I went outside and snuck up on him and got the second shot.

He discovered me clicking at him, and he began running around the tree. I ran around the tree, too! Then just when I was so proud I had caught up with him, I realized there was ANOTHER one between him and me!!! The second one is a darker green than the lime colored one I was chasing. I gasped and clicked and GOT them both! I was so excited and proud to get these shots. It was nothing like the pride and excitement over a new granddaughter, but it had to do for today. I wish I could have got him blowing up his throat, but he wasn’t going to let me get that excited. I’ll keep an eye out for him and maybe I’ll get that throat, yet.

Doris and Jerry left today, so we hung around here and Don caught up on some paperwork while I worked in the yard and chased geckos. Before Doris and Jerry left we went whale watching and they took us to Tres Hombres for lunch. We never made it with them to the favorite hike; it was too windy, and they were content with not fighting the wind and watching whales instead.

Tomorrow Don and I are going exploring for new hikes to the ocean. We’ll watch whales, too. We love that! We love you, too! God bless you.

Tuesday Feb 20 Update

This is the only picture you will see to day on this site. It’s all that we think matters, today. Elena Morgan DeSantis has arrived and is our little prize and beauty! You can see how tiny, but alert she is as she poses for the camera in her mommy’s hands shortly after she was born just after 4 p.m., today. She weighs 5 pounds, 2 ounces and is 16 inches long. I think that qualifies me to say that she looks like ME; at least she’s SHORT!

Her brother, Garrett, says she looks like a baby burrito all wrapped in that blanket. Does that tell you where his mind is? He takes after his Poppy (“What are we eating for lunch?”) He was very proud of her pretty little hands and long fingers. Gretta says when you take her hat off she has a LOT of hair. I can’t wait to see that; the hat is cute, but I want to see all of her and hold her ASAP. Hawaii is looking less and less inviting! We miss everyone, but this new one is really pulling us home!

We are doing fine, here. Today our clothes are fitting really tight because we are bursting with pride over this little sweetie. She’s our 7^th granddaughter and 14^th grandbaby. We couldn’t be prouder or more pleased. We give thanks to our heavenly Father for this wonderful blessing to our whole family. Gretta is doing fine; she sounds like a million dollars; I know this baby means even more than that to her. They have company out the ears, so I guess it’s good I’m not there hogging all the cuddling. We’ll be there in 10 days! Everyone move over; Grammy is on the way!

Congratulations, Gretta, Joe, and Garrett! Love and blessings to everyone.

Monday Feb 19 Update

So, this is the wild life in Hawaii: the first picture is Don and I posing with what we call a ribbon tree because the roots look like ribbons. The second one is a couple of little goldfinches that let me get really close. The third is an uncommon shot of a mongoose. They usually move too quickly for me to get a shot. Maybe this is one reason I like Hawaii: there are no snakes or poison ivy so our hiking is pretty safe if we can just stay on our feet!

Today we went into Kona and stopped and saw great whale shows going and coming. We can’t get enough of the whales. We still had lots of wind today, so we didn’t hazard the ‘favorite hike.’ We’ll do that tomorrow if possible.

We had a nice lunch at the Kona Inn today, right on the beach. That’s where we saw the goldfinches. The mongoose was on Alii Blvd in the yard of one of the churches. The shot of Don and I with the ribbon tree came from yesterday’s ‘storybook hike.’

Doris and Jerry leave Wednesday, then we will be getting the yard and house in order to leave. We’ve kept it up all along, but we want to leave it as perfectly for Bob as he left it for us. It’s sure been a great haven for us.

Love you all and God bless!

Sunday Feb 18 Update

Today’s pictures are of weddings we’ve enjoyed since we’ve been here. The one in the first picture was taken last week when we stumbled upon a wedding at the chapel at the Hilton. The second picture is the wonderful couple from Alaska that gave us lays when we enjoyed their wedding at Mahukona Beach. The last picture is of their wedding party at Mahukona.

These are among some of the very fond memories we have of this trip. It’s a fun thing to renew our vows when someone else gets married. We wish the very best for these couples and thank them for letting us enjoy their weddings with them.

We took the ‘storybook hike’ today with Doris and Jerry. Then Jerry went snorkeling at Spencer Park Beach. It was the prettiest I’ve ever seen Spencer Park Beach. I should have taken a picture, but I was taking the day off from pictures, I guess. It has been way windy here, but for some reason it was very peaceful at Spencer Park. The winds are tricky to us. We don’t get exactly now they work. They DID blow down two 5 gallon buckets full of grapefruits, though, so I had my work cut out for me when we got home. Doris was a doll and helped by cutting them for me. I’m sure going to miss this juice when we leave!

Today has been another good whale day. We see lots of breaches, anymore. I think February must be when they breach the most. At any rate, you can tell, it’s very addictive watching whales!

We are doing just fine and enjoying every moment God gives us in this paradise. We’ll enjoy every moment when we get home, too . . . if we can stay warm. Neither of us is looking forward to facing the cold! We’re anxious to face our new grandbaby, Elena, though. She hasn’t made her entrance, yet, but she is very close to ready. We can hardly wait to see her. She’s a good draw to get us back to the mainland. We’ll be so glad to see all our family and friends! We love you all. God bless.

Saturday Feb 17 Update

Today was way windy. It was just the trade winds, and not Kona winds, but it was too windy to hike or even watch whales for long. We did watch whales and saw lots of good breaches, but it was just really hard to keep our hats from blowing away! So, we took another easy day. That was fun, too! We went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant and saw a beautiful sunset from there. Of course we started the day out at the banyan tree and picked up deserts for the others since I’m not making any such thing anymore. It was too windy for much to be happening at the banyan tree, even!

The pictures today are of the people who weave baskets and roses out of coconut palm leaves. There are only 5 people on the island who know how to do this, plus this young girl, Courtney, who is learning. They are very nice people. The rose in the top picture is the rose I got for Tom and Linda Rose who were here with us for 10 days. Tom found Courtney on the beach working on a basket one day, but she can’t make roses, yet. We found her aunt and uncle up at Pololu the other day and he made the rose for us. I think they are beautiful. Gretta bought a basket from them when she was here a couple of years ago. These people are really wonderful people. It’s amazing to watch them work.

We’re enjoying this weather, even when it’s windy. We know it’s better than at home. We love you all and hope you are staying warm. I love you and thank you for caring to stop and check on us.

Friday Feb 16 Update

Today we took an easy day. We went whale watching and then went to Hapuna Beach. It was choppy on the ocean, so we didn’t see as many whales as usual, but we had several breaches up close to us. They are so amazing! The wind was so hard at Hapuna Beach that we didn’t stay long. It felt like we were getting sand blasted. We did walk the length of the beach once and stayed until Doris was afraid she was getting past enough sun. So, we came home and got the laundry done and juiced before the grapefruit could get ahead of us. J How blessed we are! The juice is wonderful; I’m sure going to miss it when I get home and don’t have fresh juice!

The pictures today are from yesterday’s exploring. The first one is Don, Doris and Jerry at Waipio Valley Lookout. The second one is of a beautiful Japanese garden in Hilo where we had our picnic lunch. The third one is Doris, Don and Jerry right on the edge of the crater of the volcano. You can see the steam coming up behind them.

Remember: you can see more details in these pictures if you’ll double click on them. Have a great weekend; I hope you are warm. Think of this: God loves us everyday, way more than any Valentine’s card can say. It blows me away how much He loves us. I love you the best I can.

Thursday Feb 15 Update

Today was a VERY exciting day! We were ambitious and decided to take Doris and Jerry on the volcano trip because the weather forecast for it was a 7 out of 10 and every other day that they’ll be here was only a 5. It was PERFECT! We did all the falls on the way, as well as Waipio Valley lookout and even saw whales breaching from Waipio Valley lookout! Rainbow Falls was nearly dry, so that was a little disappointing, but still amazing. The pictures today are of the grandfather of all banyan trees in my opinion. The first one shows the main tree, but then I got it with its extension in the next one.

The last picture is of the volcano surface flow that we caught. I hope you can click on the picture and see it bigger so that you’ll see the flow coming off the side of the cliff right in the middle of the picture. The steam is where the flow is going into the water. We could see the red with our naked eyes from where we were standing. The part coming off the cliff is just a little red spot, but that’s the flow. We’ve never seen it there before without hiking the 3 miles out there, so this was quite a treat! We saw it coming down the side of the mountain, too. It was AWESOME. Doris and Jerry were thrilled with their day, but they are ready for an easy day tomorrow . . . and forever after this. J

We’re glad to be home safe and sound, and we counted our blessings all the way there and back. We know that we are so blessed to have the opportunity to be here; to see the wonders; and to be able to walk all we need to walk. God is so good! I thank Him most for the people in our lives; I believe He puts us with the people we need most. I love you all; forgive me if this is too short. I’m happily beat.

Wednesday Feb 14 Update

Happy Valentine's Day!

Beautiful flowers are growing around this bit of heaven. We’ve got two weeks left, now, and I’m starting to miss it already! I took these pictures this morning as Doris and Jerry were looking around the place.

They got here fine last night and are getting adjusted to the time change. We got a call from Tom and Linda today and they made it home fine, in spite of going through Chicago and all it’s weather problems. Their luggage got lost, but it finally made it, too. We were relieved to know they got home already; we were afraid they’d be laid over for many hours in Chicago. Tom said he was missing Don; he hadn’t had any abuse all day. J

We took Doris and Jerry to Pololu Lookout and then whale watching at Kapaa Park. We had the best whale show EVER. We couldn’t believe they were so lucky. The whales were up close and they were BREACHING! We were spellbound! There were so many of them we had to turn our heads left and right to keep from missing any and still missed some! It was like a feeding frenzy or something. We were all very thrilled. We went then to the Hilton and saw a great dolphin show with grown ups working with the dolphins instead of kids. That was awesome, too! We came home by way of the Prince Resort and saw more whales breaching as we drove up the coast. It was a spectacular day. We are all exhausted and going to bed early because we’ll get up early tomorrow to do the Volcano trip. That’s the biggest day of all, but tomorrow is the best weather day in the forecast, so we’re going for it.

Tomorrow I’ll send pictures of two of the 5 people on the island who can weave baskets and roses out of the coconut palm leaves and their niece, who is in training. It’s an awesome skill and so few people can do it. Tune in tomorrow!

I love you all and God bless! Mary Jo

Tuesday Feb 13 Update

Today has been a bittersweet day. We were sorry for Tom and Linda to leave because we’ve had so much fun with them. Then they were not even to Kona, yet, when we saw on the news that due to snow and bad weather they are canceling flights in Chicago. They are scheduled to fly into Chicago and change flights there. So, we are concerned about them, but I keep reminding myself that they are grown ups and they can handle changes. Besides, God is in control of their lives, too. They’ll be fine. I’ll be glad to hear that they got home fine sometime tomorrow.

The rest of the sweet story is that Don’s sister, Doris, and her husband, Jerry, are on their way here. That really excites us! We’re ready and eager to see them and start the tours over. We’re happy to have discovered the boiling pots, yesterday. We’ll add those to the Rainbow Falls tour.

Today’s pictures are of the sea glass beach from yesterday and the boiling pots. Notice I the last picture the big arch; you can judge its size in relationship to Don!

I’m so sorry bitter cold is covering so much of the mainland. You all stay warm and enjoy the cuddling weather. I love you and God does too.

PS

My friend Judy Izumi wrote to tell me she is double clicking on the pictures on the blog and they get really big so she can see more. I tried it and it's way cool! You can really see the lava flow on the picture I sent of the day we went to the volcano. Go, see! Thanks, Judy for enlightening us all!

Monday Feb 12 Update

Today we went back to our secret beach. Ha! We went there last week and a family was digging around for something. We asked them what they were doing and they showed us sea glass they were finding. It was beautiful colored rocks that were clear, but colored like glass. We picked up a few pieces that day, but we were in a hurry to do a million other things that day and had to leave quickly. We had never been there before, so that was a new one to us last week. So, we went back today to gather some more rocks. Bob has some kid’s sand toys, so we borrowed those and took them with us. Of course Don scurried ahead of Tom and Linda and I and he was carrying the shovels. We all got so tickled at the thought of this gray-headed guy busting it down to the beach with his little kid shovels! By the time I got down there I was doubled over laughing at how silly we would look , digging with those little shovels; I could hardly keep from laughing enough to tell Don what it was that had us so tickled. It was the kind of hilarity that we’ve had all week with Tom and Linda. We’re sure going to miss them when they leave tomorrow!

It was a day of delights. Tom and Linda took the whale cruise this morning and they loved it! We were able to watch them a lot of the way as they rode up the coast, so we saw a lot of their whales and even saw the huge pod of spinner dolphins that they saw. It was pretty amazing for all of us. They learned a lot about the whales to share with us when they got back to the car. After the whales we went to pick up the sea glass. That took us so close to Hilo that we decided to go on into Hilo and see the Boiling Pots, another thing we’d never seen. We were really glad we went there! It was another cool hike, and not too hard if you have a hiking stick. It would be way awesome if it was full of water, but we could hike it better without lots of water. This is the river that feeds Rainbow Falls.

Today’s pictures are Don on the ‘secret’ sea glass beach with his toy shovels, and then the Boiling Pots and their falls, called Pe’e Pe’e Falls. Those accents aren’t right, but it’s close. It’s a must see place and we just found it today! God keeps giving and giving, and we give thanks!

Love you all!