After what I would call “hell week” I didn’t think too mutch could redeem the week and make it an over all good week. God has a sence of humor! Even though I couldn’t make the disc golf date that Chad had made with a couple from church it had been good and they were up for joining us for lunch after church. We found out that it was their routine to go out for lunch while doing their laundry for the week at the laundry mat next door. A lot of people here live off the grid if not completely at least partially. The house we are staying in is mostly off the grid. Most of the appliances are gas and our water is rain water that is caught in a catchment which looks like anything from a large round above ground swimming pool to a shorter metal silo. It catches the rain water, it goes through two filters one UV and I don’t remember what the other one is. It is drinkable out of the tap and actually taste pretty good. It rains so much that we do not really need to be too cautious about how much water we use. Here is a picture of our catchment.
All that to say that our new friends live completely off the grid. They have paid for their lot in cash and paid as they went building their own house with help from friends over the last year and a half. They have not yet put in a washer and dryer and they have a guaranteed date time each Sunday so no rush. After lunch they invited us up to see their place and it was SO COOL! We are totally amazed and jealous 😀. Thank you Jesse and Isabel you guys are awesome!
Like our house it was up a dirt road though it had a lot less pot holes it had bumps from the hard lava rock underneath the gravel. A lot of the houses here are build up off the ground I’m not sure why that is but I like the look especially on some of the ones that are way high up. Jesse and Isabel’s place is in between and very cute.
They have two solar panels and two batteries for electricity with a generator for backup (they have only needed it when running power tools otherwise the solar panels and batteries are sufficient to keep the house all powered up). And for just the two of them they have a much smaller than ours catchment.
We also loved the landscaping and Jesse’s hydroponics experiment where he is co-growing taro and tilapia.
After a short tour they asked if we would like to stay and roast marshmallows so we all pitched in to get the fire started. The wood was damp due to humidity so it took a while.
The kids started playing in the mud while the adults (guys) took turns blowing on the fire to keep it alive.
When the fire came alive the kids took turns roasting marshmallows and drinking hot cocoa while we sipped on tea. Eve decided she knew something that was even better than roasted marshmallows and hot chocolate separate and that was eating them together. Before we could intervene she had dipped hers in and stuck the whole thing in her mouth. Hannah had to try it out too it must have been good because they were pretty pleased with it.
Grandma Brown, whose face is this? Eve has to get this from someone.
Hannah made “Lava Marshmallows”
It started to rain so we moved the shelter from over the hydroponics pond to by the fire pit.
Isabel made quesadillas for dinner, we hung out in the house and helped her while the boys kept the fire going.
What a blast! We came home late but with full hearts. I have made friends at work and Chad has made friends with neighbors and at church, but this is the first time in the last year that we could just relax and hangout and enjoy the company of new couple friends.
We knew we couldn’t stay too late if it was going to take us another 2.5 hours to get out so we cut it short about 3:30pm. A guy who had offered us a ride in offered us a ride out and this time we took him up on it. He was a life saver as we were all hot and tired. We got home I time to have pizza for dinner. Thank you nice man. We apriciate you so much.
Which they are still going strong and we are nearly to midweek. 
The market closes at 2:00pm so really there was only time for a quick dash through. Then on to snorkeling at Kapoho Tide pools about 40 min. From our house. It is made up of lots of different separated pools with a whole rainbow of colors and types of coral and loads of fun fish.
We swam until late.
The little jungle monkeys at our house. And at work yesterday I got to try a new fruit that was as awesome as it looks.
With working 5 days this week we can’t afford to waste one of my days off sleeping. I took a short rest while the kids did their school work then Chad got me up and we headed to the beach. This beach has a rock jetti that protects a pool that had steps down into it and is all the perfect depth for Eve to play in being still able to touch pretty much everywhere. I was cold from being over tired so I pulled on my sweater and curled into the kids pile of clothes they had taken off. It was a perfect location for a nap and the kids had a blast just being kids and playing. They made several friends and are already asking to go back.
From there we kept on towards the west side. Then Chad made a turn off the main road…where was he going? I don’t usually ask right away because often it becomes obvious, but the GPS kept chirping directions at us so I asked if Chad wanted me to turn it off. It was a small one lane road. And the scenery was perfect. 
We had talked about seeing the green sand beach at breakfast, but it requires a hike and it was lunch time and we hadn’t packed a lunch. That is not where Chad was going he was taking us to the most southern point in the United States! Yay so fun! A whole bunch of people were there. Not to say they had been to this point, but to cliff jump. It was kind of fun to watch them. 
That was a fun detour! 
We were headed over to the Kona side of the island where hopefully it would be warm and condusive to a fun first snorkeling experience for the kids. Kahalu’u Beach Park was touted in our guidebook as the best place to snorkle with a big reef where beginners and intermediate snorklers alike would have fun. 
The green one had soft flesh, clear water, and was pretty easy to break into. The meat was quickly gobbled up and we saved the water to drink with dinner. The dry husk of the brown one on the other hand proved to be quite a challenge. 
It had sprouted….
The water was milky and sweet, but had a more rancid aftertaste. Caleb liked it better than the water and drake it right up. We donk know if you are supposed to eat the ball inside, but we did eat it also. It was sweet and airy, and we are still all alive this morning to tell about it. I am sure though if Chad comes across more coconuts that are just laying beside the road he will pick up the green and leave the brown, just sayin.
Owens Endeavors 