I love this Hawaii house;

I haven’t seen a single mouse;

The cockroaches are plenty though;

There hasn’t been a single snow; 

Though, I wonder, if there’s grouse. 

Today we signed our next contract!  Starting 7/13 we will be kicking it at the Oregon Coast and working in Newport.  I’m not sure that I am going to love working at a critical access hospital but I love to learn new things and I have a feeling that I will be out of my comfort zone a few times which is always good for me.   What we are looking forward to the most though is being close to home for a little while we have missed our friends and family!

  We finally made it to Tex Drive in today for Malasadas although the did not have Haupia the Portugese donuts for a two thumbs up.  

Although it has been raining it wasn’t now so we decided to hike Pololu while the weather was good.  What a beautiful and fun hike! There was absolutely no complaining from the kids.  The path alternated from muddy to rocky and was a bit of a challenge, no time to be bored and the scenery was absolutely amazing.  

                                      There was stacks of rocks everywhere! Look at this Portugese Man of War (like a jelly fish).  You don’t want to step one one of these babies!  

      We saw our first millipede don’t know if these babies are venomous like the infamous centipedes.  

       At a gas station Caleb picked a pretty flower for my hair.  

Then to cool off after our hike and watch the sun go down we pulled into Spencer Beach Park.  We all played until 6:00pm when it was time to get showered up and head home.  

we loved having Jesse over for lunch on Sunday it was the perfect excuse to have a treat (home made pizza bar) and take a muddy nature walk around the property we live on.  

      Hannah had to show off her paper bag outfit as she made some kind of movie quote from Big Hero Six.  

The kids tried to show Jesse all of there jungle trails meant for little people.  

              Then we spent a restful evening working on the kids verses for the memory verse-a-thon.   

Both Chad and I have been feeling like our batteries are a little drained.  We had planned to take off the month of July so we could be home with our family.  We have a family camp schedule for the last week in July and we planned to return to work the week after that. 

Two days ago I was contacted and asked if I would consider a position starting July 13th.  I said I would if I could be scheduled off the last week in July for family camp.  We have been officially offered that position within two hours of home and feel so greatful to our provider (God) that he saw fit to provide us with our next Job three months before we planned on having it with still several weeks off and close to family! 

Just two more night shifts then I get to be a day shifter for my last month whoooo hooo!  I just love sleeping at night!

The main purpose of the tsunami museum is to raise awareness and to save lives by educating the public.  It wasn’t quite what I expected but I still think it was good to know the evacuation plan and what to watch for in the ocean’s behavior that would indicate a warning sign.   

                               Then we walked the shops down town and trecked over to the Tsunami Memorial Clock which was quite a hike since we were mislead by GPS.  

                       
                 Male and female of the Hawaiian goose.  

 Eve with her skirt filled with baby coconuts she found in the grass.  

       We didn’t make yet to Laupahoehoe where an elementary school and the children contained in it were swept out to sea by a Tsunami, that we will have to save for another day.

Ok to say we explored the whole 40 miles of the Hamakua Coast would be an over statement it was more of a drop in the bucket, a glimpse per say.  It was a rainy day the all day kind of rainy day unlike the only rain in the morning, evening and most of the night rainy days that make up all the others.  At first I was thinking a hot, sunny, beach would be good, but as we neared Hilo we decided on a scenic drive instead.  Headed north out of Hilo  off of 19 there is a scenic drive called Pepe’ekeo.  We had driven this the first full day on the Island but that was a long time ago and was part of our quest to drive all the way around the island having never been on this island before we were just trying to get our bearings.  This time we could really enjoy it and that we did.   

         We stopped and hiked the Onomea trail beside the Botanical garden. So so beautiful.   

 We didn’t end up going to the ‘Akaka falls it costs money and after working all night I didn’t feel like hiking in the rain.  We have plans to go back and hike it again sometime.  We did stop in the little town just outside the park it was so cute we had to check out the shops.  

At one of the shops the lady (artist of some seriously beautiful jewelry) also rehabilitated tropical birds. She asked us if we were enjoying the whole rainforest experience meaning the rain that was coming down outside. We are now with the sounds of the birds.  Mango a vocal guy ( I don’t remember what kind of bird he was) welcomed us.  She was very friendly and told us about the birds in the shop and even let the kids see a three week old and two week old love bird chicks and their two adult lovebird experienced foster parents who had taken over care of the chicks as if they were their own.  She let the kids pet and hold the male I think his name was Kissy Kissy.  He loved to kiss and lick the human whose finger he was perched upon.  

 
      She taught the kids how to hold him and about how to take care of them.  Before we left she also showed us a baby sparrow that she was hand feeding.  He had to eat every hour all day long.  She doesn’t have to feed him in the night I asked her about that.  We didn’t make it all the way to Waipi’o Valley.  That is also on the list.  Instead we found this little park. 

        We made it a short day getting home in time for dinner but now our minds are wheeling about when to plan to go back to the waterfall and valley to see the rest of the Hamakua coast.