June update...

Well, we've now been here for over three months. In one sense it's gone fast and I can't believe it's already June, but in another sense it seems like much longer! We're out of our apartment and into a house. My job is going pretty well. I'm still getting used to working with the elderly population rather than children. It's a big change, but not a bad one. Jeremy is applying to get on with the fire department here. Devin is adjusting better to her new daycare. She's learning some Hawaiian words there, which is fun! We've all been busy getting settled in our house and making it feel like home. We're also trying to take time to relax and explore and enjoy Hawaii! We just went over to the other side of the island last weekend and spent the day at Hapuna Beach. We went with two other families we've met. It was lots of fun, but a very long day. Of course, we forgot to take any pictures! Jeremy spends his free time spear fishing and I've been snorkeling a couple times and really enjoy it. Devin is making lots of new friends. Luckily, most of the friends Jeremy and I have made so far have kids right around Devin's age group, which is great! We're starting to plan her 3-year birthday party for next month, and she's already very excited! We're hoping to get Romeo out here soon as part of her birthday present. We all miss our family and friends and Iowa, but we are liking it here. We can't wait to have you all come visit! We have an extra bedroom!

Devin having fun at the park

Here are some pics of Devin playing at the park. She was just running laps on this day...from the steps, accross the jungle gym to the farthest slide, and back again. It was difficult to get her to stop and pose for a picture! She's getting so big, it's amazing!

Pu'u o'o Crater

Jeremy and some friends went on a hike to Pu'u o'o crater near Volcano National Park, which is not far from us. Jeremy said it was a little bit like what you'd imagine walking on the moon would be like! He said that you could hear the waves of lava crashing under you. It's actually closed off right now, along with other parts of the park due to the unusually large number of small earthquakes that have been happening the last few days. We haven't even been able to feel them. Although, I did get to feel my first earthquake a few weeks ago. It was a very strange feeling...kind of like riding on a small wave. It was just a little one, but big enough for me. Jeremy didn't even feel it where he was. *Hawaiian tidbit...the locals here kept referring to the "vog" at one point shortly after we got here and we were both thinking, "are they trying to say fog or smog or what?" We finally asked and found out that the steam from the volcano is referred to as "vog." It is worse at times and usually blows over to the other side of the island, but will sometimes blow around on our side and make it hazy and affect people's asthma, allergies, etc.

Jeremy's big catch!

I had to post a picture of Jeremy's fish! He's taken up spear fishing and loves it. This is the first "big fish" he's caught, so he was pretty proud! He also saw his first shark while diving this time! It was a white tip reef shark, which I guess is pretty common in some areas and not real aggressive. He said it swam about five feet under him and the shark was about eight feet long. Said he stayed pretty calm, but it was a big deal for us Iowa folks!

Our new rental house...

We decided to just rent since we still have not sold our house in Des Moines! We really like this house. It's different and it's kind of got a "cabin-like" feel. It's about 15 minutes outside of town and sits on three acres. We do have an ocean view...sort of! You can see the ocean from one side of the house...it's a little better than what they call a "peekaboo ocean view!"The driveway curves back and the house sits back off the road. The front half of land is all trees and ferns and tons of different plants. The back half is all pasture, which is overgrown to about three feet high. Jeremy is trying to mow it...it's a slow process considering we only have a push mower, but we at least have some area for Devin to play (and Romeo when he gets here). We're actually considering getting a couple goats or sheep to keep the pasture short. The house is post and pier, which a lot of the houses out here are. Basically, as you can see in the picture, the house sits up off the ground. underneath is concrete and all storage, work area, parking area, laundry area, etc. The house is big and we're having a hard time filling it up considering we came here with only clothes and toys! We're slowly adding things, though. Devin loves the openness of it because she can run around! It's great for playing hide and seek and tag! We have a ton of little lizards...I think some are geckos. They're on the outside of the windows at night, on the trees in the morning, and some like to come in and make themselves at home inside. I'm still trying to get used to that! It's supposed to be good luck to have them in your home! Just another little tidbit...the houses outside of town here have catchment water, which I had never heard of. It's basically a big tank that sits in your backyard. It has a specially made cover over it and it fills up with rain water and that's what you use for your water in the house. It runs through filters of course, but most people still don't drink it. I just thought it was interesting. We do get plenty of rain here! It rains at some point almost every day, lots of times at night, so it's still nice during the day. So, it's not the beach house right on the ocean, it's more like our big cabin in the woods, but we love it! Sorry we're not posting more pictures (we posted more of our crappy little apartment), but it was a little messy when I took the current photos we have. We'll post more later!

From the outside

The living room

Living room from another angle...showing how sparsley furnished it is...not even a T.V. yet!!!

Devin's room!

Our lanai, or deck