A Fun Day with Our First Visitors

The Dempseys' Kauai vacation happened to overlap with our arrival and we were able to get together with them on their last day here. They met us at Dave and Carolyn's house and followed us over to the Kalihiwai River for some kayaking. Afterward we played at the beach for a while and then headed to Kilauea to show them our house and Daniel's school. It was great to spend the day with them and it was fun to be able to show friends from "home" a bit of our new life in Kauai.

Elle, Kari, Taylor, Blake, Jessie, Rick, Kylie, Daniel, Aden, Aimee, Jonathan, and Lucas

Lucas "Hanging Loose" with with the Dempseys

Above and Below: Unloading the kayaks at the mouth of the Kalihiwai River


Jon Jon enjoyed the ride

Aden and Daddy climbing the "rope swing" tree

Daniel and Aden right after their jump. Aden loved it and immediately asked to "Do it again!"


I love this picture of Kari and Elle! So cute!

Kauai or Bust!

This picture was taken at about 10:00pm on our "loading day." The first crew of helpers arrived at 8:00am and aside from a three-hour break in the afternoon, the entire day was spent loading! Several friends came to help and they were AWESOME! They all worked SO hard! We truly could not have done it without them. Thank you everyone!

Everything fit! EVERYTHING! I could not believe it! The guys worked really well together and managed to utilize every inch of the container. It was a sight to be seen, that's for sure!

6:30 am on Tuesday: Waiting in front of the airport hotel for the shuttle. We are SO glad we decided to drive down to LAX on Monday night. It worked out perfectly and we didn't have to deal with Tuesday's lovely LA rush-hour traffic!

The boys loved watching the planes and the luggage "trains" as we waited in Honolulu for our inter-island flight.

Daddy and the boys worked on a puzzle to pass the time.

Dave, Carolyn, and Lucas greeted us with lei's at the airport! They definitely made us feel welcome and it was so good to see them!

Grandma and Uncle Lucas were so excited to see the boys. It was actually Lucas' 16th birthday and he was such a trooper seeing how most of the day was focused on us. Poor guy! We're going to have a little party for him this weekend.

They looked so cute in their lei's! My little Hawaiian boys!

The boys got comfy quick with Grandma and Grandpa!


This pictures sums up perfectly how we ALL felt by about 5pm Hawaii time on Tuesday. We are SO thankful that we'll have two weeks before our container arrives. We'll have lots of time to rest and recooperate!

Our Sweet Girl Kitty

One of the most emotional farewells was to our sweet Girl Kitty. Daniel's parents adopted her in Davis when she was a kitten back in January 1991. When they moved back to Kauai in 1999 we took her in. She quickly won her way to my heart with her silly, quirky ways, her fluffy fur and walrus-sized whiskers, and her loving snuggles. She was "my cat" for ten years! Because of strict regulations regarding bringing pets to Hawaii (detailed medical screening requirements, 120-day quarantine, etc.) and because of her age (18 1/2 years) we decided to leave her behind. Fortunately we found a loving home for her. THAT was definitely an answer to prayer! I was preparing myself to have to put her to sleep and just days before we left friends of ours from church agreed to give her a home. What a blessing that was! Thank you Brenden and Cheryl! We hope she's a good kitty for you guys! Oh, and just a fun tidbit...Brenden and Cheryl have two cats already and their names are "Mama Kitty" and "Baby Kitty". So, our "Girl Kitty" will fit right in! :)

Our Last Few Days in California

Our sweet friends, The Pages, let us stay with them our last few days in California. It was great to have that time with them and the kids loved being at "Maddie's House." Summer and Rusty were such servants...watching the boys, cooking meals, doing laundry, packing boxes, loading the container, driving us to the airport, etc. What a blessing they are to us! We will miss them dearly!

The boys had a lot of fun playing with Maddie. They rode Big Wheels, ate popsicles, watched fireworks, went swimming, and more.



Buddies

Jonathan was the first to finish! He ate his faster than four adults and two older children! What a piggy!

Bathed, in their pjs, and waiting with Daddy for the fireworks.

The kiddos enjoyed the home-done fireworks show and the sparklers were definitely a hit!



Summer and Rusty were so sweet to take the boys swimming. Just in the couple of days of being with them Aden gained confidence by watching his fearless friend Maddie jumping and swimming. Here he is jumping off the edge.

Jonathan is getting a lot more comfortable in the water but is usually quite content to watch from the steps.

Thank you again Rusty and Summer! We really, really appreciated your hospitality and kindness and we had such a nice time being with you! We can't wait for you to come visit :)

Moving Madness

We're moments away from packing up the computer and I'm guessing it will be a few weeks before I'll see it again. So, here's one last post from good ol' California!

This is the 20 foot container that will be loaded (by sweet family and friends) with all of our stuff and taken to the docks at Long Beach Harbor where it will be lifted onto a ship that sails across the Pacific and meets us in Hawaii in about two weeks. Whew!

This is part way through the loading process. Will our sofas make the cut? TBD!

An example of Daniel's strategic loading.

Above and Below: Some shots of the current state of our house. You gotta love moving!


This is where I slept last night! Yes, on the sofa, in the garage, with a bath towel as a blanket! Poor Aden threw up all over his bed last night (about 3:00am) and woke up Jonathan in the process. I moved both boys into bed with Dan figuring I could just go sleep on the couch. I had forgotten that the sofas had both been moved out to the garage earlier that day AND all of our blankets were packed! I was SO tired I fell right to sleep and woke up (like always) to the boys crawling on me and asking for breakfast.