Tag Archives: family

Aunty’s Lil Green Hut

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Linda is here for a visit and we discovered a new place to eat yesterday on our way to Waimea Valley — Aunty’s Lil Green Hut. Whenever we stop at Giovanni’s in Kahuku we always get the same food (shrimp, corn, froyo). It was breakfast time so we branched out and had crepes! Everything was gluten-free so I could eat it! Can’t wait to visit this adorable place again.

Two crepes and Orange Dreams.
Cute atmosphere.
Breakfast Crepe
Nutella Crepe

 

Paige Visits Hawaii!

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This past week Paige came to visit! She was our first visitor since we moved back and we had a great time doing a ton of fun things on the island.

We spent her first whole day on the North Shore. Started with sky diving, enjoyed some shrimp and corn from the food trucks, saw some turtles, and had shave ice. After all of that, we were even able to muster enough energy to head into Waikiki for dinner.

There she is!
She made it!
This guy was huge.
So pretty..and delicious

Sunday, we went on one of our favorite hikes — Kuli’ou’ou Ridge. We’ve hiked this multiple times and this was the first time we ended up covered in mud.

Action shot.
Josh the monkey.
Found this guy on the trail.
Loved how the clouds were hanging over the mountain.
Paige and the stairs.
Made it to the top!

After our hike, we went to spitting caves to see what the waves were doing. They didn’t disappoint!

And now we’ll do a little jig.
Great waves!

During the week, Paige entertained herself with Pearl Harbor, visiting Kauai and some yoga. The next weekend we went on an ATV tour at Kualoa Ranch, which was a BLAST. This was our first time doing this and we can’t wait to do it again! The weather was beautiful and we had a great tour guide.

First stop Godzilla footprint to the right.
Cows enjoying life.
ATV Selfie!
Paige taking it all in.
Paige failing at the shaka.
Run for your life!
Bunker..half WWII museum, half movie museum.
Insanely nice weather.
Not ready.
Chinaman’s Hat.
Tantalus Lookout

Hawaii Cat

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After a long day, Nola has made it to Hawaii! Special thanks to my Mom and Tom for taking care of her for the last few months. She started her day at 5:00 AM ET in Indiana, had a nice two hour layover in Denver, landed in Hawaii at 2:50 PM HST, went through her quarantine inspection and arrived home about two hours later. She’s checking out her new view and settling in.

Home Sweet Home

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This post is mostly for our family members that won’t be able to make it out to see us. We’re finally settled in the new place and wanted to share what it looks like! Come visit! ❤

Walking in to our place.
Dining area and my desk.
Dining area looking into the kitchen.
Living area.
Living area.
Desk, dining area and living area.
Guest room.
Guest bathroom.
Kitchen.
Kitchen looking into living area.
Walking into master bedroom.
Master bedroom.
Master bedroom.
View from the master bedroom.
Master bathroom.
Lanai.
Rainbow off our lanai.
More rainbows.
And more rainbows…almost every morning.
Evening view looking towards the Ko’olau mountains.
Evening view from our lanai looking out at the ocean.

Pu’u Ma’eli’eli Trail

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Two weekends ago, we finally went on our first hike. It was less than 10 minutes from our house and super muddy. The view was amazing and well worth falling down (twice).

Before shot. Clean shoes.
About five minutes in.
One of my favorite shots.
Looking at our place!
Quite the view.
And after.

And We’re Back!

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After a lovely (and mostly cold) couple of years in Chicago, Josh and I decided to move back to Hawaii in July. We were lucky enough that all of the stars aligned to make it happen — Josh got a job here, my company allowed me to keep my job working West Coast hours, we found a place to live and purchased it (site unseen..more to come on that in a later post) and coordinated a move across the ocean — all in a matter of a couple weeks.

It was an incredibly tough decision knowing we’d be leaving our families again and living so far away, but it was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Our dream of moving back was actually becoming an reality!

Fast forward a few weeks….we moved out of our place in late June and into my mom’s house for a few weeks (temporary stop #1). Josh left in the beginning of July to start his job and I left a couple weeks later to meet him there. A few Airbnbs and hotels later, we finally closed on our place and moved in at the end of July.

After a few weeks of unpacking and getting settled, we finally feel like things are becoming “normal”. I’ve started volunteering at the Boys and Girls Club and this weekend we are planning on spending time with friends and going on a new hike. I won’t be blogging every day like I did the first time we lived here, but I’m planning on posting all of our adventures and any fun things we do so we can stay connected with our families and friends.

Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last several months. We couldn’t have pulled this move off without your love and support (and special shoutout to my mom and Tom who are babysitting Nola until she is done with quarantine and can fly over to meet us).

Volunteering a few weeks ago for BGCH. Started our morning with a monk seal sighting and some beautiful weather.

Oahu 2016

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Only about four months late in posting this, but Josh and I went back to Hawaii for his spring break in March. After a long flight, we got some poke and then crashed.

Fave, spicy tuna!

The next day I volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club. It was so wonderful to see how much the kids have grown and for them all to jump up to ask to be in my group for the field trip. Oh how I missed them! After a day full of volunteering, we headed to the Farmers’ Market for dinner.

Soccer golf with the kids.
Ahi tuna nachos and lemonade!

Friday I was off for a day at the beach with the kids. Unfortunately it ended up being a rather rainy day so we headed back a bit early. After volunteering, we tried Uahai Island Grill for dinner (new place for us!).

Still can’t walk in a straight line…
Furikake Calimari
Garlic Chicken

On Saturday we met up with my dear friend Jenn in Diamond Head for some lunch and an açai bowl. We decided to drive around the island and dream about where we would live when we moved back on day. We finished the day with my favorite, shabu shabu!

FIsh tacos
Açai bowl
Shabu

Sunday we headed up to the North Shore to watch the waves. First stop, was Giovanni’s for shrimp. After stuffing ourselves, we sat on the beach and watched the waves and just relaxed. We tried Tokoname (recommended by our Airbnb hostess) for dinner — another new place for us!

Vegetable Tempura
Ahi

Monday was my last day to volunteer and we spent it at the clubhouse doing crafts. Always so hard to say goodbye! For dinner, we met our friends Tia and Mark to catch up!

Kalua pork with kale
Haupia Sweet potato pie. Incredible!

Tuesday I finally had some time to hike (and it was of course raining). To wait out the rain, we had Lanikai juice for breakfast and just relaxed. After being stuck inside, we ventured out for lunch at Buzz’s Lani Kai. It finally stopped raining, so we did a quick hike to Makapu’u Lighthouse. I’ve done this more times than I can count and it never gets old.

Calimari
Steak salad
Burrito
Excited for my bubble smoothie!

Wednesday we got to hike the Pāli Puka! This had been on our list when we lived there but we were never able to complete it. The views were absolutely gorgeous (helped that we had a perfect day as well). For lunch, we went to Kalapawai cafe in Kailua then home to shower for a night in Waikiki.

Babies!
Coconut shrimp
Duke’s salad bar
Mai Tai
Such an iconic picture.
Love the flowers

On our last full day, we hiked up to Lanikai pillboxes. It was SUPER hot and incredibly crowded. We treated ourselves to a poke bowl as a reward for lunch and went to hang out on the beach. We packed up to leave on Friday and then went to the Farmers’ Market for dinner to meet some friends.

Dreaming of beautiful houses..maybe one day.
Edamame and poke, never gets old.
Lanikai Beach
Not nearly as good as the North Shore.
Gluten-free corn chowder!

On our last day, we packed up and checked out of our Airbnb. Our last meal was shabu shabu (of course).

And with that, another Hawaii trip in the books! A hui ho!