Friday, July 11, 2008 - Hale Pua Melia "Plumeria House"

We have been debating the pros and cons of the various types of housing available and finally have decided to go with the smaller yet more quaint and charming older historic home. The ONLY downfall to this house as far as we are concerned is the overall square footage. It's a grand total of 1200 sq ft! BUT! That means less to clean, right? *L* So maybe its NOT a downside afterall.

We cannot take occupancy until 6 August but I wanted to share about it so you all can envision it and anticipate along with us. First, while this may not be our "exact: street, it is pretty close!  Yes, the trees really hang over the street just like this. It feels like you are stepping back into time in this area...the mailman still delivers your mail to the box on your front porch! How quaint is that?

The "Tower" that we can see from our unit is also in this picture in the background...this was standing at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor (which is about 2 blocks from us)

I haven't taken any photos of our house yet but to gain some insight you might want to check out this article. If you scroll down and see the lovely little tiles...please note...we don't have those! Thank You Very Much! We had those in Japan and they were a bear to maintain...ugh!

The home to our right is marked as a museum and will be undergoing treatment in the very near futture. I think it will be interesting to see them restore it to its original state/decor. The home across from us is a duplex that is being transformed into one unit. It should be HUGE when completed! You can see one of those in the article above...its the 2 story model. Ours is a one level home with a carport. Although some units have enclosed lanai with jalousie windows, ours is open. I can't wait to take pictures of the backyard to share but until then, just imagine a HUGE pink plumeria tree, banana plants, papaya trees, Imperial palms, and a large grassy area!

That's it for now...Oh! What do you think of the name for the house? Hale means house or home and pua melia means plumeria...pua actually translates "flower". Not sure if we will stick with that or not but it works for this entry!

Thursday, July 10, 2008 - Room With a View

You lucky people! Here is a glimpse into our life here in paradise...hotel life is SO glamorous, isn't it? *L*

These are pix of our current rooms (we now have TWO rooms versus the ONE we started out in). Let's start with the ocean view...  

Sorry these aren't clearer but they have reflective stuff on the windows...so a LOVELY ocean view,, right? Absolutely IF you are lying on the bed , only raise your head up SO far, AND use your zoom lens...otherwise you see this....

Yes...that would be the industrial area near the airport and H1 overpass that loom over us! *L* When we are at the pool we just pretend those are really loud waves we hear and NOT traffic!

Okay...let's move on to our current HOME...of which we ARE TRULY GRATEFUL! The whole 4 people sleeping in one room grew OLD less than a week into it! *LOL*

Here's our room...the little hallway leads to the bath

We do have lots of nice large windows which I love.You can see the girls' room trough the open door...so loet's move over there next. This is looking back into our room.

This would be a DAILY event...

The door leads to the hallway and the bath is to the right.

I had to wait until after housekeeping came through or it would have frightened any small children that might view this photo...what is it about young girls that makes their bathroom things EXPLODE and multiply exponentially on a daily basis??

Lest you think it's all urban here...let me share some nicely edited pix of paradise....these are the palms near the pool area.

Two of my favorite reasons to be back here...A and J...

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - I'm Going to Blow My Top!

Seriously.

Kilauea exploded! Guess the old gal could only take so much and after 25 years she'd had enough. Okay...it was only rocks at this point...no lava flumes or anything that got great media coverage but hey....birth pangs. Then on Easter Sunday, Pele's Hair and Tears were seen.

For you volcano watchers out there check out the Kilauea Cam...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - “Double, double, toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

A 3.7 magnitude earthquake hit Kilauea Volcano this morning at about 3amHST followed by about a dozen smaller ones.  It’s reported it didn’t really effect the sulfur vent at Halema’uma’u but it was observed that the glow seemed to disappear afterward.  They are considering possible evacuation of the town of Volcano depending on Pele’s whims.  Stay tuned, we’ll be watching this closely!

Monday, March 17, 2008 - Letterboxing Aloha Style

I am thinking with all the eating we..okay *I* have planned for our trip, I'd best plan some physical activity too. True Aloha mentioned geocaching on Oahu a few days ago but since we don't have a GPS we will have to resort to letterboxing. Here is a link to some caches in Hawaii.

We'd love to go ziplining but I think the only one is over on Kauai...anybody know for sure? We are going to Oahu and BI...