January 2018

Now that it's Mother's Day in May and I have a day that I have an excuse to "sit and do nothing," I figured it's a great day to get my blog caught up. I spent way too much time sorting through pictures and have over 200+ to blog. Oi. Maybe I won't make as much progress today as I had hoped. 

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves mostly but will go into detail on a few of them! 

Sean took Brayden and Asher on the hike to the lava. They left super early (after we all stayed up super late watching "The Greatest Showman" in the theater which was life-changing) and did great on the hike. They got to poke lava and have quality time with their dad. I hope they remember that forever!

We watched Brigham, Truman, and Sariah Adams for a few days over a couple weekends so Jason and Jamee could go on an anniversary getaway and also have a weekend of "New Year planning." They returned the favor by watching our four kids so Sean and I could have a getaway of our own. Nothing like a random getaway in the middle of January! We left on Friday at noon after Sean's class and got home Saturday evening.

We headed up to Waimea which is the part of the island that we feel we have explored the least. We drove down random roads and explored a lot. We walked around and had just a chill night. We spent a little time at Hapuna Beach and walked around, and we walked around Mauna Lani resort.

This avocado at our AirBnb was the size of my head! 

We headed back to Waimea and went to Merriman's for dinner, which is a really nice restaurant (compliments of my work!) and we really enjoyed just spending time together. The next morning we woke up early and drove up to Hawi. We decided to eat breakfast in this little corner cafe and while we were there...

...we got a dang MISSILE THREAT.  Sean's phone went off and his face went pale. I didn't know what to think and he didn't really say anything. He just turned the phone to me. We were 2+ hours away from our kids, and I mean, how do you react to something like that? My initial thought was "we need to go get gasoline in the car so we have enough to make it home." Sean's initial thought was "this can't be real." so he got online and started researching. We were looking around and no one else seemed to be reacting. I just was in a state of shock for a minute. Someone in the cafe turned on the news right as Sean was reading on Twitter that it was a mistake. The newscaster was mentioning was saying how it wasn't real. I don't remember how it all laid out as it took me awhile to digest everything and then I wanted to forget it but long story short, someone accidentally pushed a wrong button in Honolulu and the alert went out to the entire state. They didn't have a protocol for what happened if that button got pushed accidentally so it took something like 38 minutes for them to send out another alert basically saying "Oops. Sorry."

Anyway, the kids were fine and safe. They were in great hands at the Adams. They prayed and closed all the windows and doors and just waited until they got an update. They weren't really shaken up at all and I'm grateful for that.

Knowing that everything was fine and everyone was safe, I started crying. I just had so much adrenaline going through me I started shaking a little. Sean was awesome and calmed me and told me that we didn't need to go home. So we headed up to Pololu Valley and went on the hike we had planned. The hike turned into a trail run as we had so much adrenaline to burn it just felt better. We only went about three miles total but it was down into the valley, across the beach and up the next ridge. It was beautiful and breathtaking and hot and peaceful and perfect. Sean is a great support and lets me just work through it emotionally while supporting me.

I am so grateful for our healthy bodies. I am grateful that I am married to someone that encourages me to be physically active and that is fit himself. That we can go on a run together through the coastal mountains and valleys, and that these experiences unite and bond us, make me really extremely grateful for our health!

After we left Pololu, we headed south. I took a nap while Sean drove us to Kiholo Bay. We parked and walked along the beach for about a mile to a beautiful and secluded beach. We walked past the largest mansion on the island, saw turtles, Queen's bath, a house that was built in Indonesia (I think?) the broken down and rebuilt here, etc. I hung out in the hammock and read a book while Sean went and played in the bright blue water. (The adrenaline of the morning really wiped me out!)

Then we hiked back and drove to another place we hadn't explored. Mahai'ula Beach. It, too, was beautiful white sand, blue waves and perfect setting. The sun was about to set at this time (and I really don't LOVE getting in the water) so I hung back and read my book while Sean hit the waves. I really would way rather be on the beach than in the water!

We headed into Kona and ate dinner at a Thai food restaurant. We watched the sunset and enjoyed the Kona evening. We headed home after dinner to go get the kids.

It was an incredible little getaway and I am so grateful that everyone was safe and sound while we were away. We are so blessed to have friends like the Adams that we can trust with our kids like they are their own!