This is a picture Heather took of our wonderful sunsets. We do have fabulous lighting here and we like to be out at sunset time to take advantage of the wonder.
This is our new water feature! Instead of having Heather build me one (costly and time consuming) we found one we liked ready made on on a great sale. I love to sit on the lanai now! It's very relaxing and rejuvenating.
Heather's last task here was to help us transplant this big tree. It was quite a hassle to get the tree in the first place and cost more than I ever thought I would pay. It is a plumeria pudica and is supposed to have a lollipop look to it, with a profusion of white flowers up top. Well, it got a little overpruned and went into shock so we now call it our "faith" tree. We have faith that it will perk up and look beautiful one day.
This is the small version of the tree that I originally bought. It is doing well, but will take about 5 years or more to reach the height I was hoping for. Isn't landscaping fun?

Heather in Hawaii

We all have a list of things we need to see, do, or eat while in Hawaii. One thing on my list was to eat breadfruit. There's nothing quite like breadfruit baked with coconut milk and onions.

While walking behind the temple (the garden with the gazebo and cemetary) I noticed little breadfruit on the ground. I asked nearby gardeners if I could take them.

"What you gonna do with those?"

"eat them."

"O, Eat them! No, you can't eat those, you need some good breadfruit" He then gestured to some large ripe ones high in the tree. These two tongan gardeners found a long stick and with care poked down the best, ripest breadfruit.

The very next day, two went mushy. I baked one of the overripe ones with butter, brown sugar, and spices. It was pretty good. Then, that evening Alli and I baked the firm one with coconut milk, onions, and shrimp. I don't know what happened, but that breadfruit was overripe as well! We tried to down the slightly sweet and gooey starch, but succumbed to the garbage can. I think I have had my breadfruit fix (:

Heather's Graduation and Yellowstone

The happy graduate.

We got to go horseback riding when our B&B host saw us petting the horses. He was injured and couldn't do his usual work, so he was happy to show us around and let us ride.

We chased down the river after this beaver, and finally it came right up on the bank to eat some plants.

After the Canadian Rockies we got to watch Heather graduate. Well, walk anyway. She still has one part time semester left. After her graduation we went to Yellowstone for a couple nights, and Sean came too.

The Canadian Rockies

We forgot the name of this lake, but it was on our 11 mile hike. Doesn't it look like the silhouette of a dog or wolf?
We got to walk up this glacier a little ways.
Mom and Dad in front of a glacier lake.
This is one of the highest waterfalls in Canada. I think it's called Taketawa or something like that.
We got our own private viewing of a black bear with her two cubs. They were right on the side of the road when we drove past, and the cubs were playing with each other.

After Glacier, we went to Banff NP where we went hiking, and camped for 3 nights. It was really beautiful, with lakes, and huge mountains, and wildlife, and wildflowers; but it was really cold too. We had to wear coats and thermalsat night, and slept with 2 sleeping bags. When we went to Jasper, we got rained out, so instead of setting up our tent in the freezing rain and eating canned soup for dinner, we stayed in a bed and breakfast, slept in nice warm beds, and took hot showers. And of course, only a few minutes after we arrived at the bed and breakfast it stopped raining.

Summer Trip 2008: Glacier NP

Lake McDonald on our first night in Glacier

A mountain goat

We saw a bigger variety of wildflowers than we've ever seen on a hike. And of course, dad took a picture of every single one of them.

This year we took a month long trip to the mainland. We flew to Utah and were there for a week and a half. I was at tennis camp for a week during that time, and almost died in 102 degree weather. It was pretty tough, playing tennis matches, doing drills, and conditioning(running and stairs) for 6 hours a day in the hot sun. But I survived and I met some nice people. Then we drove up to Rexburg to watch Heather's performance before heading up to Glacier NP. We were there for 3 days, then went to Banff NP and Jasper NP in Canada for a few days before driving back down to Rexburg for Heather's graduation. We helped her pack up and move out, and then we all (Mom, Dad, Heather, Allison, and Sean) went to Yellowstone for 2 days. Oh, we also got to go horseback riding when we stayed in a farmhouse bed and breakfast in Ashton, Idaho.

Adventures With the "No Bo"

It's been so fun having Noah around this last month. We got to see a lot of firsts with him while he was here. His first haircut, his first time pulling himself up to stand, and his first time crawling.
Noah's first haircut

Outside of the Hukilau Cafe.




"C'mon Noah, just crawl already!"

He had fun eating his little baby biscuit. Mmmm.