Our slice of hawaiian heaven

Coming out from the Pali highway. The Pali carries you from town straight through the mountains and puts you out on the windward side in Kaneohe

This way to Kailua!

Once you turn towards Waimanalo, a little suburb of Kailua will come up on your left called Enchanted Lakes.

Here the road that takes you into our neighborhood

We live on a road called Keolu which loops around all of Enchanted Lakes. Just over that mountain, 2 miles away is the glorious ocean.

The church is on the right just 2 blocks away from our house. And right across from the church is a park and skatepark which Oliver loves. I'm pretty sure we visit the skatepark on a daily basis. There is also an elementary school right across the street from us which would be awesome if it was a better school but it's not so Ollie will be transfered to a different school for the fall. I just handed all his paperwork to get a transfer in. What's nice in Hawaii is that it's pretty easy to get into a different school if your home school is lacking. They call it a "geographical exemption". I'm excited about his school for the fall. It is a very small, neighborhood school where the teachers love to teach and the parents are very involved. Ahhhhh my little Kindergartner.

Here's a view of our street

Our little home:) So the house is actually broken up into 3 parts. If you look behind the carport, there is a seperate studio apartment that is rented out. You can't see it well in this picture, but beneath our house is a one bedroom apartment that is also rented out. We really don't see or hear anyone but I'm sure they hear us!

Our backyard with it's wonderful views. This will be a favorite spot to hang out and bqq in the summer for sure.

Our front room

Dining table in the front room

The kitchen that opens up into the front room. We have a dishwasher! In these parts, that is very special. I love this kitchen, it is laid out perfect and is super clean and updated.

Our funny mirror wall. Thanks to my cousin Andrea, the kids have been having a blast using their window markers on it. I think we'll use it as a to-do list:)

The kids room. I got this bunkbed off craigslist for super cheap and when we put it together, we realized that the safety bars were not going to work. So no bunkbed for the kids but they're still pretty pumped. Craigslist here has been amazing. There are so many people leaving the island there is always a good deal waiting to be found. From what we sold before we left, I'm actually under budget which I was super nervous about.

This is the guest room that, as you can tell, is currently being used as the toy room. I do have to say that we are picking up the bed for this room next week and it will be an awesome room to stay in. Stay tuned for pics...

There is a bathroom in the hall with a shower/tub combo. Do you love the painted palm trees on the walls. When we moved in, Oliver was like, "can I paint on the walls?" I thought why in the world did he ask that and then realized he saw the palm trees:) Ryan and I also have a small bathroom off our bedroom which is very nice.

Our bedroom. Probably the only complaint I have of our house is that it is on the corner of a busy street and the bus stop. I have never really minded noise much, but hearing the bus late at night or early in the morning at first was a little much. Now I'm used to it. Plus, Ryan takes the bus to and from work so he literally gets dropped off on our front step. Ryan's commute is about 45 minutes, as opposed to the 2 hours each way from where we were on the north shore. I love having my husband home:)

The hallway with two big closets. There is a lot of closet space in the house and also a storage shed in the back we can use.

Yes we have a clothesline:) And seriously the plants here, too beautiful.

We drove this morning through the Pali so we could see the waterfalls. It has been raining so much here that every mountain has tons of cascading waterfalls. It's pretty spectacular. We decided to go up to the Pali lookout so the kids could see the sights.

Looking out on the Kaneohe side, towards the northshore

Looking over Kailua

So that's the tour folks. It was a HUGE blessing that we found this house. When we moved here, we knew that Hawaii was going to be expensive. Even coming from Orange County, which is not cheap, we were worried about the dollars and cents working out. We wanted to actually drop our housing budget from what we were spending in California to offset the price increase in gas and groceries. When we first got here, I was searching craigslist like a crazy lady, really feeling like Kailua was where we were meant to be. Kailua is more expensive though and so the prospects were looking sparse. I kept praying, more like pleading, with God that he would find a way for it to happen. One night after feeling defeated, Ryan and I went to the temple and I told Heavenly Father I knew that he could make anything happen and I had faith that he could help me find a home. I got home that night and pulled up rentals in craigslist and this house had come up that night! To top it off, this house is significantly less than what we were spending in California. It was a huge huge blessing and answer to prayer. I am amazed at how aware our Father in Heaven is of our needs, no matter how small they seem. This little home and our family were meant to be together. There have been countless moments I have felt that. We are just where we need to be