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
Today we decided to explore one of Grandpa's favorite beaches, Makapu'u. It is about a 15 minute drive from our house and just glorious as can be! Here are the kids yelling "Hawaii!"
Seriously?! Aren't we lucky that God is such an artist?
Ami is also taken back by the view. We actually sat here for a while watching Humpback whales jump out of the water. I guess the best time to see them is December thru April which explains why I've had so many whale sightings at the beach lately. 
This is the lookout spot down to the beach that we went to after. At the lookout spot there is this rad lighthouse that was built in 1909. There is a two mile hike to it that I hope to do for date night maybe, not with the kids. From the lighthouse there are great views of Molokai in the distance. 
Oliver will not take off this hat. He loves it. It has the islands on it and it's red. Enough said. He's growing up...sigh
Here you can see the lighthouse where we were up on the face looking down at the beach
Ollie super stoked to get out on his board
I couldn't see Ami's face from the wind so she tamed that mane so I could see her beauty:)
Playing with a stick tipi
Taking control of her domain
Amelie is really good at sitting and playing in the sand which is perfect when I need to watch Oliver every second in the child drowning undertoe. 
People can't get enough of watching Ollie in the water. He loves it and is super comfortable and he's miniature. People just look at him like, can he swim? You better believe it. 
Skim boarding
I tried to get some shots of him taking some waves in but no luck. He is seriously getting good though. He can catch a wave in and stand up and surf it in to shore. And that's on a boogey board. Amazing balance will help him tons when he gets a real board. 
So we found these pre-drawn canvas art packages with paint included at Ross for super cheap and I had to jump on it because I had been wanting the kids to do some art for thier room. Oliver was so excited to have his own paints and canvas to work on. His picture had an ocean scene that he adapted in true artist fashion.
The beginning. Notice how clean she is
And getting towards the end
Oliver, careful and meticulous as always. Painting the sun, the waves, the bushes. Watching him draw or paint is one of my favorite things to do
Our artists final work of art!
Grandpa was a marine that fought in the battle of Iwo Jima so these marines came to honor his grave with a flag ceremony. It was really touching and brought me to tears knowing what my grandpa went through during those times. It's strange and sad to think that a whole generation of war heroes is passing through now. I hope we honor their stories, even in the face of a world that doesn't seem to hold a lot of honor these days.
Mom with her girls
