Surf Session

Jeff got to catch a few waves while we were at the beach today. Nothing big, but a fun set rolled in for a little while. It was hard to get pictures since the breaks are a lot farther out here than on the East Coast, but I got one of him riding a wave! :)

Back to the Windward side

Buzz's Lanikai: Best steak on the island

Alison enjoying lunch

Jeff posing cool

Outrigger canoes at Kailua Beach Park

We love going to the Windward side, which is our favorite part of the island and where we used to live in 2005-2006. We usually go swimming, but we were beached out from Thursday so we had delicious Teriyaki Steak Salads for lunch and hung out in Kailua-town at the surf shops, health food store, and our favorite coffee shop, Morning Brew.

Another beach day: Pililaau/Pokai Bay

Jeff got the day after Easter off, so we headed to the beach. We went to the beach right by our house, which is called Pililaau. It was a beautiful day, and the water was crystal clear. We both swam for hours, and Jeff did some snorkeling.

Easter Sunrise Service at the North Shore

Jeff in the dark at the beach

Alison and baby Kai waiting for the sunrise

With our friends Ashley and Dave

View of Waimea Bay after the sunrise

We went with our friends, Ashley and Dave, to an Easter sunrise church service at Waimea Bay. It was a really neat experience, to include leaving our house at 4:45 AM to make it to the North Shore in time! After the service, we had a big Easter dinner of roast lamb. It was nice to spend the holiday together.

Our Irish feast

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, we enjoyed a traditional meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and Irish soda bread. It was delicious!

A day at the North Shore

Swimming at Ka'ena Point

View from the beach

Hanging out after our swim

Eating ahi at Haleiwa Joe's

Getting coffee at the Coffee Gallery in Haleiwa - they only roast, brew, and sell coffee grown on our island

Leaving Paradise...

So, this week we got our plane tickets to leave Hawaii. Alison will leave in April, and Jeff will leave in May. It is a bittersweet feeling to be on the countdown to leave paradise... We are thrilled to be closer to our family and to embark on a new chapter of our lives. We are also sad to say goodbye to the beautiful, turquoise waters, white sand beaches, and huge, green mountains that are unique to Hawaii. We hope to get most of the stressful and difficult aspects of the moving process over in the next couple of weeks, so that we can relax and enjoy our remaining days!

The PERFECT beach day!

We just enjoyed the most BEAUTIFUL day at the beach. We went out to Lanikai beach, and the weather and water were both perfect. We had a wonderful time swimming. No, these pictures weren't photoshopped - that is really the way it looks! :)

We sold our car - what a blessing!

So, we are really blessed, since today we said goodbye to our Toyota! We were a little sad to see it go, but we need to sell both our car and our Jeep before Alison leaves Hawaii next month. So, now we are one down! This was our first time doing such a business transaction, so it was a little stressful and quite the learning experience, but God worked everything out for us!

Pregnant Pics

This is my baby belly at 22 weeks pregnant!

Beaches and Coffee - perhaps our favorite combination!

First, we swam at Halona Cove, which was the beach used in the film, "From Here to Eternity." Since it is winter time here, the current was really strong, so we didn't stay too long although the water was very inviting!

We drove further up the Windward side of the island and stopped at Bellows to swim and enjoy the view of the Ko'olau Mountains.

We stopped to have coffee at Morning Brew in Kailua, which is possibly our absolute favorite coffee shop. It was just newly renovated and looks awesome!

I like coffee...

Swimming followed by coffee - what could be better?!

Hawaii Kai excursion

Lunch at the Kona Brewing Company in Hawaii Kai

Alison enjoying a natural Hawaiian ginger drink - if you've never had real ginger, it is very strong and really delicious!

Jeff sampling one of Kona Brewing Company's specialty beers - made in Hawaii!

The view from our lunch table. It was a beautiful day.