Kona Hawaii Temple

Getting to the Kona Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes about a 2 hour drive one way but I can't complain - at least there is one on the Big Island. The grounds are simply beautiful! I think I may have found a couple willing to make the drive with us and do a babysitting swap/picnic sometime. As you can see we got up so early for this trip that Elise never got out of her pajamas...

1st day at Pre-School & 1st Haircut

On her first day of pre-school at Haili Christian, Elise was really excited. She smiled with Gramma Lynette and Elijah pre-haircut. As you can see, Elijah can't wait to go school too! Elise and her wonderful teacher, "Aunty" Pam. Right now they are practicing writing letters and numbers and learning phonetics. She also teaches the kids songs about Jesus. Before bed the other night, Elise said, "Let me teach you a song about Jesus." Then she sang all the lyrics to: "Jesus loves me yes I know for the bible tells me so." I know that song, but I've never sang that with her for some reason.

Elise immediately started playing and making new friends. I felt kind of lost because she was so at ease in her new classroom. Joyschool must have prepared her for this.

So while Elise was at school, we took Elijah to get his first professional haircut with Daddy. I think they look so handsome! When we picked Elise up from school, we all went out to eat to celebrate since they released the kids early on the first day. Normally she goes from 8 to 2:15 every day. She loves it! I hope to get Elijah invovled with "Keiki Steps" a free pre-school program for toddlers and their parents soon...

Little fishes

Soon after arriving here in Hawaii, Elise learned how to swim! Elijah can also swim shorter distances. They are such little fishes! It's great to have a pool in the backyard, especially when it's so humid outside. The kids went from being buoyed up like this:

To holding their breath under water, treading, getting more air and swimming quite far. These pictures were taken in Maui with an underwater camera my dad bought.
Elijah thinks he can do everything Elise does, which can be a little dangerous at times, but he's doing really good and is so independent.

Here are some of Elise's idols and new playmates - her second cousins, Keisha and Ka`anela.

Here's Aaron's lovely sister, hamming it up for the camera.

Sorry about this video, the shutter was stuck, so there is a very small window to see the kids do their tricks.

Coming home

Yesterday a good friend sent me an email entitled, "Are you still there?" It made me laugh. I hadn't realized that I hadn't blogged in a whole month! Wow, I'm such a slacker. Thanks for inspiring me to get posting again, Trina!

Elise often describes her memories from when we were "in Silver Spring Maryland" but she already needs prompting with remembering some people's names, which makes me sad. Before we left, while we were packing, we turned around to find the kids had made a makeshift table out of boxes and carseats.

Our kids are at an age where it's not exactly a nightmare to travel (still not a piece of cake) - having their own seats seemed to help! Both of them fell asleep just fine and had a lot of fun playing with their new water paint brushes and re-usable tablets. Elijah did get yelled at for kicking a guy's chair when I wasn't paying attention, but the trip was otherwise (thankfully) uneventful.

When we arrived in Hilo, we walked down to baggage claim and were greeted by Aaron's dad and sister holding a big welcome home banner... So sweet and thoughtful!

We had a wonderful, joyful reunion with the Auna Ohana.

It's good to be back. : )