The Birdhaus

I've got to journal our days here...so for those that are reading I hope you don't find it too boring. The house here in Kailua is so beautiful. It has an amazing backyard with lots of beautiful foliage. It has an amazing tree...Jason knows the name of it. It has 2 egg swings hanging from it and the kids go crazy for them. It has an 8 ft. deep pool. We found my worse nightmare at the bottom of it....a centipede that's about 6 inches long or more.
The house has 4 sliding glass doors that go the backyard....so I don't relax easily when it comes to sleeping in. I don't sleep in because I am terrified Eli will get outside and fall in. The doors have locks but he's smart enough to test them and figure them out. We debated on getting a playpen, but we know he'll overcome it and flip himself out of it...all the rooms have tile so we don't want a damaged head from him falling out. The only bedroom without a sliding glass door in it is the one I share with him. No cuddling with Jason for a few weeks. We debated on getting a gate in that bedroom too, but lots of $ later it probably still wouldn't work. So I am up with the kid at 6 am most mornings....the jet lag in us all and the amazing birds chirping in the morning and the sun coming into the house is what gets us up so early.
We were VERY LUCKY to have gotten to rent this house. The owner is out of town for the weeks we needed it and he never rents it to strangers, but felt it would be good for him to do so. It's gorgeous in a gorgeous area. When we move to Ko Olina in 6 weeks we'll be bummed and missing the beauty. Ko Olina is in a resort area and not so done up in it's near surroundings. Kailua is awesome. We have the ocean about a block away and in our backyard you look up and see some amazing mountains.
The house does come with it's visitors...cockroaches. About every morning we wake up to some upside down ones....waiting for the poison to eventually kill them. They are big! My first experience with one was while we were waiting for Jason to bring the care to pick up our luggage. The kids and I were sitting on a bench and running up the backside of the wall was one. Then that same night, Jason went to close the sliding glass door and 2 were running up the screens. There are small lizards in the yard...we think they eat the roaches. Just now I am noticing a huge snail in the garden climbing the fence.
The hibiscus plant/flower is my absolute favorite and they are everywhere. We went to the temple late Sunday night and WOW they have this driveway that takes you to the temple and it's loaded with yellow hibiscus plants. Another favorite are these trees that have small bunches of flowers. You'll see them in our hair on some of our pictures.
The kids have been great until yesterday! Eli has been hitting his sister and then onto Kai when I was trying to drive to Waikiki. I did it though! I drove through the island to Honolulu and Waikiki and then to the airport to drop off the weekend rental car. We won't have a second vehicle for the week, so onto learning The Bus. Hopefully it won't be too hard with the kids.
While in Waikiki we went to an aquarium. It wasn't huge and not too much to see. The one in Sandy is just as good...a few more exotic fish were there and a seal. We walked to the boardwalk and looked out at the ocean. Waikiki is a bit too busy for me. While driving past the beaches it was crazy! It was like the strip in Vegas. Lots of people and lots of hotels. I am glad were not staying there. Too much hussle and too many people. The kids, grandma, and I found a Ramen restaurant that we had a Happenings coupon for. It was around the corner of the freeway entrance, something I needed since I had to get the rental back quickly and I didn't want to get lost. The food was good. I was proud of myself for getting around down there and locating a little food joint and experiencing that uniqueness.
After we dropped the rental car off, we squeezed into Jason's car and went to Target. Prices are high on a lot of things that I wouldn't expect....like Hawaiian attire. But all in all milk is priced between $3.92-$3.99 a gallon, better than we expected. Pineapples are affordable, duh! Bananas are $.99 a pound and Costco prices on fruit are a bit higher too. We bbq hamburgers for dinner and enjoyed our HUGE strawberries from Costco.
Jason seems to be enjoying work so far. He says everyone is really layed back around here. He has been invited to go golfing on Thursday....$40 plus a $30 registration fee....he's debating it because of the price. He says no, but I hope he considers it because it would be an experience for him. We'll see though. He's being smart though because he wants to make sure we save money for new windows for the house...a neccessity.
We have had a full weekend so far. Today we hope to take it easy...swim in the backyard or take a stroll to the beach and play in the sand. Hopefully we'll finally be able to relax. Aloha!