My Husband

I would like to introduce my better half. His name is Danial and he is a wonderful man. I know I am very blessed that he is my husband. I want to tell you about him because I have asked him to help me with this blog so he will write from time to time on here and he is the one posting all the pictures since honestly I still have not taken the time to learn how. The only reason I am able to do what I have wanted to do for a very long time which is travel is because I have a husband who really goes above and beyond to help me. He totally 100% backs me up on all my crazy, wacky. out of the box schemes:) Even when they are not the best ideas he still supports me and I love him for that. Luckily this idea, though at first was a lot of work, turned out to be a great plan. Danial is a wonderful devoted father to our 3 beautiful children.  Five years ago he started law school to become a patent attorney. He left his very nice job as an engineer at Bosch and took a full time position in a law firm to intern working on patents while obtaining his law degree. When he came home from work and class, he helped with all the chores around the house including dinner and had enough energy left over to play with the kids and take our Lab for a run. On the weekend instead of resting or studying he made sure the family went on tons of adventures so the kids would know what and who was most important to him.  Some how he still found time to study enough to get great grades. I know sleep was sacrificed a lot, but family is what mattered most to him. 

He graduated last December from Wayne State Law School, passed his patent exam and then with no problem passed his Michigan Bar Exam. He is very intelligent and most things come much easier to him than they do to me. Unfortunately this economy has not been the best so he was unable to secure a position in a firm.  Now he has been a stay at home dad and doing a wonderful job at it! He also continues to look for opportunities in different firms and has started his own business. Danial is much more efficient at keeping things organized than I was. He makes sure every thing is done for the kids, the house and myself.  All my ducks are in a row for my travel agency and for future positions because of my dedicated hard working better half.  I know our family would not be experiencing Hawaii if it were not for him and I am so very thankful!  Danial is an honest, hard-working, loving man and I know I am truly blessed to say he is my husband. Thank you sweet heart for all you do.

Farmer's Market

One of my favorite things to do in Hilo, Hawaii is to go to the farmers market. There are so many interesting things to look at and eat. Many vendors sell home-made and home-grown products. I love looking at all kinds of different fruit and vegetables that I would not normally notice in MI: star fruit, papaya and mangoes to name a few. I never knew there where so many varieties of bananas. Ice cream banana, Apple banana, I think there is even a Strawberry banana. There are also people selling meals that you can tell they cooked in their kitchen - not mass produced - Peruvian style tamales, Thai spring rolls, Musubi wraps (Nik's favorite!), banana coconut wraps, home-made passion fruit butter, home-made purple sweet potato salsa , home-made bread and herb goat cheese spreads. YUMMY !!! About once a week we pick something new we have never tried and eat it. Lauchlan and Nik are real good sports, but Izzy, on the other hand, not so much. She does like the baby bananas though. Today Lauchlan ate half the bowl of purple sweet potato salsa. I was surprised he really enjoyed something that is quite healthy for you:) Woo Woo! I love it when I can get them to enjoy healthy food!

Starfruit sliced and ready to enjoy

That banana-stuff that we love- what is it called?

Izzy has a birthday coming up so I sent dad with all the kids to the local army surplus store up the street and I went to the forbidden side of the farmers market :-). I can get myself in to a lot of trouble over there with all the beautiful dresses and unique styles that I adore. Though today I was good, I only bought the things I had in mind to get. I will post what she got after her birthday. I hope I can figure out how to post pictures from my facebook account on to this blog. I have a lot of fun pix I would like to share with my friends and family that are not fans of facebook. The next time I go to the farmers market I will try to take pictures of the food and fun that goes on there. I just don't like to look like a tourist. I guess I gotta do what I gotta do to for the sake of having an interesting blog.

Life on the Big Island

I have been working now in Hawaii for almost 2 months. Every day I go to work the scenery that surrounds me on my drive completely takes my breath away. I live in a complex that is situated pretty much on the beach. When we go into our back yard there are huge sea turtles that swim up to the kids to say hello. My 10 year old loves to snorkle and watch the fish in the ocean. He is so in love with Hawaii that he says he never wants to leave. From his bedroom he can see the ocean and listen to the waves. From the balcony early in the morning and late at night we are able to see the volcanic glow from Kilauea. Kilauea is the most active volcano in the world. What a wonderful educational experience we are giving our children. I really think this was a true blessing from God that we were able to have this opportunity. Now it is time to seek God and pray for wisdom for the next step in this adventure. I have been asked to stay at the hospital I am at for another 13 weeks, but there is so much more to see. Danial and I will be praying over the next few weeks for the right decision.

Crabs and sea turtles are easy to spot at Carlsmith Beach Park- just out the back door of our building.

Sorry I have not written as much as I would like. The one downfall with this position is that I am working so many hours! So between working sight seeing and spending time with the ones I love most, I have not had much time to write. I have been asking my better half to upload pictures hopefully he will be able to soon, but I know he is just as busy as I am and his job is much more important than uploading pix. He has the wonderful job of home schooling the kids and that is more than a full time job.

The boys love to climb in the Banyan trees, here is a 100-yr old Banyan tree at Hilo's Rainbow Falls.