Hawaii Four-O

After driving for 18 hours straight from Washington to California, we stayed at a hotel the night before our flight to Hawaii. The next day Shaun dropped off the truck to be shipped over and off we went to the airport, a full 4 hours early! We just kind of hanged out a bit, and I managed to put Ian down for a nap in his stroller, and as they finally called out the boarding zones I asked Shaun which seats are we on the plane. He said he didn't know and I pulled out the tickets to check. Imagine my stress when I find out we had no seats, that we weren't checked on yet. I got into a huge line and stood there while everyone else boarded the plane but us. Finally got our tickets but we weren't together. I was pretty frustrated, but it all turned fine because a nice lady and another nice couple volunteered to switch with us so we could be together. We finally arrived in Hawaii late that night and was greeted by Shaun's sponsor who placed gorgeous leis over each of our heads. They smelled fabulous. Our sponsor drove us to our military hotel, that is right on the beach I must add, called Hale Koa. The rooms are your pretty average hotel room, but the facilities were fabulous. They even had a PX downstairs.

Right away we were loving Hawaii. The weather is always beautiful, warm with a breeze, and cool evenings. I've already seen more rainbows than I've seen in my whole life combined. And of course we've been to the beach almost every day!

We kicked back a bit, and then got down to the serious business of processing Shaun in at his new workplace, and finding a new place to live. Shaun's official title is "Command Surgeon Senior Medical NCO (Non Commissioned Officer)". He pretty much is his own boss, in a very laid back environment. He was also told that he'll be traveling with people from work to places like, Guam, American Samoa, Palou, Micronesia, Malaysia, and Saipan. Pretty sweet job!

As to our living situation we jumped onto multiple websites and called a few Real Estate agents. Living spaces are small with a huge price tag. We luckily receive a very nice housing allowance from the military to help with the rent and utilities. After a bit of searching we found an apartment in Aiea, which is west of Honolulu, and just 15 minutes to Ft. Shafter where Shaun works. Its a basement apartment of a house that is a little over 1400 sq.ft. Three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms. SMALL KITCHEN, WITH NO DISHWASHER, but still usable. Our landlords are nice with kids who Isabel just love to play with. Unfortunately I hear them stomping around in their kitchen right above our master bedroom promptly at 7am every morning. Guess I'll never be late dropping Izzy off at school.

We took mostly videos, and some pictures. Its silly, but we can't figure out how to find the pictures on the camera, so there are only videos to show for you all.

Aloha, and Mahalo to everyone! We love and miss you all!

Below are videos that we took at Hanauma Bay.

This video was taken by Shaun underwater! It's his first attempt as a documentary videographer. Pretty sweet isn't it?

Side comment from Shaun: In my defense I plan on getting better with each time I go out.