Sunday, January 25, 2009

Hawaiian Flora

Just a few more pictures of Hawaii and then we'll get back to our regularly scheduled snow (up to 15 inches expected tomorrow here in Juneau). These first few were taken around the grounds of the house we rented with Greg's family for the first week.
And this last one is the view from our hotel room on the last four days. We thought we'd treat ourselves to a little luxury and it was really nice. There were sea turtles basking right in this area and all sorts of colorful tropical fish right here too where the girls could see and enjoy them.

Big Kahuna!

Gwen with her beautiful smile...
Grandpa and Boo Boo catching some waves.
Gwen and her daddy enjoying the sunset and warm water. Greg finally found some waves big enough for him to bodyboard for quite a while.





More Island Images

Here is Gwen's Sandman, as opposed of course, to a SNOW man...She spent so much time just digging around and getting dirty.... They both did. And they loved it!

Can you see all the sand on Amelia's face? We're still finding sand and pebbles in weird places...




Friday, January 16, 2009

Conservation Mode

OK, if it hasn't made the newswire yet, here's the scoop: our hydroelectric power was wiped out by another avalanche so we're (meaning all of Juneau) on diesel generators again for the foreseeable future.

Last April, the day after we moved back to town, the same thing happened. Then diesel fuel was still very expensive and our electric kwh charge skyrocketed to about 52 cents from a norm of 11 cents.

This time, they are expecting we'll go to about 35 cents from our current 10 cents per kwh. Not quite as steep a hike, but it will be noticeable on our bill for sure. Which is why I'm typing this in the dark, have laundry hanging from the rafters, and haven't turned the oven on all week. Plus I'm showering at the gym.

Greg thinks we can chop our usage in half. We'll let you know.

Eventually.

When we can afford to turn the computer back on....

If anyone has any good microwave recipes, pass them on, please!

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Sand, Surf, Sights

OK, we got back from Hawaii last Tuesday and we're still swapping high-fives on account of only one of us got burnt to a crisp. We had a really wonderful time, had some great weather, and saw a lot more of the Island than we did last time. We definitely found our new favorite area of the Big Island and will probably head back to North Kohala next time and just stay there the whole time.
Without further ado, let the pictures begin. First, I will post adorable kids in completely non-Alaskan attire, mostly digging in the sand and kicking it in the surf...
Gwen is either trying really hard not to let her sister fall into the brackish tidepool with the green sea turtles, or she may be pushing her in. Not sure, but they really liked seeing those big, strange creatures. Also, although I've never tried to before, I really wanted to include a video of the turtles but I can't. So enjoy these stills.... there's a lot of them:

We went to a luau with Greg's parents. The girls got to wear their Hawaii dresses (which we bought on the ultra clearance rack at Fred Meyer in Juneau before we left).
Gwen just has such a great smile. I often wonder (in a worrisome, dismayed manner) if we might see this mug gracing the covers of magazines someday... And Amelia had to have her napkin on her lap, just like Mommy had. Good girl!

We were just 'go-go-go' the whole time, so we had many afternoons that ended with Amelia looking like this in the comfy crib that was provided in our rental house:
Yep, sun hat on, still in her swimsuit, with a beach towel for a blanket. We were about a 15-minute drive from the nearest beach (Mauna Kea), so she passed out at soon as we'd start home each day and be drooling when we pulled in to the driveway.


Speaking of driveway, check back soon for some shots of the foliage around the rental house. It was so different than our normal plant life... so this would be akin to someone from Hawaii taking pictures of Devil's Club, a pricky, pervasive, icky, nasty, poisonous weed that is EVERYWHERE in Southeast Alaska. On that note, I'm sure you'll tune in again soon... yeah.