October 2011 Move to Maui

Ana and the puppies that were born at our house in August. This was right before they left their mama and went to their new homes.

October was a mixed bag of emotions. We were SO SO SO sad to be leaving our friends in Sequim. We were also so sad to be leaving our favorite time of the year in the Northwest, because it is truly a Harvest Celebration! Fresh fruit and vegetables are just pouring into our home from every direction in October, and we had to say no this year and give it away. (And let me tell you—Hawaii has some good food, but it has nothing on the northwest. You can get EVERYTHING you eat, except rice, from within the state of Washington… fresh and tasty. In fact, where we were in Sequim, we figured that about 60% of the food we ate was harvested from within 5 miles of our house).

But, even though it was sad, we were SO excited to be done with all the moving and cleaning and to move forward to new adventures.

While I’m on the topic, I’ll explain a little of what I DO know about this whole move. 1. We had been planning on moving to Hawaii at some point in our lives. 2. With neither of us working and the kids in homeschool, why not now? 3. We knew we needed a different home and a bigger property anyway, so why not sell the farm and take a break from the long dreary winters? 4. Since property prices are still low, this might be our only chance to afford something on Maui, so we might as well go now and check it out.

We haven’t been calling our Hawaii move a permanent move because we still have our base and residency in Washington, but we are glad to be here for the whole winter in the very least.

 

OKAY, now let’s get back to the blog. Go back in time. It is the beginning of October and we are still in our house in Sequim:

Lego instantly looked all mature once she had kittens. She was also confused as to why we kept letting her in the house, but I think she eventually figured out that is was because we wanted to play with the kittens.

 

Awwwwwww. This one we nicknamed Tiger. He actually moved with Ana’s horse Cocoa to a farm near Tacoma. By the way, let me tell you that the feeling of relief I felt when Ana finally sold her horse was similar to the elation I felt when I finally birthed my babies. I was not only anxious about it because we had nowhere for the horse to go over the winter if we didn’t sell her, but also because Ana was SO emotionally invested in getting her to a really good and loving home AND (if not more) getting her money back out of the horse. We were again royally blessed and a lady bought Cocoa, the chickens and chicken coop, and all the tack and drove away with it all in a giant horse trailer. Cocoa did have a few freak outs at her new house, but I think she’s all good now. In any case, no refunds.

Ana was pretty sad for awhile, but she’s had about six months to get used to the notion that she would have to sell her. Plus, not to sound callous, but money in your pocket can really help you get over stuff.

 

During the first weekend in October, Jonah’s brother Tal had the fortune of being our last visitor at our little farm, but also the misfortune of coming after we had sold all of the animals and most of the furniture and the weather was horrible for the two days he was here. But, we had a good time anyway and got to watch General Conference together and go see some of our favorite spots around Sequim. He especially liked the kittens. I’m not kidding. They were cute.

 

 

Pile of kittens!!

If you need more kittens, watch these videos on youtube: “I love cats eharmony” and/or “Kittens! Inspired by kittens”.

 

On October 7th, we finally had everything gone and sold and packed and we gave the keys to the new owners. We drove our trailer of stuff to a friend’s house and left for Redmond to stay at my aunt and uncle’s house for one last hurrah with our cousins before we left.

 

My kids are completely enamored with my aunt and uncle and my cool cousin Jenye and her boys. We even got to watch superstar Nicco in one of his soccer games. They also built some massive lego mansions and got to eat all sorts of yummy kid favorite food. Thanks Velas/Youngs! You are too good to us.

 

While we were Seattle-side, we also got to go on a field trip with our homeschool district group. It was a cruise through Lake Union, through the Ballard Locks (think mini Panama Canal without mosquitos), and back around through the Sound to Seattle. It was a perfect trip. Gorgeous, warm, informative…. maybe I should apply to be a tour guide for the cruise now that I think about it….

 

After our too short weekend at the Vela’s house, we came back to Sequim so the kids could go to their piano recital and do their last few swim lessons (I forgot to mention that they did daily swim lessons in September for 1.5 hours a day… just because we didn’t have anything else to do, I was like, hey! swim lessons!). Here is Elsie and her friend Audry jumping on the trampoline at the piano teacher’s house.

So, we stayed a night at our very dear friend’s house in Sequim, and then we took drove our two cars that we are keeping as well as the covered moving trailer we own to our friend’s house about half way between Sequim and Seattle. They have a few acres and have generously offered to store the vehicles until the spring or whenever we make it back. They also let us stay at their house overnight, which the kids all loved since they have four kids our kids’ ages. We got all rested and then had another friend pick us up and drive us to the airport where we spent the night in a hotel next to the airport so we could get up early and catch our flight. I had packed and repacked and repacked and I still felt like we were bringing too much and we had to check four bags for a fee darn it, but it could have been worse. We felt pretty light as we flew to Hawaii!!!

 

When we landed in Maui, Jonah called a friend who took him to get our car that Jonah had bought back in June when he came to check stuff out and see if we could make this work. He assured me it was on par with my mint condition maroon 1984 Mercedes Station Wagon that he had just sold in Washington. Well, it was on par in that it was a Mercedes station wagon… but let me tell you, it was in a condition that doesn’t even register on a condition report. It was below poor. The rust holes in the car were big enough that you could use them to order at the drive thru. The interior of the car was literally caked in mud because it had at one point survived a flash flood. The rattling ensured that no one would miss the announcement of your arrival. Also, there was a gecko living under the seat. But, it runs! It’s our Maui Cruiser and at least no one suspects that we are tourists.

(Over the last few weeks Jonah had done some major work to the car so that it isn’t so scary looking; I’m feeling better about it, but it isn’t my “forever” car.)

For our first few nights on Maui, we camped at a campground on a beach within walking distance of the airport. Besides the homeless families who took all the best camping spots and the Tongan Ward who threw an all- night party in the campsite next to us, it was a great little spot. The kids basically lived in the waves for two days straight.

 

Then, my mom Tess and her husband Ken arrived! Ken had a kidney transplant last spring, so they were excited to take their first trip since then and to see the kids again. My kids LOVE their Luvy…. so much that it is almost painful to them. It is certainly painful for them to have to share her with anyone else, so we have to work out a way to take turns loving Luvy.

Ken and Tess had traded their condo in Dana Point where they live with someone for a beachfront condo in Kihei for a week. Score! We got to finally relax after months of crazy. Well, we relaxed for a couple days, then Jonah and I got in a panic that we had no where to live once my mom left so we frantically found ourselves a rental that would let in a family with four kids for a short term lease. After some fairly disheartening experiences during our search, we magically drove into this driveway with a FOR RENT sign and found the most loving, generous, funny, and kind landlady ever and she made sure the rental agency put us to the top of the list. Once we signed that lease agreement, we relaxed again and haven’t stopped since. Ahhhhh.

 

 

Here’s the car! This photo doesn’t do it justice though. Well, see the grill in the back window? That’s a small token of its state.

 

The kids instantly tanned and acclimated to Maui culture. They even got the hang of snorkeling and boogie boarding in about 30 minutes. In fact, Ana and Cam loved snorkeling SO much I thought they were going to drown with all the shouting they were doing to each other through their snorkels. They couldn’t believe that a whole world had been sitting in the ocean all this time and they were just finally getting to see it in person. It was magical. I loved experiencing the wonder of a new world through their eyes (and muffled yells).

 

Cam was thrilled that the condo complex had a beach across the street AND a pool across right out the door. He and the girls just moved from one body of water to another all day every day while Luvy and Ken were hosting us.

 

Elsie didn’t dare to try snorkeling, but she does have a love of floating in the waves. She just puts on her floatie and bobs up and down in the waves with Jonah or me. For hours. It’s pretty cute. She also loves the pools.

 

Po was happy just to watch. She was having a hard time adjusting to the sleeping arrangements, so I didn’t want to push it. But she is getting better and better at enjoying our time at the beach and has finally stopped eating handfuls of sand.

 

 

Happy Birthday to me!! The day before my mom left was my big 33 birthday! Everybody made it such a happy day. Jonah got me a rental house for my birthday by signing the lease agreement. My mom got me some Hawaiian mumus among other things. The kids got me some candy since I hadn’t eaten any since Jonah’s birthday, and Ken took us all for some Hula Pie in Lahaina. Mmmm. This is making me hungry…..

 

So yep. It was monumentally sad when my mom and Ken left. But, we tried to take our mind off of it by getting settled in our rental and participating in loads of Halloween activities. Here we are at the church Halloween party. The kids and Jonah are all birds and I am a cat (not on purpose… I just forgot my pheasant costume). Jonah is a bald eagle, btw. That was Elsie’s idea.   Ana is a swan and Cam is a crow if you need some help on those two.

I had been so worried about the kids having a hard time being away from Sequim and their friends, but after about one day here, they were really happy that we were going to get to be here for awhile. They have all made some good friends already, thanks to church and the Halloween parties. Also, they joined the swim team so that they get some kid interaction every day. Homeschooling is going much more smoothly now that we are settled and know a little better what we are doing. Things overall are just feeling right. I’m sure that our path from here will be clear to us soon, but what a glorious place to  wait to figure it out!!

 

Aloha! by Elsie