Today...

"It's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away
It's a beautiful day...

What you don't have you don't need it now
What you don't know you can feel it somehow
What you don't have you don't need it now
Don't need it now

It's a beautiful day!"


Enjoy your day...
Love like there's no tomorrow!!
-Kamma

some stuff...

Since I got some sort of stomach virus ON Michael's birthday, and he got the same thing two days later, his celebration dinner had to wait. So, last night we finally got all spiffed up...

(Ooh, too sexy!!)

and began the drive to a little town called Honoka'a.

Was a beautiful drive right at sunset...

Eating fire!

We went to a little Italian pizza place called Cafe Il Mondo.
(I know, it's a terrible picture, but I took it as we were leaving
through the open window of the moving car!)

Michael had met the owners at work a couple weeks ago and decided that's where he wanted to go for his birthday. It was excellent! He got lasagna (of course) and I got a Greek pizza...fabulous! It was a BYOW(wine) kinda place, so after we sat down, Michael walked across the street to the grocery store and found one bottle of Chianti...amazing! Because they were very busy when we first arrived, we chose to sit at the "bar" instead of wait for a table. It was actually a bar over-looking the dishwashing woman, and we had such a wonderful time talking to her...Violet, a retired school cafeteria worker, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of six(!) who is doing the job part-time just to get out. She was really such a joy to talk to in between eating and drinking. We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening!


This morning, after sleeping in a bit, we decided to watch our latest netflix movie, "Into the Wild." If any of you have seen it, you know the overload of emotions the end of the movie brought. Wow. Half-way through we were both thinking to ourselves how inspiring it was, and I even wrote down a couple quotes that really stuck out to me. At the end, however, I found myself crying and talking about all these different things the movie had brought up in me, most of which didn't even have to do with the idea or plot of the movie at all! It was very interesting and thought-provoking, and still inspiring. I definitely recommend seeing it, but consider yourself forewarned.


After the movie, we decided to drive up to Waimea before Michael had to go to work (at 1:30). We actually went because I thought there was this pumpkin patch/festival thing going on. After we got up there, however, we discovered it's not until tomorrow, but we decided to hang around for a bit anyway. We just walked around and found some beautiful things that I just happened to capture on film!

Perfectly-shaped tree with these beautiful red flower/leaves...

The flower parts up-close...

Crazy thistle-looking blossom...

My cute husband with the thistle-looking blossom... :)

Back home, this is right outside our condo building...
I guess it's Hawaii's version of changing leaves!

Speaking of changing leaves, the weather has definitely been changing over the past week or so. Certainly not cold, but a little cooler for sure, windy and grey mornings. It's been pretty grey all day today, I'm actually wearing one of the long-sleeved shirts I brought over with us for the first time since we've been here! It's interesting to see how the season is actually changing some.

One more thing, just to tell you how wonderful a husband I have...two days ago (Oct 23) Michael cooked an amazing dinner for me, and pretty much had it ready when I got home from work...Homemade meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and for dessert, brownies! He knew it would be a hard day for me; the 7th anniversary of my mom's death; so he made me some of my favorite comfort foods! I feel so blessed to have found such a caring, compassionate person to share my life with. I know I wrote a mushy love-note last week on his birthday, but I'm just bursting at the seams, and I'm not ashamed to admit to the world that I am in love with my husband!! <3

We hope you all are well and enjoying your lives on a daily basis. Would love to hear from you!

family pictures

My dad sent me some recent pictures of family yesterday that I just have to share...

My silly girl (Molly, on right) with her cousin Madison.
I love those new front teeth growing in!

My good friend Ashleigh and her beautiful baby, Lizzy.

O my goodness, I can't wait to meet you!

Look how big Kode-man is!!
You look so old Kota, I can hardly believe it...

Family pictures...
Brian, Molly and Keri

My wonderful brother and his beautiful wife...

What an amazing, beautiful family!

Wow, my gorgeous girl.
Look at those eyes!
I can't believe how much you've grown since we've been gone...

Michael

Happy Birthday, my husband, my love, my best friend...

You are my perfect life partner. You complete all my insufficiencies, exceed my dreams, capture my heart again and again...

I'm filled to overflowing with blessings and love, feeling beyond grateful for this day, the day He chose to bring you into this world to eventually bring you into my life...

I love you, forever and then some...

Yours,
Kamma

quote...

"Dreams come true. Without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."
- John Updike

random photos

Found this cool picture of Michael's dad, Robert, at our
favorite beach when they were here in August.

One shot/angle of my classroom...

Back part of the classroom...naptime!

saturday

Well, yesterday was one of the best days we've had here. Between breakfast at Denny's, exploring a new little town/community up mauka (mountain) from Kona, and experiencing Ironman, it was pretty amazing. All I can say right now, though, is that through a mistake made this morning on my behalf, ALL of our awesome pictures (I mean, we got some great shots) are gone. Lost. Nowhere to be found.

pictures

The last of our home-grown tomatoes...
so pretty and red.

The tomatoes with some other pickins' from around our condo property
(check out how huge that lime is!!)

Our new cute little toilet! The old one was having...uh...problems...

Makeover

So, how do you like it? Added some things, took some things away...time for a change! Let me know what you think...

IRONMAN

That is the buzz word round here this week (the race is on Saturday, Oct 11)...In case you don't know, Ironman World Championship is held each year in Kona. It consists of 2.4-miles of swimming, 112-miles of biking, and a 26.2-mile marathon run...crazy people. This particular event is basically the Superbowl of triathlons. There are approximately 1800 contestants, and our friend Todd Mellinger (he has his own blog, if you'd like to check it out) is one of those talented enough to qualify for this year's race! We met Todd, Corrina and their son Lucas (whom I had in my 1-year-old room...he's now 4 1/2!) for breakfast this morning at a little coffee shop/cafe right on the water in Kona...great outdoor seating views! Anyway, I could just kick myself for not bringing my camera! Oh well, we had a great time catching up, and it was especially fun to see Corrina's 7-month pregnant belly! So cute! :)

Michael and I signed up to volunteer at the transition station (where the contestants switch between the three facets of the race, ie. changing from swimwear to bikewear and hopping on their bike, etc.). We're really excited to see what it's all about! If you'd like to read more on this year's event, you can go to the website here. There are some amazing stories of years' past on the youtube video screen.

A funny story...after Todd, Corrina and Lucas left, we decided to stay at the cafe for a bit to hang out. We were actually planning on going online (we brought our computer with us) but alas, there was no free wifi...poo...Anyway, Michael happened to notice a woman looking for a place to sit. There is an influx of people in Kona right now because of the race, tons of men and women walking around in very tight spandex...So he offered for her and her husband to share our table with us. Isn't he a great guy? I just don't know if I would have thought of doing that, but it was such a neat way to show some people our Aloha and hear new stories, make new connections. Nicki and Brian are probably in their 50's (have grown children) from the Chicago area and Brian made it to the Ironman through their lottery system. This is his first time competing here. Here's the funny thing...one of their daughters got her degree in Veterinary Medicine at CSU, living in Fort Collins for eight years! What a freakin' small world!!

So this Saturday, join us in a hearty "Go Todd! Go Brian!" Woo hoo!!!

forgotten pics...

I just found these pictures from a trip up Mauna Kea last March or April! We were still in Hilo at the time, and this guy who worked at the hotel we were staying at, Albert, took us and another hotel guest (Phil from New Zealand/Canada) up to the top! In case you don't know, Mauna Kea is almost 14,000 ft. high. Because of the clear atmospheric conditions from being on an island, the top of Mauna Kea is considered to be one of the best places in the world to view the stars and space. There are huge telescopes at the top used by some official people, and there is a wonderful viewing area complete with telescopes for public use and star guides at about 9,000-10,000 ft. Amazing!


Enjoy!