o, well hello...

i took a month to collect myself.

moving is craaaaaaazy.

homeschooling is...challenging.

hawaii is...very different than i am used to.

but overall, this has been a good month.
the hard ones usually are.
good, not easy.
one of my favorite parts was this....

she came to celebrate our birthdays together.
it was a relief, ya know?
just to have your friend with you for a few days.

and reedo treated us to the James Taylor concert in honolulu

 it was very sweet.

my siblings and i grew up listening to him.

i knew the words to every song.

we sang along and called my other sister to listen together.

james taylor is 65 years old and he sounds just the same as he ever has.

he is such a romantic and i just love him.

my kids fall asleep to him singing to them "carolina in my mind" and "sweet baby james."

what a treat to see him in person.
it was familiar.
and that is just what i needed.

on my birthday we celebrated by hiking through beautiful trees and tropical loveliness to a little waterfall.

sweatiest day of my life.

but so great.

really.

a few things you may not know about my new home 

(i certainly didn't)

1. things take a little longer here.

not sure if it's the aloha spirit or the fact that it is an island 2500 miles away from anything else...but yep, you need patience here. 

what seems awesome and "kick back" on vacation is not as cool in real life :)

but i'm learning.

2. i do not need half of my clothing.

it is hot here. 

not burning hot. 

the weather forecast for as far as the eye can see is 81 degrees. and that is a sweaty 81 degrees.

all we ever want to wear is bathing suits, sundresses or shorts and tank tops.

all day.

til bedtime when it gets down to like 77 degrees. 

so my jeans and boots and sweaters and even long sleeved shirts? going bye bye until the next move.

3. the beach here is much more comfortable than the california beaches.

the water is so warm.

the air is so warm. 

less people are looking at each other and comparing.

there are tons of lagoon type beaches where mommies don't have to stress as much. 

the beach is definately growing on me.

the hawaiian beach, that is. 

i was never that much of a fan before.