A Christmas Eve Hike

Yesterday, George and I took a really cool hike up one of the highest peaks on Oahu: Pu'uhapapa. It required some serious climbing! Thank goodness for our new hiking boots (a Christmas present to each other) or we probably wouldn't have even attempted a lot of the steep spots on the trail. Next time, we need to take some serious climbing equipment, ropes, etc. so we can go even higher. The pics are here, a video from the top can be found here.

Christmas in Mililani

I have to admit that as much as I am loving life in Hawaii, getting into the Christmas mood has been a little hard this year. With friends and family all so far away, not to mention that we're still wearing flip-flops and the trees are green and showing no signs of winter, its just a little
. . . different.

All the same, George and I have tried very hard to let the holiday spirit find us. We found a lovely little thatch palm tree and decorated it with little ornaments and lights. We put lights up around the house and out on the front balcony. The gifts are accumulating under our tree and we are settling into a new and special flavor of Christmas. Here are the first batch of pictures. More coming soon!

Farewell to Aiea Intermediate School

Words will never capture all of the feelings of joy that my student teaching at Aiea Intermediate School brought to me. There are so many reasons that I just loved the experience and the students that I worked with. I thinking teaching may be the best job in the world. You get to be everything: scientist, historian, writer, teacher, artist, performer, dancer, comedian, and friend. Its all wrapped up into one fabulous job. Its a perfect fit for someone like me who thinks of herself as a jack-of-all-trades, master of none.

The students at Aiea really proved to me that middle school students are the coolest and most fun to be with. We had a lot of great times together, not the least of which was the holiday party we had on the last day of classes for the fall semester. Check out pics from the holiday party here and a few more here.

Thanksgiving in Hawaii

Thanksgiving weekend was a lovely and relaxing weekend for George and I. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our friends, the Kempers. EmilieAn is a great cook and we left very well fed and enjoyed nice company. Jason doesn't know what he missed! Check out some pics from the dinner here. After the big day, we did some general relaxing, but the highlight of the weekend was a hike up the Kolekole Pass trail. The trail is of one of many in the Waianae Mountain Range with breathtaking views. At times, the trail becomes very steep and you must climb on all fours rather than walk. The views, however, are well worth the work needed to get to them. There were places you could see both the Windward and Leeward coasts at the same time. From our mountain perch, we could see all of Schofield Barracks and the town of Wahiawa. We could also see towns along the Waianae Coast and the road that leads to Hale'iwa on the North Shore. Check out the pics from our hike here. Next time, we want to take a tent and camp out so we can see all the stars from up there. We will also gladly make the hike again if any of our visitors would like to take in those amazing views!