I saw the stars for the first time in three months!!
Our car is broken down, so for the last three days Ben and I have been in the house. It hasn't been terrible but we had no idea what we were missing those few days of being indoors... the vog is mysteriously gone in Kona?!
From our first step onto the Big Island, Kona has been nothing but vog and clouds with the rare morning sunshine. We never realized the amount of haze in the air until we drove up to the Northern part of the island and actually saw true blue sky... something that we always have in Colorado. So then we began to notice just how bad the vog really was. Driving south into Kona was depressing after leaving the sunny northern tip. As we drove in, we could just see ugly haze and didn't know what we were doing in Kona. We have never seen the top of the mountain that is directly east of us.
Yesterday we went to spend time with our friends and they said "Have you guys taken a look around?" The vog was gone! There were rain clouds in the sky here and there, but when we looked up we could actually see bright blue sky! Then we looked straight for the mountain to see if we could truly see definition and most importantly the top of the mountain, and sure enough... we saw it clearly! Then we looked for the ocean to see if we could see the horizon line without a big blur, and sure enough we could see a clear horizon. Beautiful deep blue of the ocean in the distance along with bright baby blue lined up next to it in a crisp line. It was unbelievable. Who would have known the truly beautiful place we actually lived in? It is so sad to me that we have only seen Hawaii, Kona, our home... clearly after three months of living here.
We got home after dark and as we were walking through our apartment complex, I looked up and saw the stars! Perfectly clear sky, with bright stars above us. We haven't even been able to see the stars because of the constant haze! It was amazing!
This morning is just the same as yesterday... I can actually see the mountain clearly, we can see the ocean from our lanai along with that crisp line along the horizon. Has the vog gone from Kona? Or has the lava flow tapered off for a time... waiting until it is time to keep the beauty away from Kona yet again in the future?
(BEFORE: the mountain with vog)
(AFTER: this is not Kona, but this is what it looks like without vog)
Regardless, I am thankful we were able to see Kona for what everybody said it was... beautiful!
I have been trying to get everything on video so that all our friends and family can see what Noah is up to. Here are the most recent crazy and funny things Noah has been doing...
Flips: Noah learned to do somersault's from his friend Eden I believe... he just randomly did it and Ben said "Amber, Noah just did a somersault." So here it is!
The Hop: Has anyone seen Saved By The Bell? Well, this reminds me of the episode when Lisa sprained her ankle and has to try to dance and Screech helps her... they call her dance "The Sprain"... well if you haven't seen it, it looked a bit like this video does. It is hilarious!!
Singing/Dancing: What can I say... he enjoys clapping and dancing and I love watching him do it! He brings so much joy to me to see that he is having a good time.
I have more... I just haven't gotten them off of the camera yet. I will post more when I get around to it. For now, I hope you all enjoy watching our sweet baby having fun!
For those of you who don't know, now you know. I am an enthusiastic Bronco fan... alright alright, I am a maniac!
I only got to see the last quarter of the Broncos most recent game and let me tell you I was freaking out!!
Please check out The Havel's Blog for my... enthusiastic reactions near the very end of that game.
I wish I could watch all of them. Alas, I can only see a few. Who knows, it might be better for me to just talk with my family 3-4 times instead of watching them. As you can see, it stresses me out just a bit.
I just thought it was kind of funny. Make sure to go into her photo stream as well... there are more embarrassing photos where this one comes from.
Ben took me on a date last night! This is the second time we have gone out without Noah since we have been here. So it was nice to go to a restaurant and not have to worry about Noah crying and whining because he has to sit in the highchair for an extended period of time. We went to dinner and then a movie... and here is how it went.
At about 5 p.m. we dropped Noah off at our friends house. Noah didn't cry when we left, so success there! We wanted to try a restaurant we heard some of our friends liked in downtown Kona. The restaurant is called "Rios" and they serve steaks/seafood... kind of a fancy place. When we got there, no one was inside so we thought, "Are they open for the evening?" Turns out the place closed down... no wonder Ben couldn't get the phone to connect to set up a reservation. :( This isn't the only place on the main strip of downtown Kona that has closed... right next door to Rios, Hard Rock Cafe closed. What is going on? So we took a little walk up the street to another restaurant we have been wanting to try. It is called Huggo's and it is supposed to be a pretty nice restaurant too... so I walk in casually and go to the hostess stand, and she asks for my name. I tell her my name and she asks "what is your reservation under?" Oops... can we put our names on a list? She tells me she can't seat us until 8 p.m. WOW! Okay, thanks anyway! So we make our way back to the car deciding to try yet another recommended restaurant that is at the opposite end of downtown. Luckily we got in right away. It is a small Italian restaurant called Basil's that does pizza by the slice, full pizzas, pastas, salads and so on. It was actually really good and not too expensive. It was a small place, the service was good and they were very friendly. We ordered a loaf of Garlic Bread and a Pizza. Oh yeah... and a $3 iced tea! Geez...so dinner was down, and now we just needed to get to our movie.
We went to see Burn After Reading. You know... the new Clooney/Pitt movie! Well we decided to get there early since it is opening night! We got there only 30 minutes early and this is what we see when we walk into the theater...
WOW! The theaters in Colorado Springs NEVER look like this on opening night of a movie with these two actors. Unless I thought the movie looked better than it was supposed to be. Anyway... Ben and I couldn't stop laughing. But I have to say... It was weird!
Then it was off to pick up Noah... and we learned that he cried... wait no, screamed when Aunt Rachie put him in the pack'n'play to play and also ran away from her when he learned that it was time for jammies and bed. Poor guy... for some reason he is terrified to go to sleep in the pack'n'play over there. Oh well, I guess this is the way to get him more used to it.
Overall, it was a good date. It was casual and it was nice to enjoy some one on one time with Ben.
I received money and gift cards this year for my birthday since we are so far away, and I have decided to put it towards some new clothes. I had to get rid of a lot of my clothes when we moved because I couldn't fit them all in the suit cases. Had I known then that the only shopping here is Walmart, Kmart and Macy's, I would have chosen to force more clothes into those suit cases.
Since Walmart clothes practically fall apart once you buy them, I decided to shop at Macy's. Let me take you back 5 years... I have never had a hard time shopping for clothes. Everything always fit right when I tried it on. Nothing looked bad or awkward and I was literally in and out of the store once I found something I liked.
Well... ever since that wonderful little thing called 'Pregnancy' happened, my life has just not been the same. I struggle to find clothes that fit properly and look good. I am only 23, so I still like certain parts of the Juniors section more than the Women's section. I don't like the tees that have slogans all over them, or the super high belly shirts anymore, but I do like this look of jeans/shorts and some solid colored tops. Well for some reason they just don't fit right anymore. The jeans are way too low and the tops are way too tight. So I say... "okay Amber, you had a baby, so your body has curves now. Junior size jeans won't look as good because they are meant to fit bodies that aren't that curvy."
So... I take a trip over to the scary Women's section. All I find are high top jeans and extremely dressy outfits. I am not saying that it would be bad to look like this, but lets face it... how often does a stay at home mom need clothes like that? Rarely! I am just an average lady that would like to have jeans/tops look good without over dressing and/or popping out at the seams.
I have also realized two things... I have to wear the huge sizes in Juniors and the smaller sizes in women's, and the women's items are almost double in price as the juniors! What?! I spent probably 45 minutes walking around the store and left with nothing. How frustrating! If only we had the GAP! I also liked Target clothes too, but we don't have that either.
To finish it all off, I only have a small amount of clothes and can't seem to find any that I like... what to do?
The Broncos laid the smack down against the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football, and it was such a joy to see!
Although it makes me miss being home, this season should be extra fun because Noah is a little more involved this time around. Last year Noah would just cry when we were all screaming and yelling praises because he got scared. Well yesterday I taught him to say "GO!" He seems to like the chanting because I couldn't get him to stop and it may have upset the neighbors because he was definitely loud! Super adorable though...
This is the third or fourth time we have been PROMISED a payment from Ben's client and we haven't gotten it!
This is how it goes every time... Ben will invoice his hours and say that we need to be paid by a certain date. His client says "No problem." The week before the chosen date, Ben checks in and is told everything is on schedule. Then pay day comes and we have no money! Ben asks the client what happened? He responds "Sorry I had to make sure my checks cleared my account, you should have it in your account tomorrow." Then tomorrow comes and we still have no money! He responds again by saying "Sorry my wife didn't make it to the bank... she is going today. You should have your money tomorrow." OKAY...it better be here tomorrow or I am going to be really upset! Tomorrow comes and still no money! He responds "Oh let me look into what may have happened. Oh sorry my wife didn't have to correct information to wire the money to you." UGH... so we ask him to at least make sure it is in our account by Friday so that we don't go the whole weekend without money. He responds "I will make sure of it." So... we wait an entire business week for him to work out his issues and sure enough, there is no money in the account on Friday or Saturday. Just so you know, we have the money wired into our account because of previous check issues. Wired money is like cash, so it should go in immediately! So then Ben finally talks to him on Monday of the following week, and the client finally admits "I am waiting on clients to pay me and I don't have money to pay you." THANKS A LOT for telling us!
Geez, I would rather know he wasn't planning on paying us at all then lying and saying that it should be in our account soon. What kind of work ethic is that? He owns a business and won't even let us know the truth about our payments. We originally planned on bi-weekly payments and we only get one payment a month! It is frustrating because Ben has been extremely trustworthy with the hours he is billing. It would be so easy to just bill him 8 hours a day like a normal job, but if Ben takes breaks or checks email or something, he doesn't bill him for that. We can't get the same respect?
What should we do? If we quit then we won't have any money at all! If we stay then the client knows we are willing to accept his poor work ethic and he will continue to handle the situation poorly.
I have had a lot on my mind lately, but discussing it individually wasn't enough to write an entire post about, so I decided to write a post about a bunch of stuff.
Lets start with the very tasty dinner we had last night...
This was the very first time Noah had McDonald's. 18 months old...not too bad right? I am not the kind of person that feeds their kid McDonald's because it is easy, but the last few days I haven't wanted to cook AT ALL. So we decided, regrettably, to get some drive-thru McDonald's last night. It is so tasty when you are eating it, but then you always get the fast food stomach ache afterwards... and Noah is paying for it too. He has been super gassy today! Plus he got some weird Star Wars toy in his Happy Meal that looks pretty scary. So... no more McDonald's! At least for a long time, but I figured we would document the 1st for Noah.
This is just a small side note... when we were at Waipio Valley, Noah was running and face planted. We were lucky enough that Rachel got a picture of it. Haha!
Noah has also been putting on our shoes and trying to walk around. He loves it! It is super cute too.
Since I am able to post videos now, I am doing my best to get lots of them. This one is just adorable. It is just a video of a normal day with Noah. Lots of energy as you will see.
Last of all, Football season is here and I am really bummed about not being able to watch the games! Luckily I will be able to see the Broncos season opener since it is a prime time game on ESPN. It will be one of only a few I will get to watch... so it has bummed me out a lot! And on the bummerish note... the weather in Kona has been kind of dreary. It is keeping the house cooler since it is cloudy all day, but it has also brought me into feelings of missing "home" so much!
Time to make lunch for Noah... until next time, I hope you all have a great weekend!
Noah likes to read stories. I love listening to him talk. It is so funny. Soon these will all be understandable words... for now it is just awesome to see him learning. I hope you all enjoy!
