HOME AGAIN FROM OUR PARADISE

As I write this, we have now arrived home safely from Hawaii on April 21st. Before I ended our Blog in Hawaii, I wanted to share our last this & that's on our last week in our Paradise.

A week before we left, we decided to spend a few days in Kauai a the Kauai Beach Resort. It was a lovely place. The tradewinds & rain followed us from Honolulu, but we made the best of it anyway.

Just as we remembered, Kauai is a beautiful island. We made the famous Fern Grotto trip up the Wailua River just as did 25 years ago. We also drove to the beautiful Waimea Canyon (the islands Grand Canyon). We drove from one end of the island to the other. It was a great trip.

So I decided to make a list of our lasts: -BYU Teacher Appreciation Dinner
-Last visit to the PCC & one more visit
to the Fiji Village
-2 more times to the Night Show
-Another trip to Ted's Bakery and our
favorite and new beaches
-One more visit to say good bye to the
Big turtles.
-Pack our very large suitcases & clean
our very comfortable apt.
-Took the ocean drive into Waikiki to
once again take in the look-out points
of interest along the way.
-Stayed at the Ilikai Resort Hotel for 2
days to have some more R&R before we
travel home. As if 4 months wasn't
enough. Ted actually got up on a surf
board in the Lagoon.

Our time here together has been so pleasant and fulfilling as volunteers. We certainly hope we can repeat it again sometime. We're happy we found that "Life is Good in Paradise" as it is at home with our family & friends, too. Much Aloha

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER

Sadly for Professor Stagg, the last day of school was last Friday. We are both so impressed with this University and it's sudents, but Ted REALLY is. He has loved being a teacher here and I guess he has proved himself because they have invited him back for next winter. There are 2,400 students enrolled from 75 different countries. Unity with diversity seems to a common thread among all those who come here.

Saturday we were invited by our dear friend Viri Musuka & her sister Malika to the Graduation. What a super beautiful day it was. There were 400 plus whom graduated and 10 of them were from Fiji. I took a bunch of pictures, so here they are. I love how the graduates are laden down and covered up with the beautiful leis. We were invited by the Fiji Club for lunch to celebrate and for dinner with the Kaufusi Family for dinner. Their son graduated with very high honors. Brother Kaufusi is now going to go back to school for one year. Good for him.

Saturday night we decided to try and make the night show one more time. They gave us front row seats once again. This was #8 for us. Someone said maybe we should receive frequent flyer miles. We love it and throughly enjoy seeing the many students perform and they love seeing us there. We wish you all could be there to enjoy it with us. It was also my last day at the PCC Mission Settlement and here is picture of most of the special women I have been able to work with.

On wednesday we are taking a little trip over to Kauai for three days. The last time we were there was about 25 years ago. Then the next week we arrive home on the 21st. We are very anxious and excited to see family and friends once again, but we surely will miss our little paradise in Kahuku on the North Shore of Oahu. See you soon....Aloha

FIJI FORUM NIGHT & OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

As our time is drawing near to leaving our little paradise, the hours of the day seem shorter and shorter. Last Sunday, we were invited by the Fiji Club to speak to them at a fireside. Our good friends, Sitiveni and Kali, who always keep us informed on all of their activities and asked us weeks ago to do this. We were happy to do so. They presented these beautiful flower leis to us (they lasted for a week). We both spoke a little on the decisions and changes that take place in their lives. I liked this quote from Winston Churchill "To every man there comes in his lifetime, that special moment when he is figuratively, tapped on his shoulder and offered the chance to do something very special and unique to him and fitted to his talent. What a tragedy if that moment finds him unprepared or unqualified for the work which would have been his finest hour." That is what happened to you Dad last January, as he found himself prepared and qualified to take on this challenge and to make this change in his life. And now he may have found himself a new occupation. Anyway, I am very proud of him for doing such a great job. Part of his talk was on the special things he learned from the people in Fiji and living there. You might remember some of them. He had the group in the palm of his hand, laughing & crying. He is such a good speaker. I wish you all could have been there with us. Afterwards, they had fixed chicken curry and roti & pineapple square bars ( all Fiji favorites). We also got to meet many more of our Fiji friends. They always make us feel so much like family. Here is the new motto "No matter "where we are or who we are, we are all Fijians at HEART."

The last few weeks we have ventured out around the island somewhat enjoying the many sights to see. Yes, I am still trying my hand at the ukulele. I'm getting pretty good with "You are my Sunshine, my only sunshine". We made a trip out to the Makapu u Point to hike up to top to view the very important Light House. The trip up the path was made much easier and faster because of a fierce wind behind our backs. The view from the top was worth every step. Of course, the winds were against us all the way down.

I did a little snorkeling at this place called Sharks Cove (no sharks), but Dad did see some whales out in the distance spouting off and even saw a whales tale slap. So it was a good day. Last weekend we went to Kualoa Ranch and took a Jungle Expedition ride up and down the mountain side. It was an off the road ride, but we decided it wasn't any worse than our truck rides with the Schern's in Vanuatu last year. On the tour, our guide named Turtle, showed us where some of the famous TV show LOST is filmed, some scenes from Jurassic Park, 50 First Dates, Mighty Joe & many others. It seems like Hawaii is used alot for many films. I will be excited to see the newest one called Soul Surfer. We have seen alot of the places they have used for that one.

We are down to our last few weeks and we are taking in many free concerts and seeing the fabulous night show "HA" as often as we can. Last night we saw a terrific show put on by a professional Fiji group from Fiji. They sang, danced, chanted, & drummed non-stop for an hour. I don't know how they can do it. Such energy. They are called Kabu ni Vanua. They will also perform at the Univ. of Hawaii and in Hilo. Sure glad we got to see them and we even knew 2 of them.

By the way, if you happen to read the Ensign this month there is such a wonderful article on Fiji and 3 families that we know very well. Enjoy reading it.

Well, I am finally sending this to the post it file. Aloha to all and hope every one has a very Happy Easter.

FIJI FORUM NIGHT AND OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

HONU SIGHTINGS (TURTLES)

We were so excited to find and actually see the Green Turtles of Hawaii on Lanikea beach last weekend. Our friends, Connie & Richard Bohman, came to visit us and we really made his day finding these amazing and large turtles. We served in Fiji with the Bohman's last year. It was great to have them come over here. They loved it over here, also. We also spent time at the PCC and they loved going to the Fiji Village, of course.

Now, more about our friends, the turtles. Lanikea is a special beach that love to come up on and sun themselves for hours at a time. There are Honu Guardian Volunteers that are there daily watching out for them. They said there are about 25 turtles that visit this beach. Some have satelite things on their shells, some have mico-chips to keep track of them. They all have names, weight and ages on little cards that they stick in the sand for visitors to get to know them. We went there 3 days in a row, we couldn't leave them alone.

Claudette, the one with the green shell is a new one & has not been registered yet.
Oakley, (by himself) our first sighting weighs 150 lbs, 25 yrs old. The three together are Oakley, Brutus 250 lbs, 35 yrs.old, and Saphire 165 lbs , 25 years old.
If anyone is interested in knowing more about this place here is their web site
www.malamanahonu.org

We are trying to make the most of our time left here. So Aloha for now, till our next great adventure

HONU SIGHTINGS (TURTLES)

WE SURVIVED THE TSUNAMI......

The tsunami came and left quietly, thankfully. The news said Hawaii really dodged the bullet this time. They were expecting the worst, but we all know that it is always better to be safe than sorry.

Our good friends, the Corn's, called us at 5:30 am to warn us of what might happen. Then at 6 am the sirens started going off to alert us. We turned the TV on & couldn't believe what we might be in the middle of. Then our neighbor came over to tell what to do and be ready to evacuate by 8:30 am. Now, I am nervous. So Ted decides to go gas in the car because it is on empty, won't let that happen again. I started to pack suitcases with food, water, medicines, blankets and clothes. People were lined up at the grocery stores and the gas stations. The shopping centers closed all over the island, road closures, and the picturesque beaches were deserted except for the foolish thrill seekers. At 8:30 am a police car came thru here and using loud speakers and sirens told every one to evacuate the area and move to higher ground. So we packed our car up and followed our neighbor to a military gate that was opened up to the people and drove up to the top of the mountain (which wasn't that high in my estimation). We did have a good view of the ocean when we got out of the car.

There were about 70 cars up there. Some people brought tents and tables, chairs and barbeque's and there was alot of cooking going on. All I could find for us was Cheetos, apples, bananas, tuna and crackers & coke. Kind of pathetic, right. So we spent the beautiful, sunny Saturday from 8:30am to 2:00pm on top of the mountain (hill) and thankful that Hawaii was spared. Soon after, the islands were back to being paradise. That night we saw the most beautiful sunset ever down at the Turtle Bay shore. We went to bed that night thankful our apt. was not under water because it surely would have been had the tsunami hit us. Thanks everyone for thinking about us and for your concern. Ted said last week we have passed the half way mark, hard to believe how fast the months go by. Aloha

WOW --- WHAT A WEEK