Hawaii & Adapting to a New Normal

I cannot believe it has been almost a year since I last posted. I thought maybe I was behind by a few months. 

Hawaii is magical. An agreed upon statement by anyone who has ever been there. Birds walk and fly freely around the island, including inside of the airport, restaurants, hotel lobbies etc. Beautiful birds. The water is warm and salty. Swimming in in felt like a spa treatment. At some of the beaches the sand was almost as fine as flour. Freia joined us on this trip and we got the special experience of swimming with sea turtles in the ocean!! We also snorkeled and saw some tropical fish, brain coral (as noted by Aria!), and sea urchins. We ate some amazing local food, and returned fully obsessed with the island. 

Aria was incredibly brave, snorkeling in the ocean is not easy. The day we did it was cold and rainy. Sticking her face in cold ocean water that was way over her head, while trying to breath through a mask with waves pelting her from above! I think I would've been terrified as a kid. And she definitely was scared, but she was a trooper and got to experience it which is pretty cool. I was completely obsessed with it, but also have a deep fear of sharks so I was scared to go out too far. We all had a wonderful time. 

 It's quiet. Sometimes deafeningly quiet. No seagulls. No cheers from football games in the distance. Just silence and the occasional eerie hum of electric vehicles driving by. At first this was all foreign and extremely off-putting to me. The quiet and the conformity felt suffocating. I felt that I did not fit in. But once I accepted that this is home, things got a little better. 

There are no potholes here to make puddles when it rains. Even if there were the children wouldn't be allowed to splash in them. Parents here seem overbearing. 

Everyone drives a silky-painted Tesla. My co-workers and I play a game in the morning called "Count the Teslas." We count an average of about 54 Teslas a day. 

 I have a job. It isn't perfect, but as a female parent of a young kid, chasing a career has been like chasing a fart in the wind anyway. It is generally pretty easy. The kids are incredibly sweet and my co-workers are all really nice. 

Jeff's job is busy, and stressful, but I think good. He recently got to take Aria to take your daughter to work day and they had a good time. 

First grade has not been the easiest year for Aria, or for us. But things have finally settled down. Outside of school she is in an art class and Spanish club. She has been on the waitlist to get back into gymnastics for a year. And we will probably start swim lessons up again soon. That's another thing about living here. Kids are kept BUSY with extracurriculars. 

She is still very into animals and reptiles. 

We went to San Francisco last summer. I didn't get a chance to post, but this was also a wonderful trip visiting friends. They are coming to visit us this summer and I hope we have as many cool things over here to do with them! 

Aria has excelled at swimming since last summer, and can now swim on her own and go underwater! She can jump in and go under without holding her nose. These are HUGE accomplishments for a kid who used to ask for a towel if a drop of water touched her face in the bathtub. 

We also got to visit Aria's new baby cousin Roman a few times! He's a very sweet, happy baby and a big boy! Aria is very excited to have a baby cousin and talks about him often. She is excited for when she will be 13 because then she will be a teenager (her dream) and Roman will be 6. I thought I would include a few pics of them as well.