Want to know what gets Hawaiians really excited? Fifty foot waves! Really! Fifty feet! I never knew waves could get that big! But last week they did, and the whole island went crazy. Though I was tempted to check out the surf, the rumors of road closures and displacement shelters scared me out of it.
I'm not one to take my children into a natural disaster.
As it ends up, no roads got washed out and no houses got swept away, so now I wish I would have taken the chance. I comfort myself with news that the traffic was HORRENDOUS since everyone wanted to see the waves, especially the Eddie Aikau surfing contest, and it would have taken us hours to get there.
Since I don't have any pictures to share, I will refer you to the blog of the photographer who recently took our family portraits (that I love!). Check it out! Crazy!
Big wave photos here
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Our Tropical Christmas Tree
Apparently it's not that easy to find a fresh Christmas tree when you live on a tropical island. Who knew? :P We did eventually find a tree farm that grows Norfolk Pines, which are a little funky looking. Sort of like an artificial tree would look if someone forgot to install every other row of branches. It's working for us, though!
The tree farm experience was different for us, as well. When we arrived, our designated tree cutter asked us how tall we wanted our Christmas tree to be. About 6 feet, we said. Instead of trying to find a 6 foot tree, he found a much taller tree, measured 6 feet down from the top and chopped it off. He said the bottom half of the tree would continue to live and grow and become another Christmas tree some day.
This is our tropical Christmas tree. Different, for sure. But that's part of what we love about living here in Hawaii. We are experiencing so many things that were previously completely foreign to us. I love being able to view things from a different perspective. And we're even picking up a few (and I mean very few) Hawaiian phrases. Here's wishing you a merry Christmas:
Mele Kalikimaka!
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