March and April News from the Pacific!

Hey everyone...just catching up with y'all from sunny Hawai'i! We hear your weather is improving, summer is on its way, ya? We will be home just in time!

Our good friends Steph and Mark and Linda and Greg visited us the beginning of March. What a treat for all of us to spend some time together in paradise!

Mid week during their visit we had some unwanted excitement: the tsunami scare from Japan's earthquake. No one slept that night as sirens blared near us on the hill from 10pm til 3am every hour, warning people to leave low lying areas for higher ground. Fortunately, most of Hawai'i was untouched, thank goodness, although Big Island did have some damage from high waters.

The gang of us did a couple of touristy adventures together: hiked Diamond Head and Manoa Falls, and did a couple Waikiki beach days under rented umbrellas enjoying MaiTai's beach side, thanks to the Litzermans. We spent time swimming, reading, visiting and relaxing. We did some fine dining out, as well as a "wine and cheese" dinner at home. Keep those martinis coming, Greg! 

We all went out to Duke's Restaurant at Waikiki Beach to celebrate Steph's birthday with a special table beachside. The lady musicians at Duke's played music and sang happy birthday while Steph did her version of the "hula" for all of us! You're "awllllll riiiight" Steph! We did not know you could do the hula!

Steph, Mark, Jim and I took a boat tour to the west side of the island to snorkel and view poods of dolphins in their natural habitat. As soon as the dolphins are spotted by the captain, we quickly enter the water with snorkel equipment on and are advised to "look down" to view the dolphins as they swim below us. Unbelievable to see and watch! There is no guarantee that dolphins will be spotted so we were grateful that we were able to see them twice during our trip! Our tour guide, Kaina gave us a little "hula show" on board after our lunch so look for him in video below...lots of fun on the islands!

Captain Adam

Crew of dolphin tour....well awllll riiiight!



Kaina doing the hula!

My friend Brenda came out for a visit while Jim was in NH the end of March. She and I spent some time visiting places I had not yet seen: Iolani Palace in downtown Honolulu, a cool submarine tour and sunset cruise in Waikiki and an evening at Jimmy Buffet lounge! Also did the usually hikes: to falls & Diamond Head and spent First Friday at Hawai'i State Art Museum to listen to "jazz" on the lawn. Swimming at Waikiki beach with time under the familiar green umbrellas and Sand Island visit in search of more sea glass! Fun and laughs with cocktails at the Hilton Tropic"s bar, a day at Pearl Harbor and sightseeing along the east side of island to Kailua beach and lastly, Duke's for dinner to end the adventure! Oh, and a visit to the Leonard's for the Hawaiian favorite, malasadas, the Portugese raised donut! Does it get much better? :o)

Turtle viewed from submarine tour

Brenda and I on the sunset cruise along Waikiki coastline.

Jim and I move out of this gorgeous home on the hill of Kaimuki in one week. Gonna be really hard leaving this place after 4 months. We feel so blessed and grateful to have found Ingrid and the opportunity to have been able to stay in
another one of her beautiful homes!

Next stop? Penthouse in Waikiki! Yup, back where we started...seems fitting, does it not? I am planning on mid June trip home with Jim to follow first of July...that's the plan for us.

Look for next update with news about our adventure to the island of Kaua'i and our upcoming trip to Maui. Life is good in Hawai'i, ya!

Love and miss you all,
Robin and Jim
PS working on the video...having trouble uploading...will try again