Spottings In Hawaii In the Small World Category

So the Turner family moved to Hawaii. As you may know. I'm in touch with Kanoe of course via email as my plan is to go visit. Definitely. More than one family to visit (HI, Edith!)

I got an email from Kanoe yesterday. The house they're renting in Hawaii? It belongs to my neighbor Maggie's aunt.

Kanoe headed to the landlady's house to pay the rent and Maggie happens to be there visiting with Chuck (her hubby) and her two daughters and spotted Ella and recognized her from my photos!

Craig and I about died when we got that email. The world keeps shrinking.

In other news - I'm busy! DUH.

Mia is loving t-ball and swimming, and is also playing piano begrudgingly. I hope she starts getting it soon, I'm tired of being the bad guy when I say, "Time to practice!"

This weekend is full with not one but TWO photo shoots and I can't wait! More to come on that on my photography blog (which I WILL update soon, promise!).

I went snorkeling yesterday with Anne and had such an amazing time we're bringing the kids today! (Wonderful Derek took the kids ALL FIVE OF THEM to t-ball practice, so we had a couple of hours to go play..... oh it was heaven!) Today we'll take their camera that we can use underwater and hopefully I can hook you up with some local snorkeling scenery. Let's just say there were plenty of moorish idols, parrot fish, tangs, clown fish, butterfly fish, wrasses, giant clams, and triggers to name a few. And the coral.... wow.

For The Web Geeks, TV Geeks & Resort Freaks

If you have no clue what this means, it's ok. I only sort of do. It's our download and upload speeds on fiberoptic cable Internet. Basically... blazin'. Craig said it's yet another reason we're happy to be living here.

I love: So You Think You Can Dance, Swingtown, Mad Men (STARTING UP SOON), and Burn Notice. Please begin watching at least the latter three shows so that they stay on TV. Take my word for it, they're fantastic.

Now - about a 15-minute ride up the road from us starts the "resort" area of Onna. It's gorgeous at this time of year - the sea has jewel tones you never thought existed in nature. But wow, don't get out of the car or you might melt. Unless you're in the water.

We went to the Renaissance Hotel up in Onna this past weekend. Mia and I had been once, we took Craig to show him. he was just as impressed.

In the lobby, there were several resident tropical birds hanging out. This is Pinkie (their names are on plates for us to read in English or Japanese):
Craig calls him the Buckeye Bird now as he is donning Ohio State colors. I think that's cool.

This is Oscar. He has a friend, Charmie who's orange - but I didn't get a good picture of him as he was preening.. very busily. Behind Oscar there's a stairway in the lobby, the bottom is turquoise and has those cool circles underneath it. It's a very pretty and tropical-looking lobby. Occasionally they have a woman on staff making balloon animals for the kids! It's a very happy place.

Mia made a friend, and they insisted in trying to give Pinkie back his feathers. He played along though, it was sweet. The other girl's parents were smiling at them too.... they were cute together.

This is the INDOOR pool. With water slides. Kid heaven. I could just leave Mia there to grow gills, she'd be fine with that.

Outside we wandered around for as long as we could stand it. Those cone-topped buildings sort of reminded me of the Hotel Del...right? To the right of this bridge were enclosures where the dolphins swam. The dolphins you could swim with if you paid enough. They're rescued, and it's an amazing program actually - I hope to do that before I leave Okinawa. (Yes, Mia was going bananas over them.)

We took the glass elevator to the top floor (12th I think?) and at the end of the hall was this. The reflection is unfortunate, but you understand why I'd put this up here. I mean... wow.

Not a postcard. A photo I took from the top floor lounge on the balcony. I hate it here. It's not like being on vacation every day or anything... I mean really. Sigh.
This is the area past the swimming beach where they give sailing lessons, scuba lessons, and they snorkel and dive. It's gorgeous, I'm dying to get out there!

Ok, more soon - I have too many photos and not enough time! nothing new. And many cool stories to share regarding my new friend, Robin. Stay tuned!