Aloha from Hawaii!!

We arrived in Hawaii a week ago to set up our new home for the next year. We are living on the first fairway of Turtle Bay. This photo is taken from our living room looking out at the golf course. Our home is located where the golfers land their first drive (if they are lucky and accurate). We have learned that after 3pm golfing is just $15 if you walk. We bought ourselves a couple of pull carts and take them out the door when we want to go play. We then take our driver and go to the first tee to hit. Hopefully our ball has landed close to the carts and we go on from there. In the week we have been here we have been out four times already.

This is our very Hawaiian looking living room. When we arrived the condo had been closed up and it was so hot and humid!! Since then we have learned that opening the windows and doors allows a great breeze to blow across the house both upstairs and down. It is very comfortable and sleeping is great. I now have my computer set up on the back table and Craig works from the one in the foreground. It is also where we enjoy our meals and watch golfers as they make their second or third shot.

This is our kitchen. It will work nicely. On the table on the left you can see the Raid. We have been visited frequently by tiny ants. In this week I have learned that certain ant traps work very well while others don't and for the past few days I have been ant free. Hopefully we can continue to keep them at bay. In the background you can see the guest bedroom. You can also see a set of golf clubs waiting for the next round.

Upstairs is the master bedroom. The condo is a split level. We get a nice cross breeze through here. I like the quilt a lot but the carpet has something to be desired. We usually wake up to someone hitting off of the first tee around 6:45am. Across the hall is another bedroom.

This is the guest bedroom downstairs and also the storage for our clubs. It also has a nice Hawaiian quilt on the bed, making it very inviting for those guests that will be coming!

Craig has begun teaching. He has one class right now on Tuesdays and Thursdays that goes from 12:10-3:20! That is a long time to hold a class, but it is only for the term. In the fall term he will have a more reasonable length. He will also teach one more business class and a missionary prep class.

Colleen will begin teaching piano lessons to non-majors in the fall. In the mean time we will be trained to take tickets for the luaus at the Polynesian Cultural Center. I have also volunteered to work there two days a week. I think it will be in the mission area which has the old time mission home, the old church, and the school house. I got an email yesterday saying that they need help with teaching how to play the ukelele, so maybe I will do that. I will know more this week. I also volunteered a few hours a week at the language lab to help students with English. All of that should keep me busy.

We love you all and miss you very much! I hope you enjoy the blog, it is my first time at it and I think I need to get used to it!!! Colleen, Mom, Tootsie