February 2019

Thoughts and Memories from February 2019

Welcome to another monthly update post! Over the past few months, I’ve been wanting to change things up on here and write about more than just hiking adventures, and this is an easy way to add something a little more personal to our blog. The daily routine that we’ve established over the past year is about to be shaken up, and I’m realizing that there will come a point where we won’t have weekly adventures to share. Blogging has been one thing that has remained constant for me through all of our life changes and moves, and I don’t want to give it up just because I don’t have a new exciting adventure to share. I’m still figuring out what this will look like, but expect to see more variety on here thrown in along with our adventures around this island.

Whale watching at Makapu’u

Let’s start with the good: A huge blessing this month has actually been Curtis’ watch schedule — somehow, he managed to have all weekends off this month! The one Saturday he had to work, he ended up getting President’s Day off the Monday following so we still enjoyed having 2 days together. That pattern ends now in March, so I’m making note of this so I can look back and be thankful. We don’t know what’s coming for the rest of 2019, but at least he was on island for all of the first two months.

In other Navy-related happenings, February honestly started out with us expecting and hoping for certain things, but it turned out much different than we had wanted. Maybe I’ll touch on that later on this year. I always thought that by this point in Curtis’ military career, things would be more structured and straight-forward, and I’d be able to plan ahead and know what to expect. The 2+ year training pipeline was filled with unexpected hold ups, time “off” in between, and wondering what was coming next and where we’d be moving, so I looked forward to this point: where Curtis would be stationed with a command for a longer period of time and we would have a set schedule and know what was coming. Now, that whole idea just makes me laugh.

Our last hike on the Old Pali Highway…ever??

As it turns out, this phase of life is even LESS structured than before. It doesn’t matter if it’s long-term plans or the weekly duty schedule, it seems like everything is always up in the air. I don’t know where I came up with the idea that life would have more structure now, I think I was just so focused on the fact that we would finally live in one place for three years. Now all I can do is take things day by day, and find ways to be productive and creative on my own.

When I sat down to write this update, I have to say that it bothered me that the only things that came to mind were all Navy related. I spend every day working and creating and doing a wide variety of activities, and yet at the end of the day whatever is happening with Curtis’ boat is how I remember that day. It bothers me that our life is controlled so much by Curtis’ job. If he had a civilian job, would it take over my life as much as the Navy does?

Rain coming in over Windward Oahu

Honestly, I could have started any monthly update in the past year with those sentiments. However, I’m sure that soon enough I’ll be missing these days because at least I know that for most nights, Curtis will be home. That just isn’t a guarantee anymore. All that to say — Please come visit me, I’d love some more company. 🙂

I know a lot of what I’m sharing here is very vague, but unfortunately it’s not something I can talk about in depth. However, one thing that I’ve been thinking about is sharing more candid stories of things we’ve been through or done in the past that I can talk about freely now. I didn’t know much about military life before marrying into it, and while I wouldn’t change anything about our life and how we got here, there’s a lot I wish I would’ve known beforehand. So maybe I could write it as informative for new military wives…but honestly, I think it’s pretty entertaining and I’d like to look back and laugh at all those things that once gave me so much stress.

Cup of Gold Flower

Enough with all that, here’s a look at what we did in February 2019!

• Spent Super Bowl Sunday hiking a couple of trails and at the beach — it’s always fun to take advantage of this day and visit places that are typically busier on your average Sunday.

• Watched Jaws — somehow a first for both of us! We also finally branched away from our regular Netflix shows and are trying out That 70’s Show. (Our attempt may be in vain though because I just heard that Arrested Development season 5 part 2 is coming out this month…)

• Hiked the Old Pali Highway Trail on the 10th. One week later, there were massive landslides in this area, on the current Pali Highway and near the Pali Lookout. The highway is closed for what could be months and traffic has been worse than usual. Sadly we probably won’t be able to enjoy this hike again anytime soon!

• Finished reading Frankenstein — It took us about 2 months since we started reading it together in Red Hill Cabin on Mauna Loa

• Hiked to Kaena Point to see albatross and Makapu’u Point to see whales, and had success with both hikes! We hiked to Makapu’u on a sunny Sunday in the late afternoon and saw at least a dozen different whales between Oahu and Molokai. We also had a perfectly clear view of Molokai, Lanai, and Maui.

• Switched our phone service from Sprint to Google Fi — this was a long time coming and we’re so glad we finally went for it. The service is better and we’re paying less monthly! Trading our 5 year old phones for newer models was also a plus. (If you’re interested in checking out Google Fi, here is a referral code that will give you and us a service credit.)

• Visited Ho’omaluhia Botanical Gardens again, and walked around Kailua Town and our favorite walking trail many times. I have a goal of hiking/jogging/walking 1000 miles this year, and thanks to daily walks with (and without) Charlotte, I managed 108 miles this month, for a total of 262 so far this year. Not bad!

• Finished a big project working on SEO on our Pastor from our home church in Arizona’s website, neverthirsty.org. I always love learning new things about web design and maintenance, and then implementing what I learn into this site. I’m slowly making changes and adding new things on here…look around and see if you notice anything different. 😉

Currently blooming at our home – Dracaena Fragrans 

We’re also excited to finally welcome more visitors coming in March — friends, spring might be just a couple weeks away, but that doesn’t guarantee warm weather or no snow. I highly encourage you to plan your visit soon. 😉 Also, if you have any suggestions or requests for future blog posts or topics, let me know because I’m open to new ideas! I hope you all have a wonderful March!