Thursday, July 30

Early morning at Kauia Sands

Monk seal on the beach

Spouting Horn at Poi'pu

Polihale beach at the end of the road

Waimea Canyon

Waimea Canyon

Sunset at Salt Pond Park in Port Allen

This morning, Sharon came running (well, came hurriedly) back to the room. She had been out on the beach reading when she noticed people gathering around something. When she looked closer, she realized it was a Monk seal that was hauled out and sleeping on the beach. Monk seals are extremely endangered so we were thrilled that we were able to see one. Our plan was to do the boat cruise up to the Fern Grotto but when we finally found a place for breakfast, we were so far past the marina that we decided to continue on around the island. We had breakfast at Danni's where I was quite adventurous having pineapple pancakes and spam. Sharon had a short stack of buttermilk pancakes while Mr. B had a ham and cheese omelet. From Li'hue we headed south to Old Koloa Town and Poi'pu. There was a giant blow hole called the Spouting Horn on the shore. As the waves came in the water was forced into a cave and there was a hole and water came spouting out every few minutes. We then drove as far as the road went where it ended at Polihale State Park. The last 8 miles was a bumpy dirt road but the beach at the end was well worth the bumps. The highlight of the day was the drive up to the canyon. The Waimea Canyon is called the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was so pretty and I'm sure my pictures will not do justice to the scenery. We ended our day at Salt Pond Park where we watched the sun drop into the ocean with the private Hawaiin island, Nihau, in the background.

Wednesday, July 29

Kilauea Lighthouse The state bird: Nene


The north coast Waillua Falls

The beach at Kauai Sands

We arrived at Li'ue airport in Kauai at 5:35 a.m. or somewhere close to that. Not sure any of us were awake enough to see what time it really was. We picked up our rental car, Sharon said the lady said to pick a car from the center row, which we did, a nice Malibu and it wasn't until we were pulling off the lot that we saw a sign that said mid-size. We were supposed to have an economy so I guess we got a free upgrade! We headed north towards Ka'apa as the sun was coming up. Stopped at McDonald's of all places for breakfast, mostly because it is fast and it was there! Our plan was to hit the Kilauea Wildlife Refuge and lighthouse on the way up but it didn't open until 10 and we were there at 8:30. After logging several "life" birds we decided to keep going to Hanalei and stop at the lighthouse on the way back. It was just the most beautiful drive you could ever imagine. We went all the way north until the road ended at Kee Beach State Park. It rained several times for brief periods, usually when we were out of the car. Of course the upside of the rain was the beautiful rainbows that followed! We stopped at several beaches as we made our way back to the lighthouse. While we were there we saw the Great Frigate bird, red-tailed tropic birds, wedge-tailed shearwaters, the state bird the Nene (a goose) and the Laysan albatross all birds that I had not seen. After checking into the hotel, the Kauai Sands, we drove around to several of the waterfalls that were in the area. We topped off our day with Brick Oven Pizza and Lappert's ice cream.

Tuesday, July 28

This morning Sharon and I decided to tackle the trail to the top of Diamond Head crater. We left early hoping to beat the heat. It was raining when we arrived at the trail head which actually made it much cooler. The hike wasn't bad at all until we reached the stairs. Three sets 74, 99 and 43 steps in

the .8 mile trail to the bunker at the top for a spectacular view of Honolulu, the Diamond Head lighthouse and the crater. Wow, what an experience. After dinner, we drove to a beach on Hickam Airforce base for the sunset. Tomorrow we fly to Kaui'a. I won't be able to post until Friday. Until then, Aloha!

Monday, July 27

Yesterday afternoon after I wrote my post, we took a drive to the other side of the island and went to the Byodo-In Temple. It was a very pretty drive and it was surprising how different it looked after we went through the tunnel to get to the windward side of the island. Today we went to the USS Missouri and the USS Arizona Memorial. Sharon and I did the Missouri by ourselves because we thought Mr. B might have trouble with the many, many stairs that had to be negotiated on the ship. The Arizona was very nice and included a short movie about that infamous day when Pearl Harbor was bombed and a ferry ride out to the actual memorial at the site of the USS Arizona. The water was clear enough to see the ship laying on the bottom and there was still oil leaking to the surface. We also saw a sea turtle swimming around the ship. Sharon and I are fixing dinner since Sara and Matt both had to work today! Not sure what we are doing tomorrow but I can pretty much guarantee that it will be fun and interesting!

Sunday, July 26

We were up and out of the house by 5:30 a.m. this morning. After about a 30 minute drive we got to Hanauma Bay where we were going to snorkel. It was still a little overcast but our first look at the bay was beautiful but as we left and the sun was out it was even prettier. We were among the first at the beach and the tide was coming in so it was a little rougher than usual but since we didn't know any different we thought it was great. We got some pictures of the fish along the edge of the reef on our underwater cameras. After snorkeling we went to Duke's in Waikiki for their breakfast bar. The restaurant is right on the beach and we sat in our own little cabana and ate until we could hardly move. What a great day!

*Photo: 1. Our hosts, Sara & Matt 2. Hanauma Bay 3. Mr. B on the beach 4. Breakfast at Duke's 5. Sharon & me at Waikiki with Diamond Head in the background.

Saturday, July 25

Well we finally made it to sunny Hawaii. We landed at 5:22 a.m. Hawaii time and it was still dark but as we landed we could see the lights in Pearl Harbor. Sara and Matt have a really cute home about 5 minutes from the airport. Sara had cherry and blackberry danish for us. When it was light enough we took Shorty for a walk and I added 7 new birds to my life list. Today our plan is to just hang out and pick up Sharon at 2:30. Last night, Mr. B and I went to Legends in Concert at Harrah's in Vegas. Our favorite of course was the Dolly Parton impersonator but also enjoyed the Temptations, Tom Jones and Elvis performances. Needless to say Brittney Spears was not our favorite. Tomorrow, snorkeling at Hanama Bay, I can hardly wait!

*Photos: The canal in the Venetian Casino and Shorty with Grandma & Grandpa with their leis

Wednesday, July 22

I just wanted to get this written as we will be leaving later today. I am not taking my laptop so I will not post until we get to Sara's place on Saturday. I think I have everything packed that we will need and probably a lot that we won't need. I checked the temps in Arizona and it is going to be 110 degrees in Las Vegas today. Hawaii may seem cool when we get there! Hopefully I will have some great pictures to share with everyone starting on Saturday when I can upload my photos. We are so excited to be going and I know Sara is very anxious to see her Dad and all the recovery since late January when she saw him last. The photo I included today is intended for our pastor's husband Dale. This tractor is sitting at the intersection of Taylor-Blair and Rt. 42 behind Yoder's discount ATV sales. It has your name on it, Dale!! Also, the auction at Tri-Green is next Wednesday and Thursday. Lots of tractors there, too!

Aloha,

Mrs. B

Monday, July 20

Today was Mr. Bichler's last out patient therapy session. I wish I could say that he had been discharged because he had reached all of his goals but unfortunately that isn't the case. He has been at the Martha Morehouse Outpatient Therapy facility since the end of March and although he has made some significant progress his therapists seem to think it is time to take a break away from therapy. Hopefully our upcoming trip to Hawaii will revitalize his recovery efforts. It has been 6 1/2 months of hospitals, surgeries, doctors appointments and intense inpatient and outpatient therapy. Maybe it is time to kick back and relax and enjoy how far we have come to this point. So with that said we are headed off to Hawaii, land of rainbows, beaches and waterfalls. Maybe we will get lucky and find a pot of gold but we will settle for some quality time with Sara and Matt.

Saturday, July 18

Yesterday I took on the task of cleaning the fish ponds in front of the house. This means mucking out about 2 months worth of decaying leaves and other unrecognizable debris from the bottoms of the ponds. One pleasant surprise was finding five 4" Koi in the lower pond. In April several of our larger Koi somehow slid down the runway to the lower pond and must have laid eggs there. Can't believe we didn't see them until now. I also netted about 8 microscopic hatchlings and put them in a fountain. Guess I will see how big they get before winter. As I was preparing to clean the ponds I found a Monarch butterfly that had just hatched. This threw my time schedule all out of whack as I had to take pictures and finally moved the drying butterfly so I wouldn't disturb him as he dried his wings out. My resident red-tail hawk chick has fully fledged and has been hanging out along the creek in front of the house. I think his parents are attempting to teach him to hunt in the meadow across the creek but I swear he makes so much noise I can't imagine a sane mouse venturing out while he is there. He flew over several times and is quite a beauty! (of course I could never reach my camera in time for a picture) Last night for entertainment, we went to see the London Arts Council's presentation of "Pippin". Several of the chorus members were from West Jeff and we had been especially invited by one of Mr. B's students and basketball players, Abby Arnold. Wendy Webb, one of my former students had the lead and did a fantastic job. She is just as cute as can be and played a lovable, laughable widow who was looking for a man to sit at the head of her table and help with her large estate. Her voice is amazing and I'm convinced she should try out for Idol or America's Got Talent!! Hope everyone has a nice week end. I'm taking it easy this morning trying to rest up from the pond cleaning ordeal that took 4 1/2 hours, not counting taking pictures of the butterfly. I only fell once and luckily my head didn't go under. Yuk!

Tuesday, July 14

Up early today to work at the zoo. Lots of visitors, some from pretty far away too. We had people from Colorado, New Hampshire and even a family from Australia. If you go to the zoo this summer the new Animal Safari Show is a must. The show was an idea of the late Jeff Swanagan and he worked very hard to get it off the ground. The zoo went to shelters in Columbus and adopted over 100 dogs and cats that were then trained for the animal show. Along with the shelter animals there were also pot-bellied pigs, a miniature horse, ducks, a porcupine, pea hen, parrot, a llama, lynx and red kangaroo. The fast moving show lasts just 20 minutes, is free and very entertaining for old and young alike. While I stayed to watch the show, Mr. Bichler was having lunch with Miss Fox (oops!), I mean Mrs. Nichols at their favorite buffet, the Dutch Kitchen.

Sunday, July 12

I apologize to those of you who faithfully read this blog. As you probably have guessed, things have slowed down a bit and it seems there isn't much of interest to write. Not that anything previously has been extremely interesting either. Therapy is continuing to show positive results and Mr. B is feeling great. Some of you have seen him and know that he is doing really good. Friday we went down to school to start clearing out his room. Mr. Bichler will be officially retired as of July 31. We found out that you can't pack up 35 years in just one day. Luckily, he threw out a lot when he made the move from the old middle school or it would take even longer. I know he is going to miss everyone at school so I hope you keep in touch. Soon we will be heading out to Hawaii to visit with our youngest daughter. She hasn't seen her dad since late January so she is really excited to see his progress first hand. I will try to send pictures and update the blog while we are gone. We are really looking forward to our first trip to Hawaii. I love Alaska so it will be interesting to compare our experiences in both states. Keep us in your prayers as we travel. I guess we will see how much endurance and stamina we both have on this trip! Hope everyone has a great week.

*Photo is of my sister, Judy, with Luke. This was the first time she had seen Luke!

Monday, July 6

After a really great week end it was back to therapy. Mondays are much more tolerable since Mr. B's discharge from physical therapy. He doesn't have therapy until noon unless he has to meet with his psychologist. So it is only 2 hours of speech and occupational therapy. Today Mrs. Kuhl picked him up after therapy so that my sister and I could have the day for ourselves. We went to the zoo and then to City BBQ and Graeter's Ice Cream. So, all the calories we burned when we walked the entire zoo we gained back in about 30 minutes! We got to see the baby languar, it was born just this morning. The adult languar monkeys are grayish black in color but the babies are born a bright orange and stay that color for about 3 months.

Friday, July 3

We had our 4th of July picnic today. Just family and it was really fun to have all the kids here to play together. It was almost too cold to swim, at least for very long. We did lots of bubble blowing, corn hole and of course lots of eating. Lots of fun but I am ready to rest, we had 5 little ones and the oldest was 3 and the youngest 4 months.

Wednesday, July 1

Today was a rather slow day, comparatively speaking. A doctors appointment but it was in London so we were home before noon. Spent a little time moving things into the new garage and we took time for a Popsicle. My sister came in from Atlanta to spend the 4th of July so I'm looking forward to visiting with her. Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather.