Danger in the Backyard

When Chris and I moved into our new house, the property manager gave us a VERY LONG moving in orientation. It included information like: "Clean out your lint trap between every load," and "How to use your garbage disposal," etc. I suppose if you are going to pay someone a hefty fee to manage your property, they need to justify their fees.

One of the items covered was basically that our backyard is dangerous and we promise not to go back there. I think we even signed a liability waiver. At the time I thought it was all very overbearing, but then yesterday I was driving home and I saw a helicopter hovering at the end of the street. (When I drive down Paradise Dr, there's a clear view of the ocean straight ahead of me.)

As I came over the last hill I then saw the police and fire trucks. My first thought was someone's house was on fire. However, as I drove past the scene, I could see people standing on the coast staring into the water and watching the helicopter. I went zipping around the corner to my house to tell Chris (My orange Honda Fit is great for zipping!) and as I did the helicopter flew right along the coast right at car level. It was definitely strange to see a helicopter at eye level out my passenger window.

I dashed into the house and yelled at Chris that something was happening down the street and bounded into my now dangerous backyard. Chris followed with the binoculars and it became quickly apparent that it wasn't a fire, but a rescue!

RESCUE HELICOPTER LOWERING THE BASKET WITH RESCUE DIVER

I, of course, ran back to the house with a shout at Chris: "I'm getting your camera...this is SO blog-worthy!" So for you, dear readers, I have documented this thrilling episode for you to read about. Anyway, camera secured and duly taking photographs, we could see the basket being lowered and Chris saw them toss something down to the distressed swimmer.

HELICOPTER GOING IN FOR THE RESCUE!

I suppose I am failing utterly at convincing everyone how boring the Big Island is. I swear, it's not usually this exciting. (I mean, my next planned blog is going to be about Target opening...which - no joke - I am VERY excited about.)

We watched the whole rescue. It's very bizarre to see a helicopter in someone's backyard. I was complaining about how there were no ambulances, but Chris made the excellent point that the helicopter would get the person to the hospital faster than any ambulance. As Chris made his point, the helicopter came zooming right by our house! The next day, this was the article in the Hilo Tribune Herald:

Man rescued after falling

Monday, July 11 1:02 am

A 22-year-old man who had fallen off a cliff into the ocean in Hawaiian Paradise Park was rescued Sunday afternoon by the Fire Department.

Seven units responded to a 911 call by bystanders, including a county helicopter, and found the man floating face down, about 100 meters offshore below Paradise Drive.

Paramedics treated the man on-scene and then took him to Hilo Medical Center.

(http://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/sections/news/local-news/man-rescued-after-falling.html)

Heaven in Hawaii?

Our second day of the staycation was definitely the BEST day I've had on the Big Island. We discovered heaven in Hawaii....HAPUNA BEACH. We didn't really discover it as it has been named the best beach in the country by Conde Nast. But for Chris and I, it was love at first sight (Which is not at all the "Chris and Kris love story"...we were NOT love at first sight I'm sorry to say). It all started right...a parking spot right in the front of the beach.

BEACH CHAIR, COOLER & BOYFRIEND...SO FAR, SO GOOD!

We were super happy with Mauna Kea beach, so we weren't quite sure how Hapuna topped it, but we came down the slope and stepped onto...

BEAUTIFUL, WHITE SAND & CLEAR, BLUE WATERS

We plopped ourselves down, opened the cooler, opened our respective book/magazine and prepared to just relax without a care in the world. The beach quickly became more crowded as it was the Sunday before the 4th of July, but with so much beach you still had plenty of space to yourself. And I normally get pretty irritated with sand after awhile, but the sand here is so silky...I just wanted to wiggle my toes in it all day long.

At one point I lay down on my towel to get some sun on my back. While I was half dozing, I kinda felt like something was poking me repeatedly in the cheek, but I chalked it up to my half drowsy imagination and just rolled over. When I pulled up the towel later however, there was a hole where a crab tried to get out...EWWWWW. Yuck. I stamped over the hole, but within the hour while I was reading I felt the thing poking me in the foot again! I stomped over the hole with a vengeance. I don't want crabs!! But when I went swimming the stupid crab had poked up its hole a third time. I found a long piece of palm leaf and stuck it in the hole, determined to poke the crab out into the open. I stuck the leaf in, and wouldn't you know it...I stuck in the whole leaf without encountering crab! That was easily three feet of crab tunnel!! Well, I think the crab got the message and I had no more crab trouble after that. Kristen -1; Crab - 0

Speaking of swimming, the water was SO nice...I even went in a few times. It's crystal clear, the perfect temperature, calm and it's a sandy bottom for as a far as I even wished to swim. This is a great swimming beach for everyone!

THE CAMERA IS WATERPROOF!

CHRIS AND KRIS TAKE ON HAPUNA!

Besides wearing my patriotic bikini, I also painted my toenails in red and blue with white stars. Unfortunately you can't really see the detail, but they are really cute, I swear!

PATRIOTIC TOES IN THE PACIFIC

We ended up staying for 6+ hours and had the rosy glow to prove it (Chris was now equally red on his front as his back, which he had manged to sunburn prior to our trip while working on his truck), but it was so worth it and as I write this after a gloomy, rainy day in Hilo I have turned into a rather lovely chestnut brown! Honestly, Hapuna is nicer than any other beach I have been to in the world...it beats Oahu beaches and Caribbean beaches in my opinion :)


Now...doncha REALLY want to come visit? Cuz I REALLY want to take YOU to Hapuna Beach :D

LOVE FOR HAPUNA BEACH

Staycation

After returning from my trip east, Chris and I promptly headed to the westside for a little staycation for the 4th of July weekend. At first we wanted to stay in Kona, but I wanted to do some activities in Waikoloa, so I ended up booking a little room in Waikoloa Village. It was $55/night...not bad :)

OUR LITTLE BEDROOM AT THE LAUGHING GECKO & THE DECK OF OUR LITTLE STAYCATION ABODE

From our house it only took an hour and a half to Waikoloa after a little detour to the Hilo Saturday Farmer's Market and a short stop in Waimea. After unloading some luggage at the Laughing Gecko, we promptly decided to spend the rest of our afternoon at the beach. I unpacked my trusted "Big Island Revealed" and we picked Mauna Kea beach. Since it was late afternoon, we pulled into the resort's tiny public beach access parking but found parking since everyone had mostly left the beach. I wasn't sure what to expect, so after trekking a few minutes down the pathway the vista opened up to a gorgeous white-golden silky sand beach with beautifully clear water. Ah! What a slice of heaven! How did we not even know that this existed on our miserable island? (Yes, I still hate living here to a fair degree - better, but not nearly close to consistently happy)

CHRIS TRYING TO CONVINCE ME TO GO FOR A SWIM

THE LOVELY MAUNA KEA BEACH (DOESN'T THIS MAKE YOU WANT TO COME VISIT???)

After a fabulous afternoon luxuriating on the beach, we headed out for dinner in Kailua-Kona. We went to a random bar we had never seen before and had a pretty not-great prime rib dinner. Before calling it a night, we headed to Safeway for some snacks for our beach day. At Safeway I discovered on sale...

CHOCOLATE WHIPPETS!

Being the good little girl that I am, we did not buy these, even if they are chocolate cookies at not nitrous oxide for huffing (or a showdog for that matter...I may not like dogs, but I watch those dog shows on Animal Planet!)