Our story so far...to get cha caught up

It all started with a trip to Maui for my husband's 30th birthday with our little boy...

While there we went to just look at real estate, just to check it out.  We ended up leaving 5 days later with a house in escrow.  

With a 120 day escrow this allowed us time to get our chocolate Lab, Buddy, through quarantine and for us to sell almost everything we owned.  We moved in March with a crate that was 5 feet by 8 feet.  That's it's.  That was our life...in a box.  It's amazing what little you can live with and how good it feels to clean out everything, in a really big way. 

Our dog, Buddy made the trek out a month after we arrived. 

Oh, and we did keep our cars and shipped them out as well.

I found out I was pregnant in January just as we were going though and selling all of our life possessions.  We were excited...our little one would be born in Maui!  

I made the move at 3 months pregnant.  

Flying out of San Diego alone with my little boy (my husband went before we did to get things set up and to start his new job) with a one way ticket to paradise.  

I went from this...(pic taken at about 4 months pregnant)

To this...(full term...thank goodness!)

Six months later, after a bout of pre-term labor at 32 weeks, a metavac flight in the middle of the night, 5 days in an Oahu hospital and then another 2.5 weeks living in Oahu in case I went in to labor....(phew!) we had our baby girl, LittleMiss (LM for short).

Fast forward to today...our first born CoolGuy (CG for short) is almost 4 and in preschool.  He's loving it and making friends.  LM just turned a year and is walking.  

We're making the move soon to a different part of the island where it's cooler, more rural.  

Now you are all caught up.  

Hope you come back to read the many stories of The Burns Ohana living in Hawaii. 

Aloha! Sarah 

Our Trip to Iao Valley

*originally posted 5.19.07*

With so much to do around the house it's hard to just relax, especially for Greg. So, on Saturday, we decided to go see some of the island and get out of the house. We drove about 45 minutes to the Iao valley, just outside of Wailuku. Cam slept the whole way and woke up right when we arrived.

The Valley is gorgeous! Right when you get out of the car and head to the bridge, you see the Iao needle. It's magnificent! So tall and so green, simply beautiful!

We head off, with tennis shoes on (my feet hadn't seen tennis shoes for some time as I live in thongs!) We had a backpack full with a picnic. I had Bud while Greg carried Cam. We walked a bit and then went off the beaten path. We walked through the trees on this narrow path that had been made simply by people who also took the turn off the main path. Greg led us and then found us a great spot right on the river. With a tiny mini beach of pebbles we set up camp.

Bud was the first to jump into the crystal clear water, drinking it as he paddled. Then Cam went for it. Then Greg and finally Cam talked mommy into putting her feet in - it was COLD! But we all loved it! It was so nice. We were alone in this gorgeous valley with the water rushing by us, the birds calling to eachother, it was awesome!

We ate our sandwiches, pickles, crackers and cheese and then chilled. It was fabulous! Little Cam got naked, his fave thing to do in the wild, and enjoyed putting the leaves into the river and watch them go down stream like little boats. We relaxed and laughed and just enjoyed it before we packed up and headed back into the forrest. It was awesome!

Back at the Iao needle bridge

Being there brought back our whole reason for wanting to move to paradise! 

This place is magical!

Aloha! Sarah