Aloha!

I am posting this blog entry from Kona, Hawaii. Also known as the Big Island. We are staying at the Marriott Resort here...I wish I could recall the name...or the spelling...but alas, it escapes me! I spent my first morning here walking the beach here. It's a tropical paradise! The sand is soft...not firm like in San Diego and it definitely shifts when you walk in it. There is NO running on the beach here. This paradise was not meant for that hurriedness! No. It's a walking beach. There are few to no shells on the beach. The sea does not toss it's treasures upon the sand to be found by chance like at other beaches, but rather, it invites you into it's crystal clear, blue waters to search and choose those treasures that you would like. That is part of the adventure. However the beach revealed plenty of treasures today, even upon the warm, brown shifting sands. I found three beautiful heart shaped rocks, for starters. I was thrilled with them and was so happy with my collection of these that I nearly stumbled upon my next treasure. There, RIGHT at my feet, was a large sea turtle, sunning herself on the warm sand in the morning sun. WOW! I've never seen a real one up close. She was so ugly...and yet so very beautiful in her own way. I took lots of pictures...of course! It was awesome! But you have to wait until I get home in order to see those! After my walk on the beach Chris and I struck out for a drive across the island. We came upon a beautiful Japanese garden. SO beautiful. I just loved it. And had lunch in a little pizzeria in a quaint little town just up the road. We saw clouds, and snow high on the mountaintop. We saw pasturelands and land that looked much like our desert at home. We saw tropical beaches and rain forest-like areas. And we saw total slumlike dumpy areas. And that was just the top part of the island. Tomororw we are off onto different adventures. Who knows what the day will hold for us!

In the meantime, in true Roberts fashion in this new year of 2008, the Roberts kids (who I left behind in the tender loving care of my sister) are all attempting to come down sick. Maxwell started at the ripe old hour of 4 a.m. screaming with a temperature and dire misery. We decided it best that he see the doctor, so poor Donna sat through the pediatrician's office this morning while they ran test after test to see if they could determine the source of Max's misery. Everything came back negative. Possibly just viral. So she has dealt with his misery all day long, and then this afternoon Ben started complaining as well. UGGGH! I am going to be SO mad if those boys miss school tomorrow Donna doesn't get a break. I'm not totally sure that they are really sick. I have a hunch that they are just so excited and glad to have my sister there that they are suddenly coming down with great illness to avoid having to go to school and miss out on the fun. In all fairness, Max did run a temperature in the night. But still. I am not totally convinced of their illness levels as the school hour draws nearer and nearer. It has certainly made relaxing in Hawaii a bit of a challenge knowing my children are ill!

More updates soon to come from this land of paradise! Until then! Oh...pictures are of the sea turtle and of the island resort where we are staying!