Lay Of The Land (part 1)

Where am I? To be exact we are in Kapa'au, Hawaii which is on the northern tip of The Big Island. About an hour from Kona and 2+ hours from Hilo. My folks have lived here for about 9 years now (has it been that long?) coming here to escape the cold and crowds of the city of Chicago where I grew up.

Many moons ago, I came out here for a shoot when I was working for HGTV before Zach was born, and I loved it! I encouraged my dad to come out since he had recently retired and we had an old family friend here he could crash with. He hemmed and hawed, wondering what point there was traveling out to Hawaii. My parents are the sort who consider a camping safari to be a real vacation, so Hawaii seemed a little "soft". But he came out and fell in love too. So much so that he never came back home. He phoned my step-mom Lynda and said, "Put the house on the market and start packing, I bought some land." He slept in the back of an old truck and built this place from scratch.

It's ten acres of former cattle land. We're at 700 feet elevation snuggled in no particular town, but between the funky little hamlets of Hawi & Kapa'au (think Cicely, Alaska in the tropics). This is not the Hawaii of coconut bras and grass skirts and drinks with little umbrellas. This is farm country, local folk, old school, dare I say "real" Hawaii. We can see Maui across a small patch of ocean from the front porch and the hills of North Kohala behind us  (along with the neighbor's cows).

This week we've been doing absolutely nothing at all. Just letting Zach and the grandparents he so rarely gets to see enjoy each other. He's been helping Granny care for the animals, feeding the horses

& St. Croix sheep

 & Muscovy ducks (who have the yummiest eggs).

And spoiling the dog (Louie) and the cat (Popoki) rotten. He's also been Grandpa's little shadow, following along with every farm chore from replanting a sick banana tree to fixing the wind generator.

I managed to pack just about everything we own except my camera battery charger, so some of the above photos are from our last trip. I am expecting the charger in the mail tomorrow (I hope) so I will start fresh with some new photos and such in a day or two.

In the mean time we're off to whale watch, rainbow chase, and frolic with a small Waldorf homeschool co-op on an organic farm. Life is good.

Aloha