March 20, 2017: Back Home

If Kodiak wasn't so beautiful, I would have had a really hard time leaving Hawaii and coming home.  Seeing the ocean, the cliffs, and the mountains makes leaving vacation and coming back to reality a little less difficult.

I love my home.

March 19, 2017: Always a teacher...

I was in the airport today and saw this book.  I took a picture of it to remind myself to put it in my Amazon cart when I got back to school.  I wish I would have had it this election season.

March 18, 2017: Pearl Harbor

This morning we went to Pearl Harbor to see the memorial and monument.  I knew a little about Pearl Harbor before going, but not much.  I didn't realize that the monument was built over the USS Arizona where it sank, killing 1,700 men.  Many of those men's bodies are still inside the ship.  From the memorial, you can look down at the sunken vessel.  Oil still leaks from it, and the surface of the ocean around the ship is shiny from it.

I have a very basic understanding of World War II.  Most of what I know came from high school history class, or from the countless historical fiction novels I have read over the years.  I don't do well with remembering facts and dates, but stories stick with me.  I appreciated that the memorial was full of them.  Stories of women who were notified in a single day that they had lost both their husband and their son, stories of men who had pulled their comrades out of the burning water, stories of civilians who watched their harbor burn.  There were stories of Japanese pilots who flew over the harbor and dropped the bombs, and stories of a little girl who survived the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima 4 years later, only to die of cancer a few years afterward. It was her story, Sadako Sasaki's, that made the biggest impression on me.  While she was dying in the hospital, she made paper cranes and sent them all around the world.  These cranes were to remind people everywhere about the importance of peace.  One of her original cranes was placed at the Pearl Harbor Monument.  I think this is a beautiful recognition that war brings tragedy on all sides.

This isn't a picture of her original crane.  These are ones that other kids folded and donated after being inspired by her gesture.

March 17, 2017: We finally got our leis!

There was a small part of me that wanted a lei at some point during our vacation.  I had heard that we would get one when we got off our plane.  That was a lie.  Then I was told we'd get one at the luau.  Also a lie.   Today, we flew from Kauai to Oahu.  One of my dad's good friends, Bob, lives in Honolulu, so he offered to take us to dinner and teach us a little about the island.  He met us at the airport and greeted us with fresh leis!  He also took us to an incredible dinner on the beach and taught us all about the island.  This man is a wealth of knowledge.  We also got to hear deer camp stories about our dad and grandpa, which were hilarious!  Meagan and I worked at the retirement home where Bob's dad lived, and we loved Al.  Tonight Bob shared stories about his dad with us as well.  I'm so glad we got a chance to meet up with him.  It was one of my favorite parts of vacation!

Also, we forgot to take a picture with him, and we didn't think about it until we were back at the apartment we were renting.  Inside the apartment was a mural that we kind of laughed at, so we decided if we couldn't take a picture in front of the ocean, the mural was the next best thing. 

March 16, 2017: Waimea Canyon

The best part of Kauai?  Hanging out with Jesse.  I was beyond thankful for my sister time this week.  I love Kodiak, but it has been hard being away from her this much these past 2 years.  It was great to have some solid vacation time.  We did get to talking though, and we realized that Jesse has had two panic attacks in her adult life and both of them were when she was on an adventure with me (one of them was yesterday when she lost her glasses while swimming under the waterfall).  The other one was when I brought her up a mountain in Kodiak.  She keeps coming back for more, so I can't be that bad.  :)

Today we drove to the southern end of the island, bummed around on a beach all morning, then drove to Waimea Canyon.  Like everything else in Kauai, it was breathtaking.

March 15, 2017: Kalalau Trail

This was my favorite day in Kaui.  We hiked along the Kalalau Trail today to the Hanakapi'ai Falls.  These falls are around 300 feet high.  It was a 4 mile hike to get back to the falls.  Once we got there, we swam underneath them.  I have swum in waterfalls before, but nothing like this.  They were gorgeous and more powerful than any other falls I have been to.  I have been on a lot of hikes and seen so many beautiful things in nature, but floating on my back and gazing up at these powerful waters was one of my favorite adventure moments of all time.  A friend once told me that if he wasn't a Christian, he would be tempted to runaway and live in the mountains for the rest of his life.  I laughed at the time, but I am so similar.  I have moments where I'd love nothing more than to disappear into the wilderness forever.  The peace I experience there is indescribable.  God's creation is magnificent, and each plant and rock and drop of water points me to the Creator.  But God calls us to love people, and you can't do that well when you're a hermit in the woods :)

March 14, 2017: mountain tubing

Today our planned adventure was going mountain tubing.  We booked a tour that took us up into the mountains to an old sugar cane plantation.  The irrigation canals are no longer used, so they turned them into a tubing river.  The river took us through the plantation and into various caves.  It was really neat!  I wouldn't pay to do it again, but it was a fun experience.  There were a few small natural waterfalls that we slid down, and the insides of the caves were beautiful.  Plus it was nice to be floating in a tube in Hawaii :)

March 13, 2017: Queen's Bath

On our first day in Kauai, we hiked over to Queen's Bath, a natural pool of water that is filled by the ocean.  We had heard it was beautiful and that it gave you a shallow place to swim and snorkel.  We didn't anticipate the bath being filled with tumultuous waters though!  The ocean waves were huge this morning, so they were crashing over the top of the bath, filling it with great sloshing waters.  The bath waters would calm in between ocean swells, and then the waves would spill over the top of the bath again, sending the waters crashing into the rocky sides of the bath.  We watched the waves for a while, until it seemed like they had calmed down for a longer period of time.  Two different groups of people also decided the waters were calm enough, and they jumped into the bath.  We followed.  The water was warm and clear!  We had been swimming and exploring for a few minutes when all of a sudden there was a huge crash of water above us.  The ocean waves had swelled again and sent huge waves into the pool.  We were knocked around a little bit by the waves.  We all swam toward the sides of the pool and clung to the rocky sides.  At one point Jesse was almost pulled off the rock, but she grabbed onto my arm and I dragged her back to the side.  The water inside the bath was not deep, and there was no risk of us being swept into the ocean, but the waves were strong enough that I could see us being smashed into the rocks, losing consciousness, and drowning.  (I think 28 people have drown there before).  There was a woman swimming with us who was in her 80s, and she was hit by the waves and did a few somersaults in the water because of them.  After the water calmed down, I used my "oldest person in the group therefore I am kind of the mom card" and made everyone get out of the pool.  Nobody was dying on my watch.  Apparently my dad had texted Jesse right before she left for the trip, and he told her to have fun, and to make sure that she didn't let me boss her around the whole trip.  (thanks, dad).  I don't really think of myself as a bossy person, but I was owning it today!

I really love this picture though.  Joel is being a huge weirdo and Alanna is in her own world just loving the moment. 

March 12, 2017: Didn't think this through...

Joel has been very eager to get to Hawaii.  So eager that he made sure to travel in his shorts so that he would be prepared for the warm weather once we landed... at 10:50 PM.  What he didn't really take into consideration was that we had a 5 hour layover in Anchorage and were planning on bumming around the city during that time.  While it was going to be 80 degrees in Kauai, it was still only about 18 degrees in Anchorage.  So this guy rocked his shorts and thin long sleeve all around Anchorage, where the snowbanks were still 3 feet high and the wind chill was close to 10.   And being the good friends we are, we mocked him every chance we got.

March 11, 2017: She knows me so well...

HAPPY SPRING BREAK!!  Tomorrow I am off to Kauai!  Jen has been student teaching in my classroom since January, and when we get back from spring break, she takes over 100%.  She bought me this package of oreos so that when we return, I can put my feet up, relax, and snack while she does all the work!   Have I mentioned before that I really like her?  She has done a phenomenal job so far, and I have grown as a teacher having her in my room too.   I am really looking forward to working alongside her for her remaining 5 weeks!  Especially when I get lemon oreos as part of the deal!

I do have to say though, that I am slightly worried that I am setting a bad example in the classroom when it comes to my eating habits.  My kids all know that macaroni and cheese is my favorite meal.  I am fairly certain they have noticed that I nurse a sprite during the entire afternoon.  And the other day, I heard them having this conversation:

Student 1: When I am a pig farmer, I will make a lot of bacon. 

Student 2:  I love bacon!

Student 3:  Me too!

Student 1:  I think everyone loves bacon. 

Student 3: Do you think Ms. Kistler likes bacon? 

Student 2:  I don't know, but I know she likes donuts!

Student 1:  Oh yeah, she definitely likes donuts.  She eats those all the time. 

Which is not entirely true!  I eat them maybe once or twice a week for breakfast.  I have been known to sneak into the closet during snack time for two seconds at a time and try to eat a bite or two if I didn't get a chance to finish it before the kids came into the classroom in the morning.  And I have been caught on multiple occasions doing this, so it makes sense that I would be known for my donut love. :) 

I can't help that I love what I love. 

March 10, 2017: We take fashion seriously...

Socks, underwear, a fleece, and a winter hat.  That's how we do it.