Moving Day

Today we are moving to Kamuela/Waimea.

Its a 2 bedroom cedar cabin (built by hand with wood from Oregon, oddly enough) on a full acre of land. Theres a chicken coop and a little place for goats, avocado lemon and banana trees. It has all major appliances, a wood burning stove, and a bathtub- one of my big requests for this move since junior boy is getting too massive for bathing on top of the sink. Theres a covered carport and a deck.

Its 5 minutes from Waimea Middle School (where Mr A subs), 10 minutes from HPA (where he coaches) and 15-20 from Mauna Kea. We are moving predominantly for this reason - to save on time and gas. Kohala is beautiful and we love living here with our friends, but at the same time going up and over mountain road almost everyday is starting to take its toll on the brake pads!

Its on the wet side of Waimea, which means that mold can quickly become an issue but that also means its greener (the dry side of Waimea looks like a dessert with cactus and crab grass). Its really cold, like Seattle cold, and rainy. Although Im holding out hope that the summer will be very comfortable. This also means there isnt much in the way of insects or giants spiders, so thats a plus. When Mr A goes to visit his girls this summer I must demand that he return with all my previously forsaken "winter clothes".

People always assume that because we live in Hawaii its like balmy breezes and tropical beaches 24/7. The islands are much more complex than that. Id like to state, for the record, that Hawaii can get downright freezing in some places. Besides, we moved here for the culture more than the weather. Unlike Seattle, the fact that theres a warm, picture perfect beach only a short car ride away makes the dreary weather much more manageable!

I feel like every time before a move I have feelings of mounting reservation. Are we making the right decision? Is this the right place for us? Is this the best deal? Should we spend more time and keep looking? Even though I know we are getting a good deal and this seems like exactly what we wanted, I still have all kinds of building anxieties.

I also tend to feel this way before and just after all major purchases. For example, we just got a new carseat (forward facing and converts to a booster seat - so fancy!!) from my uncle and its like, I thought I knew exactly what I wanted until the day I actually went to the store to pick it up. Then I stood there in the carseat aisle debating for almost a half hour, finally picked a different one from the one I had originally thought I wanted, and ended up on the phone with the my mother not five hours later hemming and hawing about how I wasnt sure it was just right! Three days later here I am and I love it.

The upside to all of this is that most of the time you can return stuff if it turns out to be all wrong and, with this house at least, you can move if turns out youve made an error in judgement. We have 30 days to sort of decide if this is exactly what we want to do before we have to sign a lease so that is keeping me from having a total meltdown...at least for now.