House Tour

Here is our Condo: We were pleasantly surprised with some things, not so much with others... and some things will just take some getting used to.

I'll start with the bad.

We live "al fresco" which means, we don't have windows. The only thing that separates us from the outside is a screen. There are some locking door, but there are plenty of opportunities for critters to get inside and bite (mosquitos), pinch (centipedes), poop (geckos), and eat leftover scraps (ants) that 4 year olds drop on the floor. 

The other part about that (that we just need to figure out how to do well) is that you can hear your neighbors to some extent... and they can hear you! I was so self-conscious the first few days about how loud the kids were talking, what tone of voice I was using, and how annoying we were to the neighbors. We are thanking God that we don't have anyone below us because of all the jumping that Lochlan does. I think this feature will actually teach me to be a better mom because I evaluate my tone more often with the kids and Cliff. It's as if my life is being projected on a screen, and I catch myself more quickly when I sound impatient or unkind. Maybe this will be good! Anyway, I think this has been the biggest change about living here for me personally. 

It rains almost every day and occasionally has huge gusts of wind that just send the trees bending and swaying like crazy. Then, after about 10 minutes, the sun comes out again and dries everything back up like nothing ever happened. It's kind of fun really!

What else is bad? Well, we are a little paranoid about bed bugs. We've heard mixed reviews about this one. I think we will all get those mattress covers that keep them out eventually. I just hope this is not a problem! The mosquitos are honestly biting quite a lot, and I'm ready to go seal up every little hole in the screens. I've killed at least 5 of them in the kitchen. The kids are already pretty good at keeping the screen doors closed when going in and out... that's mostly because I quietly yell at them when they leave them open. That, and they are starting to really hate their arms and legs being so itchy from bites as well.

Now the good:

We rented this place sight unseen and are very pleasantly surprised! The house itself isn't super great quality, in fact the floors are pretty uneven and it does seem a little run down... but it's clean and is quite charming. 

The view from our parking area:

Lots of Banyan trees here:

Can you see the kids running down the hill?

The front door:

and the steps leading down to the front door, as modeled by Bria:

Our living room that leads out to the lanai (where we have been eating breakfast and dinner and doing some school):

The view through the screen door from the lanai:

 

left:

right with a partial view of Kaneohe Bay:

  

We also have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a laundry room. Two are downstairs and I think we'll have one be a sleeping room with two sets of bunkbeds and a guest/play/school room in the other. Those rooms stay cooler in the summer heat. Our room is upstairs. It opens out onto the upper lanai and is plenty spacious with a walk-in closet and plenty of storage... but what do we have to store? Nothing really :) so that doesn't matter!

This view is looking down the small hallway. There is more room when you get in there, my camera just doesn't zoom right now. 

Our community pool (free to use anytime!): 

 

The little valley right behind our gated yard:

 

Our back yard (we are the ones with the bunch of palms that go 2 stories high):

 

And the park/field right next door to our place. The kids love to run and play and throw the football here. And it's hilarious to watch the white cattle egrets closely following the yard maintenance guys as they trim the grass and foliage so they can get some rustled up bugs! 

It's so beautiful here! We spend a lot of time outside and I can see that I'll need to figure out how to do my work during the dark hours, so we can spend more time enjoying the light ones. I also plan on doing my book/Bible studies poolside as much as possible while the kids play. It's a perfect option!

Also, our neighbors (some of them) are very friendly. And some keep to themselves, but the ones that are friendly have given us helpful tips on things around here and have helped us move furniture, and have visited for quite a while. The kids haven't made any neighborhood friends yet, but we've seen a few kids here and I'm sure that will come in time.

Although there are some new things to get used to and figure out, I think we are going to really like it. Renting sight unseen is risky, and with most rental properties in the surrounding areas being very similar in price, we feel like God has really blessed us with this place. We're thankful for the opportunity!