Sea life in the Chanel islands

The Chanel islands are home to some beautiful sea life and color contrasts. Mommy and I admired both while paddling not he last day on the islands. The giant kelp forests were like golden columns drifting with the currents in the turquoise water. Sea lions who liked to pop their heads out of the water and watch us while we surfed and paddled looked very wise with their long whiskers and big black eyes. We even saw a few sting rays of the dock, flying through the water under us. All these companions definitely contributed to a great trip.  We don't have many pictures of sea life because mommy or i weren't in charge of the camera so i'll just show the highlights.

Sand Dunes

                    Since we all ready had the sport of kayak surfing we decided to extend that sport when we landed on a beach with no waves but with, instead with a very steep very tall sand dune that that daddy decided to have as a wave.  So Daddy and I carried the single person up the dune(which was sand so it kept on slipping) with Kayley behind us. Then kayley and daddy got on the kayak and then kayley just fell off while  it was at the top of the dune and that was just hilarious, but it ended out well.

Kayak Surfing

On the kayak trip in the Channel Island my family and I developed a new sport. Since we had such a interesting time getting through the white waters and the breakers to our campsite, some of us decided to try to catch the waves in and surf them on our sea kayaks. Doing this was very difficult with sub par rental kayaks that are not very maneuverable. But that adds to the fun.

Zander Rolph

Nudity...?

Being naked is a very natural, liberating thing-- especially on beaches of remote, supposedly deserted, islands. Basically, every beach we land on at any time during our kayak camping adventures is automatically transported to somewhere in Europe. This makes a lot of people uncomfortable: Unsuspecting kayakers rounding a point in Canada and coming across our sort-of-solitary bay of bodily liberation, large groups of day hikers startling my dad into streaking across the sand toward his pants, and random fishing boats we hope don't have binoculars put-putting by various bare Rolph's surfing or body surfing or building driftwood teepees. It also makes Zander uncomfortable, but we make him deal with it. People are supposed to be naked, and the fact that Puritanical American society has influenced Zander more than the rest of us (probably because he has more friends) is taken as a challenge. Here are some of the pictures we got that don't classify as child pornography:

A Rolph Ativities Update by Kayley Rolph

This week has been really busy. Mia and I have been flooring like crazy people, Zander has been doing electrical, Sarah has been sanding a piece of wood and helping daddy, and mommy is still painting and getting her Bondo fix on a daily basis.

Mia and I have been installing the Versalock flooring all week. The flooring is pretty simple to install, it practically clicks together but the hard part is all the prepping and the thinking that it involves. The fact that we get paid a dollar a square foot has helped our mood and willingness to work.

The back bathroom and bedrooms have been a group effort and they are mostly finished now. But the electricity needs some help, the walls need some touch ups, and the sink in the bathroom has yet to spout water.

We are almost done with the master bedroom and bathroom. Zander and Daddy have been working really hard to get the plumbing, electrical and appliances in working order so that they can move on. As of today, the bathroom lights don't work most of the time, the fan doesn't work and needs replacing, and we are lacking in the shower door department. But it still looks pretty good even though there are very few things that work.

For the last four days Zander has been working on installing lights, fans, switches and plugs. Zander has been stuck with one of the worse jobs. to wire some of the electrical, Zander had to work in the attic which is practically a biohazard that is really hot.

The plan was to move into the back bedrooms and master by Friday so that we could work on the other parts of the house. Being us, we were behind schedule and we moved in on Saturday afternoon. Sarah and I are sharing the bigger back bedroom while Mia has the other, smaller, one. Zander is sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's old room while they moved into the semi-working master bedroom.

The end is in sight but there is still tons to do. Some of the electricity and plumbing is pretty questionable, that will be Zander and Daddy's job next week. Mommy will be working on repainting and repairing the last of the exterior. Mia and I will be finishing the flooring in the common areas and helping Daddy install the counter tops. I think that Sarah will be helping daddy install the cabinets but that is questionable. Bye.

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

master bath in progress

master bedroom

Mia's room

Sarah's and my room

cabinets and other materials in the living room

Routines and Races This Summer... BY MIA!

We’ve settled into a worn routine, which is what makes a house a home. Yes, even a house with one-inch walls that are sometimes frighteningly hollow and an eternally dusty concrete floor. It’s the routine that makes summer feel less like summer, even in the most summer of places, despite the routine strictly mandating daily surfing. Work on the house in the morning, lunch, school-y work in the afternoon (online classes until a week ago, now it’s college essays or reading one of the books I pick from the Classics shelf at the library), swimming at 3:30, directly followed by a beach trip that I often spend with my head in a book and my toes in the coral sand.

It’s a pretty summer-y schedule, I guess (we are in Hawai’i), but I’ve always thought of summer of the time when routines, obligations, and schedules hibernate, coming out of their orderly caves in late August, all refreshed and new. I’ve honestly never experienced this type of fantastic summer before, though, and the more I wish for it the surer I am that it doesn’t exist. Rolph summers are less like ‘summers’, and more like life. Except with the family. And we are in a tropical paradise…. And I don’t plan on spending my life remodeling houses. So scratch that—Rolph summers are Rolph summers. They are very different from other people’s summers, and they are all very different from each other, while still managing to keeps the same basic characteristics. We are always together, we always go somewhere crazy, do something crazy, and keep busy busy busy. Also, there’s usually a house involved, I’ve noticed.  Routines are central though and as a family we’ve gotten good at establishing them, even on the road.

Our summer routines get old quickly because they are so fast paced and we all tire ourselves out trying to slow them down because—well—its summer! It actually works surprisingly well, and I don’t know if anyone’s noticed. Instead of all routines and schedules and obligations disappearing for the months of June and July and August, we just switch them around! The school year one ducks her exhausted head and the Rolph summer one raises his—the school year is the tortoise, summer is the hare. Two and a half months later, the hare is collapsed under a palm tree and the tortoise sniffs the air. We are all so tired out from chasing the hare around that following the tortoise is a nice change, even though it’s a race that lasts nine and a half months and we have to carry a bag full of textbooks. Life’s a race, guys! Make it a relay to keep from killing yourself from bored exhaustion—the only thing to get bored of is routine. And I’ve hit the end of my rope, personally. Figuring out that you’re whole year is a big routine will do that, especially if that big routine is actually established by someone other than yourself. Good thing I get to hop off the train next year and learn to love its smooth tracks while I bushwhack through the jungle of college and ‘real life’….

Hawaii famed

Since last week I have learned more about the surfer dudes back in the ancient times and the Hawaiian islands history. Also this week we have made progress on the house doing the final touches on the front, the back bedroom, the master bedroom and 2 of the bathrooms.

This week I found out the name of the dude who was " ambassador of surfing" back when they had the wooden boards, his name was Duke Kahanamoku who was also a famous swimmer. At the library there is a poster of him and a huge board that was wood. Also this week the waves have been nice and big but there still a bit bumpy and unpredictable.

Like you or I, the Hawaiian Isles have nick names and some of them of them are kind of funny like the Pineapple Isle, which is Lanai. Kahoolawe "the Target Isle" is called that cause the military owns it. Niihau "the forbidden isle" is called that cause it's privetley owned so no one can go on it exept for the people who own it and those invited to the island. Kawaii is called "the Garden Isle" cause of its gardens or  its just pretty cause of the rocks cause its the one of the oldest islands on the chain. Molokai is "the Friendly Isle", Oahu is "the Gathering Place" and Maui is "the Valley Isle". 

In the past week Mia and Kayley have floored the 2 back bedrooms and the master so the kids are moving back there soon but we'll be a bit squeezed but we will fit. Daddy and I installed 2 toilets, a vanity and I've also been sanding a pice if koa wood for our half wall and our breakfast bar. Zander has been doing electrical and some other stuff I don't know about and mum has been playing with paint and caulking (no bondo). This last week was the last week of swim and this last Friday we had a potluck and then swam and played games.

Next week I hope to go surfing for more than 2 hours every day and also to finish the house so we can party when Mia's friends come over, because we only have the kitchen to fix, flooring and the bathroom that we haven't finished! Hope you're having an awesome summer!

Sarah

A Rolph Activities Update by Kayley Rolph

This week has gone by really fast, like, one minute I'm at the beach on Sunday then I'm working on Wednesday. We are still very behind schedule but we are all scrambling to catch up. This week Sarah and I finished all the painting of the lumber, we finished installing the deck railings, Bob finished tiling the master bath, Mommy finished painting the back bathroom and one of the back bedrooms.

Sarah and I have been painting all the deck railing parts and lumber all week and we finally finished today! We're done! This is great! No more paint spattered clothing or hair or legs! We are free of the stubbornly clingy nuisance that is known as paint! Ok. Calming down. As you can probably see I wasn't very fond of painting, but let us not dwell on the past. On the bright side, Mommy is really exited because she has now repainted three quarters of the house exterior and the neighbors are really liking it!

On Thursday Sarah, Mia and Daddy began to install the railings. The deck railings come up really fast! They started midway through work on Thursday and are already finished! Installing the railings was a group effort. Sarah and I painted the pickets that Mia cut. Then Daddy, Sarah, and Mia glued and nailed them to rails and then put them on the posts. Zander helped on Saturday to finish it of. This took only two and a half days, which is great because most of the projects that are like in size tend to take around five days with smaller groups and some haven't been finished yet.

Mia and I haven't started the flooring yet, even though, we planned to at the beginning of the week. The window repair got in the way, so we are now even more behind schedule. The flooring is supposed to be really easy to install, especially compared to the Trex decking, so it shouldn't take to long, but with us you never know. flooring could take a week of more for all we know.  We hope to be done with everything in the master and back bedrooms by next week so we can move into them. 

Mia officially finished the windows on Wednesday. Since we were really behind, she had to move on to cutting the deck railings right away. Mia cut at least 40 pickets in like three hours. The window repair took a lot longer than expected because we had to wait on new window hardware and glass to replace the broken stuff. That took an extra three days. The windows have been really dragging us all down, but on the bright side, we can now see out of the house through clean, kinda new windows!

Mommy's mission this week was finishing up the painting and Bondoing in the back bedrooms. The termite damage back there is a nightmare, so by the time she is done it will be mostly made of Bondo and structural paint. At the moment it smells pretty funky back there from all the chemicals, paint, and Bondo. She has become quite obsessive over this, she works late and she never stops thinking about work, I think its all the Bondo she's been inhaling.  thinking about work, I think its all the Bondo she's been inhaling.

This week we all worked really hard to finish the stuff we started and the house is starting to look kinda livable. Next week we plan on finishing the flooring and moving into the back bedroom to begin phase two of he master plan, insert evil laugh ;). Bye. 

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

 pic from before we started

pic from today

 pic from two weeks ago

mommy painting one of the back bedroom

painted back bedroom

mia working on the window renewal.

newly tiled master bath

Famed Hawaii

When you ask someone what they think of Hawaii, most people think of sandy beachs with palm trees and a bunch of people surfing with leis 😎🏄🌴 . What they don't think of are the volcanos 🌋 and the other stuff🔫💰🎶🏂🎿📈📉and all of the bad things( cause no one talks about it)! My favorite things about Hawaii are the ancient people, surfing and natural disasters-🌋🌊☔⚡!

The first settlers or natives on Hawaii were the the Polynesians who came through New Zealand to Hawaii and now they are fighting about who came up with the Haka 😠 but it was most likely the Polynesians did and anyways they are different dances with the same names. What interest me most about the the ancient peeps is -war😑👿🔫. The Hawaiians or Polynesians ended up very mmmmm🙏holy? Yes but also conflicted😳. They had fights with nearby tribes in organized fist fights.

And settling it that way (like manly men). Then Capitan Cook came along and gave them guns to play with and made an easier to kill 😱. With Cook's guns, King Kamehameha I thought it was a good idea to take control and unite the Hawaiian islands but got stuck on Kauai (good job Kauai) cause of storms and stuff like that, but Kauai thought they'll get here eventually and surrendered noooooooo😥. After that when he died, King Kamehameha II took power and had a dinner with his mom (which was forbidden cause of the Kapu system( Kapu is a system that some one made up so that the genders were separated )and started a war with some dude that was a supporter of Kapu( we even passed the battle field when K and I were going cliff jumping with JGs off what the locals call end of the world(it's like 30 feet))! 

With the Polynesians, along with pigs, cows, coconuts and a couple of diseases, there was surfing. One dude had a huge board that was like 50 feet long or at least that's what it looked like in the poster at the library. Also the people used to go out nude with there wooden boards to surf even back when Captain Cook was around. Anyways I got my goal,🙉I stood up for a while and did zig zags!!! This week  at pine trees the waves were very small so it was hard to get good waves but mommy and I got some! Next week I hope the waves are big but not huge like the waves in Hawaii are famous for.

Hawaii contains many wonders but people barely ever think how Hawaii has skiing 🎿. The thing is that it makes sense because usually it snows up high and Hawaii is just a mountain range in the middle of the ocean and it has the tallest mountain in the world. On the big island you can ski in the top of Mauna Kea but there isn't a resort or anything but that's OK cause u can use your car as a lift but I looked it up and you need 4 wheel drive so we can't go and it is not winter. So far almost every day it has been raining here and recently we were just missed by a hurricane- no wonder the waves were choppy! Also in the last week we are hoping to be done with the house so it'll be our party week and we are probably going to see the volcano!

Finally,junior guards was fun and now Kayley and I can give people medical aid and CPR and we've been certified 2 times (at Morro Bay JG's and here) so I am double certified! Just a recommendation, but if you come to Hawaii to see volcanos, you should go cliff jumping at End of the World cause it's very fun even though it seems scary when you look down off the cliff and when your falling.  Anyways, I was just picking at the wall in the dining roomand found a bunch of termite damage! Mommy will have fun with the Bondo!😄 

Landscape🌵🌴🌲🌳🌹🌻🌺

          As you probley know, our house is very mesed up or at least the one in Hawaii and we have done the least amont of stuff to the landscape so we have a bunch of unwanted weeds that we dont want to deal with including Monkey Pod Trees,  Palm Trees, a huge amount of huge Blade Grass and a ton of other stuff that I don't even want to think about.

            Monkey Pod Trees are not native, Mark Twain imported it some time in the 1800s and right now mommy really hates him👨😠. One of our Monkey🐒Trees is in our side yard used to blook all of our veiw but now only half of it cause some people with chain saws cut it ✂. Also in our side yard there is a coconut tree🌴along with a mini jungle and I think there might be a bird village.

         All over our property we are dealing with a bunch of Monkey Pod Trees and Mommy is going crazy about it because they are growing in our driveway and making it all bumpy. The root even got  in to the kid bed room under the wall. You know what mommy also doesn't like- bondo fumes( cause their abdicating(JK)there gross😖). I think half the house is made of bondo now cause termites ate EVERYTHING!!!

        Mark Twain is the author of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and  Adventures of Tom Sower and when he was Iike 31 came to Hawaii to bring over the gorgeous Monkey Pod Tree (stupid Mark Twain😬). In 1957 it blew down but it was to strong and grew from the shoots. It went from this🌱 to this🌳 😠.  I even think there's a tree in the middle of the drive way growing to be big and 💪(there is no such thing as Mark  Twain his name is actually Samuel L. Clemens). I think Monkey Pod Trees are very good climbing trees!

         While mommy is under the influence of Bondo she wants to put some stuff on the Palm Tree in our side yard to make it easier to get a coconut ( JK she just wants a coconut from the tree)!🌰What I want to do is get a rope and some thing to make ot easier to throw and get it around one of the palms at the top  and get some spikes so it can be easier to climb and climb it( using the rope incase I fall)! Or get some throwing knives and try and hit a coconut down!🔪Actualy I just want throwing knives if I tryed to get a coconut with them I would probley end up killing some one.

        In the next week I want to be able to stand up on my surf bord whith out using my hands for more than 2 seconds🏄, eat more🍹🍖🍦🍮🍩🍓🍑🍈🍌🍍🌽🍪, shoot the nail gun🔫, not die , sleep in💤💤💤💤, get throwing knives and have fun! Last week Kayley and I did JGs  and we did all these rescues and we learned how to do CPR and we even pased(I think I killed someone cause I forgot to keep there head out of the water!!!

A Rolph Activities Update by Kayley Rolph

Hello everyone! Since we are nearing the end of our stay we have been working more to finish before we go back to California. The house still needs a ton of work and we only have four more weeks so we are all getting a little nervous.

This week Sarah and I were doing a junior lifeguard program from 8:30 to 2:30. The program was only five days but we did a lot of stuff, like CPR, rescue scenarios and first aid. There at two guys who run it, Uncle Hulka and Captain Cris. Uncle Hulka is retired and loves fruit, the ocean, and smiling. Captain grew up in  Southafrica and manages the lifeguards. The JG program was really fun and the fact that it was all day and we didn't have to work made it even more so. Uncle Hulka taught us the hula and the haka which was really fun to learn. On the last day we canoed to the end of the world to go cliff jumping, it was so awesome!! At the end of the course we even got a fancy certificate and a t-shirt not to mention that the whole thing only cost $20.

Mia and I have been fixing up the termite eaten windows this week. Well only Mia during the week but on the weekend I help her. All the windows were in need of some serious Bondo (refer to next paragraph), cleaning, rescreening and repainting. Mia did all the rescreening and repainting during the week and all the cleaning and replacing the hardware is for the today and tomorrow. We only have one wind completely done and it looks a lot better than when we got here but there are eight more to do.

For the las few weeks Mommy has been using Bondo liberally for patching up holes in the walls mostly due to termite damage. Bondo is like cocking in the sense that it fills holes in walls and such but it drys super fast. Because of the chemicals that make the Bondo dry really fast emits some extreme fumes that leave you feeling a little faint and weird. The Bondo is pretty gross stuff but it is probably the strongest part of the house now, which is really disturbing if you ask me.

At the beginning of this week and the end of last week Sarah and Momma were Bondoing and repainting the exterior back wall. The whole thing looks as good as new, but better because there are now some nice windows in it.

This week Zander, Daddy and Bob have been working on much of the back areas, including the back bedrooms and the master bath. The master bath is now painted and the shower surround is mostly tiled thanks to Bob. There is now one more bedroom in the back due the Zander nocking down a wall to join a closet and a pantry together. The boys also put a shower in the back bathroom with the pluming and digging through the slab to put it all in.

There has been tons of progress on the house but there is still so much to so that its depressing. On that note, I hope you all are having a fun summer, not working as much as we are and if you are I hope you are making more. Bye.

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

The cool stuff we did this weekend

           
Last weekend their  were 3 things that we have ether participated in or watched: the 4 of July parade, fireworks, and the King's Swim!  

            The 4th of July parade in Kona took place on Alih'i road that runs parallel to the ocean. The parade started out with these teenagers who sang the national anthem and blow conch shells, then their was the fire department, police,  education, veterans driving in old army cars from the Vietnam war and a bunch of other wars that I don't remember, candidates for Governor, the Mayor, people that dance,  a roller-skating club, Curious George🐒 and much more. At the end of the parade, there were 2 black cars. While we were eating ice cream🍦, one of them was very obnoxious and burnt a ton of rubber right on the road infront of a bunch of kids and a new born baby.🚼🙊It looked like it was foggy and smelled like someone let out a smoke bomb. It was hard to breathe.

           40 minutes after the parade, the city shot fireworks🎆 off the pier, but in the gap between the two, the towns folk decided it would be a good idea to put on there own show on the street with their own sparklers and fire crackers💥. While they were doing that the, street opened to admit a car of tourists who inched there way through the chaos of lit explosives🚙➕🔥🔀😈!!!!!!!  We watched the fire works on one of the many beaches with a lava flow on it from mana loa🌋.  The fireworks were colorful and big!!!! Some  of them went into the air exploded and then exploded again!!!! 💥💥

         The next morning we went to the pier to do the King's Swim. The King's Swim is a swim in honor of the King Kamehameha👸 and was founded by our swim coach one of his buddy's 20 years ago. The swim  starts at the beach just to the left of the pier if you are looking out to sea then the swimmers swim🏊 out to a body Glove Boat that is like .6 miles out and then go back to the other side of the pier to the King Kamehameha Resort which is in the same place where he lived his whole life. I swam it in 38 minutes and 33 seconds, Kayley swam it in 38 minutes and 58 seconds, mommy finished in 38 minutes and 56 seconds (she is faster than Kayley!!!!!!👍), Zander finished in 31 minutes and something seconds and Mia finished in 33 minutes and 28 seconds ( so fast!!! Like a 🐌! JK 🐳).

       Next week Kayley and I are going to do junior lifeguards🏥 down at Kahaluu Beach Park. I hope it'll be fun. Next week (even though Kayley and I are doing JG's and swimming cause mommy and daddy are most likely going to make me) I would like  to go to Pinetrees every day to go 🏄!!!

Bye, 

Sarah

A Rolph Adventures Update by Kayley Rolph

The first two updates were solely focused on our progress on the house, so I thought, I would fill you in on our extracurricular activities and adventures.

On Tuesday us kids got in a little scrape, pun definately intended. Zander was instructing Mia on how to park in the library parking lot and we left a bit of paint on the white rental car next to us. We also have some damage but unlike the tourists with the white rental car we don't really care. They came out with three footlong red stripes while we got a 4 foot long scrape.

In our third weekend here, we went on a little beach hunting expedition and one of our stops was the Pololu outlook which is just past the northern most point of the island. The outlook was at the end of a narrow, windy road with a few parking spaces for us tourists. There were tons of tourists, from backpackers to Asian tourists with big cameras and Bermuda shorts. After a short, steep descent there was a some trees with rope swings hanging of them and tiers scattered about. The trail went through the trees and came out in a very rocky beach with tons of rock tower/piles. We didn't stay for very long, just long enough to take a look around and for Sarah to take a swim.

The other stop on the beach hunt was the biggest white sand beach on the island, which wasn't very big. The beach was pretty small by California standards but for a relatively brand new island, Hawaii has some great beaches. The water color is the most beautiful blue-turquoise imaginable. Hapuna beach was supper touristy, kind of like Avila beach in Cali.  

The 4th of July festivities in Kona started with a parade through the downtown at around six in the afternoon. After the parade there was a chaotic firecracker festival that ended in an awesome fireworks show. The parade was pretty boring but the fire and explosions afterwards made up for it. The firecracker chaos was so cool. People just started seting of fireceackers on the street in the middle of downtown. The air was so thick with smoke I felt like I was choking but all the noise and explosives kept me alert. After a half hour of chaos and ice cream everyone settled down to watch the firework show over the harbor. The fireworks were pretty great, they even atemted to spell out USA, but the U came up upside down. 

The King's swim was last Saturday at eight in the morning in the Kona harbor. The King's swim is run by Steve, our swim coach and he was adamant that the whole swim team participated. We had to be there at 6:50 the day after the 4th of July, to say I wasn't very happy about that would be an understatement. Imagine waking up at such an ungodly hour just to swim 1.2 miles around a harbor, it was torture. Just kidding, it was OK because we got free food and t-shirts.

So far we have been keeping pretty close to Kona which is OK because it's really nice here, but I think we are all getting a little restless. Soon I hope we get around to visiting Hilo, one of the volcanoes and just explore more of the island. Bye.

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

A Rolph Activities Update By Kayley Rolph

Sorry for the belated update, I was too busy being a teenager. This update will be super long because the last two weeks have been really busy with fixing the house, my birthday and the death of one of our roofers.

Hans passed away on June 20th, 2014. I briefly shared with you about Hans in my last update. But to tell the truth I don't know much about Hans except that he helped Bob roof the house, he liked to sleep in the back of the house during work, and he made some very entertaining remarks outside of the window two weeks ago (afore mentioned in my last update). The fact that my dad won't stop cracking jokes about Hans being dead is really disturbing though. His mentality is that it's easier to laugh than the other alternative. This is true but laughing about some one who has been dead for two days is a little much.

Now for some thing happy! The lanai roof is finally done!!! It has been framed, sheeted, painted and roofed to my dad's specifications. The view is awesome! and once we get it all decked it will be the place to be.

Last week was a painting week for Sarah, Momma and me. I still have a little white paint on my legs 4 days later! Trust me, I tried everything; swimming, scrubbing, scrubbing with sand, but the paint primer just doesn't want to come off! Sarah had the same problem, but worse. Our swim coach, Steve, kept making fun of her when she went  to swim practice covered in white paint splotches. 

This week Mia and I have been installing the Trex decking. After messing up a lot we are now pros at Trex decking! The deck is far from perfect but at least the mistakes are hard to see as long as you don't look closely. The Trex really expensive, it costs around $2.50 per linear foot so working with it was pretty stressful. Mia and I have been working really hard making sure the deck looks good so its a good thing we get paid!

Last Friday we moved the old appliances that were on the side of the house and put them in the dumpster. The appliances were all pretty moldy and trashed, but the ice chest was by far the worst. It was filled to the brim with murky brown water and it was rusted through in some places. The worst part of the whole thing was when we had the brilliant idea of emptying it out before we moved it and most of the water ended up in the house.I forgot to tell you about the cockroaches that infested the ancient ice chest. All in all, the whole adventure was a disaster.

Our second week here, we joined the Kona Aquatics team. This swim team has some of the best young swimmers in Hawaii, and I am definitely not one of them. It's not like I compete, so it's no wonder I'm slow. But the fact that kids two thirds of my age and a foot shorter than me are kicking my butt, is embarrassing. 

 Bob, our only remaining roofer, is almost done reroofing the house. Now our house resembles a French flag with the red roofing, white trim and blue house. I think it really pulls it all together and is so much better than the old roof. To refresh your memory, the old roof was all rusty and sported various questionable patch jobs. To say the least, the old roof wasn't very good at it's job.

On Monday, Sarah and Mommy painted the master bath. After they painted over the various layers of very pretty wall paper, the room looked newer and cleaner. Now its harder to notice all the termite damage and rot on the walls or, shall I say, non existent walls. I think that the wallpaper made up most of the walls, seeing as there was multiple layers of it and the original walls are about and inch thick.  

Sunday was my 13th birthday. Even though I officially have been on this earth for 13 years, I feel no different. That's the thing about birthdays. You think that it might make you feel a little older and more mature. But its not how old you are that makes you more mature or knowledgeable, its experiences  that change you. It's the same with most holidays. We make such a big deal out of something like some dead dude's birthday and use it as an excuse to give people presents, eat ridiculous amounts of food and trick little kids into believing in a mythical person who supposedly decides if they are good or bad people. Not that I'm complaining about the food and the presents but its weird that we think so much about these annual traditions. Anyway, we spent most of the day at the beach and went out for dinner on my b-day, it was all very relaxing. 

Almost every day we go surfing at our favorite spot on this island, Pine Trees. Pine trees is a beach, if you hadn't gather that already, and miraculously there is not a pine tree in sight. The origin of its name shall remain a mystery forevermore. My favorite time to go there is during the sunset because the temperature is perfect and the colors are truly breathtaking. To make it even better, the surf there is also pretty good and there's really good snorkeling.

Even though we have been working a lot lately, we've been playing a lot as well. With this balance, we are all pretty happy. Next week, we plan on demolishing a wall, painting and installing the deck railings, painting the exterior of the house, and hopefully finishing the master bathroom. I almost forgot, all us kids are doing the king's swim at 8 tomorrow.  Sadly, we have to be there at 6:50. Bye, at least until next week.

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

food!!👅

 In Hawaii they have a different culture and therefore, a different food variety.

 So far we have tried taro root, star fruit, kim chee, local oranges, papaya, passion fruit and dragon fruit. Taro root is like a potato but is purple on the inside and you can make them into poi if you mash them. Star fruit is a sour sweet fruit that looks like an extended star. kim chee is pickled cabbage; papaya is like a mango. Passion fruit is like a cocoanut with yummy seeds that are sour and you eat them and dragon fruit  insides with black seeds.

Yum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have tried 3 types of fish: Marlin, ahi, and mahi mahi. We have been eating these fish plain and in sushi! Marlin is a big sword fish that is not only good for eating in sushi and plain but can also stab things( they taste like nothing so Kayley will eat them)! Ahi is a yummy fish that is a tuna and is good in sushi and sashimi. Mahi mahi is also yummy tuna that you can eat in tuna and it has a cool name.

  

At luaus( a party) they traditionally serve on the floor on mats and eat with their hands. At the luaus they usually eat poi, Kailua pig, poke, lomi salmon, opihi and  haupia. Poke is a raw salad served as a apatizer.opihi is a sea small known as cellana. Haupia is a Hawaiian coconut desert that is pudding but seems like gelatin. 

Before we go back to the main land I hope to try poi, more fruit and a bunch of deserts!if you come to Hawaii look for poi and eat it( its not crazzy purple minion poo.

Hotspot

          As Kayley already told you, the Hawaiian islands are made from the same hotspot as the Aleutian Islands. In this blog post I will give a further explanation of the Hawaiian/u.s.a hotspots.

The Hawaiian Island chain was started around 60 million years ago and still has volcanic grounds on The Big Island. Hawaii was first inhabited sometime around 500 BCE  by  Polynesians. Currently you are most likely to see white people Iike tourists.  

On the north America plate their are four hotspots: Yellow Stone,   Bermuda,  Raton, and Anaheim. Yellow Stone is a National Park that is preparing to erupt  and its going to be big, like HUGE!!! But its not suppose to happen for like 2 million years. Bermuda hotspot is in the middle of the Atlantic and is the reason  for a chain of rises called the Bermuda rises. The Raton Hotspot has been in Arizona and New Mexico and is now currently in New Mexico. The Anaheim hot spot is in central British Columbia in Canada.

The plate tectonics  usually make volcanos at there edges but in some cases ( like Hawaii ) they are in the middle of the plate.  The plate tectonics can affect humans because they cause earthquakes that kill people! They also affect the climate when they shift to cause the land or ocean shift to different positions.   

In the end, I think it is very interesting that nature can fight back and kill us with volcanos and earth quakes! In the next month and a half I hope I can see running lava and build a model to watch it explode! 

Bye!!!

Sarah

  

The Women of Hawaii By Kayley Rolph

Wherever we go in the world, I always wonder about the native belief regarding the women in society. Were women regarded as equal, lesser, or greater than men? How or if they were treated differently than men? These two questions are always something I was curious about in a new place. Hawaii was no different.  The women of Hawaii were unique in their strength and they protected their people in the only ways they could.
 
Before the European invasion, Hawaiian women were kept separate from men. Men and women were not allowed to eat together, or even eat the same food. Women weren't supposed to eat pork or bananas because it was the food of the gods, but men were. That makes me think that women were treated like lesser beings than men. While men fought wars to protect their land, the women taught the next generation how to survive in this world. The jobs of both men and women are of equal importance, the men protect the lives of their people in the present while the women taught the future people how to protect their culture and survive. 
 
One of the most important woman in the history of Hawaii was the Queen Liliuokalani. She was the last queen of Hawaii and the annexation of Hawaii followed her dethroning in 1893. Although she only ruled from 1891 to 1893 Queen Liliuokalani dedicated her life to the independence of Hawaii and the protection of her people. she worked to please the people of Hawaii by looking out for their happiness and independence. I think that it is great that the woman's place in society can change from not being able to eat the same foods as men to ruling them.

 

The women of Hawaii worked hard to protect their people and keep the Hawaiian culture alive. As heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii, Princess Victoria Ka'iulani visited the United States to help restore the Kingdom of Hawaii. Although she was reluctant to participate in politics, in 1893 she made many speeches and public appearances denouncing the overthrow of her government and the injustice toward her people. They taught the next generation and fought for the preservation of their culture, beliefs and lives of their people. Bye 

By Kayley Sienna Rolph

A Rolph Activities Update By Kayley Rolph

The Rolph's are still at it! We have been working about three hours a day this week and accomplishing a lot. Between surfing, swimming,reading, and writing we have been tearing it up working on the house, literally. We framed the lanai, painted a ton of lumber, reroofed the back part of the house, demolished the back closet/pantry, and cleaned up the hazardus attic.

My dad, Mia and Zander have been painstakingly erecting the lanai for the last few days. Although not quite finished it is exactly what we were looking for. The lanai doesn't obstruct the view and when it is finished it'll be a nice place to hang out if we can keep the bugs away.  

Our roofers, Bob and Hans, while providing much enjoyed entertainment and conversation starters, have been reroofing the backside of the house. The walls are so thin that when Hans makes a remark regarding his body odor we have to suppress our laughter. The old roof, creatively patched and rusted through in some places, when removed, reveled an even more messy attic. 

In the beginning of the week Sarah and I received the disgusting chore of cleaning out afore mentioned rat remains and Styrofoam peanut infested attic. Armed with gloves, a broom, and a dust pan we set to work removing insane amounts of termite and rat remains, Styrofoam peanuts, and... leaves? Don't ask why, it still boggles me that so many leaves (at least three trash bags full) could get in the attic, its supposed to be closed of.

My mom, being the the artist that she is, took over the painting of the new lumber. She decided that painting the lumber before installing it was the easiest way to go about it,  so that's what she has been occupying herself with all week. Since we don't have a paint sprayer, painting is tedious but great for revenge on an unsuspecting little sister. Long story short, Sarah and I had a paint fight on Wednesday and we still haven't been able to get all the paint off.

Friday found Sarah and I gleefully nocking down shelving in the back closet and pantry. Although our parents were planning on salvaging the shelves they are all pretty heavily hammered. It was and good day, ah, fond memories. The shelving was supper simple but was held together by tons of nails, so it took a lot of pounding to get it out.

I am sure the lanai and the rest of the house will be worth all the hard work. Next week we plan on finishing the roofing, including the lanai, and doing some more demo. I will continue to update you on the Rolphs miraculous adventures and powerful progress for foreseeable future. Bye, for now.

By Kayley Sienna Rolph