Double Trouble in Paradise

Well I suppose a lot has happened in the past couple of months, but for right now we are apparently experiencing hurricane season. Hurricane Iselle was scheduled to hit us yesterday as a category 3, but by the time it got to The Big Island, it dropped to a Tropical storm and fizzled out before it got to us. It was just windy and rainy last night but nothing to call home about. It was crazy how much people were freaking out over here! Every store (Foodland, Walmart. Costco, Safeway) was out of water and the gas lines were out of control! Probably because there are only two gas stations on the north shore. We decided that we should jump on the band wagon and fill up our tanks so I reluctantly waited in line. I waited for 30 minutes and I was SO close to being at the pump when the power went out on the whole island for no apparent reason. Of course I was stuck for another 30 minutes with my gas light on before there was finally availability for me to bail and go home. I was home for another 20 minutes before the power came back on. All that to say, it was craziness on this little island for a little bit...all for a little wind and rain and a flash flood warning. Now we wait for hurricane Julio, but it looks like he too will steer clear of our island and keep it in perfect paradise shape!
Thanks for the concerns and calls but we are all right over here on Kauai. We will try to keep you updated!





The Brothers

Surgery

I am all done with my surgery! Yay!

Houston and I left at 7:30am to get to the other side of the island to do my surgery. There is a hospital about 45 minutes away but my surgeon is a friend of a friend and came highly recommended. I thought it was worth driving an extra couple hours to see her. I obviously met with her before the surgery for the consultation and was so happy she came highly recommended. She is this small German lady with lots of energy and a great sense of humor. I liked her from the beginning.

Anyways, we arrived about an hour early because traffic was actually minimal for a change, and they prepped me for surgery right away. I was SO glad they took me back early because I was starving and wanted to get it over with so I could eat! Ha! Dr. Buik said that the surgery would probably be only 30 minutes so they could get me in before the next patient was scheduled.  I had the sweetest nurses who were determined to make sure I was warm and comfortable the whole time. They let Houston sit with me until it was time to wheel me back and he kept joking with the anesthesiologist to give me enough of the relaxing medicine to make me YouTube worthy. Such a sweet guy I tell ya. ;-) . Before I knew it, they swept me back to the operating room and were sneaky with the anesthesia. I didn't even count backwards like they do in the movies! :-) I had a dream I was in surgery and woke up refreshed. Right when I woke up, they had Houston come in and Dr. Buik came to talk to us. She said that the surgery took longer than expected because the mass was much deeper than she had anticipated. She said in her slight German accent "your heart rate was 59, but mine was 159 because the mass kept going and going. I thought I was going to get into your chest cavity or to your kidney." She was of course exaggerating and said it in a joking matter that didn't cause me to worry. Dr. Buik told me that the mass could be something other than lipoma but I cant remember what the name of it was. Basically it was another type of benign tumor. They will do a biopsy and let me know all of the details in a week. They sent me off with lunch, a small incision, and double the amount of pain pills than what she originally was going to give me.

Houston and I went out to lunch because the tuna sandwich was not what I was planning to have for my post surgery meal. It was 1:30 and I hadn't had a thing to eat! When we got home, I noticed that my plastic coated bandaged was leaking blood and the cotton underneath was soaked. I called James' uncle David, who is an anesthesiologist and he said he would re-bandage it for me. For some reason the anesthesia kept making me super emotional for hours after the surgery! When I met up with David, he asked me how I was doing and I just started to bawl! I had already cried 2-3 time before that for no apparent reason but I was so embarrassed in front of him! He told me not to worry and that it was the medicine talking. He was obviously used to this sort of thing. Strangely I also kept smelling a lighter fluid type smell. Apparently that was from the anesthesia as well. I was so happy to have David two doors down to re bandage and reassure me! We have been house sitting for a few days before we move into our new place and I was extremely grateful to go back to that home after surgery. I just sat on their comfy couch and watched their enormous TV for the rest of the evening. Houston took care of dinner and of me while I just relaxed! He is such a good caregiver! :-)

Today, I am feeling awesome. Because the incision was all up in my muscle, it does hurt when I use the muscle... but nothing some oxycodone can't fix! ;-) Thanks for your prayers! Just keep praying that the biopsy comes back perfectly fine and I can go back to normal!

Love you and miss you all,
The Brothers

Lipoma & Living Situation

I'm sure most of you have by now but recently I found a lump on my right side of my torso.  I went to get it checked out at the doctor and they told me it was Lipoma. This is a description of what Lipoma is that I found on Mayoclinic.org:

         A lipoma is a slow-growing, fatty lump that's most often situated between your skin and the underlying muscle layer. Often a lipoma is easy to identify because it moves readily with slight finger pressure. It's doughy to touch and usually not tender. You may have more than one lipoma. Lipomas can occur at any age, but they're most often detected during middle age.

A lipoma isn't cancer and is usually harmless. Treatment generally isn't necessary, but if the lipoma bothers you, is painful or is growing, you may want to have it removed.

So basically it's no big deal. When they remove it, They will send it off to the lab to double check to see if there are any cancer cells...which is HIGHLY unlikely. The procedure itself is minor and very safe. The location of the lipoma is away from any organs or vital arteries so there isn't anything to worry about. I think I am supposed to go completely under with anesthesia for the procedure which makes me a little nervous. I've never had to do that before! I'm sure it's all good though. I am scheduled to get the lipoma removed on May 19th and I can go to work immediately after if I want. No recovery time needed. Like I said, minor but I just want to keep everyone in the loop! :-)

Now on to the fun stuff! We are getting our own place pretty soon here. It's not really coming soon enough though because unfortunately our move in date got pushed back a month than what it was originally scheduled for. Bummer. After we had to move out of the beach house in Haena, we were planning on only having to stay at James for 10 days. We left everything in boxes while we awaited our move in date. Well, we got a call from our landlord saying that he had to push it back a month. The guy who originally bought the house rented it from our landlord for a month to finish moving out, painting some things and whatever else they agreed to before selling the house. Well, the original owner was apparently running behind on some things and he was supposed to oversee a massive tree being taken down and a septic tank being put in. In the back of our minds we knew that whole process would take longer than what our landlord expected but we had hope it would get done! He lives in California where things get done quickly. In Kauai, it can take several weeks just to get a permit to start doing something. All that to say, we are moving in on May 21st and in the meantime have been living out of our boxes (which is no fun). It can not come soon enough! The house is bigger than what we need and it's on 5 acres but we fell in love with it and it is SO hard to find a decent place to live! The original owner built the house himself and it has such a rustic personality. The kitchen is outdated and old among other things but we love the character it brings. We have all of the avocado, tangerines and many varieties of oranges we can eat on the property. There is plenty of room for a garden and a fixer-upper chicken coop to keep chickens in. I am hoping to make a "moving in" video and give you a tour of the house, but for now here is a picture of the outside. Sorry the quality is crappy...I stole it off of the internet. :-)

                                       

Now we have PLENTY of room for visitors!! Come see us!

Much love,

The Brothers 

Weekday Getaway

 Houston needed to do his monthy "check up" on one of the houses he manages in the mountains of Koke'e. We decided to do an impromptu video of our couple days there! This is our first video ever and hopefully not out last! Check it out. :-)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG6aOwPRX2w

Happy Birthday Aria!

Apparently this post never loaded when Aria was actually born so it's a couple of days late. :-)



We are and aunty and uncle for the second time! Yeah! We are SO excited! She is perfect! I don't know how Houston and I are going to live up to making a baby as perfect as our two nieces! ;-)

We were trying really hard to get an earlier flight in order to see Aria sooner but after 5 hours on the phone (with Priceline, American Airlines, and the flight insurance company) and at least 10 different associates, we weren't able to change our flight without spending a couple grand. It was pretty much beyond ridiculous. They had us on an emotional roller coaster thinking one minute we'd be able to leave early without a problem and the next person would tell us it's impossible.  So much for flight insurance....Priceline's insurance is a scam-don't get it!

enough mean talk.....Have I mentioned we have a new niece? :-) Look at her!

I love this picture! She is letting the world know she's here!

So glad momma was tough and went through so much for her sweet girl. She's worth it!

with full hearts,

Houston and Brittany

Our Anniversary in Pictures :-)

Most of it is food because that's about all we did - eat. I seriously gained 5 well deserved pounds. Houston probably lost weight knowing him. ;-)

We stayed at The Hyatt in Poipu. It was very luxurious and we had a relaxing time!

 

A Place to Call Home

Aloha!

Currently we are praying for a place to call home! We are still at the beach house (praise the Lord) but it has been a blessing and a curse! The blessing is obviously having our own place and not feeling like we are in someone else's home. The curse is that very same thing! We are loving it and dreading the fact that we have to go back to James' place to share our space with two (not very clean) bachelors. We are a bit spoiled right now. I mean how are we going to fall asleep without the ocean singing us it's lullaby every night?! Is that too much to ask? ;-) You can be praying for us to find a reasonably priced place to live…at least for the time we are here!

Love you guys!
The Brothers

Our temporary home! <3

More Visitors…and Even More Naked People

So, it looks like we are taking break from visitors for a little while (besides Jonathan). We really had such a blast with everyone checking in to The Brothers Hotel (ha cheesy I know!) and getting our adventure on!
When Bret and Meghann were here we…..

• Tuesday- hiked The Hanakapiai Trail (a 7 hour rough terrain hike). Watched the ball drop in New York at 7pm. There was no way we were going to stay up until 12m after that day!
• Wednesday-Cruised (relaxed) most of the day and they hit balls at the driving range.
• Thursday-Surf Lessons and surfed for hours. It was the perfect day for it and a blast!
• Friady- Another cruise day besides the fact that Houston put Bret to work on some lawns to earn his keep. ;-) Queen's Bath. Had some friends over to play poker.
• Saturday- Farmers Market.The guys played golf at my work. Meg and I had girl time while we rode around and watched.
• Sunday-Church. Lighthouse. Exploring. Haena Beach. 
• MOnday- Jumped off Shipwrecks. Woah. Waimea Canyon sunset. camping in KoKe'e 
• Tuesday- Hiked in Koke'e to waterfalls. headed back home
• Wednesday-Beach day. Stone Dam. Bible Study
• Thirsday- Hopeie Falls. Surf at the Bay
• Friday- Lumahai Beach. Say Goodbyes :-(

Needless to say we did a lot of things in a relatively short time and I am beyond surprised that we didn't loose ten pounds. I mean, we were ridiculously active! Did you see what we did the FIRST day! Hmmmm Maybe it was because we ate too many Puka Dogs and paid Hanalei Pizza a visit  one  five too many times!

Oh yes, How could I forget? While at shipwrecks, it took Meghann and I about a million years to gain enough courage to jump off. Finally we did together and we were able to capture how Meghann landed. Ummm just for the record, Meghann's landing technique was less than ideal and this isn't an ant hill folks! The impact resulted in both upper thighs and butt covered entirely of bruises. I was privileged enough to see Meg's "in pain face" after we landed and she was not a happy camper. I managed to get out with a pretty good bathing suit wedgie. Once recovered though, we were both happy we did it…even though one of us barely survived! ;-)

Poor photo quality but you get the idea! 

Although our friends are gone, I have been very fortunate to be making a few more girl friends here. Gaining friends has been way easier for Houston because there are just so many guys in our circle! I don't mind hanging out with guys at all…actually I usually prefer it but girl time is needed too! One of the girls at the church invited me to go to Larsons Beach to look for pretty shells with her, her precious 3 month old and a very pregnant friend. I was super stoked because I love shells and I haven't had much girl time since I've been here. She warned me that sometimes you may see a naked person or two but they usually cover up once you start heading their direction. Well, as we get further and further along the beach, we keep seeing so many naked people. It must have been some naked holiday I swear.  It was all old people just letting loose! I think they forgot about the part that they should use discretion for passer-bys because not a single one did. I was able to see about 15-20 naked old people. Lucky me right!? Oh yeah, I also found some pretty shells and had a fabulous time with my new friends! :-)

One more thing, this past Wednesday (aka Windy Wednesday) there was a massive swell that hit Hawaii. There were huge waves and crazy water. On some of the other Hawaiian islands the waves got up to 50 feet tall! It the biggest that it has been in decades. I was very fortunate to have the day off along with Houston. We got up early, met up with a bunch of friends and then set out to see the epic waves. Kauai is usually quite a bit smaller than the other islands when it comes to waves but we were still impressed to say the least! I know it may sound a bit boring but we had so much fun looking at the power in God's creation!

Our friend, Travis

That's all for today! Love you all!

The Brothers