From Liz:

Dear Everyone,

Sorry for the long silence. We have made great progress in getting settled into our new surroundings, but still no internet at home. Not sure yet when that will happen. There is a Starbucks with free WiFi about 5 blocks from our house and so we are currently here, having some coffee and dessert. Much of our internet time has been spent poring over craigslist entries. Between craigslist, Long's drugs, Sears and Macy's we have just about gotten everything we need to feel pretty settled in. Our big deal today to me was a kitchen table and chairs, and so we are looking forward to breakfast at a table, instead of our laps. The big deal yesterday was a TV - however, we have no reception because we do not have an aerial or cable, but we had shipped the Wii, so there has been some good use of the TV in that way. Getting the house set up has consumed almost all of our time so far, but now I think that we can start exploring a bit more starting in the next few days.

Our house is in a terrific location. There is a small strip mall with a grocery store, the Long's drugstore and a bunch of restaurants, a bakery and a few dessert places nearby. It also has great great breezes, and is probably 10 degrees cooler than the city and beaches.

Some pictures to go with this text: The scab that clearly looks like the Hawaiian islands, a shot from the hike to Manoa falls, us at our kitchen table (using the timer) and a meal in our backyard.

Abby wants to tell you about our hike today, but right now she is so full from dinner (Korean bbq burger and fries) and part of a scone at Starbucks that she can't think straight. We have cooked a bit at home, but have been eating out a bunch as well - exploring our neighborhood restaurants. The highlight today for me was some spicy tuna poke (po-keh) at a strip mall near where we bought our kitchen table and a desk. Poke is an Asian version of ceviche - and this place was really great. A little far away, but possibly worth a return trip....

We did about a 1.5 mile hike that is a few miles from our house to Manoa Falls - a very skinny waterfall that drops about 135 feet. It was fun - a bit crowded on the trail likely b/c of the July 4th/5th holiday, but very pretty. It has been "unusually" (this is what everyone is saying; how would I know?!?) rainy for the past week and so the trail was super muddy but that did not take away from the fun at all. According to our lonely planet guide, the hike is one of Barack Obama's favorites as he grew up not too far away.

We have seen lots and lots of rainbows, including some double ones - I have seen more in the past week than probably my whole entire life before this.

Another highlight was last night, when we drove up a mountain side to look down over the city to see the fireworks. It was a little surreal to see the show without any of the noise, but beautiful and a fun adventure.

Hope that your long weekend was relaxing and fun as well.