February

• 10th (Monday) Received a call from NZ 'ohana regarding grandma and an emergency trip to the hospital. Jason was working at BBC at the time, but as soon as he got home, he was informed and we made preparations for (originally) him and Nanea to go NZ. Since the next flight out was on Wednesday, it only took a few hours for me to jump on board and make sure our entire family went to see how grandma was doing. I kept receiving promptings that Hali'a had to be there, which meant that I had to be there too! 
• 12th (Wednesday) We left for NZ with Aunty Keao who was such a help for us all. We surprised everyone by arriving. My main concern was to make sure that Jason got to spend as much time as he wanted and could with Grandma. We also made sure Grandma and papa were able to see the girls as much as they could too so we spent most of the beginning and end of the trip in Auckland with them. We left to give grandma so time to rest. The visit went a little like this:
• "Real" boil-up from the Panui's 

• Our typical stop at Pokeno for ice cream, fish and chips!

• Daddy also spent some time with Jerome at Raglan

• We stayed most of the time with Keao and Bronson since the kids were at home. Nanea and Hali'a had so much fun waking up and playing with Kawena and Taniora. This was the hottest I had ever experienced in NZ and being pregnant wasn't the ideal situation. I was a bit moody which everyone dealt with graciously. I even ventured to drive to Dinsdale, but managed to mess up on the way home driving on the wrong side of the road. I thought I was okay, but not Jase.

• Jase insisted on having a georgie pie at McD before we left.

• 25th(Tuesday) Left NZ to come home to Hawaii. There was a bitter sweet ending to this trip because we left knowing that grandma's health was not the best. It was by far the most difficult for Jason to leave. I think time for moving home to NZ is approaching very quickly.
• 26th (Wednesday) Jason went right back to Practicum. He and I have so much work to make-up, but we have no regrets for going to NZ.