2022 Year In Review
Life changed drastically for our family in 2022. After living in Colorado for over 20 years, we sold our house (and many of our possessions) and moved to Hawaii. It had been our dream to live in Hawaii for years and years and we finally made that dream a reality.
We traded mountain life for island life.
The whole year was quite a whirlwind. We had lived in our house in Colorado for 15 years and had forgotten how hard it was to move.
Moving is a lot of work!
It was also very emotional to leave behind the life we had created in Colorado and all of our dear friends. Our house in Colorado was the only place Eli had ever lived. So, although we were all excited to move to Hawaii, it was also really hard.
Moving To Hawaii
The housing market in Hawaii was extremely hot in 2022. It took us several months of constant searching and different offers that weren’t accepted to finally find a house to buy. We found our house and our offer was accepted in January.
Then the hard work began.
First, we had to list our house in Colorado. We loved our house and our neighborhood so it was really difficult to list our house. But, we couldn’t afford a house in Hawaii without selling our house in Colorado. Luckily the housing market in Colorado was also hot so our house was under contract quickly.
The next step was packing and figuring out the logistics of getting our vehicles and belongings across the ocean to Hawaii.
For all the details read the post – Moving to Hawaii
In March, after months of packing, moving, and selling; we said goodbye to Colorado and moved to our new home in Hawaii.
Our first few weeks in Hawaii were tough. Eli started at his new school and Chad and I worked on the house. We didn’t get the pods with our furniture and belongings for a few weeks. Having no furniture made working on the house easier, but living in the house hard.
The house we bought was previously a foreclosure and then a rental for the last four years. So, while it wasn’t terrible, it did need some work. We painted the entire inside of the house, replaced the trim, and cleaned nonstop during our first few weeks in Hawaii.
After the hard work of moving and getting settled in was behind us, we could finally enjoy life in Hawaii.
I can honestly say that living in Hawaii is even more amazing than I had imagined. We absolutely love it here!
Travel In 2022
Even though the first part of 2022 was completely consumed with moving, we still managed to travel quite a lot. In fact, as I look back to write this post, I can’t believe how much we managed to travel. Some of the travels were directly related to our move, and some travels were just for fun.
- After listing our house in January, we went to visit family in Las Vegas so we would be away while the realtor showed our house.
- We had only seen pictures of the house we had under contract in Hawaii and were very nervous about making such a huge purchase sight unseen. So, in February we took a quick trip back to the Big Island to check out the house before buying it.
- We sold our house in Colorado on March 10th and didn’t close on our house in Hawaii until March 16th. So, we had a week to drive to California where we would ship our truck and fly to Hawaii. We stopped in Bryce Canyon on our way to Las Vegas where we spent a few nights with Chad’s family before heading to California. We had never visited Bryce Canyon in the winter so it was neat to see the canyon covered with snow.
- Chad’s parents followed us to California in their truck to see us off and give us and all of our luggage a ride to the airport. By the time we got to California, we were all exhausted and glad to have a few days to relax in Los Angeles. We spent a day at Knott’s Berry Farm and had a great time!
- Finally! We flew to our new home on the Big Island of Hawaii.
- In April we took a quick inter-island trip to Maui for a few days to attend our good friend’s wedding.
- Back to California in June. We are huge baseball fans (we had Colorado Rockies season tickets for years) and Oakland was the only MLB stadium in California we hadn’t been to yet. So, we flew to Oakland for a few days to see some Oakland Athletics games.
- Chad’s parent’s 50th wedding anniversary was in June so we flew from Oakland to Las Vegas to celebrate with Chad’s family for a long weekend.
- In July I met my mom and sister for a girl’s trip in Newport Beach California. It was the first trip I’d taken without Eli since he was six months old. We had a great time!
- At the end of August, we went to Maui with some friends to stay in the Wai’anapanapa State Park Cabins. We had a great time driving the road to Hana and exploring Haleakala National Park.
- For Eli’s fall break in September, we met Chad’s parents in Hollywood for a few days to check out Universal Studios. After visiting almost all of the theme parks in California, Universal Studios is by far my favorite.
- After Hollywood, we flew to Colorado for a week. I absolutely love fall in Colorado and we were lucky that the fall colors were still beautiful when we got there. It was so good to see all of our friends and hang out in the mountains.
- Our last trip of the year was to Oahu for a week in December. Honolulu is where we usually stay when we visit Oahu but this time my mom got us a timeshare in Ko’Olina that was AWESOME! We enjoyed the beautiful beaches in Ko’Olina and visited the Polynesian Cultural Center as well as the North Shore to watch a surfing competition. We also got tickets to the Broadway musical Hamilton in Honolulu.
Big Island of Hawaii Adventures In 2022
There is so much to see and do on the Big Island of Hawaii. This island is just so BIG! When we weren’t traveling off island in 2022, we were exploring the diverse landscape here.
We have found so many great hikes on this island!
Read – 10 Best Easy Hikes On The Big Island of Hawaii (and these are only my favorite easy hikes, I’ve also found some challenging hikes.)
Chad bought a fishing boat in July. The boat has opened up a whole new and exciting world of exploration on the ocean. Chad loves to fish and has been constantly researching and learning to fish in Hawaii. So far he has been really successful and has even been able to sell some of the fish he’s caught. The rest we eat and give away to friends and neighbors.
We’ve always loved camping and were sad to sell our camper before moving from Colorado. But, since moving to the Big Island we’ve discovered so many different camping options here! We’ve camped in the cabins at Hapuna Beach State Park and Volcano National Park, as well as tent camping at Kiholo Bay and Ho’okena Beach Park.
At the end of November, Mauna Loa erupted for the first time in almost 40 years! It was an incredible experience to live on the Big Island while the volcano was erupting. We could actually see the red glow of lava from our house.
A friend texted me early in the morning when the eruption first started. I got up and drove to the saddle road to check out the lava before the sun came up. Watching the sunrise on an active volcano before any of the crowds were there to view it was awe-inspiring.
We also drove to view the lava several different times at night over the next few weeks.
For the first time in over 20 years we didn’t go snowboarding on Christmas. Instead, we went for a swim in the ocean. So completely different but just as fun.
2023 Plans
As of now we don’t have a single trip planned for 2023. After all the craziness of 2022, our plan for this year is to slow down and enjoy the island life.
Happy New Year!