Ocean sushi

The side lanai is nearly finished.

Mitch and Steve install deck boards

Front lanai

Unidentified flower on the property

That night we went to Ocean Sushi in Hilo with Valerie (our architect) and Mitch (our builder).
The restaurant does not have much int eh way of decor or fancy furnishings, but the sushi is very good and the prices are reasonable.

The kitchen (note that the banner on the right is hanging backwards)

I was going to take pictures of the food, but we had to wait a while to get a table (it's very popular), and by the time the food arrived, we were all so hungry we started eating and ....

After the meal

Valerie & Diana (note some of the non-traditional choices on the wall menu)

After dinner we walked around the downtown areas (such as it is) for a while.  This is the Palace Theater, an old theater (built in 1925) that shows movies and has live performances.

Lanai nearly done

The work on the lanai continued at a good pace over the past two days, and the front lanai is nearly complete.  The wood looks great and will look even better when its cleaned, sanded a little, and gets it final coat of finish.

Work on the railings also continued.

Mitch (our builder) installing railings

There are about 150 of these balusters that need to be painted ...

Lanai & railings

Work on the lanai (among other things) is continuing. The board are delivered in many different lengths, so it's something of a jigsaw puzzle to figure out where each board should go without running our or having a lot of excess.

More of the cumaru can be seen in the house (to keep it off the ground and out of the rain)

Our part in this process is to paint all of the railing parts the trim color. 

Some of the boards that will go into the railing.

During dinner, we noticed some kind of gecko climbing on the windows screen.

Back to painting

It was back to painting -- this time the fascia (the board just under the roof).  This required setting up a ladder, climbing up, painting about two feet of the board, coming down, moving ladder about two feet, and repeating, over and over, for all four sides of the house.  Diana's butt was sore after going up and down the ladder so many times -- who needs a Stairmaster?  This was the first coat ...

Side and front

Back

Mitch and Steve started installing the cumaru decking on the lanai.  After looking into many different types of wood including exotic hardwoods, engineered wood, and engineered bamboo, we decided that cumaru (a tropical hardwood) offered the best combination of aesthetic appeal, good price, and environmentally friendliness.  The cumaru is sustainably harvested (and is supposed to be certified).  It's extremely hard and resistant to termites, mold, and rotting.  With just an application of oil every few years, it should last at least 50 years.

The wood is beautiful and looks even better in person.

Rental house exterior and back to Pahoa

The front of our second rental house.  We even have a garage (which a lot of houses don't have) and a garage door (which most houses with garages don't have).

The view looking one way down the street ...

... and the other way. Note the presence here of something not seen in most neighborhoods on the island -- mailboxes.  Apparently, the postal service will not deliver if the street is not paved, which ours (at our real house) is not.

Hala trees

The hala (aka thatch screwpine or the walking tree) was brought to Hawaii by the Polynesians, who used the leaves to make baskets, mats, outrigger canoe sails, and thatch roofs.  The fruit is edible too.

Hala fruit (we would try eating it if we could reach it ...)

Immature fruit

Bromeliads

A type of decorative ginger

We had to go back to Pahoa because on Friday I left my credit card there at the restaurant. Oops.

Heading into Pahoa

Approaching the center of town

The main drag

Trim painting

We kept buying sample colors for the trim, but none of them were quite right; too green, too gray, too blah. So we ended up mixing our own color for the trim.

From the front

From the lanai

The pipe connecting the water tank to the house was installed (the trench gets filled in)

We also went into Hilo (the big city) to look for bathroom vanities and fixtures and do some shopping.

Views of Hilo Bay from downtown Hilo

Resorts on the other side of the bay

Shopping in bustling downtown Hilo

Moving day

We moved into our second rental. This place is bigger (three bedrooms) and brand new.

Kitchen and eating area

Living room (the building permit is still in the window)

Kitchen

Bedroom 1 (soon to be the office)

Bathroom

Bedroom 2

Bedroom 2 with jungle outside

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

While we were moving, the water delivery came and the liner was installed in the water tank.

Water tank with liner (white), cover (black), with about 4,000 gallons of water from a water delivery truck. The tank holds 10,000 gallons.

The celebrate Diana's birthday, we had dinner at Paolo's Bistro in Pahoa. 

We had seafood pasta and spaghetti alla puttanesca, followed by wine-soaked peaches over ice cream, tiramisu, and espresso for dessert.