When we decided to embark on this Hawaiian adventure, “schooling” was the least of my worries. There will always be time to practice multiplication; the time we will be here is (we think) finite. What I want to be able to offer my kids is the opportunity to experience the lifestyle and culture that is around us, to experience the different climates, geography and topography, and to experience different foods.

Our shopping excursions – whether to the grocery store or farmer’s market – usually find us coming home with something different to try. The kids have been great about this; they want to try everything! They’ve enjoyed the fruit that is available here.

A plate with avodado, soursop, lemon, and things that I can’t recall the name of:

A baby pineapple on a plant:

A bunch of baby coconuts (removed for safety):

A dragon fruit. These come in pink and white flesh and taste a bit like a kiwi, but not as flavorful.

The boys have also come to love malasadas (Portuguese doughnuts), arare (a rice cracker snack mix), kalua pig, and even white rice. They’ve politely tasted some things that they found not so great: dried cuttle fish, nori (sheets of seaweed) and spam musubi (a slice of spam wrapped in white rice and seaweed, sushi style).