Every week on Thursday afternoon we have a Skype conversation with our youngest son Jared and his wife Tania. The conversation lasts anywhere from a half an hour to an hour and we have a great visit every week. A couple of weeks ago they totally surprised us with the news that they had booked a flight, hotel, and car and were on their way over here to (1) celebrate their 2nd wedding anniversary, (2) celebrate Nina’s 70th birthday, and (3) help me celebrate my 71st birthday. They arrived late last night in Honolulu and made their way to their hotel, collapsing into bed about 2am this morning. About 1:30 this afternoon they came into the Visitors’ Center! Wahoo!

We’ve been able to arrange to have much of next week free and will finally do some of the standard tourist things. This evening we sat on the beach for a little while and had a nice spaghetti dinner here at the house. Tomorrow afternoon we’ll plan the rest of the week. Making the trip over here is a pretty big deal for them … neither of them have paid vacation days from their work. They did come up with an important tourist tip … make sure that your automobile insurance back home covers rental cars because the insurance for rental cars charged by the rental car companies here in Hawaii is obscene. If the home automobile insurance doesn’t cover rental cars, it’s probably worth it to add that to the policy rather than pay the rental car company for it here in Hawaii. Of course, bring your proof of insurance card!

We’re hosting two musical firesides at the Visitors’ Center this month. Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon at 6pm will be a musical fireside featuring the sister missionaries assigned to the Center. Two weeks later on Easter Sunday we’ll be rebroadcasting the Mormon Tabernacle Choir’s rendition of “The Messiah”. That presentation is being shown live from the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on Friday, March 25th. I’ll download it to the Center’s iPad and we’ll replay it in the big theater at the Center on Easter Sunday evening. I’ve made up some posters for these two firesides and have put them up in various places around town. We should have very good turnout for both of these events.

Spring Break season is in full swing in Utah and the number of visitors from Utah at the Visitors’ Center has climbed sharply. Lots of families are making the trip over to Hawaii for Spring Break and enjoying the break from a pretty cold winter over there. Tonight our low temperature will be around 64°, which to me at present is rather chilly. Jared and Tania, however, think this is quite heavenly!