New term, new house

Happy New Year!
We visited our land 2 days ago and had a hard time seeing how devastated it was and the 3 big machines were not a pretty site. But, the septic tank is now in and the hole will be covered back up. Here are some recent pictures. You can see our water tanks in the background. Now we await for the meter to be put on our meter pole, a trench to be dug for the electricity, and then maybe we can finally order the wood!!!
It has been hard getting back into the groove of school, especially since we both had great visits with family and friends over the holidays. But, we are back into the swing of things. Lauren is busy working many jobs and figuring out her schedule, while Shannon is busy studying hundreds of varieties of fish and algae for her diving program starting next week as well as working on her thesis proposal.
It is cold and rainy here in Volcano, we look forward to a little sun in the near future..hopefully!
We went for a hike with a friend, Ashley, visiting from Portland last Saturday. This is a hike through one of the craters on Kilauea, it was incredible! It is an eerie feeling, walking across the entire crater.
We look forward to an active year and your visits...just bring your working gloves..haha.