Happy Holidays!

Aloha Friends and Family! As many of you know, our family uprooted from Hawai‘i this fall and settled in beautiful Monterey, California. The move was hectic, as you can imagine, but we have a beautiful home on the hill with a peak at Monterey Bay and we are getting to know the community. It’s been an interesting and fun year. The highlight by a mile was the addition of James Costa Kittinger, or Jimi as we call him, to the family. Jimi was born April 26th, and he’s now 8 months old, which is hard to believe. He’s crawling all over the place and pulling up on anything he can get his cute hands on. Kai is enjoying learning to be a big brother and we are so lucky to have two healthy, beautiful boys. Daniela finished her position in April with the City and County of Honolulu, where she administered a federal grant to support community programs to alleviate youth substance abuse. She and her friends also helped start the Hawai‘i Food Policy Council, which has grown leaps and bounds and is working to ensure a sustainable future for agriculture, food policy and health in Hawai‘i. Jack started a new position at Stanford University’s Center for Ocean Solutions, where he works as a social scientist on interdisciplinary approaches for sustainable solutions for the oceans. He is involved in a bunch of projects, but continues to work in Hawai‘i on coral reef fisheries, food security and community-based conservation. The whole family is getting to know the coast and communities in the beautiful Monterey peninsula area. We frequently take evening strolls at Asilomar Beach and are getting to know the great restaurants, coastal paths and other resources in the intertwined communities of Monterey, Pacific Grove and Carmel. Jack’s made his first forays into the frigid NorCal waters, surfing Asilomar and Spanish Bay, which are just a few minutes drive from the house. It’s quite a change from tropical Hawai‘i, but the land and seascapes of central California are incredible and its a wonderful place to raise a family. We look forward to 2012 and hope you and your families are doing great! With love, Jack, Daniela, Kainoa, & Jimi

Christmas in Monterey 2011

Aloha Hawai‘i Nei

Most of our friends and family from the mainland will have a hard time believing this, but we haven’t locked our doors for five years. Even when we’ve left Hawai‘i for extensive trips to the mainland or elsewhere, the doors stay unlocked and the car keys dangle on the hook. Part of what makes that possible is just luck – we’ve lived in Honolulu (a major metropolitan area) for five years now, but we’ve always seemed to live in tucked away places. But it’s also just part of island life – we’re all on the rock together. As they say in Hawaiian, E Lauhoe mai nā wa‘a, or “everyone paddles the canoe together.” There are many aspects of island life that are subtlely different, but yet that make all the difference in everyday living. This is just part of what makes living in Polynesia so special. When we moved to Hawai‘i I had an inkling that this day would come – that we might someday have to reckon with the prospect of leaving what Mark Twain called “the loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean.” In most ways it is truly a paradise both in terms of the environment and the people. We were blessed at the outset to have been introduced to the islands by Hawaiians. For this we warmly thank Anela and Iokepa and their family - Mahalo nui loa. And we’ve met some incredible people here – many close friends that we know we will stay close with for many years to come. It’s been our home and community for five years now – it’s hard to believe it’s been that long. We both got graduate degrees at UH, we added two beautiful sons to our family, and we went on countless adventures throughout the archipelago. We recognize how fortunate we are to have had these experiences, made all the more richer by the places and people that have joined us. Parting with Hawai‘i is made easier knowing we’ll be closer to our families on the mainland – within driving distance of Daniela’s parents and brother, and short(er) flights to my brother, sister and parents – not to mention my niece and nephew! And so we say goodbye for now to Hawai‘i nei, our beloved home and set sail for a new adventure in beautiful northern California. We’ll be settling in Monterey, a beautiful seaside town whose rich maritime history has been chronicled by Steinback’s Cannery Row. It’s also home to a number of top-rated institutions engaged in marine scientific research, education and outreach. We’re excited to make this our new home and we hope to see all of our friends, family and extended ‘ohana soon.

The arrival of James Costa (Jimi) Kittinger

Aloha friends and family,
We are overjoyed to welcome a new baby boy - James Costa ("Jimi") Kittinger - to the family. Sweet baby James was born April 26th at 3:52 pm at the Castle Medical Center in Kailua, Hawaii. He weighted 8lbs 8oz and is 19.5" long. Both mom and baby are doing great and are in fantastic health. It gives us great honor to name our son after Daniel's father and brother, both named James Peter Spoto. No doubt he has a lot to live up to!

We came back home just a day later on Wednesday afternoon and have been settling in with the little guy. Big brother Kai is fascinated with Jimi and is starting to realize that the little guy is a permanent part of the family. Lots of love to you all and ALOHA!
Jack + fam

Album: James Costa (Jimi) Kittinger