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