2025

What a year 2025 was, with many moving parts!

The year started out with a wedding! John and Bekah got married in LA on January 4. 
Right after that, the LA fires broke out and Courtney, John & Bekah had to evacuate. Fortunately they were never in danger and neither were their homes. 

In February, Liz fell and broke her wrist while playing pickleball. That took her out for several weeks, which apparently started migraine headache issues. She went to the ER several times this year with migraine problems, as well as several doctor appointments. After a CAT scan and an MRI done later this year, stenosis was found in her neck, which seems to cause headaches. 

In March, Liz and I drove up to LA to help Courtney clean out his garage. It was also his birthday celebration with the family. We went to Descanso Gardens, had Chinese dinner and a few games of 42. We unexpectedly had a one day turnaround because I had to get Liz back home for three emergency doctor appointments the next day, due to an unexpected crises. She was OK after all. 

 In April, Georgine (Liz's mother) had quite an impressive Bat Mitzvah. Lots of her family were in town for that. 

We have also noticed Georgine has had more trouble managing finances along with other signs of decline. Liz took over her finances this year to help her out. We will continue to monitor this. 

We rented out our place in San Diego at the end of May, and lived with Georgine and Nathan for a month before we went to Hawaii.  We were in Hawaii from June 28 thru November 3.

In Hawaii: 

We had plumbing upgrades by HPG (Hawaii Plumbing Group) in our condo, part of what we had to work around in order to go back to Hawaii. Our unit was torn apart in June with plumbing upgrades, our tenant left at the end of May, so the timing on all that worked out fine.  This "drain waste plumbing" upgrade for the entire complex was going to be a 57K assessment for our part, thus the primary reason we sold the property, mentioned below. 

The "legal" issues with our condo in Hawaii mentioned in the 2024 blog continued. After submitting receipts and documentation of everything we did to our unit (mostly from 2023) in Hawaii to the HOA, they wanted our unit inspected in order to be sure all our upgrades were up to "code". After months of waiting for that, inspectors found nothing wrong with our improvements, but nitpicked at some cosmetic issues, "stripped screws" in our circuit breaker box and no smoke alarms, which were all conditions that existed when we bought the unit in 2016. 

There was plenty of "drama" while we were in Hawaii. HPG fouled up our washing machine during the plumbing upgrades, and refused to take responsibility for it. As a result, we had to buy a new washer. The new one was faulty, so it had to be replaced which turned into a huge hassle with Best Buy. 
There were also car troubles. The 1999 CRV had it's moments. We had to replace the distributor cap, distributor rotor, spark plugs, wires as well as the catalytic converter. All of this was $$$. After all the drama with the car however, it seemed to settle down and run fine once again. Talks continue as to what to do with the car on our next trip to Hawaii.  

In late July there was a "tsunami warning" (national news) due to an earthquake in Russia. We were playing pickleball at a local park at the time, and the locals were not overly concerned. It all turned into a "nothing burger" but we were not in a tsunami hazard area anyway.

Even though a lot went wrong during the year, a lot also went right.

With the help of an excellent Caldwell Banker realtor, we put our Hawaii condo up for sale in August and got a full price offer a week after we listed it. We put in an offer for a smaller condo just down the street, which is a 18th floor penthouse. After going back and forth, the owner of that condo finally accepted our offer and our realtor coordinated the process and 1031exchange perfectly. The purchase and sale both closed on the same day, coincidentally, my birthday, October 2. 

Courtney visited us in Hawaii, while our old condo was in escrow. It was his first time in Hawaii, and he spent 10 days with us. We showed him a chunk of the island and had a great time!  Other than all the drama with our old condo with plumbing, legal issues among other issues, we had a good time during our 4 months. Lots of beach time and pickleball, sometimes both in one day!

We moved to our new condo on October 8. We resolved the (legal) discrepancies in the old condo we sold before we moved and passed the final inspection, all while paying for the legal fee's the HOA were charged by their attorney to come after us. The HOA was difficult to work with and the entire fiasco felt like harassment, but we consider that ordeal closed with the sale and move. 

The new condo is amazing! Not only is it a penthouse, but it has amazing panoramic views of the southern Oahu coastline, upgraded cabinets and floors and two (tandem) parking spots, (which solves the problem of car storage when we are gone). 
We had the new place painted and some minor repairs done before we moved in. We lived in it for three weeks, then went home to San Diego. We found a renter to move in the day we left.

In mid October we attended Honolulu Pride. We hung out at Hula's and watched the parade from there. This was Liz's first Pride celebration in Hawaii.  

Our tenants in San Diego requested to extend into May 2026, so we are staying with Georgine and Nathan the rest of the year after returning to San Diego in early November. This was not planned, but was just how it worked out. 

In San Diego: 

We went to see Courtney in LA for Thanksgiving and again at Christmas. We were all at Katy's house on both holidays and saw the kiddies (great nephews) and had a great time!

On the way up to LA for Christmas, we got word from our San Diego tenant that a pipe burst with resulting water damage and flooding in our condo while they were gone overnight. Liz was on the phone with repairmen and USAA insurance in order to start the repair process. As of the end of 2025, repairs and remediation are in progress, but the unit is not livable. This includes not only plumbing repairs, but new floors throughout the entire unit to replace our existing Pergo floors. It is as if we are renovating all over again. Earlier this year, we had previously replaced the oven (due to a broken gas pipe), a ceiling fan and the washing machine. 

Being homeowners of two property's (in different states) while managing tenants has certainly had it's challenges this year!  

Liz also continues to try to find answers and treatment for her stenosis and migraine issues. As of now, we do not know when we will be able to return to Hawaii, but we are hopeful it will be at some point in 2026. A special thank you to our San Diego neighbor Mary Ella who helped us out on the San Diego home front while we were in Hawaii this year and to Georgine and Nathan for housing us!

Unfortunately, a year cannot go by without losing people that we love.
Lela Malone (mother of childhood friend)
Monroe Levine (Liz relative) 

The year in pictures: 

January 4: John & Bekah's wedding at Pasadena Covenant Church / Altadena

Leaving from the reception!

January 5: Liz and Arthur (8 months) at Courtney's house. 

March 16; The family at Descanso Gardens.
L to R; Courtney, Bekah, Wilda, John, Arthur, Katy, Andy, Eddie. 

April 18; Georgine's family in town for her Bat Mitzvah.
L to R: Jeremy, Shifrah, Melanie, Michael, Liz, Wilda, Bradley, Georgine, Nathan, Marc, Elizabeth, Matthew and Elissa.
 

April 19; Georgine at her Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanu-El.

July 12; Wilda and Liz at the Pearl Harbor Channel entrance on Hickam AFB. 

September 5; Wilda and Courtney at Kokololio Beach near Laie, north east side of Oahu. 

September 6; Courtney at the Makapuu Lookout, over looking Rabbit Islands. Windward side Oahu. 

September 6; Liz, Wilda and Courtney at North Beach, Kaneohe Marine Corps Base. Windward Oahu.

September 9; Wilda near USS Missouri (BB-63) on Ford Island. 

September 10; Liz, Wilda and Courtney at Lanikai Beach. Windward Oahu. 

September 26; Michelle Acohido-Morales (Coldwell Banker) agent, Wilda and Liz signing our closing paperwork for the  new condo at Fidelity National Title in Aiea. 

October 2: The day it closed! Jason Morales (Michelle's husband), Liz and I in our new place hours after closing. Jason did repair work for us before we moved in. I look disheveled here because we had just hauled in two heavy outdoor chairs for the lanai.

October 2: All I ever wanted. To be at the beach on my birthday. Ala Moana Beach. 

October 5:The rock wall at Sand Island. I coincidentally saw a "burial at sea" while I was there that day. 
It was an Army veteran, and I was honored to have seen this. I had never seen this in person before.

October 25: Wilda at Bellows AFS one last time. 

October 30; A turtle at Pearl Harbor Channel entrance saying farewell to us. 

December 25; Christmas dinner; L to R; Nancy, Eddie, Courtney, John, Bekah, Andy, Liz, Wilda, Katy, Arthur. 

December 25; Eddie (3 1/2 yrs) giving his brother Arthur (1 1/2 yrs) a push. 

December 25; Arthur and Eddie playing on the "roller coaster" toy from granddad (Courtney).