Grass, grass and more grass

So, when we purchased our house, we did a lot of things to update it. Pics to come soon. There was a reason the house sat on the market for over a year and we were able to get it for such a good price, but none of it was really structural. But, the one area which we did not improve upon was the grass.
Here is our house with its beautiful grass just a month before we moved in. Almost looks like carpet doesn't it?

And, sad to say, here it is now. It actually looks way worse in person than it does in this picture. I think the fact that we haven't mowed it in over 8 week is actually hiding all the areas of dead grass.

Who knew about thatching and dethatching? We didn't! We thought if we mowed the lawn every 2 weeks, and watered it, that would be enough. Rookie first time home owners mistake. Grass in Hawaii requires a level of maintenance that we were didn't realize. It's actually now getting kind of embarassing. I think our neighbor trimmed our bushes out front for us out of sympathy (and maybe he was tired of looking at our overrun yard). I'm too mortified to post pics of our front yard, because it's WAY worse. We have been paralyzed by inaction. We're not sure what to do, so we've done nothing.

But, now I think it's time to do something. We live in Hawaii where we can be outside year round and having a nice backyard is like expanding your square footage, so I'm willing to invest the dough. Though it hurts to do so! We decided to get new grass put in. Because no matter what we do for our grass - water, mow, sing to it, nothing seems to be working and it remains dry and brown. The front is actually just patches of weeds, but since it's green, at least it doesn't look terrible.

So, as we delve into the world of grass, we have learned plenty! I guess there are 2 main options of grass for lawns out here. El Toro and Seashore paspalum. El Toro..the bull, kind of an odd name for grass, is what I think, but it is apparently the "Lexus of grass" according to a lawn guy who had some kind of degree in lawn and turf management. I personally, think it's hard to judge the type of grass you want for you whole lawn by looking at a small square of it at Home Depot. So, when we are taking walks in our neighborhood and we spot a grass that is El Toro or seashore, we have actually taken our shoes off and walk a little bit on our neighbor's yard. You really got to feel the grass, you know? It's important! I don't want to get grass that's too rough or prickly for my son! Thankfully, none of our neighbors have witnessed us doing this, though in Hawaii I think this is not as weird as it would be if I were doing this in Raleigh, NC!