Our dear friends from St. Louis have been visiting and so we've been touring the town. It's been great fun and all the kids have been having a good time. I have taken so many pictures I haven't even sat down to go through them all, but I'll post a link when I get a chance.
We've gone to the Ko'Olina beach, the halona blow hole, Pali overlook, Arizona memorial, Dole plantation, hiked Diamond head and went to Sea Life Park. Whew....
6/14/2009
6/05/2009
Picnic
Until today, it has been just plain hot and sticky the past few days. No trade winds to cool us off... The water is the place to be when it's like that, so we've spent a lot of time with sprinklers, in the pool, and at the beach. Here's Adam and Cole having a little picnic lunch at Ko'Olina. Them with their sandy feet and beach towels with their PB&J. I just love the pampered resort feel when we go there, all the swaying coconut palms and the golf course trimmed lawns... It really is paradise!
5/29/2009
Summer days
The last few days have been really pretty hot. Little to no wind and humid, so it's been perfect weather to get wet. Here are just a couple shots of the boys thoroughly enjoying themselves in the kiddie pool.
Latest stuff
Last Friday Adam had a sleepover with one of his buddies. The three boys had a great time playing. Adam fell asleep at bedtime right away and the other two were up for a while talking and playing with toys. Now they can't wait to switch and sleep over at their house...
We went for a hike on the Aiea loop trail last weekend. It was a very nice trail, well worn and easy for the kids to walk on. It also had another wonderful grove of eucalyptus. I just love walking through those, the smell is so soothing (and it keeps the mosquitoes away!). It still amazes me that you drive through heavily populated areas to get to the trailhead and then once you're on the path you really feel like you're miles away from civilization. So the hikes are a nice little escape from the crowds of people everywhere else on the island.
We went for a hike on the Aiea loop trail last weekend. It was a very nice trail, well worn and easy for the kids to walk on. It also had another wonderful grove of eucalyptus. I just love walking through those, the smell is so soothing (and it keeps the mosquitoes away!). It still amazes me that you drive through heavily populated areas to get to the trailhead and then once you're on the path you really feel like you're miles away from civilization. So the hikes are a nice little escape from the crowds of people everywhere else on the island.
5/14/2009
Our MN trip
Well I can't believe just how long it's been since I've updated the blog. I guess it's been so long now that it's a daunting task to update it so I keep putting it off.
Well after we recovered from our virus last month we finally made it on a plane to MN. We had to delay the flight by a day to give Adam another day to recover. Once we were there we had a good time. Most of the rest of my siblings were home so we all had a good time visiting. The weather was nice and it was nice to feel some 'spring' weather instead of the perpetual summer (not that I'm complaining about the Hawaii weather!!).
I just put a bunch of pictures from this past month on my Picasa account. Here is a link to them. Enjoy! I'll have to do some more blog updating soon...
http://picasaweb.google.com/amykerkemeyer/May09#
Well after we recovered from our virus last month we finally made it on a plane to MN. We had to delay the flight by a day to give Adam another day to recover. Once we were there we had a good time. Most of the rest of my siblings were home so we all had a good time visiting. The weather was nice and it was nice to feel some 'spring' weather instead of the perpetual summer (not that I'm complaining about the Hawaii weather!!).
I just put a bunch of pictures from this past month on my Picasa account. Here is a link to them. Enjoy! I'll have to do some more blog updating soon...
http://picasaweb.google.com/amykerkemeyer/May09#
4/26/2009
Lost a whole week
Wow, it's been a long time since I updated the blog. I got busy with stuff and also was taking an online digital scrapbooking class so I hadn't gotten around to updating the thing. Then over a week ago I got a stomach virus and was laid out on the couch for 7 days straight. This was the nastiest bug I've had in a lot of years. I'm on day 9 and still now trying to recover after not eating much for a week. To add insult to it all, right now Dan is out biking the Haleiwa metric century with our neighbor and his son since I'm not up to going and Adam is still getting over the bug too. So I had to miss what is touted as one of 'the 50 best rides in the US' by bicycling magazine. Well, I hope they are having a good time!
4/10/2009
Happy Birthday to You
Cole was 3 years old on Monday! We had a low-key birthday celebration. The night before, I blew up a bunch of balloons to decorate the stairway from the bedrooms and then I piled a bunch on the table. They got a kick out of that (I think I nearly passed out from blowing up balloons though...). I told Cole he could pick what kind of cake he wanted, so I gave him a book of kids cakes that I had and he picked out a rocket cake. Thank goodness, that one wasn't too hard, some of those cakes would have been a real pain to frost! It turned out pretty good, he thought it was really cool.
We had Wakana and Taiyo over for dinner and cake. Steve stayed home with TeAnna because she was still getting over a stomach bug. She was very disappointed to have to miss Cole's birthday. I think Cole's favorite part of his whole birthday is that it was his turn to have his special day and he didn't have to share his birthday presents with Adam (at least not on his birthday). Cole was very patient on Adam's birthday and understood that each kid gets his special day, and he was going to take full advantage of his now that it was here! Especially by withholding his brand new firetruck from his brother...
Here's a quick photo history of Cole's first 3 years:
We had Wakana and Taiyo over for dinner and cake. Steve stayed home with TeAnna because she was still getting over a stomach bug. She was very disappointed to have to miss Cole's birthday. I think Cole's favorite part of his whole birthday is that it was his turn to have his special day and he didn't have to share his birthday presents with Adam (at least not on his birthday). Cole was very patient on Adam's birthday and understood that each kid gets his special day, and he was going to take full advantage of his now that it was here! Especially by withholding his brand new firetruck from his brother...
Here's a quick photo history of Cole's first 3 years:
4/09/2009
Hike from Wahiawa
We took a hike on some government property that our friends had gotten permission to hike on. We had a trail guide from a hike book to go by but noone had been on that particular trail before. Had we known what the trail was like we probably would have picked a different trail (since we had a total of 5 kids in the group 5 years and younger) or at least I would have worn hiking boots instead of tennis shoes. But in the end, everyone was glad we went and even though we only hiked probably less than a mile or mile and a half, we had a good time.
The trail started out wide open in a gorgeous (and very fragrant) eucalyptus grove.
We were optimistic, even starting out our trek with strollers, which we quickly ditched by the side of the trail as soon as we got past the eucalyptus grove. Soon we were crawling over logs and hiking along some pretty narrow trails right along the ridge with a steep drop to our left.
(just to the left of the log at the left side of the trail is a very steep embankment, we kept a
There was a steep descent down off the ridge where we had to pass the kids down in some places.
There was a lot of mud, lots of gorgeous thick moss and beautiful tall trees. It was very slow going getting the kids along the trail, but they were all troopers. I really didn't hear any complaints out of any of them. I kind of thought they would start whining to be carried or to turn around, but I think they were all so fascinated by the woods and mystery of where the trail would lead next that they just kept going and going. Sometimes your kids will surprise you!
The trail started out wide open in a gorgeous (and very fragrant) eucalyptus grove.
We were optimistic, even starting out our trek with strollers, which we quickly ditched by the side of the trail as soon as we got past the eucalyptus grove. Soon we were crawling over logs and hiking along some pretty narrow trails right along the ridge with a steep drop to our left. 
(just to the left of the log at the left side of the trail is a very steep embankment, we kept a
There was a steep descent down off the ridge where we had to pass the kids down in some places.
There was a lot of mud, lots of gorgeous thick moss and beautiful tall trees. It was very slow going getting the kids along the trail, but they were all troopers. I really didn't hear any complaints out of any of them. I kind of thought they would start whining to be carried or to turn around, but I think they were all so fascinated by the woods and mystery of where the trail would lead next that they just kept going and going. Sometimes your kids will surprise you!
Class material
Well I've been taking another online digi scrapbooking class. Already I'm two days behind on the material and we're only on day 4 (sigh). If I could get some of my to-do list knocked off I could spend more time on the class. This one focuses on writing and typography (another Jessica Sprague class, she's awesome!). Well here is the first layout from the class anyways...
On another note, today I registered Adam for Kindergarten. I can't believe it. In about 4 months he will be an official kindergartener. The packet of information they gave me was a little mind-boggling, between huge supply lists, an 8 page school bus info/application packet (?!), along with information on parent orientation (do I need orienting?? maybe I do)... It's a good thing we still have 4 months left to get ready :) They may be offering a school orientation during July for kids who haven't been in preschool, so I may sign up Adam for that. Otherwise when I drop him off the first day (which is assessment day), he will probably hang on my leg and bawl (which of course will make me cry too!) By the end of the first couple days he'll be an old pro, of course.
On another note, today I registered Adam for Kindergarten. I can't believe it. In about 4 months he will be an official kindergartener. The packet of information they gave me was a little mind-boggling, between huge supply lists, an 8 page school bus info/application packet (?!), along with information on parent orientation (do I need orienting?? maybe I do)... It's a good thing we still have 4 months left to get ready :) They may be offering a school orientation during July for kids who haven't been in preschool, so I may sign up Adam for that. Otherwise when I drop him off the first day (which is assessment day), he will probably hang on my leg and bawl (which of course will make me cry too!) By the end of the first couple days he'll be an old pro, of course.
4/06/2009
Time is free...
Tonight I put Cole to bed as my two year old baby and tomorrow he will be three. Time certainly does slip through your fingers when you're not even looking. We've already been in Hawaii almost 9 months. I think time is in hyper-drive!
"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't
own it, but you can use it. You can't keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it
you can never get it back."
--Harvey MacKay
"Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't
own it, but you can use it. You can't keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it
you can never get it back."
--Harvey MacKay
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