7/13/2009
Finally, more digi
It really has been a looong time since I've finished any scrapbook pages. Well here is one, completed!
Snorkeling
Here's a picture of my recently toothless kid... He just started a Kindergarten readiness program this past week. I asked him how he liked it after his first day and he said 'I didn't like it that the teacher told me what to play with. I want to do what I want'. I just laughed and told him that he'd better get used to that one.
After church today we went up to Pupukea Beach. This was somewhere I stopped briefly at once before when I gave my mom a tour of the north shore. I remember thinking it would be a perfect place to take the kids to because it had a natural breakwater of rocks surrounding a giant tidepool area. So today we finally made it up there.
The day was gorgeous and the place was packed. We stayed inside the sheltered area, but apparently there is also good snorkeling in the bay next door based on the number of snorkelers and scuba divers there. On a less busy day we should try that area, I bet there may be some live reef there. But I thought this would be a good place to get the kids' feet wet (and their faces) and try to see some fish in the tidepool.
Here are some shots I got with the waterproof camera. No idea what the fish are, but there is a sea cucumber in the second one and a sea urhcin in the third one.
We climbed over the rock breakwater to a large lava rock flats near the ocean.
This little fish took to snorkeling like he'd always done it. He didn't actually use the snorkel, but he held his breath and looked for fish.
He's perfecting his technique here in about six inches of water...
I think we'll have to come back again to this one. I'd also like to try Hanauma bay with the kids once they get a little more used to snorkeling. It's supposed to be a good snorkeling spot but also quite popular and busy.
After church today we went up to Pupukea Beach. This was somewhere I stopped briefly at once before when I gave my mom a tour of the north shore. I remember thinking it would be a perfect place to take the kids to because it had a natural breakwater of rocks surrounding a giant tidepool area. So today we finally made it up there.The day was gorgeous and the place was packed. We stayed inside the sheltered area, but apparently there is also good snorkeling in the bay next door based on the number of snorkelers and scuba divers there. On a less busy day we should try that area, I bet there may be some live reef there. But I thought this would be a good place to get the kids' feet wet (and their faces) and try to see some fish in the tidepool.
Here are some shots I got with the waterproof camera. No idea what the fish are, but there is a sea cucumber in the second one and a sea urhcin in the third one.
We climbed over the rock breakwater to a large lava rock flats near the ocean. 
This little fish took to snorkeling like he'd always done it. He didn't actually use the snorkel, but he held his breath and looked for fish. 
He's perfecting his technique here in about six inches of water...
I think we'll have to come back again to this one. I'd also like to try Hanauma bay with the kids once they get a little more used to snorkeling. It's supposed to be a good snorkeling spot but also quite popular and busy. 7/05/2009
4th of July Celebration
Happy Independence day to you all! We celebrated our 4th of July with a ride on the triple and some work around the yard. We also consumed the requisite shave ice and hot dogs... This evening we went up to Schofield Barracks to their 4th of July festival. The kids did the petting zoo and a couple of bounce houses before we went and found ourselves a spot to sit amongst a sea of blankets. There was a nice concert by a military band and the presentation of the flags. Then the kids just ran and wrestled around until the fireworks started.
This was our first fireworks show as a family that everyone enjoyed. Last year, Cole was 2 and he spent THE ENTIRE show with his face buried in Dan's chest. He could not be coaxed to look at the scary fireworks for anything. This year he was simply precious to watch. The first few fireworks went off and he said 'These fireworks are AWESOME!'. Then he just sat there for the longest time, completely transfixed with his little hands clasped in front of him in anticipation of what would come next. Adam got a little scared when they fired off a whole volley of the really loud ones, but other than that he enjoyed the show too.
As I was watching the show and listening to the music, I thought it was appropriate that we were at the army base to celebrate our independence day. It made the fireworks display a bit more special knowing that we were surrounded by folks who were willing to sacrifice to serve their country. And it was a great show.
This was our first fireworks show as a family that everyone enjoyed. Last year, Cole was 2 and he spent THE ENTIRE show with his face buried in Dan's chest. He could not be coaxed to look at the scary fireworks for anything. This year he was simply precious to watch. The first few fireworks went off and he said 'These fireworks are AWESOME!'. Then he just sat there for the longest time, completely transfixed with his little hands clasped in front of him in anticipation of what would come next. Adam got a little scared when they fired off a whole volley of the really loud ones, but other than that he enjoyed the show too.
As I was watching the show and listening to the music, I thought it was appropriate that we were at the army base to celebrate our independence day. It made the fireworks display a bit more special knowing that we were surrounded by folks who were willing to sacrifice to serve their country. And it was a great show.
6/30/2009
Pictures!
I finally, finally waded through the thousand+ pictures that Dinah and I took during her trip and narrowed it down to just over a hundred photos for a picasa album. It's a big one, but it was such a fun visit with them that we had to take a ton of pictures!
So here's the photojournal of our two week fun together:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amykerkemeyer/DinahSHawaiiVisit#
Enjoy!
So here's the photojournal of our two week fun together:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amykerkemeyer/DinahSHawaiiVisit#
Enjoy!
6/29/2009
School Days (in July!?)
Now that our visitors have gone home to leave us to our boring routines again (anyone else want to come visit?) our thoughts have turned to school. I know, school in July is crazy by mainland schedules. But here they have a week off for fall break, a very long Christmas break (3 weeks), and then another week in the spring. I guess that must all add up to a short summer break (about 2 months total). School starts here July 30.
So it's not even July yet and we've been out doing our school shopping. Never having had a kid in school before, I never realized how insane the school shopping lists are that the schools send home. They are very specific as to what they want and the list is long. So we've hunted 3 stores to find what we need, I think it is a bit overboard. Wouldn't it be easier for the school to buy this stuff in bulk and then have me write a check? Yeah, I know, trust a school district to find the cheapest, easiest option? I guess that just wouldn't happen...
Adam starts a Kindergarten readiness program next week so he will be in school a little earlier than the rest. I thought it wouldn't hurt to do it since he hasn't been in preschool and most kids here have been in a school setting before. It's only 3 hours a day and he'll go 4 days a week since he already has swim lessons on Mondays. I hope it will ease a few of his fears before he starts 'real' Kindergarten.
I discovered yesterday too that Adam has two very wiggly teeth. His first baby teeth to go! I was looking at him and his teeth were crooked but he always had very straight teeth before. I didn't think teeth just suddenly went crooked, but they do when they're wiggling and twisting around! I gave them a push and they leaned way over. So soon he'll have a cute toothless smile :) He's worried he'll lose them when they fall out and the tooth fairy won't come. We read a book from the series 'Toot and Puddle' and a character loses a tooth and then they have to go look for it. So hopefully we won't be on a tooth hunt once it falls out!
Well next on my agenda is to finally finish organizing my recent pictures so I can post a link to them here. Off to Picasa...
So it's not even July yet and we've been out doing our school shopping. Never having had a kid in school before, I never realized how insane the school shopping lists are that the schools send home. They are very specific as to what they want and the list is long. So we've hunted 3 stores to find what we need, I think it is a bit overboard. Wouldn't it be easier for the school to buy this stuff in bulk and then have me write a check? Yeah, I know, trust a school district to find the cheapest, easiest option? I guess that just wouldn't happen...
Adam starts a Kindergarten readiness program next week so he will be in school a little earlier than the rest. I thought it wouldn't hurt to do it since he hasn't been in preschool and most kids here have been in a school setting before. It's only 3 hours a day and he'll go 4 days a week since he already has swim lessons on Mondays. I hope it will ease a few of his fears before he starts 'real' Kindergarten.
I discovered yesterday too that Adam has two very wiggly teeth. His first baby teeth to go! I was looking at him and his teeth were crooked but he always had very straight teeth before. I didn't think teeth just suddenly went crooked, but they do when they're wiggling and twisting around! I gave them a push and they leaned way over. So soon he'll have a cute toothless smile :) He's worried he'll lose them when they fall out and the tooth fairy won't come. We read a book from the series 'Toot and Puddle' and a character loses a tooth and then they have to go look for it. So hopefully we won't be on a tooth hunt once it falls out!
Well next on my agenda is to finally finish organizing my recent pictures so I can post a link to them here. Off to Picasa...
6/24/2009
Another beautiful day in Hawaii
As I was driving to my tennis lessons this evening, I was blown away at how beautiful the rainbows were on my drive. The sun was behind me and I was driving towards the rain. As I almost reached where it was raining, the rainbows were so intense and close by that I could actually see the rainbow in front of the palm trees beside the road. I was ready to pull over and look for some leprechauns...
I haven't updated in a while! I've had one of my best friends from St. Louis visiting for the last couple weeks and she and her kids just left for home this afternoon. I don't know what we're going to do with ourselves tomorrow, we'll be lonely! But I have something scheduled each morning this week, so at least we won't be sitting around the house bored. I'll post some pictures of our whirlwind tour of the island with friends soon, but it may take me a couple of days just to sort through the pictures. Between the two of us we took about 1000 pictures in two weeks! It truly was fun to be a tourist again, we hadn't hit the popular sites in a while.
I haven't updated in a while! I've had one of my best friends from St. Louis visiting for the last couple weeks and she and her kids just left for home this afternoon. I don't know what we're going to do with ourselves tomorrow, we'll be lonely! But I have something scheduled each morning this week, so at least we won't be sitting around the house bored. I'll post some pictures of our whirlwind tour of the island with friends soon, but it may take me a couple of days just to sort through the pictures. Between the two of us we took about 1000 pictures in two weeks! It truly was fun to be a tourist again, we hadn't hit the popular sites in a while.
6/14/2009
Tourists in our own town again
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....
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....
6/05/2009
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.
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