Dave got home yesterday, and my friend Angela (Ang) is visiting – her hubby will be back from a 7 month deployment this week! So – we rented a paddle board this morning. Had a fantastic time! Sam enjoyed riding in front for a bit and even standing up. Then he started stomping and going wild! Yikes! It’s a great workout. We all feel a bit sore 🙂

Sam was working with his OWN tape supply (he’s always asking for “Just ONE more piece?”) tonight and informed me that he was “Ready to rip!” – and precisely at that moment, he did rip…something else! (hint – stinkito!) We both laughed really hard at that one.

Hello! It’s me, mom, writing to you about your first four months with us. Will you ever read these? I thought today about sending you a postcard sometime in the future. Your stats: 27.5″ long (way off the charts), 17 lb 6 oz (about 90th percentile), head 17.32in (also about 90th %-ile).

We finally got a chance to take Dave up Mariner’s Ridge this morning. We had coffee and acai bowls before heading out – a special weekend treat!

A commentary from my brother, Doug, who is a former structured finance banker with Credit Suisse and attorney admitted in NY and CA. He now leads a private commercial real estate investment advisory firm. I asked him which candidate best grasps the current challenges, and got this very user-friendly description of how we got where we are…

Neither understands the genesis and progression of the credit crisis, they don’t understand the financial instruments and the structured transactions in which these instruments are being securitized and hedged. 

While Dave wrapped up a final exam today…we decided to grab some ice cream sandwiches and head to Lanikai for the harvest moonrise!

Here are Sam and Mikko-Dakota watching the big boys play at the tide pools. We brought a little plastic box full of snacks – my idea was to bury it in the sand and then dig it up later for snack time. A snack cache treasure!

Sam has enjoyed geocaching on our hikes. So, lately we’ve been hiding things around the house and yard, then drawing maps so the grown-ups can look for them. This morning we were hiding letters next to things that start with the letter.

(click for large size)

Sam really, truly loves The Rescue of BABAR. He loves all BABAR books, but this one in particular reinforced his fascination with volcanoes and craters, and “the city IN the crater.” To keep things real for mom, we decided to make a potion.

Dave and I cut loose for a couple hours this morning to paddle out to the Mokulua Islands. Dave has final papers due and worked yesterday, so this was just a quick respite from the grind, but well worth it!

Dave is working or doing papers for school constantly and every day is groundhog day here, so we shook things up tonight by inviting over some friends for a “ball game.”

   

Here we are – all ready to go! What a big day, as any mom can attest 🙂 Above is one of Sam’s teachers – Ms. Patty (the other is Ms. Vera). Both are really wonderful. Ms. Patty has been working at this preschool for over 30 years and clearly loves what she does. She is just fantastic with the kids and seems to tune into each child’s personality. I picked Sam up after lunch today and spied on him for a bit. He seemed very relaxed and happy. It was lonely going to the commissary without him. I went straight for the rocket carts only to realize at the last second that Ben wasn’t big enough for those! Click on the photos above to see more preschool pictures. I am so relieved and feel so blessed to pass my baton to Ms. Patty a couple days a week.