Monthly Archives: February 2010

tsunami drill – over :)

On a hilltop about 400' up, waiting for the big event. Met several cool people, one of whom works for NOAA! Very hot, not very breezy, boys sweating, but had lots of water and snacks and good company. All gear needed to camp out for 3 days in truck 1 block from evac shelter. Good drill. Thankful it turned into a nonevent. Hard to even see the recession then surge. Thanks for prayers everyone! Taking a nap. It's been a long day already.

On a hilltop about 400' up, waiting for the big event. Met several cool people, one of whom works for NOAA! Very hot, not very breezy, boys sweating, but had lots of water and snacks and good company. All gear needed to camp out for 3 days in truck 1 block from evac shelter. Good drill. Thankful it turned into a nonevent. Hard to even see the recession then surge. Haven't seen or heard from Dave yet. He must still be busy. Thanks for prayers everyone! Taking a nap. It's been a long day already.

tsunami update

Aloha all – we are fine, wave expected at 11:19am. All my research and info predicts it will be a nonevent, but still have to go through all evac motions – bathtub full, documents secure, gas, food, beer, propane, dog, boys, diapers, loose items…Sirens are sounding, dogs are howling, people are texting, shopping…it is BUSY here for a Sat morning. Dave is at work – since 4am – checking on submarines. I think the deal is they get them underway if possible. Not sure what they do with the others being worked on. Big bumpers? Long ropes?

Please don’t call or text. People on the islands need the lines free to reach each other. I will send out updates as possible, but we have an evac plan and are fine. Even if I had to hike, we would be fine. I picked out a rendezvous point on a hill when we moved here and an earthquake struck just two months later. The biggest runups for us have been from Alaskan quakes (50+ ft) but the last tsunami to cause damage was a 1960 Chilean quake 8.6 in mag – caused 35 ft runup in Hilo (Big Island) causing a lot of damage. It was as similar size. Hoping it turns into nothing for the islands. Thanks for prayers and thoughts!

North Shore holoholo

The naturalist at work.

The naturalist at work.

houseguests!

We picked up a caterpillar on our run and Sam grabbed a lizard companion from our backyard! So excited to have a caterpillar in residence again!

We picked up a caterpillar on our run and Sam grabbed a lizard companion from our backyard! So excited to have a caterpillar in residence again!

We’ve been scouring the milkweed trees nearby to find a monarch caterpillar but hadn’t seen any yet! We couldn’t figure it out because by this time last year we’d already “hatched” quite a flock of butterflies. The magic of watching metamorphosis never fades. Sam is quite a lizard-catcher and he showed us his stuff this morning in our backyard as I tried to figure out how to avoid going to the commissary for yet another day…but I was out of coffee creamer so we really had to go. It is such fun to play with the boys and enjoy them admiring these little creatures. I’m reading “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv, in which he discusses the modern child’s “nature-deficit disorder.” One of the chapters mentioned Gardner’s eight categories of intelligence (bodily-kinesthetic, musical, visual-spatial, logical-mathematic, interpersonal, verbal-linguistic, intrapersonal, and naturalistic), a perspective which underscores something I appreciate intuitively – the importance of time outdoors, and the special ways intelligence is expressed by children, and adults (i.e. not limited to the IQ scale). Maybe if I view them through this lens, I won’t be antsy next time Sam stops to examine a millipede right in the middle of our descent down the Koko Crater steps 🙂

Adventure day – look where we took Gramma!

Can you tell from the reflection in Sam's glasses? Or the bead of sweat dripping from the bottom of the shades?

Can you tell from the reflection in Sam's glasses? Or the bead of sweat dripping from the bottom of the shades?

We set out to Koko Crater…just to check it out. Seems everyone we know has been checking it off the list of things to do while in Hawaii lately, including Dave and I two weeks ago. So…enough driving by it for Gramma. She was game to just “see what happens.” Well, we brought water, snacks, hiking poles and started up. Everyone felt great still by the “bridge” so we continued on up the steepest part. It was hot (not much breeze today) but we paced ourselves and got up in fine form. We looked around the bunkers, did a bunch of high-fives, planned our assault on kalua pig and shave ice, then headed down. The steps are so steep that many were as high as Sam’s waist, but despite the challenge he constantly looked back and offered a hand to me more than a dozen times. What a sweetheart of a guy! Mom did great – I just called to see what she was up to several hours after the hike. A little lie-down after some errands but now she’s offloading her pictures! We were most worried about her knees, but so far so good.

Chinaman’s Hat expedition

Out on Chinaman's Hat with the family.

Out on Chinaman's Hat with the family.

testosterone+time=trouble

This is why we hike remote ridges in our backyard for lack of other pursuits! Truthfully, we cleaned the house like Christmas elves this morning and needed some adventure. It's like a vitamin for the boys and I - Vitamin A?

This is why we hike remote ridges in our backyard for lack of other pursuits! Truthfully, we cleaned the house like Christmas elves this morning and needed some adventure. It's like a vitamin for the boys and I - Vitamin A?

Funny boys and trash toys

Boys after dinner playing funny games with their new toys. Reduse, reuse, recycle!

Boys after dinner playing funny games with their new toys. Reduse, reuse, recycle!

“Reduce, reuse, recycle! Learn your three Rs! Reduce, reuse, recycle – take care of this world of ours!” The Banana Slug String Band came to Sam’s school (where he’ll go in 5 months) and did a great concert about taking care of the earth. This dynamic group has been teaching kids about ecology through music for 25 years, and their concert today was supported by Jack and Kim Johnson’s Kokua Foundation. I was invited to attend by one of the staff – I’d offered to help her plan Earth Day this year and she mentioned this band was coming. I am so thankful that we were welcomed warmly despite not even being part of the school family yet. We had a great time.

After an early dinner of leftovers (Dave was in school tonight) we headed out to get three Ds – diapers, dog food and dessert. We had to visit the playground as well. The boys were doing silly things with these crazy toys we found – the bigger one I found with Ben while out running the other day (he found it, actually – “liddow ball-ball!”), and the smaller one Sam found while out jogging with me this morning! So they each had a suitably-sized yellow ball to play with today! How awesome! The toy fairy drops toys out of the sky for us – “…learn your three Rs!” We have no problem reusing toys. I like the ones we find the best – they are magical. Sam figured the big one would pull him off the ground while jogging so he could float. Sounds good to me!

Valentine’s date

Hike up Koko Crater first. Great view and awesome workout.

Hiked up Koko Crated first to an awesome view of neighboring islands!

Dave let me design our Valentine’s weekend date for today and mom kindly took care of two cute little boys for about 8 whole hours! First we grabbed coffee, then hiked up Koko Crater (1100 steps to a great view of Molokai, Lanai and Maui), then to the Hale Koa for a swim, mai tai and dress for the third part of our triathlon date: dinner at a Sicilian restaurant we’ve been wanting to try since we moved here (Taormina was awesome!). We had such a great time. I really enjoy having an adventure for our date, and Dave appreciated working up a good appetite Thanks again, mom – it was so fun! But of course we talked about our boys and missed them :) (Note: I’ll post pictures to the album tomorrow, so check back again G.G. Love to all our family and friends, and the boys say thanks for their Valentine’s cards!)

 

At the restaurant, wearing a dress from Mary and jewelry from Mom!

At the restaurant, wearing a dress from Mary and jewelry from Mom!

Museum morning

Morning at the Bishop Museum. See nice shoes and clothes?
Morning at the Bishop Museum. See nice shoes and clothes?

Ben was really interested in this huge statue – afraid to get near it until big brother showed him it was ok. We spent the morning at Bishop Museum with Gramma and Richard. I had an appointment arranged with a malacology (shell) technician to ask some questions about shells we’d found around here and hopefully set up a time for her to come to base and teach a small group of kids interesting things about the fossil reef. She was really nice about showing Sam and I around her vast collection. Then we went to the science building where we checked out their model volcano – always a big hit with the boys. Then lunch – gave Richard his first spam musubi!

“Mommy’s hollarbones!”

Out muddin' again! This was sent to Daddy at work :)

Out muddin' again! This was sent to Daddy at work 🙂

Last night Ben was so excited to find mommy’s collarbones – he found one, then the other as we were having our good-night hugs before bed. He is very chatty and you have no idea what he might cook up for bed-time chats. Sam and I just laugh every night about the Ben Show. But “Mommy’s hollarbones!” really made me laugh 🙂 Today we had a fantastic expedition around the fish ponds – we had Gramma and “Prichard” with us to show them the critters in the canal. We were patient and eventually two hammerheads started prowling the waters looking for fish lunch! Sam excitedly pointed out all his crab friends, and then puffer fish came along to say hello as well! We continued on our bike ride and ventured out to another part of the fish ponds where we’d seen some AMTRACs out working to clear invasive plants. (These are huge machines with tracks that can go on sand, mud, ocean, anywhere…) As Sam biked and I pushed Ben around/through mud puddles, we saw an injured stilt (long-legged endangered bird). Concerned for the stilt, I tried to hail the Marines on their big machines from about a quarter mile away. They’d stopped for a break and were sitting on top of their huge rigs. I waved, then walked with legs collapsing and “wings” outspread to imitate the stilt, then pointed toward the stilt. No response. So we continued around the muddy trail to them and within hollaring distance (using mommy’s capable hollarbones!) we hailed them. I again did the injured stilt walk and they got the picture – “where exactly ma’am?!” they hollared back. Then one guy goes “How exactly did it look?” ha ha ha! Very funny! I did the injured stilt walk tonight for Dave and the boys…I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and it was pretty ridiculous indeed! The environmental officer with the guys came to look at the bird with us, then he said he would be back to pick it up and take it to a rehab clinic. The boys and I continued on, through more mud puddles, and on to McD’s for a reward – shakes.

Tromping in tide pools!

Late-afternoon sun sparkling on the splashes of happy boys.

Late-afternoon sun sparkling on the splashes of happy boys.

It is so tricky finding a good time to visit North Beach (on base) during the winter – you’ve got to check the tides (need to be low low (not mid-low) and ideally on their way back in) so that you have some safe water for kiddos even if the surf is up. Then it would be awesome if the sun were out, and the wind not blowing. We got all that this afternoon when we raced over there for an afternoon romp. It was such fun we didn’t want to leave, but shivering hungry boys finally were compelled by their own tummies to head for the truck and some Bob’s pizza. We managed to rendezvous with Gramma and Richard at Bob’s, too! They love nice, relaxing dinners out with the kids 🙂 LOL  Hey – if you’re homeschooling your kiddos (or even if you’re not but want a more global reach) – check out www.epals.com – a friend of mine shared this link with me (thanks Christina!). It seems like a great way to connect your classroom with kids in other countries. You can search by region, project and more criteria. I’m registering Sam for kindergarten this year…a big step for everybody! We’ve thought and researched and considered again and again and keep coming back to our sense that starting in a traditional school will be best, then we can feel free to consider alternative schooling options down the road. While he may be a bit bored at times (he is already reading and doing math at a first grade level according to state grade entry assessments), his handwriting is pretty poor, so he’ll have something to work on. (His Uncle Doug’s handwriting is still very questionable!) I just love the model and concept of Hawaii Tech Academy, though – it’s a virtual public charter school – hybrid homeschool/traditional school. The founder is from NYC and he seems to have a real vision and passion for improving education for the 21st century. Consider it if you live in HI and you’re thinking about making a change, especially for parents with older kids.

Mahalo – The Sam and Ben Show

Thank you to everyone who sent us fun presents and wonderful clothes! I hope you enjoy this uncut video of Sam and Ben performing a series of thank-you episodes. They were so funny, but you know what was funniest was watching them watch themselves! Squeals of laughter as we all huddled around my little camera to replay the video (before it made its way onto the computer, and now finally onto the web). It’s 8 minutes… I thought you might enjoy seeing the boys vs getting a card or email as I have not been good about posting video lately! We love you! Click here: 2010-feb-mahalo-the-sam-and-ben-show

“Hip bones look like sunglasses.”

Having a rough week this week – sick family and manuscript deadlines conspiring to make the perfect storm of stress. But amidst all of that, blessings are delivered in the form of laughs and love. Last night before bed, Ben said “mushi mushi!” then “Japanese!” That’s how you answer the cell phone in Japan 🙂 Good for him to know early since he’s such a talker and a social guy 🙂 Sam said this morning – “Mom, hip bones look like sunglasses.” I had been grabbing and tickling him first thing in the morning and he surprised me with this. He grabbed the anatomy book mom got him for Christmas and showed me…sure enough! Ben was really uncomfortable last night (this is the guy who slept through puking a few nights ago and never screeched) and couldn’t get back to sleep. His little eyes were all puffy and he was fussing at his left ear. I figured it must be an earache so took him to bed with me since I didn’t want to keep getting up or have him fuss at Sam all night. Sam never got an earache, but I remember them as a kid all too well. As Ben collapsed on me in a deep sleep, I felt blessed to hold the usually wiggly guy. He’s like trying to hold a squirming centipede on your lap usually. I eventually took him back to his own bed since he is a ridiculous sleeper – he turns over by sitting up, then going to all fours, then spinning around. He’s nuts. Here’s hoping today is better – boys are doing well, just mommy is still sick. But just under 100 pages left to read 🙂 We can do it!