1 The little gecko egg that hatched! She is somewhere in our house now, eating bugs :)
2 Doing more "races" up and down the hill in the park.
3 Great views of mountains all around us.
4 Sammy played with a book that has wheels on it (Digger) for a long, long time while we chatted. Then we went to Kalapawai (A-awai in Sammy speak) for lunch. Such a life, huh? I know...It was a busy week for me. I was working early in the morning before he got up, during naps, after dinner...but it's great to share this time together in the mornings.
5 The book and a stick.
6 Lunch!
7 I think we chomped on egg salad that day.
8 The walk from mom's place down to the beach. This is her shot...nice work mom!
9 More pictures of the afternoon at "Oli's beach" - she is living about 100yds from this beach.
10 All the kite surfers love this beach because of the onshore wind. You don't get blown to another island :)
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12 A Hawaiian outrigger canoe. This is the state sport, called "paddling."
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19 Sammy stretches out after a run...
20 Sammy at work - making calls to a mystery friend "Dado." It goes something like "Dado? Ah you day-oh? ... ... OK ... No no no .... .... Yewo? ... OK...bah bye." He rolls his eyes, holds the cell phone on his shoulder, pulls the antenna out, and types on the keyboard. Very professional!
21 Mauling Gramma and all his animal friends!
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24 Mom got me this cute dress! We went on a date :)
25 Dave was not very compliant with this effort to take a "cute" picture...
26 Playing at the tide pools. Sammy likes to haul up on the beach like a sea turtle :)
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28 Sharing a special treat at Gramma's house!
29 Sammy gets to run through a real finish line! This was up after the Lanikai triathlon.
30 A watercolor I did for mom of the islands off our beach - the Mokulua islands. She loves the kite surfers, so it seemed fitting to put one in there grabbing the last of the dusk winds. This koa wood frame was pricey, but pretty :) I haven't painted in years, but the colors here are so beautiful that I finally got motivated to try. This is combination finger painting and brush, using Sammy's water colors :)
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32 This is on it's way to Bill and Gail - I found a tablet of watercolor paper pre-printed to be a postcard on the reverse. How cool! I use saltwater to dilute the paints, and kona coffee to color the sand :)
33 Shaka on the way to Lanikai Juice after a run. Gramma is giving us a ride :)
34 Some more paintings - quickies based on what the bay looked like today.
35 Fun at the commissary with Gramma pushing :)
36 another beautiful Pillbox hike - this time a reverse traverse.
37 Runway at Bellows.
38 Sam with his favorite flower tucked away. The wind is really powerful today, hence the squinting and crazy looks.
39 Chug chug chug!
40 He loves these trekking poles!
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42 A brief stop for a snack, then on our way, Sam on his own two feet for this half of the hike.
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45 Found a dial to turn!
46 The Mokulua Islands featured in many of my sketches and Sam's books.
47 More stuff to turn and twist!
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49 Gramma surprised us at the end of the hike!
50 Hi TEN buddy!
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52 Ahhhh - shave ice! Yes, my shirt is soaked with sweat, and I can barely see because my hair is plastered all over from the salty wind.
53 Stealing Gramma's shave ice!
54 Another beautiful day at the north shore guarding the turtles :)
55 I'm second from left, talking to some people about turtles. Sam is in the foreground with Gramma. Lots of people come here hoping to see a turtle. Entire tour buses get out and wait. I think there were 100 people here during my 3 hr shift.
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59 And a stop at the shrimp trucks on the way back was fun...
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61 Spelling it all out for me :)
62 Just to give you an idea what the typical menu comprises...
63 We think the competition was a few years ago, but hey...
64 Rice, garlic shrimp and cabbage. Yummy!
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66 Some sourdough bread baked from natural yeast starter. Turned out pretty well!
67 The Sam-in-a-Hamper show ... taken to the next level!
68 Lots and lots of people turned out for the 15th annual town party.
69 The Kailua Town Party...this is our restaurateur friend - he's opening Formaggio Grill in Kailua later this summer. Such good food! The whole town keeps asking when he's opening since his wine bar in Honolulu has such a great reputation.