2008-07 (JULY)

Sea Life Park 14 images

Lanikai Pillbox 21 images

1 Our gardenia has been blooming like crazy. So nice to smell on your way into the house.	2 Makiki Valley Trail - notice the Pig Control in Progress sign!	3 That means hunting is allowed on Wed, Sun and full moon nights.	4 We hiked 3.6 miles and 1000' elev gain (total) - Sammy did great. He did the whole thing on his very own two little hiker feet :)
5 Snack break!	6 My first born!	7 Can we go now?	8 No - I want to take a picture of my boys!
9 And baby feet!	10 See the dirt and mud?	11 NOW can we go?	12 Just take a quick picture of me and my boys on our first whole-family hike (including daddy).
13 And maybe one more?	14	15 Steep descent down was fun.	16
17 Sam is such a spider web spotter!	18	19 Love to see these two on the trail. Sam really enjoys it when Daddy comes along, and I enjoy having Daddy there to be human parachute when Sam jumps off every rock!	20 Reading at Borders (after we had late lunch at the brew pub nearby). Dave walked around with his coffee while I read Babar. Am I awesome or what? Those Babar books are really incredible. Written in the late 1930s, you can tell that the attention span of kids in those days was much longer (pre-TV?). The books are over 40 pages long and they use words like perambulator for stroller. Ben managed to soak me, too, without getting even a stitch of #1 on himself. Unbelievable diapering snafu.
21 First smiles!	22	23	24 So cute!
25	26 Our new tent for Mommy and boys camp-outs (ie. without Daddy around to launch the huge two-room plus lanai tent!). I put it up in about 10 min and had Dave certify me for a solo camping trip while he's back in NY. I shrewdly invited lots of friends so maybe they'll feed us! ha ha! I love to build a fire but not necessarily for cooking, unless it's s'mores!	27 My boys at Sam's tumbling class.	28 At the Makiki Valley trail with our friends.
29	30 Kathy feeds the hungry birdies! They acted like they hadn't eaten in days on this hike!	31 A sword fight and a funny face!	32 Calleigh's way of "helping mommy."
33	34 Sam and Anneliese helped each other down the trail.	35	36 Hey up there!
37 Sam doing "school work" just like Daddy. This is that Babar book we were reading at Borders. Sam does lots of reading alone while he waits for me to put Ben down at night (on the nights Dave is working late or doing school work). He is so good about waiting patiently and having some good alone time. If the stars are out, we go look for Venus after his story. Then into bed and "huli" (roll over) for sleep.	38 The naught napper actually resting!	39 Still making buttons for the peak baggers (the little ones) but these are more rudimentary compared to the pre-Ben buttons. I take a picture of the sketch, then upload it to my computer and write in the text, then to CafePress for the buttons.	40 Here's my camp-out invite :)
41 Thursday evenings Dave has class at night so we do construction dinners. We build strange things out of strange foods, then eat them. See the plate? Aluminum foil. Very easy cleanup and Sam gets to use his hands - he loves that. This is "Bugville Bridge" from one of his stories. Tonight we're building an XTerra out of squash, then of course it has to go through mud (refried beans) and rocks (peanuts). The wheels (olives) get all dirty...	42 Sam took this picture of us.	43 Our first race! Lanikai 8K. Sam really wanted to run so I let him cross the finish on his own. My splits were horrendous but I'm not running for time anymore. Not with 100lb stroller. Last year I bagged 2nd place in my age group pushing Sam, so it is a bit of a bummer to be put out to pasture like a race horse, but maybe I'll stay in better shape pushing the boys and when they're in school I'll have an edge again :)	44 Sam crossing the line!
45 Dave brought us yogurt and granola after the race.	46 My first running coach :)	47 Dave checking on coach #2 :)	48 He loves it when you tickle his cheeks and lips!
49	50 Sam and Dave snorkeling later that morning.	51	52 I took Ben out in this floaty thing. See his little shades???
53	54 Sam harvesting goodies for our salad.	55 Sammy helped me bake some bread - here he's saying "I cleaned my hands ALL OFF!" ha ha!	56 Sammy's loaf - he had it with pb/j later.
57 Yum!	58 We went to play bumper boats and mini golf one Friday evening. Sam howled when the squirt gun shot me and got me wet :) He loved squirting it!	59 Then mini golf. Ben and I cheered the boys on. Sam ran from hole to hole saying "Time for the next hole, daddy!" He liked to chase Dave's ball and toss it into the hole, sparing him the trouble of putting. ;)	60 Time for the next hole!
61 Bill - he's getting a decent swing going!	62 Look at Ben's face - I had to get a shot of it. He's getting so expressive now!	63 "How many holes are there?"	64 Smootch break :)
65	66 Chasing down Dave's ball...	67 I'll take care of that for you!	68 2 month old photo shoot. My subjects weren't totally into it, though!
69 OK Sam, you can make all kinds of strange faces. Ben looks like he's conducting Beethoven's late string quartets.	70 Are we done yet? Look at Ben's face! The jowls!	71 I sifted through 111 shots to get these for you. And these are the best. Ha ha! I had it on sport mode to grab like 10 frames/sec.	72
73 What's he doing, mommy?	74 "O" face	75 Shark's Cove for our first post-Ben snorkeling trip. Sam had a blast. I think he swam for two hours straight! Clear those goggles!	76 We went with our friends who have two little girls. In Dave's words, it's a "silly" amount of work to go snorkeling with kids, but worth it.
77 A sea cucumber. This experience prompted Kathy and I to educate ourselves about these echinoderms. Their mouths have tube feet that help sweep food into their gut. If threatened, they shoot out their internal organs to fool the predator. They eat algae and other small plant and animal matter off the sea floor.	78 The beach shelter broke just as some rain threatened. And Kathy and I were intent on getting some snorkeling in. No problem, Dave thinks - I'll just hang here and prop the tent up!	79 Sam and mommy snorkeling together. A priceless memory.	80 Kathy and I finally made it out there!
81 That's a parrot fish chasing a very large goat fish.	82 Out for a totally random run - Dave had to work last Sat so we loaded up the stroller with beach gear and jogged to the beach. We ran into a friend of mine there - Cathi, the nurse who did my epidural. Too fun!	83 My first post-Ben margarita :)	84 Happy Ben!
85 Rub a dub dub, two boys in a tub!	86 Bishop Museum outing.	87 I want to decorate Sam's room this way - it was all glow-in-the-dark sea scenes in 3D. Very cool!	88 We decided to shake things up during the week a bit since Dave is working nonstop between work and school. We've got to make fun wherever we can - so I packed a picnic dinner and we braved gale force winds while we chomped.
89 Wiping cookie crumbs off before smiling at the camera :)	90 Ben had fun, too.	91 After dinner romping!	92 Can't do this on the dining room table!
93 A little digestive aid - 47lb kid landing on your intestines!	94 OK Daddy, you can take a break now :)	95 Daddy says it's picnic nap time. Sam says ok, for like 3 seconds. "How long is our nap going to be?" he asked. Dave said "1 hour." Sam replied "1 minute?"	96 "Ok, naptime is over!"
97 Explaining something to me - how you throw two sticks up and pop something. Not sure. It was really windy! We did learn that you can use naopaka berries to clean your goggles. Very interesting!	98	99 Family photo! One of the few (perhaps only?) with all four of us!	100 Playing the nose flute! (Yes, there is such a thing! We saw it played at a hula performance today, along with a double gourd drum.)
101 This is the snack wagon for today. Every day Sam builds a delivery truck for me and places it outside his door before nap. During nap I fill it with grapes or goldfish or something and put it back. He opens the door and smiles when he finds it filled with goodies.	102 Getting ready to go out - Sam is putting product in his hair. I found him in here doing this himself - he said "I'm making troll hair" ala Tito Pig :)	103 Out for an evening run and pizza (and Coldstone!) while Dave is in school.	104 At Bellows for the evening - dinner at Keneke's and playground time. Dave also got to see our trails where we go trail running and hiking with our friends. Sam showed him how to get to the trailhead all by himself. Here Dave is pointing out an LCAC - it really churned up the water returning to the mother ship. I forget what that's called. Marines use the LCAC to land on beaches. It was really impressive - sitting right there at Bellows beach as we drove onto base. No wonder the public section was closed that Saturday :)
105	106 Dave and boys having breakfast at Lanikai Juice. He's getting mauled :)	107	108
109 At the market - Sam got his favorite cart (a rocket) and is busy cleaning the dashboard. I like this cart because it actually steers. You don't run into things!	110 Running my whole route once again - I think it's 6 miles by the time we get all the way back home. Sam picked up this stick - it's his Olympic torch. The branches at the end are the fire. He's running it to the stadium. I had to figure out how to run it home in the stroller without taking anyone's eye out or ramming it into something :0	111