2008-09 (SEPT)

Mokes paddle 20 images	2008-09-14 moonrise 11 images · 1 video	First day of preschool 9 images
Mariner's Ridge 20 images	Polo 21 images

1 Ben is in a big boy crib now! Here they are checking it out :) Sam is spinning the mobile with his feet and Ben is obviously enjoying it :)	2 No! Don't take a picture!	3 The "ball game" with friends on Friday evening :)	4 Noodle sword fights!
5 Hitting a baseball with a sword? That's my friend, Liisa and her son Mikko-Dakota.	6 Noodle wrangling!	7 The boys are cleaning up after the ball game :) Just like at a real game! I served hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn and other random foods - Liisa's husband is away and Dave was working late so we decided to let the boys have at it with all the balls and toys.	8 Sam, Ben and I went to Sea Life Park on Saturday while Dave worked. We had a great time, then cooled off across the road at the Makapu'u tide pools.
9 Feeling a sea star!	10 And a sea cucumber...	11 Ben crashed out in the new pack.	12 Sam made a new friend who showed him around this huge play-gym thing with all kinds of ramps, ropes, hanging stuff...it was a little spooky until his new friend showed him the "ropes" - literally! After his initial tour, he couldn't get enough of it!
13 Ben is wearing his 6 month old clothes - thanks to whomever sent him this cute shirt and overalls! I am sorry I don't remember now...	14 Back around for another go!	15 Hot and sweaty afterwards!	16 Then off to watch the dolphin show. I let him stand on his own closer, then real close down there by the ropes while I stood to the side. He felt pretty important standing on his own!
17 By the aquarium...	18	19 Helping open up the windows on the little sun tent - we're across the street now at the "baby Makapu'u" tide pools.	20 Off he goes with boogie board in hand. Sometimes he amazes me at how independent he is. Just off to do his thing. I watched carefully from inside the tent while I put Ben down for a nap.
21 The view from the tent :) That's Rabbit Island (Manana) in the distance.	22 See the boy with the boogie board to Sam's 1400? There's a channel of water that flows in and out with the swells. It's cool to "surf" it. Sam is learning how - not so successfully with a mommy who is hanging onto Ben! I can't get in there with him, but the next time we come we'll have Dave with us, for sure. The other boys are a little bigger - 5 yrs old they said, although I couldn't understand their names at all. So glad we have a Sam and a Ben!	23 The tide pools began to clear out toward the end of the day, so we had them to ourselves.	24 My friend Mike, the entomologist, on a hike with his pet pig, Jane! Mike is such a cool guy. He found Jane orphaned as a baby while out on a hike. She is now about 50 lbs!
25 Sam concocting BABAR's potion!	26 A little bit more???	27 The potion collection! Dave, beware! Is there anything you DON'T want to drink?	28 Daddy, I have a secret POTION for you! (He doesn't quite have a mastery of secrecy yet!)
29 Napping in the office for a change. He looks just like Daddy!	30 Alphacaching!	31 Going after the ... can you guess? The B!	32 Found them!
33 Sam's turn. He put B down here. I wondered why and he said "BLACK!" (like, duh!)	34 Out for a run on base. Sam got to jog first then ride.	35 Whew! Getting hot out there! The boys slept in late this morning so we were out in the heat of the day. Fortunately the breezes kept us fairly cool.	36 Swinging on the Marine obstacle course. Makes his gym stuff look miniscule!
37 Look at how high that is! We were running on some tank trails and stumbled across this. I have been through here before for the Swamp Romp. Must do that again next year...	38 Look at these cuties!!!	39 Love the shirt, Gail!	40 Big feet!
41 I have big feet, too! Indeed he does. Size 10-11, almost a 1 already. These are cool Merrell hiking shoes with self-scupping drainage ports (the yellow things I think) so he can hike through streams and his shoes drain. Nice! Wish I had some!	42 We collect sticks all the time. Some are harder to run with than others, but it's non-negotiable. We run with the stick. Afterwards we went to Lanikai Juice for lunch and I said "OK, stick with me!" in the parking lot before I realized how punny I was. Yes, he was holding onto the stick - we brought it with us into LJ. It's now a gear shift in the truck, between the car seats. You really don't want to see the inside of the truck!	43 We went for a beach hike the other day...	44 to test out the pack for Ben and look for shells, trash, and explore a new beach.
45 Lots of lava to poke a stick into!	46 And a stroller tire is home to little guys...	47 Butterflies on the beach - but they seemed stuck. They didn't seem to be faring so well. Or perhaps even still alive?	48 Now we're almost a mile into our hike down the beach.
49 We found a fossil cowry shell! This turned into a lesson about lava, volcanoes, and erosion.	50 Drawing the volcano on the sand, intact before erosion took the right hand side. It's pretty common for the ocean side of the volcano to slide into the water. That happened to the Ko'olaus as well - called the Nu'uanu slide. I think my memory is correct. I looked it up a while ago!	51	52
53 Getting ready for Sam's first race! So cute to see a number on HIS shirt this time!	54	55 See my boy??? The kids' ages are denoted by the first digit of their bib number.	56 The finish line.
57 Ready to go!!! That's Wally Amos - Famous Amos Cookies - doing the honors.	58 Go Sammy, go!	59 OK - he would have done better in the 1 mile race, believe it or not! He's a great jogger, not so much a sprinter! Neither is mommy :)	60 Playing at the tide pools with our friends. These two boys were the "pirates" who uncovered our snack cache! Our boys watched them carefully, admiring their swift and sure feet.
61 Flat island on a flat day. Liisa took these shots...	62 And Kailua Bay. Liisa's shot again...see www.liisaroberts.com for more!	63 We are going to have to get this one printed. It's classic Sam :)	64 Surfacing briefly!
65 Finally taking a breather on the land!	66 Mikko-Dakota is such a cutie!	67 MD thinking about swimming again.	68 We're at the tide pools with MD and Liisa...and trying out a silly idea. I am working with the boys to bury a snack cache - "treasure" - harder than I thought it would be! Keeping it from floating back up and keep Ben from floating away as the tide came in...and I wasn't keeping an eye on Luna, Liisa's dog. She wanted to come in the water and dragged the stroller she was tied to into the water, with Liisa's phone in it! Fortunately she has a shock-proof/water-proof/Alli-proof phone.
69	70	71	72 Big Ben out on the marsh with our buddies! I know how to pick 'em, huh? Liisa is a great photographer :)
73 He is really getting big, isn't he?	74 I LOVE this shot.	75 Nice job, Liisa! This is the marsh right by our house.	76 Mikko-Dakota keeping busy while mom shoots :)
77 Ahhh-hem. This turned into a nice biology lesson for me. Did you know snails were hermaphrodites? And these Giant African Snails are apparently very prolific breeders. They are actually very large - can get up to 6" long! I've seen some big ones here. As big as my fist. Well - maybe not quite that big, but close. The white thing is a dart that one snail shoots into the other carrying the genetic "material". The dart goes into the head end. Very strange mating habit. The little boys gathered up about a dozen snails and lined them all up to make a "family". They were so cute :)	78 All aboard the snail train!	79 Nice night for a walk :)	80 Dave finished his papers!
81 Watching Dave and Sam play.	82 Sammy riding the "daddy boat!"	83	84 Wrangling Sam for a picture with da fam.
85 Mommy tries the daddy boat :)	86 Such a swimmer :)	87 Ben came out for a dip!	88 Hi Daddy!
89 Ben wrangling is easier!	90	91 A happy baby!	92
93 Look at how sandy this guy is!	94 Angel popped over for a fun visit on Thursday morning :) Ben is going "Yeah!"	95 Trying to get both boys in their matching shirts in one picture.	96 Thanks for the outfit!!!
97 Soup for sick boys at Zia's. Why not go out to eat when we're all sick? Sounded like a good idea. Soup and grilled cheese. And wine for mommy. The boys were good...	98 Ben with his doctor...Healthy and happy boy at 4 months. Off the charts on height - 27.5". Will grow out of infant seat in a month. (ugh!) About 90% on weight and head circumference. These boys will be bigger than me when they're in first grade!	99 I found Sam styling his hair before preschool.	100 Used product and everything, then said "no pictures!"
101 On the way home from preschool :)	102 Sammy making our lunches for us! The video is on the web (http://www.kampkrug.com/2008/09/25/sammy-cooks-for-mommy/). I came out from putting Ben down and found all the jelly gone... He said he "drank it"!	103 A morning at the beach with Liisa making some sand art with watercolors :)	104 Ben helped! Doesn't the background look like a watercolor, like we're not really there, just dropped a mural on a sheet behind Ben? We had a great time! We glued shells and trash to our beach scenes.
105 Liisa went wild on hers! I love it!	106 artsy friends!