3 Ben has been doing this every night after bath for about two months. Time to capture it on video!
4 The model truck Uncle Doug gave to Sam - who made it just perfectly.
5 Secret Service guys at Kalapawai!!!
6 Bucket heads reunited! Such fun to bump into friends on the beach!
7 He loves the orange one in particular.
8
9 A moment of contemplation?
10 Mom snapped this of me running down the beach. I love my beach jogs with Ben.
11 Some of our shenanigans on the beach :)
12 Catching a gecko is always fun!
13 Sticky feet!
14
15 A date in Waikiki to have dinner with dear friends Josh and Ang and visiting Matt and Melodie.
16 Ben really getting up some speed on his bike!
17 And Sam on his scooter.
18 King of the Hill! (Radar dome hill on base. There is a race this weekend but I don't feel like a 7am start so I did my own.)
19 Ben just loves eggs...he's at Kalapawai with me after a crazy run down the beach in the driving rain. It was really quite beautiful out - no one on the beach, just peaceful. Ben was warm and dry in his little coach.
20 Sam doing his homework amidst 50mph wind gusts whipping through the school yard. That is true persistence. I am so proud of him. He likes to get it done before I get there to pick him up.
21 Out on a morning jog during the storms. Brief spell between showers.
22 The light was just amazing.
23 That's Ulupa'u on base.
24 After school adventure time. Shouldn't I be cooking dinner or something more fruitful? But I tell you, these boys had so much fun. We also dropped off some toys at a shelter so the kids would have a bright spot in their January. Sam's idea.
25 Jumping from mound of mud to mound of mud.
26 Running up and down together!
27 Mom I can go FAST!
28 Then a little walk to a large grassy field. I knew this would be a wet, mucky mess. But how can you deny boys who love it? Ooops - we have a slipper floater!
29 Muck muck muck. No open sores on anyone, and no obvious pigs around. Ok...
30 They got to this stick and said "Oooh! There's activities!" Such as...jumping INTO a puddle!
31 "We gotta CALL someone!" I guess to tell about all the fun! I had called mom to share the giggles with her - she is the only other person on the planet who would relate to how fun this can be. I have lots of game friends, but they really don't like dirt a whole lot. Mom, however, is all about losing Crocs in the muck, then helping with the cleanup later. Thanks mom!
32 Heading back to the playground to clean up a bit, then run around and airdry.
33 They were just laughing and laughing about the wet slides and how you just shoot down like a rocket!
34 The honu on the beach this morning! Full notes posted on 1/14/11 about how he was found.
35 Heading back to sea!
36 Jumping over mommy and landing on my belly time after time. He's taking a little break now to see how I'm doing.
37 Landed funny and needed some cuddles. He is otherwise wild wild wild, always up to no good, doing yoga moves on the beach, then commanding I do downward dog and hold it...and hold it...and hold it! Shaking his head vigorously up and down. Then he crawls in under me and says he's getting in his little car, and that my head is the "head steering wheel" said in his Ben way which I'm not sure how to write. What a nut! He is so much fun though. Full of mischief and chattering all the time.
38 Mommy lounge chair!
39 Uncle Tom - I thought you'd like to see Sam at work on tying ropes. He really really loves learning to tie knots. He is teaching himself, although I coudl probably check a book Doug gave him last year - The Dangerous Book for Boys. I bet it has some knots to learn.
40 Sam biking to school :)
41 Reading "Rain School" to Ben. It's about a school in Chad (Africa) - the kids have to build their own school building each year because the monsoon rains wash it away between sessions. They have a one-room schoolhouse. Sam read the whole book to Ben. Very sweet - he did this on his own. There are not a lot of sweet moments between them...so this was really cool to see. (Meaning there are a lot of very typical brother interactions between them!)
42 The most dangerous playground on the island. Lots of climbing, no mat. Wow! Sam loves it! Ben made me very very nervouse at the top there because he sometimes flops around without knowing where all his limbs are. He is saying "Be careful, Ben!" in this picture.
43 Double rainbow!!! Sooo intense! ;0
44 Lots of driftwood up on the beach right now. Good fort-making.
45 And a great bamboo pole find! I know very well now the pride my boys feel in finding and hauling a prize home. A couple ladies noticed me on the beach later in the week and asked what I ended up doing with my pole :) I put it in a tall pottery vase that we use specifically for keeping large finds like this. Glad we have a showcase for them!
46 Jogging with Ben :)
47 Reading a birthday card from Great Grandma!
48 Thanks to mom for capturing these sweet moments with Ben. I run down the beach after dropping Sam off at school, then do some yoga/pilates with Ben's help. Right now he is on his "motorcycle" he says.
49 UP, and DOWN.
50 Oh!
51 Now this is Gramma's car (see how long, like a wagon?).
52 This is Daddy's little car, he says. "Bye bye Gwamma!"
53 He likes to be smooshed, too. Not sure why. But lots of giggles ensue!
54 Covering mommy up.
55 That's a beach tool we found on one of our jogs.
56
57 Cleaning mommy off now. A good back scratch!
58 Back on the...motorcycle!
59 Looking for his egg at Kalapawai :)
60 Cake-making process begins three days before the big day. I am on the phone with my friend Ang, from whom I've borrowed a doll skirt mold (Barbie!). I am trying to figure out how to screw it all in.
61 The 7 layers all assembled now. Dave is wondering when he'll get his fridge back. I had to store groceries hither and yon in the fridge to make this happen.
62 Decorating (Day 2) was a LOT of fun! This was truly hygenic, though. We washed hands multiple multiple times. (As a former epi student, I was thinking about foodborne outbreak investigation! Oy!)
63 Oh yes!
64 More lava, Gramma!
65 smear in on in all the cracks so it looks dome-shaped, and not like a missle.
66
67
68 Look at those hands!
69 Cleaning up a bit.
70 Now for some more lava flows. Trying all kinds of new cake-decorating gimmicks here.
71 Sam has a go at it, too.
72 Now the lava!
73 The lava going on!
74 This cookie icing is fabulous. It oozes until it hardens, just like lava. Happy accident!
75
76 More lava! Of course!
77 Round and round we go around the caldera.
78 The stuff on the right is what worked really well for the lava flow.
79 All done!
80 Back in the fridge!
81 Cut soda can inside to hold the dry ice and water mixture to make smoke.
82 Peering in to see if it looks ok. Ready for Day 3 - at school!
83 Another gorgeous morning jog. It is Sam's birthday...this is the calm before the storm. Must head to hardware store to get flea treatment (we are under siege once again), douse the house, vacuum, do laundry, assemble all cake tools, feed Ben, load truck, get to school, sign in, assemble cake and make smoke! Check "birthday" folder for the school photos and video.