1 Cell phone shot of my beach run with Ben after dropping Sam off. We continue on by stroller and foot to a beach access just a block away from Sam's school and head down the beach 2 1/2 miles to meet up with mom.
2 Sometimes we see cool structures along the way ;)
3 Playground time - cell phone shot sent to Daddy at work.
4 Another interesting sand sculpture! I'm repairing the "pedicure".
5 Ooops!
6 Peeling his own egg now.
7 Kind-of a messy affair.
8 After-school beach time.
9 Trying to get two boys in one shot so Dave can have an updated picture on his Blackberry.
10 He liked this one :)
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13 This is at the beach access by mom's cottage.
14 Oops! Beach biscuits showing!
15 Lilke how the water drop is covering it up for him?
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17 Scanning the horizon for a good one.
18 Got it! Mom and Richard standing watch in background.
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25 Words to one of our favorite Eddie Kamae songs.
26 Ben LOVES haircuts.
27 On a hike at Koko Crater Botanical Garden. Ben and Cam had such active imaginations this particular day. They were fascinated with the plumerias in bloom, climbing trees and boulders, and then collecting strange sausage fruits which they called their "babies" - they were so cute!
28 Start of a sneeze caught on film!
29 Giving mommy a flower!
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31 Sniffing and sniffing and more sniffing while the mommies look for a bathroom opportunity.
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33 Decorating Gramma's crocs :)
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36 Doing a sword fight with "cactopus"! Looks like a cactus octopus, doesn't it? Or was my imagination on overdrive, too?
37 Get it!
38 Yeah. Got it, mom!
39 Oh no! Another one got Ben!
40 All better now. Taking care of the "babies".
41 Carrying them another mile around the rest of the loop. Each one weighed about 3 lbs!
42 They were soooo cute caring for these little ones. Even if they tripped and fell they protected the babies. Ben's baby was named "HE" but "He" was a she, actually. Cam's was "Fifi" I think.
43 The hike is inside the crater.
44 Giving the babies a rest. Camden has an interesting way of rocking his baby.
45 I like that!
46 Such cute boys. Camden is four so Ben is lucky to have an older friend.
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48 Another baby rest break.
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51 After the May Day Celebration at Sam's school - these are the kumus who put it all together. Such beautiful decorating and programming.
52 And lunch with Sam afterwards.
53 Blaik and Ben gardening. I have an army of menehunes who are helping me get the house ready to show, finishing up projects which were compressed or undone due to Dave's travel to the east coast and Japan this spring. Blaik is an island guy who has returned to care for his mom and build a landscaping business. He was caretaker for a golf course in Virginia Beach previously. His dad was an Admiral in charge of Pearl Harbor, and he's the 4th generation descendant of the Wurlitzer organ family! He has quite a few stories! As with many of the people who I've come to rely on to care for our community association and our home, he is unique character and a wonderful connection.
54 Here is another unique and wonderful character - Harrison. He is a Kailua fixture, riding around Kailua picking up recyclables to supplement his income. He puts out my green and blue bins on the right days, keeping me straight. Funny how mom caught us both going through the trash!
55 Big sweaty hugs!
56 And off he goes!
57 Ben making funny faces with Gramma, like the trains in his stories.
58 Sad face.
59 Happy face.
60 My beach run again :) Can you tell I'll miss it? So glad Ben and I have had this time together exploring, picking up trash (which turns into a preschool lesson on shapes, letters, colors, etc.), doing yoga, playing, and chatting with Gramma. No gym or preschool for us with all this beauty all around. We are lucky to have these memories.
61 Ben playing mini-golf for the first time yesterday. We hadn't given him a club before because he would use it as a weapon on Sam instead of playing. He was so funny marching around with his club, hitting the ball at random, picking it up, carrying it to the hole, yelling. Ben does everything in LARGE style. He struts. In this shot he tipped over into the rough in his exuberance while taking a shot and couldn't get back up! Mom and I were real peanut gallery watchers - walking behind and cracking up at him while Dave was working with Sam, and trying to teach Ben a few tricks.
62 Dessert for boys afterwards!
63 "What's that!? I want to wear one! I want a HELMET!"
64 A Roosevelt-era make-work project, perfect for boys. Moving extra building materials around.