We went for a hike down the Close Trail today and really enjoyed a nice chat along the way, and looking under rocks once we got to the water. Sam and Ben ALWAYS love seeing who is living under the rocks. Ben and I will be off doing something (Ben likely up on a rock, saying "Do you want to take a picture of me?!") then we'll hear Sam exclaim loudly "Whoa - ho - ho!" upon a new find. He'll pick up all kinds of crabs, sex them, make a little "habitat" for them (a rock in his hand for them to hide under) and walk around with them. Today he found a big one (not the one pictured above, who had recently expired) and carried it around all over, up on rocks, jumping down, singing a song, lifting it high, then low - finally he said he was giving it a roller coaster ride. They are so much fun to be with! This big guy above got a nice final resting place - Sam put him right at water's edge, front claws nicely positioned, and a nice view of the west where the sun would set. It was so sweet to see him do that. We talked about a huge tree in the middle of the trail - that Lewis and Clark found a HUGE tree 39 ft around. We spread out our arms to see how far around we could get and estimated the total circumference to be about 18 ft. I asked Sam how much bigger Lewis and Clark's tree was and after a minute of thinking he said "Two and one-sixth." I was thinking he'd say about two, or just over two, so I had to catch up a bit. Turns out he did that just right. From there we talked about what that means as a percentage (it's very handy that 1/6 is .16 or 16%). From there we went to the market, starving, which was a complete nightmare because everyone was there stocking up for the holiday. We managed to mess up their system down at the nut/dried fruit/candy bins by inadvertently mixing a pineapple with mango slices and banana chips without noting the little number codes. You really need 4 arms down there to hold the bin open, hold the bag open, scoop, AND keep kid hands out of the bin. We were starving, so it was our own faults we caused such a scene. Once they'd had a snack they were fine - but you should have seen them clawing at the bag of mango slices!!!

In other news, it was time to integrate flocks today, so the six babies got introduced to the big kid house. That meant cleaning and dusting the big house, replenishing food, moving hens over and separating flocks for a bit, getting babies acquainted to new food and water locations, spreading plenty of snacks all around so there’s enough for everyone to peck at (so they don’t pick on each other), and then leave for swimming lessons and a hike so I don’t obsess over every sideways glance the chickens give each other. Still, it weighed on me all day. After all, these little guys were hatched by Jersey and me. I didn’t want them to come to an untimely demise. Tonight they were uncertain about getting in the house – I think Jersey was acting as a bouncer. Merlin really just wanted to hunker down and not think about the cheeping. Lots of cheeping today. At one point I had 6 little hens all tucked into my lap as I comforted them and told them to go in the house. Then they piled on top of each other, climbing all over each other to be the one on the bottom, protected. It was a hen heap. So then I moved them all to the nursery where Jersey had nested, gave them fresh water in the hamster waterer, and put up a concrete block to give them privacy. I stroked their little necks and talked to them. Finally the cheeping calmed down. I think they will be fine – it’s snug where they are and together they’ll generate enough heat. They have food and water handy, and we’ll hope for the best. They’d been weaned off the heat lamp in the garage over the past two weeks and it’s upper 50s at night. The farmer in me says they’ll be totally fine. And so they will. And if they aren’t, well, you can be sure I’ll think it through and try to improve next time. But they had totally outgrown their brooder box in the garage and were starting to fly around in there any time I had to do feed or water. And you already know how those little rascals had messed up their food and water SOOO many times. I was really done with that! They’d soaked the bottom of the cardboard apartments I had made. Time to move on, guys 🙂 Cross fingers with me!

Ben is picking himself up from a second pretty good wipe out - he makes funny noises and grunts when he wipes. Then sometimes he just lies there as if completely insulted the ground would move out from under him like that. Check out Tamara's face behind him! We got smoothies at Lanikai Juice afterwards 🙂

We just went on a local hike today because it was so hot – wanted to make time for smoothies afterwards, and I am pressed for time due to move-related chores on top of the usual routine of work and miscellany. We had a great time, and found a cute orange snail, a spider, and some cool breezes as we neared the top.  Here’s another picture I really like which shows Kailua against the backdrop of the mountains and the marsh.

Kalaheo hillside (my bailout for daytime tsunami warnings).

Sam's birthday is in 10 days. His idea for a sunrise hike was an excellent one! We all had a great time. Thanks to the moms who helped make this memory!

Click for more pictures of the outing. And here is a link to Sam’s bday invite.

Old Pali Road trail crew...what a great time! Click on picture for the rest of the story!

We had a great time on the trail today with friends from school. Sam invited Keani and her family and luckily Tamera and her boys decided to come as well! So there were 5 kids age 2 1/2 to 7. Despite some early misgivings about actually going all the way up (any time in the woods is a good time, so we weren’t being goal-oriented about it), the kids all made it to the top of the Lookout! We had a great time and found lots of fun diversions along the way, as if hiking 5 miles roundtrip over 900 ft elevation weren’t adventure enough. I am wondering if the vigilance that I maintain for those 4.5 hours is about like being a cardiac surgeon – do they feel the same sense of profound relief and compelling desire for “fortress of solitude” time that I do after a hike like this? It is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work. I am so glad they all had a great time! You know what is really nuts about me? Should I even share this? I found it relaxing to remind myself about how the Krebs cycle works in my new Biology book that I bought from the thrift store. Sam and I are really excited to dig into the 1200 page book…ok. Maybe I shouldn’t have shared that…

Ben spent most of the hike like this - running out in front with his Meyer lemon, on a mission! He would sniff it, throw it ahead, chase it, pick it up, run for 100 yards and repeat. Every now and then he could be persuaded to stop and smell a white ginger or try a mulberry. We all had a great time in the woods with our guide, Patsy.

We have such a great group of intrepid moms of preschoolers! Today five of us went to Senator Fong’s gardens to take a tour of native plants and fruits. We could easily go again and hopefully absorb even more information next time. We are often very busy watching our little ones’ feet so we don’t get to look up as much as we’d like. But we did get to see a chocolate tree and watch our guide Patsy crack open the weird oblong yellow fruit to reveal this sticky, slimy white substance surrounding the cacao seed. We tried a taste of it – very sour and a weird texture. Kinda changes your thoughts about chocolate…a lot of work goes into harvesting the seeds and fermenting them before it remotely resembles a Hershey’s bar. After the hike we came home for me to work a bit while Ben napped, then off to after-school fun (yesterday it was dentist, today flu shots), playground, homework, dinner (the boys just wolfed and wolfed some salmon)…and then Dave found an odd bulge in his VW GTI’s tire. Oh no…hoping against hope it’s not another round of several hundred dollars of repairs. He’ll be taking the truck tomorrow because he has to go in early (like 4 am early) and we can’t have a blow-out happen on his way in. I’ll deal with the car because I can run anywhere we need to go. Cross fingers and toes…

I want you to bring my camp chair so that I have a place to sit on the asphalt that is not too hot so I can eat my snacks.” Can you believe him? I’m just remembering this sentence.

Ang and I relived old times by hiking with Sam (and Ben) up Pu’u Pia. This is one of Sam’s favorite hikes and we had a great time. It was rainy but we really didn’t get wet due to the dense foliage and the sunshine which chased the clouds away from our little ridge. We also spotted Ang’s husband Josh’s carrier just off the coast, waiting to pull in. We waved, Josh! We also enjoyed a latte on our way to the hike, just like we did when we hiked together in Washington, at Grand Forest (Bainbridge Island) and also Green Mt. It was so good to be on the trail with you again, Ang!!!