Sam guiding an ROV into an underwater cave at the Bishop Museum.

Every now and then, when the kids are poking at each other, sniping, getting underfoot and generally being annoying to each other and me, I say “you’re in my asteroid belt – someone’s gonna get hit by an asteroid!” because that’s how I feel and it makes the boys laugh. I guess it may not make much sense, but it makes the point well enough. We all laugh and recognize just how annoying we’re being to each other and my space is cleared out – to an arm’s length at least – so that I can move around again somewhat more freely 🙂 I’ve also tried “My electrons are not interested in bonding with yours right now!” when I need some space since Sam is interesed in atoms (Dad is a nuke). After clearing my space enough to get a skirt on (wow!) we all trekked off to Bishop Museum to see what was shakin’ over there. Sam finally got a chance to really use the remotely operated vehicle (ROV) pictured above – it’s a small camera that you guide with a joystick and watch the video feed on a screen in front of you. Since Sam likes BBC documentaries about ocean life, this was a really cool thing to use. Usually it’s swarmed with kids but this time we managed to carve out some time with it undisturbed. I really enjoyed having a minute to use it as well. Ben enjoyed seeing the volcano again, and I brushed up on some history about Captain Cook’s last days on Kauai. Good day… During prayers at bedtime I’ve been asking the boys what they’re thankful for. I will start mentioning what they say when it’s interesting or different from “Gwamma and Wichud” (Ben) – tonight it was Daddy (also a frequent mention on “the list”) for his great romping time. Mommy never makes the list. Dave says that’s because mommy is ubiquitous – they can’t even conceive of being thankful for mommy because that would open the door to the possibility of a world without mommy. Hmmm…thanks for that insight 🙂