Evan's Birthday

...was pretty much a wash because Erik had to work. We were supposed to go play paintball-which we are going to do this weekend. All Evan wanted was a box so he could make a riot shield.
So when Erik got home from work Erik promised to make one with him.

Dinner by the fire while the paint dried.

Finished riot shield and one very happy 11 year old!

Pretty rainbow we saw this week.

These shrimp trucks are all around the north shore but we came across this wild shrimp bus in central Oahu.

Last Weekend

Heading out to Erica's horse riding we saw a huge fish last week, this week we saw a freshly killed feral pig.
Pick-ups with these cages in the back are pretty common here, the dogs go inside and the pig goes on top and a local or two sits on the side of the bed...

It's so beautiful out this way.

My happy horse girl!

Snooze at the Zoo

For Erica's birthday Erik took the kids to camp out over night at the zoo. It was pretty wild having the whole zoo to themselves.

Erica thought this was so interesting.

Erica loves elephants.

I asked her what's this-elephant scales of course!

This was certainly interesting-it looks like it's wearing a do-rag...

Right after they arrived at the zoo, Saturday night, I get a call to come right away and get Evan because he broke his arm. Well, Evan didn't want to leave so he made it all through the night and until noon the next day before getting to the ER. Sure enough-a fractured arm. Poor guy, he has an insane ability to cope with pain-no Tylenol, nothing. Here's Evan re-enacting his accident. The ER put on a half cast-that lasted about a week.

Erica trying to get a picture of herself with a goat.

Evan, cradling his broken arm, found a seat and then this goat found him and wouldn't leave. He must have known Evan needed some TLC.

Ha ha, leave it to Owen...

...and a mercat.

I learned something really cool about porcupines-this is what the kids told me, "if you get stuck by quills-cut the tops off and they will pull out easily because they are hollow-like a straw with water when you put your finger over the top the water stays, that's how the porcupine quills are." So, if you get quills in you...cut the tops off!

Lawn ornaments.

Okay, there is actually a really funny story behind this. This stray found a Slim Jim can in our yard and got his head stuck in it. It was hysterically funny watching the poor cat. Ever since then Erica has been trying to recreate it so she could get pictures. I don't think this poor cat will ever learn.

It's even funnier in person.

I promise he's fine, he was back the next day for more.

One of these things is not like the other...

both "trees" in the foreground are actually cell phone towers. Someone is going to a lot of trouble to have them blend in.

First Week of September

This was our last week of hanging out at the coffee shop while Evan was at Japanese language school.
Owen and Erica were so good with getting their school done.

This is Hickam Air Force Base.

Bullet and shrapnel holes from the attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 can still be seen on the outside of the headquarters. I love how it was never fixed.

Can you imagine walking inside this building every day to go to work? I'd get chills. Still, after 14 years here I love looking at these buildings.

Located on Hickam is Ft. Kamehameha. There are several coastal artillery batteries that were built in the early 1900's here. This land has a really interesting history. The eastern area was called Moanalua and was royal land won by conquest by King Kamehameha I in 1790. It is now a golf course. King Kamehameha was the one who unified the Hawaiian islands. The western end was known as Halawa and was the beach-front estate of Queen Emma. It is now a sewage treatment plant. The sandy dunes had been a burial site. The army took the area over in 1901 after the annexation of the Territory of Hawaii. There are 10 batteries here. This one is actually the smallest but is the easiest to access. It is right in the middle of the two royal areas.

Owen found a crab at the beach. It was really camouflaged with the white sand.

Beautiful hula dancers at church.

Erica feeding the horses.

She found a fresh egg. She really wanted to hatch it and raise a chick.

On the way home from the stables we saw this huge fish!

One day I forgot Owen and Erica's school so we went to the aquarium. I was so impressed with how they listened so carefully at each station. They were telling me all sorts of interesting information they learned.

We got an amazing education on coral.

The fish in the upper left corner of this tank is below...

We just got the biggest kick out of it. He has two orange buck teeth and an odd tail.

Owen watched this shark for the longest time.

This is a sea dragon, just the cutest thing.

This was the other really interesting fish. He used his fins like arms and legs. It was really odd.

This little guy pictured above looks like the shell below when they are no longer living. We had no idea. We see these things...or at least pieces of them fairly often.

The kids love the aquarium petting zoos.

This little mini tree caught our eye.

This is Kapahulu and Diamond Head is straight ahead. This is the area where we hung out for three weeks.

This is what it looked like in the early 50's.

This is in the 20's.

I was surprised to see it was swamp.

I had no idea there was this whole coffee shop culture going on. Erica, being the socialite that she is fell right in. Henriett from Budapest let us hang out with her so we could get school done.

This is the first animal Erica has been unable to befriend. Aloha-this is Jana's lab Lexi, she is so shy! For three weeks Erica tried to be friends and she'd just try to hide.

Erica forgot a hair tie so she had me twist her hair up like they do here but since we were short on chop sticks Erica grabbed a plastic knife. Owen was so funny, he suggested a straw or stir stick.