They are loving island life!

Kailua Beach
This might be the girls' favorite beach yet! Our
neighborhood home school friends realized they had enough extra room in their SUVs to bring the girls and I and our beach gear along for a weekday beach day. We headed out early and had our feet in the sand by 8:30am. Parking was easy, and the beach was practically empty. The scenery was gorgeous, the sand was good for building, and the waves were gentle--just enough for an easy boogie board ride. The kids had a blast playing in the waist deep water, while us moms laid back to chitchat and keep an eye on the kids. We took a mid-morning break for snacks and reapplying sunscreen and ending up staying until noon. Everyone agreed--we are definitely doing this again!

Church Nights
The summer Wednesday night program is officially up and running at church, and the girls are big fans. Chatting with church folks over a delicious dinner was fun (Bug and Auntie L* discovered a mutual love of string instruments and are scheming to do a Christmas duet). Then the keiki (children) follow the pastoral staff to rotate through crafts, Bible story, and games, while the grown ups hang out in the chapel to "talk story" (chitchat) and eat more food. The girls had a chance to make even more new friends, who they're hoping will start coming to Sunday school.

Thursday night wasn't technically a church event, but about 15 of us from church met up at a local botanical garden to share picnic dinners (we got to try lychee, yum!), to talk while the kids ran around (they had a "snowball fight" with fluffy seed pods), and to listen to the Royal Hawaiian Band (new music to us mainlanders and pure nostalgia to the older folks in our crowd). Good times!

*Hawaiian cultural note: You know how in the South kids refer to adults as Miss or Mister then a first name? Here, it's Auntie or Uncle then a first name.