standing on top of the the Damon mansion lanai
(Sadly, my pics of the grand staircase leading
to it didn't turn out)

Kamananui Road Trail

Our most recent outing with our homeschooling friends was an easy 3-mile hike through the Moanalua Valley. The shaded trail itself is what's left of a 150-year-old carriage road that crosses the Moanalua Stream seven times. Along the way we took an offshoot trail to visit the ruins of the Damon mansion, built in the 1880s. A grand staircase leads to the lanai and a fireplace (all that's left of the mansion). We spotted some additional stairs and followed them through the woods to discover the filled in walls of the swimming pool.

Our real destination though was the Pohakukaluahine Stone, a boulder featuring petroglyphs from long before any Europeans arrived on the island (a more exact date is unknown). Along the way, we named as many plants as we could, noticed a few birds we'd never heard before, and played around in the stream crossings. It was a great way to spend a morning with friends!

You can cross the bridges, but we decided it was more fun to walk
through the stream and admire the bridges from the side instead.

"Look, Mom! It's the perfect rock for a river mermaid!"

Most of the petroglyphs are extremely eroded,
but I got a decent shot of this figure.

Let's Play Soccer!

We decided to try a new thing this fall, and took advantage of an inexpensive MWR opportunity to put the girls on the wait list for rec league soccer (we moved here too late to sign up outright). A week into the season, we got a call around lunchtime saying they had spots open up for Monkey and Bug and did they want to show up for practice that afternoon? Yes, please! Daddy rushed them out to buy the necessary equipment that afternoon, and they had just enough time to walk out the door again for practice! Much to Lion's disappointment they didn't have a spot open up in her age bracket, but Monkey and Bug's coach said she was welcome to join in on their practices. She's been loving it!

Since this is a completely new thing for them, Daddy's been spending time on non-practice days teaching them new skills and running them through drills, so they can go onto the field with a little more confidence. They had their first game today! Their team lost pretty badly, but both girls had fun and got to make contact with the ball with a few times.

Look who finished fourth grade math this week! Hooray!

'Ehukai Pillbox Hike

Daddy had a day off of work, so we headed for the North Shore to try out another hike! It was supposed to be a 3-mile loop; however, there were a lot of trails in this area, none of which were labeled or marked in any way. Fortunately, a knowledgeable trail runner kept us from heading off onto a trail that apparently goes for miles into the mountains. She pointed us back onto the right trail, but we think we actually made a 2-mile loop, and we somehow missed one of the pillboxes. Anyway, the scenery was gorgeous as usual, and we all made it back safely!

Since we were in the area we decided to try another must-have Hawaiian food--Matsumoto's shave ice. A syrupy frozen treat is always nice after a hot morning on the trail!

After the steep incline (above), we found a conveniently
placed picnic table for a rest and a great view (below).

on top of the pillbox

inside the pillbox

We spotted this fun little cave on the way back down.

Mmmmm....tropical flavored shave ice!

Look at the cute little shave ices!

It was the perfect finale: They invited the kids on-stage
to sing and dance to "Gangnam Style"along with
the ROK service members!

Republic of Korea Show
We had a fun opportunity to experience a little South Korean culture recently, when a visiting military group hosted a free buffet and show at a neighborhood community center. The food was fantastic! Favorite food moment: an older gentleman behind Lion skeptically asked her to identify what she was scooping onto her plate. She cheerfully responded, "I don't know, but I'm trying it anyway!"

The show involved a military orchestra made up of US and ROK service members playing classical Korean music, a taekwondo demonstration, a musical slapstick comedy skit, K-pop music and Korean break dancers, as well as traditional Korean percussionists and dancers.

Traveling Journal 
A fun social studies/language arts project landed in our laps recently! Nana and Papa Bear passed us a traveling journal begun by a fifth grader from Ohio who's trying to see how many states it can visit by April. We had fun reading through the few entries already created, then spent a couple of hours making our own entry about Hawaii--with fun facts about its history, geography, language, and plants and animals.  Then we passed it along to another military homeschooling family back on the mainland.

Breakfast at the Beach
We joined a couple other families for breakfast at a nearby beach one Saturday. (A little neighbor friend decided that's how she wanted to celebrate her birthday.) Who doesn't love pink frosted donuts and fruit salad followed by beach time with friends?

Movie Making Magic!
We've been learning a lot about how movies are made over the past couple of months.

Last month we responded to a local casting call for families to be extras for a major motion picture. While waiting in line to get our picture taken, one of the casting staff spotted us and asked if Brian and the girls would be willing to come back to audition for named speaking parts! The girls were a bit nervous, but definitely up for it. They got to see what a few scenes of a movie script are like, and go downtown for one-on-one auditions with one of the casting staff. They actually had a blast! The staffer said they did a great job, but it doesn't look like any body got a part. Such a cool experience though!

Next, after watching the live-action Hobbit trilogy (they recently finished reading the book with Daddy), they were very curious about what goes into creating such an epic fantasy movie--motion capture, effects with a green screen, stunts and stunt doubles, make up, costumes, etc. The special features DVDs have not disappointed! The girls also declared that if we ever get to visit New Zealand, we absolutely must visit Hobbiton, where the outdoor sets for the movie are still available to tour.

Learning about all the CGI stuff in The Hobbit, led us to Pixar in a Box, a collaborative effort of Pixar and Khan Academy. It's a series of lessons that involves videos, quizzes, and activities about all the math, science, art, and storytelling that go into making a computer animated movie. They have been fascinated!

Set and Uno provided this week's mid-afternoon entertainment.

New Music School
I'm thrilled because I found a school less than 10 minutes away that had availability for all three girls in the same afternoon. We have an hour to kill between two of the lessons, so we bring a snack and games to entertain us.

The girls all love their new music teachers here on the island. Bug and her violin teacher hit it off immediately--he's a slightly goofy twenty-something who was also a military brat. He's had her back up a little to strengthen some of her basic skills, but thinks she's definitely up for playing in a recital at the end of October--a prospect she is really excited about!

Lion's teacher is very sweet, and is quickly moving Lion through her last book, so she can get a good feel for Lion's skill level. Most exciting for Lion though is Miss N's willingness to work with her on composition! Lion has one song in the works that needs some serious polishing. Next time Lion's going to show up with a recording of her playing the song and some extra pages of blank sheet music to work with.

The biggest success though is that we've found an awesome drum teacher for Monkey! He's a soft-spoken, laid-back jazz musician, who is totally on board with Monkey's request to learn the full kit and learn how to read music. Mr. M says she's making great progress in just a few lessons, and her enthusiasm is back!

More Fun Things

• It was a perks-of-homeschooling moment: we met up with another homeschooling family and had the neighborhood pool to ourselves on a weekday morning.
• Our church's Wednesday night programming has started up again. We all enjoy the good food and company; the girls have a blast with Bible stories, games, and crafts; and I get to hang out with the infant and toddler set.
• Bug has started a counted cross-stitch project (a flower and butterfly scene) that she's very excited about and ought to keep her busy for a while.
• The oncoming tropical storm meant we sheltered in place, and invited another homeschool family over to play boardgames. Good times!