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!