Aunt S & Uncle J Visit

It was an exceptionally poorly documented trip, but Aunt S and Uncle J did come to Ohau! Their activities with us included a walk through the Swap Meet, sunset at Dog Beach (we ran into friends and the girls got to try out mini kayaks and a paddle board), an afternoon at Waikiki Beach, snorkeling on the North Shore (a new experience for the girls and a hard sell for Lion, but she loved it in the end! We saw lots of cool fish), a boat tour of historic Pearl Harbor, and boogie boarding and paddle boarding at Bellows Beach. Good times!

Koko Crater

We conquered our most strenuous hike yet! It's not a very long hike (maybe a mile out?), but it's straight up the side of a volcanic crater (1, 050 steps to be exact). The trail itself is actually an old rail line installed during WWII to get supplies to the outpost at the top of the crater. The views are amazing!

This really doesn't do justice to how steep this trail feels!

U.S.S. Missouri
We attended a retirement ceremony aboard the U.S.S. Missouri, where the U.S. and Japan signed the treaty that ended the war in the Pacific. The girls and I decided to arrive a bit early to explore the ship, but we chose to stay topside to avoid getting lost and running late! Maybe we'll get inside some other time.

Viewing copies of the treaty signature pages

Nana and Papa Bear came to visit, and we packed a lot of fun into five and a half days! Here are the highlights:

We spent a morning at Dog Beach--wading in the water,
playing in the sand, watching a submarine go by, and exploring
a nearby WWII-era battery.

Nana and Papa Bear tagged along to music lessons. We spent
the waiting time sampling goodies from our favorite bakery
and teaching Nana and Papa Bear to play Uno and Set.

Lion loves trying on hats at the Swap Meet!
We spent a couple of hours wandering through
the vendors and snacking on papaya and boba smoothies.

We made the drive up to Tantalus Outlook.
You can see Diamond Head and Honolulu in the distance.

Nana and Papa Bear timed it just right to catch the girls' summer recital! Lion played a piano solo (a more complex piece than she's played for a recital before), Bug participated in a violin ensemble with a mix of beginner and advanced students, and Monkey joined an ad hoc rock band (a set of siblings and Monkey wanted to play "Fight Song," so they played together. Unfortunately, you can't actually see Monkey in the video, but you can hear the drums!)

The girls may be puzzled as to why the post-recital dinner was photographed,
 but Build Your Own Ramen was the most unusual dining experience we introduced
 to Nana and Papa Bear. You can choose from a variety of noodles, broth, and a couple dozen ingredients
(including things like gobo fish cake, quail eggs, and taro).

Followed by this dessert, which is as delicious as it is initially baffling.
For the record, that's a mound of shaved ice drowning in fruit-flavored syrup,
and topped with bobas, coffee and fruit flavored jellos, and gummies. Mmmm... 

We finally made it to a luau! The main attraction, of course, is the buffet dinner
and the show, featuring Hawaiian music, hula dancing, and fire dancing, but
this luau also featured pre-dinner activities.

Daddy and the girls competed in a traditional Hawaiian game
that involved tossing stones and sticks into a goal.

They also tried their hands at throwing spears.

They had much more success learning to make palm frond crowns with flowers in them!

Nana and Bug got Polynesian "tattoos" painted on!

This was definitely the best picture from our Kualoa Ranch Movie Tour!
(About 80 different movies and TV shows have been filmed there.)
This photo features three "scared" girls, one plastic mini dianosaur,
and the original log where the kids hid from T-rex in the first Jurassic Park.
(They haven't seen the movie yet, but it's a great photo op!)

The girls were very excited about spending a morning at White Plains Beach!
It's a lovely little uncrowded beach that usually has the best waves
for boogie boarding. This time it also had a napping seal!

It took some doing, but the girls managed to get Nana and Papa Bear past
the breakers to cool off.

I didn't end up with photos but we also took a couple of scenic drives during their visit: one up to North Shore through a more rural area (destination: shrimp trucks & Dole whip) and the other down the main drag through Waikiki (fancy resorts, high end shopping, and beautiful but crowded beaches) then to see Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha statue you always see in TV shows. Sadly, the statue itself was entirely covered for a restoration project!

Daddy took Nana and Papa Bear on the harbor tour, but the girls
and I skipped it this time and met up with them at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center--
beautiful memorial grounds and a couple building of very well done exhibits.

 I know it's weeks late, but . . . Happy Easter!

As usual we celebrated Holy Week with bright colors, tasty treats, and time spent with friends. At home, we decorated the house with flowers, dyed Easter eggs (we tried some new methods this year!), made and decorated sugar cookies, and colored and shaped marzipan (I rediscovered a box of it I forgot at Christmas--that stuff lasts a long time!), and made and shaped bread. Of course, we had the usual pile of chocolate bunnies and assorted candies Easter morning.

We were all asked to participate in our church's Good Friday service this year: Lion and Bug blew out candles, Monkey did one of the scripture readings (all the other readers were grown-ups; she was very proud and did an excellent job), and Daddy and I helped serve communion.

 The girls also got to participate in two egg hunts this year--one with neighborhood friends and one at church Easter morning. On both occasions we laughed about the lack of good hiding places (palm trees don't offer many nooks and crannies), and the girls referred to them as Easter egg grabs instead of Easter egg hunts!

Easter day meant a potluck breakfast at church, the egg hunt, and a worship service, and in the evening we joined friends for an unconventional Easter dinner of chili and cornbread. Good times.

He is risen!

So many pretty flowers!

Mmmm....sugar cookies.
I think I have cutters for every holiday

This year we dyed some eggs using food coloring sprinkled into rice
and the rest with food coloring swirled in shaving cream.

They turned out beautifully!

Hard at work coloring and shaping marzipan.