Mama On The Move

Katie was baptised today! She's the last one in our family to be baptised. Kerry was baptised in a lake in Alaska. The ice had just melted off it the week before. This was much warmer. Our pastor asked each person to tell why they were being baptised. Katie gave such a speech, the pastor announced that she would be delivering the message next Sunday. Afterwards, she was presented with leis and chocolate by the members of the church. It's a glorious day!

This is just before he kissed me. Just kidding. That is one big honkin ' toad though. Kerry and Ben were driving up to the house this week and the headlights picked up this big fella in the road. Kerry, in his usual rapturous state of just having spotted a creature no one else would want to touch, leaped out of the car (I think he actually managed to put it in park first) and nabbed the thing. Ben wanted to run over it. He's learned in science class that these toads are an invasive species not native to Hawaii. I pointed out that white people are not native to Hawaii (and pretty darn invasive) but I wouldn't want anyone running over us . Cane toads were brought to Hawaii in 1932 to help control sugar cane beetles. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that they were useless in this area because they could neither fly, climb, or otherwise scale the sugarcane plant to get to the beetles. However, the toads did prove to be adept and voracious predators to almost everythin...

Poor Rigger. Every morning, GG would make herself a piece of toast. Rigger would gaze mournfully at her until she took pity on him and gave him her last bite of toast. Nobody can give you sad eyes like Rigger can. He's a natural showman. He would watch each bite go from her hand to her mouth, his eyebrows raised in a questioning expression. "Are you going to eat the whole thing? Really? You won't even give me one little taste?" And GG fell for it. Rigger loves her. She started making two pieces of toast every morning so he could have his own entire piece instead of just a bite. It's really hard to eat and not feel guilty with that pitiful face staring at you. Now that GG has gone home, Rigger doesn't get a piece of toast every morning. Or any morning. He misses her.

We were on our way to a friend's house recently with all the kids in tow. We pulled into a shoppette and Kerry ran inside to pick up a few things leaving me and the kids in the car with the A/C running. Ben rolled down his window. "Ben, roll your window back up," said Katie. "You're letting all the cool air out and bugs will fly in." "No," replied Ben tersely. They bickered back and forth for a minute. A man walked out of the shoppette and passed near our car. "I'M HIS SISTER!!!" Katie bellowed out Ben's open window. Ben promptly rolled his window up.

If you are visiting Oahu, one of the things you MUST do (I'm not kidding - you really have to) is plan a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. This is some of the best entertainment on the island.

Iolani Palace is the only royal palace in the US used as an official residence by a reigning monarch. We signed up for a guided tour. You can go through parts of the palace on your own, but you see more on a guided tour and get lots of information from the docent. The shoes of mere mortals are not allowed to touch the hallowed floors of the palace so you have to put on these nifty little surgeon shoe covers. I'm joking about the hallowed floors. It really would mess up the floors and carpets if people were just tromping through all the time in high heels and with who-knows-what stuck in their treads. The palace is huge by Hawaiian standards. Compared to the castles in Europe, or the Biltmore House in NC, it's probably not so big - but definitely worthy of a royal residence when it was completed in 1882. David Kalākaua was the first Hawaiian king to travel around the world, and see the homes of other monarchs. Upon his return, he commissioned the construction of a very mode...

The luau at the Hale Koa is always a wonderful experience. The food is great, it's not too crowded, and the dancers and entertainers are polished and professional. We had a little more excitement than usual at the luau this time. One of the performers was up on the stage talking to us about native Hawaiian life. It's informative, but at the same time it's a comedy routine. It's very entertaining and we enjoy it a lot. He was part way through his spiel when someone a few tables over jumped up and yelled, "Is there a doctor in the house?!?!?! An EMT??? A nurse??? Anyone?!?!?" Someone at their table had collapsed. The guy on stage stopped and repeated the request for a doctor into the microphone. Several people rushed over. Then the performer wasn't sure what to do. He seemed badly flustered. I'm sure he was trying to decide how to continue on with a comedy routine when there was a possible life-and-death situation going on right there. It would be awfu...

We had planned to take GG and Sherry on a hike up Diamond Head Volcanic Crater, but after the disastrous Manoa Falls hike, we decided to just settle for taking a picture of them in front of it.

We love to take visitors to some of our favorite spots around the island. A nice easy hike through a rainforest up to a 150-foot waterfall is always a hit, so of course we took GG and Sherry to Manoa Falls. It's a fairly short hike (a mile and a half) to the top. The trail can have some rocky spots and muddy areas which adds to the fun and keeps it from being just an ordinary hike. This is us near the beginning of the trail. It's true rainforest here and you feel as if you are in an episode of "Lost" (which is actually filmed here on the island by the way). See how happy Sherry and GG are? They didn't know we were about to endanger their lives. This picture was taken not too long after we started up the trail. It looks a little darker than the first photos, don't you think? Keep that in mind. It may play into the story later. We started the hike a little later in the day than we had intended. I don't remember what we did that morning, but it was someth...

After the beach........... Kerry took Sherry to the USS Arizona Memorial. GG, the kids, and I had all been before, so we decided to sit this one out. The memorial is an awesome experience, an absolute MUST if you are visiting Oahu.

Since going boating with our friends is one of our favorite activities, we took GG and Sherry out on the water one day. Riding on "Big Bertha" (the giant inner tube in the picture) is some of the most fun I've had here. GG got this great shot of Kerry, Sherry, and Katie getting ready for a ride in the tube. And I got this great shot of them being dumped out of the tube when they overbalanced in the middle of the water. Katie promptly doggy paddled back to the boat and refused to ride in the tube again. The rest of us watched Kerry and Sherry try to get back in the tube. I can tell you from experience, it's easy to climb in the tube when you are in shallow water. It's nearly impossible when you are in way over your head and there is nothing to stand on. But it is quite amusing to watch when you are safely riding in the boat and out of their reach.

The first time we went to Pali Point I wrote about it here . There was an excitingly bloody battle in which most of the men defending their island died. Who doesn't want to go see where that happened? The view is amazing. Katie and Sherry, trying not to freeze in the wind. GG trying not to get blown away! It doesn't seem like a horrible battle could have take place in this peaceful spot. See those guard rails? There are also signs warning people not to go past the guard rails because it can be extremely dangerous. A man was killed this week after climbing past the guard rails to get a better look.

First things first, we had to show GG and Sherry some of the spectacular views on the island. The south-east part of the island has some really glorious scenery. We went to the "From Here To Eternity" beach. And to the Halona Blowhole which, frankly, wasn't blowing much. We did however, get to see an idiot tourist and his (I assume) bikini-clad wife climb past the safety railing and march all around the blowhole trying to get good pictures of it. Every year someone is killed or injured doing this. I had my camera at the ready, hoping to get a good shot if they got swept away, but it didn't happen. (If I sound uncaring, I apologize. There were warning signs everywhere and you just can't protect a fool from himself.) When we drove back by a couple of hours later, there was a fire truck, an ambulance, and several police cars there and they had the road blocked off. I searched the papers for a couple of days, but could find no mention of what happened. Since Han...

Here's an interesting little spot we stopped to see. I'd passed this many times before and had never stopped to see what it was. Since GG and Sherry were here, we decided to check it out. There is a shrine of some sort with a statue and a carved rock. There was no information on sight as to what it is that I could find. There were flowers, food and incense left around the base of the shrine. There was a ceramic statue and a rock with a figure carved into it. None of the food was old or rotting (although plenty of it had clearly been pecked by birds) and the flowers were all fresh which made me think it must be cleaned and cared for on a regular basis. After we got home, I did some research and found this article about it from the Hawaii Star Bulletin, our local newspaper (I have edited out some bits, but otherwise the article is unchanged): "Maintenance" of the monument has been assumed by a group of Vietnamese Buddhists - Shingon Shu Hawaii, the Buddhist temple th...