The Zoo!

We renewed our membership at the Honolulu Zoo yesterday for $35. We only go to the Honolulu Zoo once a year, but *they are reciprocal with Woodland Park and Point Defiance,* and buying memberships at those zoos (which are not reciprocal with one another) would have cost us $169 even with the internet deals. This is becoming a tradition. It might, however, become traditional to get the membership and LEAVE. That zoo is goddamned HOT. And -great- it was the day we forgot to bring water. Go figure. The kids were miserable, my dad and I were miserable, the animals were miserable...yeah. Toddlerness had a little bit too much "animal encounter" at the kiddie zoo. This goat head-butted her:

And she stuck her fingers in with the chickens and got bit:

And the cow had better be about to calf, because she was at least as surly as any 10th-month woman:

Her Royal Toddlerness is not about to be enthusiastic about farm life after this.

We did manage to have a little bit of interestingness and fun. Particularly in our first 15 minutes or so, when the elephants and monkeys were still enough to distract us from our misery.





The last time we were at the zoo, poor Rusty the orangutan was in a very old-style cell so small that he could stretch out his arms and touch both sides. Not entirely the fault of the zoo - they'd aquired him from a "collector" who wasn't exactly taking great care of him and had tried and failed a few times to get him transferred to a better equiped facility - he'd still spent years at that point in that cramped pen. This time we got there to find this wonderful change:


By the time we were most of the way through the zoo the kidlets and the adult,um,lets were miserable. A break in the shade:



Gah, still too friggin hot.

We took refuge in the movie theater in the afternoon. I took the big two to see Harry Potter (not as scary as Goblet of Fire, it just barely made the let-kids-see-it screening Fran did a few days ago). Enjoyed both the movie and visiting a familiar teenaged haunt.

A Day in the Shade

We took a hike in very shady (rainforesty) conditions today. Toddlerness got about 50 steps in before she found mud puddles...



And decided that mud on her shoes wasn't very "princess"...



And rode the rest of the way.



We found the real Fangorn Forest!





And some trees and ferns so big, it was like we were fairies.





An early glimpse of the falls:



The falls themselves:

Day at the Beach

We spent all day at the beach today! Well, almost all day. We arrived at 9:30ish, and when the kids showed no signs of letting up at noon, Tutu went to get lunch. We finally packed up around 3.

Girliness gets buried:



Boyness finds STICKS (of course!):



Is there a Toddlerness napping in there?



Girliness has this boogie boarding thing down!



We even had time to invent a WAVE DANCE!



And here's how we spent most of our day:



Toddlerness LOVED going out past where the waves were breaking and just bobbing up and down with me. I imagine she will feel the swell and dip of the sea in her sleep tonight. I am hideously burnt...maybe experimenting with a new sunscreen was not a good idea?...but Toddlerness remains unscathed despite all the time in the sun. She must have gotten more Hawaiian genes than her blonde hair and blue eyes let on.

The Sunny Day

We had a sunny day yesterday! We went hiking to the lighthouse at Makapuu.



Actually, the hike never goes TO the lighthouse, which would be too dangerous for the kidlets - and the photos are clear that it is dangerous enough already - but instead winds a slightly wider and more secure path to some point above the lighthouse. The day was clear and beautiful, and we could see two of the neighbor islands (most days you can kinda see one...) - the camera didn't do a great job on this one but you can see it:



The big kids enjoyed feeling like they ruled the world (so high up!):












Keeping hydrated:



Toddlerness went back and forth from this:



To this:



After baking in the sun all morning (the hike took from 9-noon) we high-tailed it to the nearest beach, which also happens to be one of our *favorite* beaches (really!). The tide was high but the kids are much better at working with some wave action this year. They checked out all the marine life in the tide pools, and walked the rocks. Toddlerness did take a tumble, but it was on the relatively safe rocks right up on shore, and after a few minutes sitting on Papa's beach chair and eating raisins, she was back in the action.

Some snorkelling action:





Toddlerness "lost" her swimsuit:



And made a new friend!



They started out with 1-2-3-JUMP and by the time Toddlerness' new friend had to leave, they were up to 26-27-28-JUMP!



Girliness became the tide pool tour guide:




And Toddlerness spent some time rehoming the 'opihi. This is particularly fitting, as "young children clinging to a loved one are often lovingly called: ‘opihi."



Another stop for shave ice at the end of the day:



The kids somehow escaped further sunburn, despite things like forgetting to bring the sunscreen and so not re-applying, shedding the swimsuit, etc. Toddlerness got quite as much sun as I did and was using the same sunscreen I was...and she's not burned. But me? I *am.* My EYELIDS are sunburnt. WTF? Eyelids and the center of my back (not my shoulders). I swear it was the same sunscreen applied at the same time, and all I can figure is 1) I didn't put it on my eyelids, durh, and 2) toddlerness plus backpack on my back rubbed it off that center spot on my back. Come to think of it, look at this photo:



The burn is right where the straps meet the backpack. Methinks there is greater use of t-shirts in my future.

The kids are having a BLAST with all this swimming stuff. They would probably have spent all day at the tidepools yesterday if we let them. We might need to spend some time in the shade today

Rainy Sunday

We woke up to a downpour on Sunday. It is tough to catch a downpour in a neighorhood with your camera, but I tried:



It was a great day to meet Grandpa and Grandma for brunch at the Hale Koa. After we got back from that, the weather was still dreary but it was hot, so we headed to the beach. We apparently weren't the only ones who had decided that hot plus clouds was OK with them. Toddlerness' hole was even pre-dug. Boyness and Girliness had a gentle reintroduction to the concept of waves (just enough wave that they could ride the boogie board in to shore, not so much that they were having to fight or get rolled).







Trying something new...a video:

Saturday

Some sunburnt children:




We pretty much spent the morning on *me*. I, you see, had a small (ahem) issue of impacted cerumen to deal with. I couldn't hear and it was driving me totally bonkers. After 3 rounds of Murine Ear Wax Remover and a salad-dressing (olive oil and vinegar) flush, and then a vigorous warm-water irrigation, I have regained my hearing. Alas, my ear canal is so irritated that my whole jaw hurts, however. And alas (again) that I did not bring my medicine arsenal, which has the ear oil in it.

Anyway, once I'd managed to reestablish hearing, we packed back up and headed out to the beach. Toddlerness threw another royal fit over putting on sunscreen. We did manage, eventually, to slather everyone up with generous portions of the gooey white stuff. Because the weather is iffy (courtesy of tropical depression Cosme), we headed once again to Ala Moana, just because we were least likely to be rained on there. We were drizzled on just a tad, but it remained nice and warm and we barely noticed. Boyness had fun for a couple of minutes before the reemergence of the craptastic chaffing rash - I think we'll need to get a hold of some surf shorts for the kid (although my mom advocates for the Speedo), because I think the liner of the shorts is causing a lot of grief.

How Boyness spent most of his beach time (poor kid):


Toddlerness' favorite beach things: swimming nekkid and chasing pigeons. Alas, but I didn't have the camera on me while she was chasing the pigeons (SHOO!!! Shoooo!!! *giggle giggle*)



The kids are ready for the commune: