Aloha and Mele Kalikimaka from Big-Wave country,

Our household has survived another exciting year, much like your house we are sure. Hopefully, this finds you and yours healthy, happy and prosperous.

Bailey started driving this year (good thing we’re here on an island) and Andy has spent many hours coaching and mentoring (no screaming … yet, though she wouldn’t say so). Luce won’t get in the passenger’s seat unless forced to do so. Actually, she does pretty well with only a few flubs here and there and the occasional deer-in-the headlights frozen panic. She has enjoyed another fantastic year w/ the band and her friends there are awesome. She hosted a Japanese exchange student that is learning English. It was a harder week than we planned but Aya and Bailey got along great and after only a week, the goodbye tears flowed abundantly. Bailey LOVES the food here, though Spam isn’t on her most desired list … yet. She also added a couple of extra holes to her body … we won’t elaborate.

Hunter has spent the year much like many others, mucking stalls and taking the reins, spending her Saturdays volunteering and taking lessons at the Therapeutic Riding Stables. If she doesn’t have dirt under her fingernails and manure on her boots, she ain’t really happy. She rode in her first Rodeo (it was for the Stables, so not much bronc ridin’ going on) and got to show off for her Nanna. School has gone pretty well and she, like her sister, has made some great friends. She got to go on a nice long hike around Ka’Ina point (NW corner O’ahu) and got smoked by dear-old-dad, but she’s getting stronger every year and we plan to take on some hiking on Kauai and in Yosemite in 2010. She hosted First Annual Gilbert Halloween House as the Resident Witch, scaring all the kiddies. She added a pair of holes to her ears (and railroad tracks on her teeth) but promises not to be like her older sister in that regard … though Hot Topic is her favorite store and black clothes are everywhere. She’s STILL waiting for surfing lessons and is a strong enough swimmer now for mom and dad’s ok (small waves only, of course).

Gracie is growing fast and has legs that would make Twiggy jealous … and her mom. She has feet to match and we Luce is soon to be looking up to all of them. She spends much of her time outside hanging from the Monkey Bars, which has helped her in her gymnastics endeavors. She does ‘ok’ at the other areas but on the bars ‘she’s STRONG’ in the words of her coach. She is still quite rambunctious but like the others she can focus for hours at a time on the littlest of details. She gives Luce a run for her money with her OCD … i.e. she has to have not 1, not 2, but 3 pencils every time she sits down to do homework. She has learned to swim and takes great pleasure in going down the twisty-water-slide.

Lucy is way too busy … she is now the PTO President. They love her b/c she is so direct and honest and b/c she really gets things done. She still helps in Gracie’s classroom and goes to all the extra-curriculars. She still takes time to hit the beach each week and she now has a personal trainer who seems to take pleasure in watching her sweat. She took some time out to go see ‘Ace of Cakes’ here and later took Grammy to Maui. She also did time as tour guide this summer, to like 7 sets of visitors, a job she promises NOT to pursue in the future.

Andy is still too busy at work but it’s going well and he enjoys teaching and most of all taking good care of our soldiers. He gave his first guest-lecture at a General Dentist Conference here and was very well received. He made the promotion list … Captain’s Bars off, Gold Leaf on. He has been trying to learn Spanish but it is very slow going and the Hispanic ladies at work are really frustrated with his progress. He took Grammy to the Big Island (Hawai’i) and they enjoyed the volcano helicopter ride and the difference in scenery. Like most dads, he spends all day Saturday as a taxi service for the girl’s activities, but wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Andy and the girls joined the throngs at midnight for Harry Potter VI. It was a real shocker for the little one b/c Andy forgot to tell her that Dumbledore dies. Also, Andy finally took the girls swimming with the dolphins. They have this awesome Dolphin Trainer Training Center here (did you get all that) and they fund it by selling sessions for you to swim with them. It was pricey but oh so worth it. Gracie got to spend time in the water with them standing on a small dock but Bailey and Hunter actually got to swim around for about 45 minutes. As the commercial says … ‘Priceless!!’ Bailey and Hunter went to the midnight show of New Moon (Twilight) but Andy sat that one out … guess why?! We all got to go back to the mainland again for Thanksgiving (thanks aunt Linda and uncle David) and feel the cold and see the fall colors, though almost gone, but still a wonderful change, and spend time with family.

We are so thankful that we have weathered these tough times well. We are eternally grateful to all our soldiers and to all those that support them. Our very best to all of you and remember … No Ka Oi, Mele Kalikimaka and Hau’oli Makihiki Hau! (All our best, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!)

Andy, Lucy, Bailey, Hunter, and Gracie

End of Another Summer

As they say, Another One Bites the Dust

Grammy came out to see us again this summer and from all we could tell, she had a great time. (I gather she bragged a lot and showed off her tan when she got back to work.) She and L went to Maui to rub elbows with all the celebrities (but I think the only elbow rubbing that went on was with the lotion at the end of the day). They stayed at a nice hotel right on the beach and got some good sun.

They did some shopping and general hanging out and Grammy went parasailing (she wanted to do that the last time ... another story). She paid for the 1200 ft. ride and some pics. The guy forgot to take the pics so she got to go up again. You have to ride double, so the girl that went with her (free) got go 3 times, and her first was only to 600 ft. Grammy said it was a blast.

After they got back it was our turn, we went the the Big Island - Hawai'i. For those that don't know Hawai'i has 8 islands, we live on O'ahu. Only the Big Island is actually called Hawai'i. Anyway, we got busy right off the bat with a helicopter tour. I should mention that Grammy came right when the hurricane was supposed to be running straight at the Big Island right on the day we were to arrive there ... so we thought our whole trip would be just wind and rain. Not so. :) We got off the plane and got rigt on a Helicopter for a tour of the South East end of the island.

We had a great pilot who really knew how to handle it. She took us up over Hilo and then south to the Lava Fields over the Kilauea (kil-oo-a-ah) flow. This is the longest running lava flow on record. It is not as magnificent as the flows from 1984 when we all saw the scientists standing next to great rivers of lava, but it was way cool anyway.

This is where the lava is running into the ocean. Think, this is how land is made, whoa!!!! The pilot doubled-back so we could all get a good look and the we went on. We then went around the top of Mauna Loa volcano (around 13,000 ft ... yes, they get snow up there in the winter) and then back over Hilo to see a good shot of a waterfall (you'll see that in a minute).

Back on land, we went to our hotel ... cabin actually. We stayed at the Military Recreation Facility which is located IN Volcano National Park. The place has a dining facility, a rec room, an exercise room, and a small store. The package included 2 meals a day and use of all facilities. It's not the Ritz but it was clean and the price is just right. If you have access and are out this way, I highly recommend it.

We took some tours of the island and the Park. We went to the Black Sand Beach on the southernmost end of the island. It really is black sand.

The guide said it is a good place for the turtles to come and lay eggs. We went on to this place that was a religious sanctuary in the days of King Kamehameha. There were more than one, but the main guy united all the Island into one Island nation. Anyway, this sanctuary was cool in that if you got punished for something really bad, you had to run for your life from the posse (literally) and if you got to this sanctuary you would be blessed and your life would be spared. The problem was that to get to in in those days, you had to enter open ocean and then swim around and back in from the sea. The place was beautiful and still kept quite intact. The beaches are unspoiled and talk about some clear water.

They are really strict on the actual grounds. Grammy went to wade into the water to take a picture of a turtle and got in trouble by a Park Range for getting too close. I knew she was touble when she got here. I just pretended I didn't know her and we made a run for the bus when he turned around.

On that trip, we also went to Kailua (Kih-loo-ah) on the SouthWest side, where they hold the Iron Man Triathlon. The town is pretty small and the guide said that if you go, plan on being stuck in the town for the entire day (the race goes from 0600 until midnight). He said everything is totally locked up, literally. You just can't get anywhere. I would still like to go though.

Anyway, another tour took us to Hilo. On the way, we stopped at an Orchid farm. It was run by a Japanese guy who came over in the 70's with nothing and turned it into a mint. He has a single plant worth $20,000 (really). We took some pictures of about a 100 varieties. This one was too cool. The orchid flower has 6 leaves, 3-up and 2-down with the odd one down and in the middle, and is symmetrical (don't ask me anything else) and the more perfectly symmetrical it is, the more valuable.

We went on to tour the town. They have had 2 major sunami's, the second one nearly wiped out the entire downtown area. You can see where they decided not to rebuild because of the devasation. The guide's dad had been in it and actually ran to safety when he saw the wave moving out to see and got into a tree before it came back in. The wall of water was over 30ft high. Crazy!

We went to see some other things and stopped to see a couple of waterfalls. This one is called Rainbow Falls because on most days (of course not our day because of the overcast skies due to the hurricane) the falls make a perpetual rainbow. Nice place. It's about an 80 ft. drop.

Another tour took us to the Lava Fields in the National Park. We took in a lot of the lava formations from the different flows over the years This is where the lava flows around a tree before the tree goes up in flames (which doesn't always happen).

We also went out to some craters. This one is huge. The big hump in the background between us is where the lava was erupting over 1900 ft in the air (the mound there is about 500 ft tall). Our guide was a kid and his dad photographed it from the edges off to the right. He said he remembers his arms being sunburned from the heat when he got home.

Part of the park is still dense tropical forest. We took a tour through a lava tube (where lava flows and then cools on top but continues to flow under the ground and in the end it makes a tube, usually big enough to walk through, sometimes many miles long). This was the actual tube with no special preparations, just some lights.

The forest around the tube was not as dense as a jungle but dense enough to know you were in a tropical forest. The ferns were tall and thick. It was definitely more humid within the forest than in the area outside.

One of the stops took us to a steam vent. This is where molten lava, miles below, is heating up water from rain that is leaking down, and generates steam that then rises and is compressed in small channels and exits through vents like this one.

The sulfur smell was pretty strong and that guy taking the picture in the background probably only got a picture of a bunch of water droplets on his lens. The steam was extremely hot and very dense. It was interesting that the tour buses would park with the end of the bus right next to the vent and the rev their engines which would make the steam more pronounced. They don't really know why it works but they take advantage of it for the tourists.

The rest of the summer has been pretty tame. Lots of Saturdays taking kids to weekly activities (horse riding lessons and gymnastics). G and B are both in gymnastics now and really enjoying it. G just got started and is, as usual, the most distracted one in the class. The coaches are constantly having to call her back to the group. The really don't get paid enough. B is improving and is starting to show real improvement. H is still riding and volunteering for the whole day. She really works hard and is the staff loves her.

They are all back in school again, G is really learning to read well. Marching band takes up all of our spare time (almost) and H is now FREE in middle school. She is frustrated that they only get 4 minutes between classes (they have to change rooms now) but is elated that at lunch you can sit with whomever you wish and you don't even have to eat if you don't want to.

L is the PTO president at the elementary school and is working hard (actually I work hard and she takes all the credit ... if you believe that, we'll talk about a good real estate deal I've been cookin' up). We had the Fall Festival and we both worked from about 0900 until 1815 (that's 6:15pm for you non-24 hour clock people) ... then home and off to a ball game to watch the marching band, had to leave by 1845 (that's 2 showers and a 10 minute ride to the school). Fun, Fun.

I just got back from my annual meeting in Boston. Didn't do too much besides the meeting but of course got a Harvard sweatshirt ... not for me!! Saw my Army friends and had a pretty good time ... The Ft Gordon Residents ROCKED!!!!!!! VERY nice people in Boston, I mean REALLY friendly and great hospitality. Always willing to help out, etc. We got to take in a game at Fenway Park, the crowd participation was too cool ... I can see how you could get hooked on it. Fun stuff.

Back to the usual grind now, waiting for the next holiday. I'm sure I have missed some good stories to tell, so I will try to get back on little sooner next time and bring you up to speed on those.

As a final note, I (just me) wanted to wish well to a friend from dental school who lost his wife to cancer this summer. They had a long battle and they never really got to take in the whole 'Now I'm a Doctor celebration thing' before this one began to take up all their time. ... I think of you often, I wish you the very best. I hope that you and your children can find peace somehow. You were always a gentle soul and I know that you can keep your family safe and well. May God bless you with all that you need.

Until next time (when L has beaten me up about all that I forgot ... )

Aloha!!

A note about the Tooth Fairy

Sometimes, we are blessed, even when we may not deserve it.

G lost a tooth the other day. This one has been coming for a long time. She is really crowded on the bottom front and her new teeth coming in had stopped the baby tooth from falling out, until a couple of days ago. So, we made the usual big deal and made all the preparations. We had to make up her pillows special so that it wouldn't get lost when we read our story. All was good.

G has been getting attached to the dogs lately. H usually keeps the dogs reserved for her room in the evenings for bedtime but lately G has been really pushing to have them in the room with her. We have been alternating a lot and usually, after G goes to sleep, H just moves them. Well, on the night of the lost tooth, G begged and begged to have the dogs in her room, so we obliged.

I then proceeded to forget about the tooth fairy's visit.

G woke the next morning (yesterday) and excitedly looked under pillow to see what prize had been left to her by the tooth fairy. The dogs had actually stayed in her room for the entire night that night. Well, on looking and finding her tooth still neatly placed where she had left it, you can imagine her disappointment. But, as grace sometimes falls upon us ... she quietly went in to see L and said "Mommy, the tooth fairy didn't come last night. I think she is afraid of the dogs."

Last night we made sure the dogs slept with H. The tooth fairy did in fact come to visit and G should wake up this morning with her beliefs fully restored.

Thank God for the mind of a 5 year old ... and for those little blessings we sometimes overlook.

Aloha.

Early Morning Swim

Aloha,

This morning started early. We, B, H and I, left the rack around 0520 and got on the road about 0605 and headed north. The North Shore is pretty barren this time of the day, but a few die hards were already out. We made a B-Line for Shark's Cove. This is a wonderful little cove east of where the really big surfing occurs, that is a great place to snorkle.

We had gone snorkling at the Cove a couple of weeks ago when some friends were here and I was very impressed. The water is very clear and the coral in the area is quite plentiful making opportunities for fish watching regular and interesting. This morning I was pleasantly surprised that our previous visit, in the middle of the afternoon with a small multitude of people there, was nothing, truly nothing, compared to what was in store for us this time.

We hit the water around 0645 and there was only 1 other group of 3 there. The Cove is probably 70-80 meters wide and about that distance out to the rocks that gaurd it from the open sea. Thus, you can see that we basically had the place to ourselves. I knew we were in for a treat when, upon getting out to about the middle of the Cove, I looked out at a distance and my field of vision was just peppered with fish. More to see in this one view than in my whole visit last time.

While H went wading in the tide pools, B and I headed to the shallows opposite to the end where we put in. We got close and B points frantically at this school of fish. We moved in a bit closer and noted a school that appeared to be a couple of hundred strong. As we sat watching, the tide pushed into the middle of the shool past a couple of very large rocks that had previously been blocking part of our view. What we saw then was truly amazing. We were indeed within the school but the size had been rather misleading. Now, looking from the middle out, we saw that the school was not in the hundreds but nearing the 1000 mark. It was remarkable. Parts were so thick that we couldn't see anything behind the fish. They were literally all around us. We sat quite still allowing the eb and flow of the tide move us within this small shallow and thus the fish were not alarmed at us but considered us part of the landscape. They moved in rather close and we felt that we were part of the group.

It was truly amazing. We also saw all of the different types of fish we had seen last time, just in much greater numbers. It was awesome being out there basically by ourselves. We had the whole place at our liesure. The early bird gets the worm.

Today was a great day.

Aloha.

Yup!! you guessed it. We are in official party mode now ... 1 day away.

We did the ABC Family channel marathon over the weekend to prep up ... we have our HP t-shirts (though mine has bleach stains where someone (ahem L, L, L, L, L, L, L ... not mentioning any names of course) spilled it on the back) ... and we've got our tickets (we'll be in line by 10pm tomorrow nite so that we can get some good seats (maybe earlier if I can't get in a good nap due to all the excitement!)) Yup ... true geeks!

That's ok. At least B and H chose to go with me to go to the midnight show instead of friends (YES ... Dad Rocks!!!!!). I better enjoy it while I can!

C'ya there!! :-)

Summer Vacation

Hey again,

Just thought I'd remind you that HP and the Half-Blood Prince is now less than 20 days away ... get your tickets soon!!

We started off the summer with some visitors from GA, they were mainly here for B but we enjoyed their visit, too. They brought Grandma with them and I think she had a good time as well.

Among their many travels here, they took a day and went to the Water Park and this ride called the Tornado, a big funnel that shoots you into it on a 4-person raft and then you see-saw up and down the sides before draining out the end under a heavy waterfall, had pictures and the girls posed after they had figured it out.

They seemed to like to do a lot of posing, the camera-phone was on, non-stop.

They did most of the usual things ... Pearl Harbor, a submarine ride, the North Shore ... oh, we went snorkling one day and they happened on a pair of giant sea turtles. Now these are endangered so you can't go hunting for them, but if they come to you ... well, you don't have to run away. They hollered for us and we went out and all enjoyed the view for about 10-15 minutes. They were awesome. It was a great day at the beach.

This week, we had our own little 'stay-cation'. I started off the week with a helicopter ride ... we went up to the North Shore across to the east side, then backtracked to the west and all down that side towards Honolulu, then shifted back north at Pearl Harbor and finished there at Wheeler Army Air Field. It was excellent. Sorry, no photo ops for that one.

     The next day, we got up very early and headed south to the Kahala Resort where they have Dolphin Quest, a dolphin training center. I underestimated the traffic delay because, since there were so many of us in the car, we were able to use the 'ZIP' lane and we cut about an hour off of the trip. The girls were exhausted and spent that hour that we had to wait sleeping in the hotel lobby. 

The hotel is VERY nice and would be an excellent place for anyone, bit pricey, but nice.

G got to go on her excursion first. She was with 4 other kids and they spent the first 45 minutes showing them about sea turtles, petting a sting ray, and checking out a bunch of tropical fish in their lagoon. Here, they were immitating a turtle crawling up onto the beach to lay eggs. G really got into the act.

They then went to the dolphin lagoon and got to mess around with a really large dolphin. They had him doing tricks by doing things like waving their hands, spinning around, or marching ...

I was wondering who it was that got trained that day. The kids had a blast. They had the dolphin lay on its back, on its side, rest in front of them and it was absolutely docile. They took them over to a dock and got the dolphin up out of the water for a 'big hug' picture. 

They took a break for lunch and before B and H got to do their thing, we took a shot by the hotel waterfall. The whole area was just beautiful.

B and H got to go in the afternoon and because they were a bit older they got into the accelerated program. They did the stingray and fish thing ...

but then spent most of their time with the dolphins.  They did the 'big hug' shot and all the tricks ...

G got really jealous because they got to do so much more than she did ...

then they got in the water and had a blast swimming and playing around with them. The trainers had them doing all kinds of stunts with the animals including some cool jumps (without the girls on board of course).

they truly enjoyed themselves.

They also got suckered into a pose that L wanted ...

and I promised that I would put it on the web for all to see. Luv ya girls.

In the end, G came around enough for a picture with other girls and they had the dolphin doing tricks in the background. 

All-in-all  a pricey day, but as the commercial says ... "Priceless"!!

     On Wednesday, we went on a submarine ride with our friends from my second undergraduate years who came out from Delaware. The sub is pretty nice, seats about 64 people and is basically like an underwater bus. They take you out on a large boat and you embark out in the bay looking back at Honolulu.

We reached a depth of about 105 ft and then circled several man-made/artificial reefs that were just teeming with fish.

The colors were really off because of the water, but they choose not to use artificial lighting to make it a more real experience.

G's shirt was actually bright red, but underwater it turned first purple, then maroon and then brown ... this was early on.Our friends seemed to enjoy themselves, however I am not sure whether it was the views or just him being the clown that he is ... Good thing she was looking the other way, she might given him the what for.On Thursday we went to the waterpark ourselves and we all had a pretty good time. After some emotional steam-letting at the beginning (pent up from spending the entire week with each other), we all chilled and had a good time. G did a bunch of rides that momma was a bit scared to watch, but she just hopped on and got right to it. She had a blast but the sun and the excitement took it out of her. She came home and hit the sack ... hard. We barely got her out of her swimsuit.

As usual, G got hold of the camera this week and as I was downloading the pics, I noticed that she had had one of her fingers over the flash while she was taking the pics. The result was a shadow across the photo ...

Of course, we took some time to go out and eat, we went to 'Cheeseburgers In Paradise' a franchise that has a place here. The burgers were excellent and they had THE best Onion Rings ever. And we had a great cook-out (thanks L) with shrimp and chicken kabobs and all the trimmings.

Yesterday we picked up the next group at the airport, friends from our restaurant days in from Illinois. They're here for a couple of weeks and we'll be sharing some time over the 4th with them.  We then headed over to my bosses house and had a nice outing to meet the new Residents for this year. It will be a bit this year strange as one of the residents that I will be teaching is a full-bird Colonel.

We just chilled out on today, getting ready for going back to work. We met our Delaware friends for dinner (their 3rd time at Cholo's mexican this week) before taking them back to the airport. They had a great time and I think we all agree that we did too.

As we always say, the door is ALWAYS open. You too could be enjoying a fun-filled week on O'ahu. 

Hope you enjoy the pics as much as we enjoyed making them.

Aloha

Just in case you are living in a shell, 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' is now less that 40 days away. You can get your tickets early on Fandango.com (I have no stock interest in Fandango, just thought I would share this little bit of info). 

The girls and I can't wait. See you there.

C'ya

And yes, this is on my iGoogle Home Page ... pathetic, huh!! :)

Hello again,

Here are a couple more shots of the gang. At the elemtary school, the girls participated in a May Day celebration that highlights Hawai'i's culture and statehood (this year makes 50 years). All of the grades did something. Here, G and the kindergarteners did a dance and song that praises the state bird, the Minor Bird.

You should probably cherish this next one. We sure do!! Here H and her grade did a song and dance highlighting the hula, surfing, etc. This may be one of the only times you will ever see H in a skirt.

When H and I went on our long hike up the NW corner along the Waianae Coast, we had to traverse this little bridge. It looks kind of precarious, however the drop is only about 12 ft (though my brother will tell that 12 feet can do a lot of damage) onto the rocks. The board is a little unstable, but if you lean into the rocks (here on the left) it is really very solid. You also have the rope to stabilize you. Remember, 3 points of contact.

Here is H having a go of it. She was a bit timid at first, but I coaxed her along and, as with most things, the fear seemed pretty baseless after you had completed the trek.

The picture below is the most NW point on the island. The water up here is absolutely beautiful. Very clear and really blue when the depth is right. Here is where we saw the monk seals playing in the surf. The tide pools were pretty deep and some had coral growing in them and had fish that evidently lived right in the tide pool because there some had not way out.
This picture is looking back along the Waianae Coast towards our starting point. Here we were about 1/2 way through the hike and H was a little tired (so was I but I wasn't letting her know that).  This is one of the more picturesque coastlines that I have seen. It woud be great if I could get out on a rock closer to the water and had a wide-angle lens.

This whole area is just beautiful. It is really peaceful as it's a pretty long hike for most and so not a lot of traffic comes this way. You still get some, but it's sparse. It is a nice break from 'town' (that would be Honolulu for all you mainlanders!!)

Hope you all have a great week.

Aloha!

the tourist season is upon us ...

Hello, it's been awhile ... not much, how 'bout you

Well, the summer tourist season is upon us and we're almost all booked up.  Hope your reservations are in. 

     We just finished our first round and man did they have a good time. The first was our Nanna who came for an extended stay of 2 weeks, eat your hearts out. She spent a good deal of time with L as her tour guide and really had a good time. They did the usuals ... the circle island bus tour, Dole plantation, a Luau, Matsumoto's Shave Ice, walking on the North Shore beaches, (saw some turtles which is always cool for everyone) ... 

This one was out a bit and we got the shot with the digital zoom, thus the fuzzyness. Anyway, she got to go to some of the girls activities one of which was the Special Keiki (that kids) Rodeo at the horse stables where H volunteers. A good time was had by all, especially G who got to go out and enjoy some extra-curricular activities with the Rodeo clown. I caught her in an act she might not be too happy showing off ... but we are.

This was just too fun to watch. H got her turn in the spotlight when she got to go through an obstacle course as part of the rodeo demonstration riders. She really enjoys the outdoors and the horses. It's a good thing ...

Nanna really got a kick out of the different kinds of trees. This is a unique tree here, think it is a Banyan tree, but not sure. Anyway, the roots grown down from the branches until they reach the ground. It is really interesting.

This tree is the rainbow tree. Appropriately named, the wood under the bark is multi-colored and very cool to look at. 

During the trip, Nanna took the walk along the Wainae coast, we've shown some pics of this already, and H and I went on to take the walk around the northwestern-most corner of the island and then back along the North Shore. All tolled, about 6 miles we think. No actual roads but good dirt road trail. On the way, you pass an Albatross breeding gound at the NW corner ... 

These guys are huge, again this is with digital zoom from about 30-40 yards away. I was expecting an all white bird. 

     We went on from there to the coastline and had a great time checking out the tide pools and a couple of monk seals frolicking in the shallows. We were looking at one tide pool that had a bunch of tropical fish in it when H turned around and yelled at me to take a look, so I turned around and saw this ...

These guys were right in front of us, this was taken with no zoom. I took it and high-tailed it out of there. Way cool.

     We went on to finish the hike, however H didn't fair so well. The walk really took its toll toward the end and she just had to stop and collapse on this rock for a while. We were doing the backpack thing as a way of getting her used to carrying a pack ... we're planning a trip to Yosemite next spring. Hers only had her 4lb sleeping bag in it. 

What a great day.

     We also had some good friends out from Montana for this past week and a good time was had by all. We really miss our Cleveland family and it was great to have them here.

     Well, we have reservations for friends for beginning and end of June, early July, and mid Aug for right now so if you want to come this summer get with us real soon. We are also planning our own little local trip for vacation so we'll be out of the loop for the last of June. 

Hope this finds you all well.

Aloha