Lei's

The boys made leis with Grammie while it rained and Mummy sat in the hot tub :) It is one of their favorite crafts!

All the boys gave their mummy their lei's...  Happy :)

 Ian stepping his way across the stones

 Chasing the roosters

Opening a can of Coke - after it had been shaken up really well...

Fish Tale's

Is it true, if you kiss a fish...

Fish Kisses!

Would you like some bread, Fishie?

Maybe I will just eat it then...  Wait Daddy!  I was eating this!

Stefan gave up the pole for a bucket.  He was scooping up minnows in his hands and gathering his Heron fodder in a sand pail.  My camera battery died... :(

Rainy Day Drive

After a rainy morning of playing Monopoly with Pop, "the boys" and I set out on a search for a tank.  Yup, a tank.  And some coffee...

We successfully found our coffee (and really cool coffee bags).  While Ian slept, the coffee poured and the so did the rain.

We drove on to the tank farm and found many "interesting" things...

 WWII era Soviet Tanks...

Porky the Pig (look closely - behind, to the left are hobby horses...)

We went to the Waimea Plantation: http://www.waimeaplantation.com/ for a "snack" (really an early dinner).  Everyone played in the lawn - Hide-n-Seek, Airplane, Wheelbarrow Rides,

Stefan gives Ian a wheelbarrow ride as Dougie flattens Daddy

Stefan and Dougie give Daddy a wheelbarrow ride!

Let's try it with Ian on top!

Good fun! (good workout!!)

Horsey Rides,

and Piggy-Back Rides.

Stefan gives Dougie a ride

Daddy hoists Ian

Off to one of the missionary churches, Waimea United Church of Christ: http://www.waimeachurch.org/  It has an interesting and convoluted history.  What, at first glance, appears to be a case of segregation, even in death, as there is clearly a line of demarkation in the cemetery; Japanese are buried on the left and "everyone else" is behind and on the right.  After a little reading, it appears that it is actually two different church cemeteries; the Waimea Japanese Congregation and the Waimea United Church of Christ.

Funny to see a couple of graves that have stone Buddha's - in a Christian Cemetery.

Even in a graveyard, the mosquitoes were alive and well...

Brennecke's

Went to Brennecke's for dinner: Brennecke's Beach Broiler

The boys asked for umbrellas in their drinks.  The waitress kindly indulged all of us :)

"Look, Mummy.  Umbella inside out!"

Umbrella wars kept these two occupied

Dougie using his umbrella...

I said, "Say Cheese", not "Be Cheesy"

The boys, Daddy, Pop and I all walked along the beach back home.  Grammie drove the leftovers home to avoid the rain.  The rain stayed away though, because we had umbrellas (see above...).

Ian blowing his glowstick/flashlight/whistle

WOW!  That flash is bright!

Making shadow puppets

On the look out for crabs

Ian and Stefan had "light saber" wars

Seems Fishy

The Waiohai pond is stocked with Talapia and they have pole fishing twice a week.  Our boys LIVE for this!  Stefan nearly immediately caught a fish - so huge that he could not feed it to the resident Night Heron and "had" to throw it back.

Fish #1

Fish #2

The next fish caught was immediately after the first.  Also by Stefan.  Poor kids next to him were getting an inferiority complex as this one was also huge.  No Fish Tale here!

At any one time, three boys were crowding to stand on one rock.  We were all surprised when nobody ended up "swimming with the fishes..."

After a long wait, many minnows and a lot of lost bait, Dougie caught a big fish (also a throw back)

Ian caught his first fish ever (also a throw back - too big!).  He was not sure what to do with it!

Woah, Daddy!

The other boys there finally started catching some as well.  We all cheered!

The big fish apparently got tired of being hooked and stayed away.  The swan, however, did not mind being caught - free food was available!!!

The next round of fish were much smaller than the first, but they made the Night Heron really happy.  The boys would squeal as they threw the fish to the bird and he would make a dash for the flopping fish and gobble it up.

Mummy caught a fish too!!!

An Ian Fish...

Isn't it lucky to kiss a fish?!?

Huckleberry Finn, Tom Sawyer and friends can hardly wait to fish again tomorrow!

Crabby

A long standing ritual in the Klipper household is to go crab hunting on the beach in the dark.  You find the holes:

Stick your finger/hand/arm down the hole so as to keep track of it and dig out underneath.

If the crab is inside, your finger pushes on the shell enough to keep them from digging more (or pinching...).  These crabs are not huge, mind you.  Most fit well inside the palm of your hand.

We had a bonus the other night:  a Honu (Green Sea Turtle) the size of Dougie!  The pit that is on the left of the pic is what the turtle had dug earlier in the day.  This is what they dig when they lay eggs.  Not sure if this was a practice pit or not...

Sometimes we will see turtles or Monk Seals.  Always, we see crabs!  If they do not scurry off to their hole or into the ocean, they will shuffle down into the sand and bury themselves, leaving just their eyes above.

Starting the crabby shuffle

Halfway buried

Why do we dig for crabs?  When my parents lived in Hawaii (42 years ago!), my dad and his friend would come out, dig and catch crabs, boil them up and eat them like popcorn.  The first time they went, they had no idea what they were doing and brought mesh dive bags with them.  The crabs fell right through the holes.  So the took off their pants, tied knots in the legs and improvised!

Now, we just dig out the crab, let it run away and watch the kids squeal - not always with delight.  Sometimes it is hysteria when the crab makes a break.  Right for them and over their feet.  We certainly get a laugh out of it!

Stefan got the biggest surprise of his life when digging out a hole.  A wave washed in and took him from behind.  You would have thought a ninety-pound crab had pinched his bottom the way he launched up the beach.

We got a really good laugh out of that one!