All Over Oahu

Whatcha doing down there, Mama?
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We had a fantastic visit with Kathleen's Gram and Grampa O'Connor and with her Aunt Tia. We drove all over the island, visiting almost every tourist attraction we could think of. (We couldn't visit every attraction, after all, because then how would we convince them to come back again?) We saw the Arizona Memorial, attended a lecture on the history of Schofield Barracks, viewed Kaneohe Bay from the Pali Lookout, attended a luau at the Hale Koa, and visited more than a few beaches.

The beaches were definitely Kathleen's favorite part of the trip (well, aside from having three new adults to constantly entertain her). This past week she finally came to terms with sand. She'll now walk across the beach barefoot, as long as you hold her hands. And if you offer her a shovel and pail, she'll even play around with the sand. She's still not too sure about getting dirty; she likes to brush the sand off her hands every couple minutes.

Lanikai Group
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

But however ambivalent Kathleen may be about sand, she loves the water! Watching her splash around in Ko'Olina's peaceful lagoons this week made me wonder whether she might not be part fish. Kathleen was delighted by the calm and shallow water, and walked around, holding onto our hands for quite a while. Then inspiration must have struck her, because she decided to kick her legs out from underneath her and splash them around, still hanging onto our hands. She looked every bit a mermaid!

We miss our visitors already, and we hope they'll come back again soon.

Sunday in Honolulu

Climbing...
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We had a full Sunday! After Kathleen's morning nap, we went to mass in Mililani, then headed to Honolulu. We stopped at Punchbowl so that Gram and Grampa could see the monument. Grampa particularly appreciated the detailed mosaics of the battles of the Pacific. (Too bad he didn't have those as teaching aids when he'd tell us about the history of the US Marines in the Pacific when we were growing up!)

From Punchbowl we headed to Waikiki. We walked along the main strip, checked out the beaches (crowded with people, of course), and picked up some souvenirs. We even made the requisite phone call (to Kevin John, this time) in front of the statue of Duke Kahanamoku, with its webcam.

Hanging at the Hale Koa
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Waikiki has changed a little bit since Gram and Grampa were here 32 years ago... They were in for a big surprise! The Royal Hawaiian is tiny compared to all the giant hotels on Waikiki now, and most of its spectacular gardens are gone. Even the International Marketplace is bigger, they say! Although seeing how Waikiki has been built up was surprising (and a little sad) for them, they were impressed by how pretty Fort DeRussy and the Hale Koa are now. Some changes are for the better!

Being Tourists on the North Shore

Shave Ice!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen has been thrilled with the arrival of her grandparents and her Aunt Tia! They landed yesterday afternoon, and life has been tons of fun for Kathleen ever since. These people are full of games and toys and entertaining ideas. A little nervous of the "strangers" at first, Kathleen is now completely adjusted to them, and loving every minute of their visit.

Today we played tourists on the North Shore, visiting Aoki's Shave Ice, eating at Giovanni's Shrimp Shack in Kahuku, and watching the turtles swim in the ocean. It was a great day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

New Rocking Chair
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Since it's already Valentine's Day in Iraq, this evening Kathleen tested out her Valentine's Day present from Mommy and Daddy, a Kathleen-sized rocking chair. Kathleen loves the rocking chair in her bedroom, which we use to rock her before she goes to sleep. She often asks for help to sit in the chair by herself and rock. But, a full-sized rocker is difficult (if not dangerous) for a toddler to navigate. So, we thought that perhaps a smaller rocking chair was in order.

Kathleen still has a little bit of difficulty getting into the little rocking chair on her own, but she really likes to try! She particularly likes sliding out of it... She also enjoys moving the chair all over the living room and putting her stuffed animals in and out of it. (She even dragged Olivia over to give her a turn.)

Another reason we thought that a small chair might be a good Valentine's Day present has to do with Kathleen's preferred method of viewing "Signing Time." Unless she's really pretty tired, in which case she'll sit on your lap on the sofa, here's how Kathleen watches the television:

With the new chair, we're hoping to see more of this:

It didn't work tonight, exactly. Kathleen was in and out of the chair and ultimately wound up hanging on the edge of the television as she normally does. But perhaps she'll improve. We live in hope!

Hugs and kisses to Daddy for Valentine's Day. We miss you!

Making Our Own Fun

Stirring Things Up
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

For those of you who don't know, Daddy is definitely the fun one in our house. Mommy's good for making food and for drying tears, but Daddy's best for fun. So, with Daddy gone for a little while, we're working on making our own fun.

When we found ourselves at about 4:45 in the afternoon and unbearably cranky the other day, we knew we needed a plan. It was too late to go anywhere in the car and too early for bathtime. (Bathtime before dinner would never fly here. We'd just need two baths, then.) So, we had bubble time instead! We outfitted Kathleen in an apron, filled the kitchen sink with a lavish amount of dish soap and water, and went to town. We got bubbles all over the kitchen, but it doesn't get much cleaner than soap and water. (Hey, my kitchen probably needs the help.) Kathleen was amused, as you can see from the pictures, and together we managed to stave off the crankiness until we could reasonably have dinner and a bath.

Godspeed, Daddy!

Cheery at 2am
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Last night we said goodbye to Daddy, who left for Iraq. As seems to be customary in the Army, he departed in the middle of the night. Saying goodbye is always hard, and last night was no exception. But for a little girl woken up in the wee hours of the morning to wait around for a few more hours in the rain on post, Kathleen handled it like a trooper. The thing she seemed most upset about is that we wouldn't let her run around on the wet pavement in her pajama-ed feet!

We say goodbye to Daddy a lot -- when he leaves for work in the morning, when he goes back to work after lunch, when he takes out the trash, when he goes for a run -- so I'm not sure that this saying goodbye seemed much different to Kathleen. Of course, it is different. I haven't yet come up with an entirely satisfactory answer to Kathleen's more-than-occasional queries of "Dada?" For now I've just said that he's at work and that he'll be back in a while. We've been looking at his pictures, though, and watching the video he made reading stories for Kathleen. "Dada" is still Kathleen's favorite thing to say.

Daddy will be gone for about six months. We're grateful that this deployment is as short as it is, especially as our dear friends handle full-year deployments. We trust that God will sustain us through the separation and that He will use it for good in our lives and to His glory. He has already been faithful, even in the first day. I'd been afraid that the middle of the night departure would make for an exhausted mommy and a cranky Kathleen, but our day has been remarkably peaceful.

We love you and we miss you, Daddy. Be safe and come home soon!

Joy to the Fishies...

Look at this!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We visited the Honolulu Aquarium on Wednesday, giving Kathleen ample opportunity to use the sign for "fish." And sign she did, although you'd never know it from our photos... Our silly little camera is too slow to catch Kathleen actually signing. Instead we get photos like this one, where I have to say, "No, honestly, she was just signing fish and then curled her hand into a fist the moment we took this picture."

Kathleen loved the fish and the monk seal, appeared unimpressed by sharks, and laughed delightedly when a hermit crab ran across Mommy's hand. She loved being able to walk (or run) up to the tanks and watch the fish swim right by her! The aquarium is small, but provided more than enough to interest Kathleen. When the variety of sealife eventually failed to hold her interest, she discovered a new fascination: the stroller. We'd taken the little, folding Combi stroller with us, a stroller we haven't used much lately, since we've either been running with the jogger or encouraging Kathleen to walk. Kathleen took to pushing the light-weight stroller around (into us, into curbs, into everything), and putting her puppy Aloha in and out of the seat. There's entertainment everywhere for Kathleen!

From One Paradise to Another

Since Jim's deployment is drawing nearer (nearer than Kathleen and I like to admit most days), we decided to take a mini-vacation to make the most of the time we have together. We booked a four-day trip to the neighboring island of Kauai, and even though we had lousy weather, we enjoyed every minute of our visit.

Kathleen was very excited about the airport and riding in a plane. Plane is one of her favorite signs, and it got a lot of use at the airport. (She'd just finished making the sign for plane with her left hand in this picture.)



The flight from Honolulu to Lihue is only 35 minutes long -- 18 minutes of that is actually airborne. That's the kind of flying that's manageable with a toddler!

We had initially reserved a hotel room at a resort on the Coconut Coast, but when we arrived and filled it with the three of us, a crib, our luggage, and the jogging stroller, we realized that making Kathleen's schedule work in one room might be a bit of a stretch. There were bungalows on the resort, too, and we asked about upgrading to one of those. The upgrade would cost a bundle more, but when we walked by the bungalows (with their ocean views) and thought about the extra space and peace-of-mind, we decided it would be worth it. However, when we talked to the lady at the front desk, she said, "I just read the notes on your reservation, and I see you're about to deploy to Iraq. I have a son-in-law in Iraq and a son-in-law in the Horn of Africa." And she upgraded us for free! Here's the view from the bungalow's lanai:



The bungalow was such a blessing. It allowed us to put Kathleen to bed at her regular time and take her morning nap, as well. We'd get up in the morning, take a run along the oceanfront trail, have some breakfast in our bungalow, and then Kathleen would nap in the bedroom while Jim and I read on the lanai. When Kathleen woke again, we'd throw her in the rental car and explore the island. (She grabbed her afternoon nap while we were driving around.)

As I mentioned, we didn't have great weather for our trip. It rained a lot, and there were high winds, so some of the sight-seeing didn't go quite as it should have. For example, Kauai is home to Waimea Canyon, which Mark Twain called the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific." Here's our picture of that natural wonder:



Oh, well. We'll just have to go back to see that again sometime. Even in the rain, there's no denying the beauty of Kauai's mountains and beaches. They're just incredible. Less developed than Oahu, Kauai looks like what you think tropical paradise should be. We saw mountains and jungle and rain forest and wide, sandy beaches. And every now and then the weather would break, and we'd get a moment like this:



We hope we'll be able to go back to Kauai again -- and actually enjoy some sun!

Punchbowl

On Sunday we drove into town to go to church with our friends the Autrys, who attend St. Andrews, a beautiful, historic Episcopalian church in Honolulu. We enjoyed worshiping with them and are excited that George and Adeline will be baptized there at the Easter Vigil this spring. Kathleen's favorite part of the service was the ribbon banner that's part of the processional and recessional -- she got very excited to see it twirling in the air!

After church we decided to drive to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, which is better known as Punchbowl. The cemetery's momument to the fallen soldiers of the Pacific is impressive and sobering. The view from Punchbowl is breathtaking, as well.