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.