Laundry

So, as you can see, eating is still a very messy proposition around here. And it's not the sort of messy that a mere bib can solve. But I've got to say, this is some of the cutest dirty laundry I've seen...

A Spring Surprise

A few weeks ago, my friend R. invited me and two other friends to join her at Waimea Falls one Saturday for a surprise. Waimea Falls is a park on the North Shore, just across from the famous white sand beach, Waimea Bay. The park is gorgeous -- it's lush and green and, as its name suggests, even boasts a waterfall. Who could refuse an invitation to such a garden paradise? R. was very mysterious about the surprise, which only added to the appeal!

That Saturday R. and Sarah and I met up at the park and walked in together. Madeline accompanied me in the jogger; Jim and Kathleen attended Kathleen's gymnastics class, instead. (Kathleen refers to the class as 'nastics, which amuses me no end.) R. came with her own jogger, although her boys stayed home! I was still in the dark as we made our way through the park, but when we stopped at a table in a part of the park that used to be an ancient village, the surprise became clear. R. unpacked her loaded jogger to treat us to tea!

R. had brought everything we needed to enjoy a special "welcome spring" tea in our tropical paradise. Table linens, china, hot water, Hawaiian teas, and scrumptious food. We had tea sandwiches, fresh fruit, scones, cookies... We never even touched the cheesecake. I'm full just remembering it. And look at how beautifully it was presented!

It was such a sweet surprise. We three friends were able to sit under the tropical canopy, sipping tea, indulging in R.'s tasty treats, and savoring one another's company. In the calm and quiet of the park it felt as though we'd left all the hustle and bustle of our lives behind us. We could truly enjoy the moment. As we sipped and talked, R. explained that the tea party was part of a spring tea competition for a blog she frequents. Sarah and I had to laugh, because we know R. is nothing if not competitive! You can read R.'s version of the day (with more and better photos!) here. When our tea was finished, we packed it all back into R.'s jogger and meandered through the park and up to the waterfall. Madeline (who'd been an absolute sweetheart) fell asleep on the way.

Soon our quiet, laughing, chatting break ended, and we headed our separate ways. But what a lavish treat for us. Everything about it was beautiful and blessed. Thank you, R., not just for tea, but for friendship. I promise to host our next tea!

Easter Treats

Our Easter started bright and early with an Easter egg hunt for Kathleen. It had been a bit rainy, so we abandoned any hope of doing the hunt outside. Instead, Kathleen hunted in the living room and on the lanai. There were colored eggs, plastic eggs, and chocolate eggs for Kathleen.

Kathleen loved hunting the treats. She'd run to get something and then stop, jump, and say, "My found it!" Every now and then she'd yell, "My love it!" And as the eggs became a little more difficult to find, she'd say, "My keep looking. Here somewhere..." She sampled a few of all the treats, and kept asking Daddy to unwrap more for her. We laughed out loud when, after a few tentative licks, she stuffed an entire Peep in her mouth. You can probably see it (or at least her chipmunk cheeks) in some of the photographs!

The dyed eggs turned into a bit of a mess for us. We'd stored them in the refrigerator (they do have to be refrigerated, right?) and put them out just before Kathleen woke. The combination of the cold eggs and the humid Hawaiian weather made for some sweaty eggs. The dye got all over Kathleen's hands and her little duck nightgown before we realized what was happening. Fortunately for us, we were able to pat the eggs dry after that, and everything washed clean eventually, anyway!

And lest anyone think we'd forgotten about Madeline, there were baby rice crackers all over, too. As Kathleen found each one, she'd say, "Baby Madeline's cracker! My put it in her basket!" Madeline certainly appreciated Kathleen's hard work.

Both sets of grandparents generously sent books for the girls, among other treats. Jim and Kathleen took a little break to read through one:

Nan and Grandpa O'Connor also sent the girls bunnies, which they loved. Madeline promptly set about eating Peter Rabbit.

Peter Rabbit wasn't the only thing that caught Madeline's fancy. She also seemed fascinated by the Easter grass that had fallen from Kathleen's basket and would go to great lengths to try to grab it. Apparently Easter grass was the motivation she needed, because on Easter morning she learned to crawl!

Our church offered an Easter breakfast, but we were having so much fun that we skipped it. We stayed home to eat breakfast in our pajamas (it wasn't all chocolate, we promise!) and sneak in a few extra snuggles before heading to service.

If you ask Kathleen what Easter is about, she'll tell you, "Jesus!" She follows that up with, "Jesus loves us!" We hope that your Easter was filled with the sweetness of our Savior's love -- and some candy, too!

Reconnected

Well, blogosphere, you can't keep me away!

Just before Jim left, we recalled that our old desktop was gathering dust in the hall storage closet. Last night I spent a few minutes pulling it out of the closet and setting it up. That took surprisingly less time than I'd imagined. I'd waited until the girls went to sleep because I thought it'd be an ordeal. In less than five minutes it was all set up. Of course, there's a reason the desktop has been in storage. It lumbers, rather than runs. (Setting it up took under five minutes. Starting it up took far longer!) Occasionally it doesn't even run. But until Jim returns, it'll be good enough.

The girls and I easily could have survived the next week or so without a computer. The world won't end if I don't blog or check e-mail. But having access to the computer certainly simplifies things. As he visits schools, Jim is carrying on e-mail conversations with a number of professors. Their messages will be an important part of our decision to attend a particular graduate school. We'd tried having Jim relay the most important parts of messages to me when he called, but after a while that just got sort of awkward and inefficient. Now that I can read the e-mail traffic, things should go a little more smoothly. Our lumbering old desktop means that I can actually participate (at least a little more intelligently) in our decision about where to attend school. And as long as it's up, I may as well blog. Thank goodness for technology, even the lumbering sort!

Incommunicado

Well, dear friends, it will likely be about ten or eleven days until you hear from our circus again. Jim is taking a whirlwind trip to the mainland, in which he'll visit three graduate schools (Chicago, Princeton, and Ohio State) and, sadly, attend the funeral for one of his soldiers, who died in a motorcycle accident last weekend. Although the girls and I are staying at home, e-mail is the most reliable way for Jim to stay in touch with work and the various programs he'll be visiting, so our happy little laptop is taking the trip with him. Thus, no blogging for a bit. We'll be back, though. And I'm sure we'll have plenty of misadventures to share when we return.

In the meantime, if you have a moment, please say a prayer for Jim -- that he'll travel safely (without lost baggage!), that he'll be a comforting presence to the family of his soldier, and that the visits to graduate schools will give him the information he needs to make a wise decision about the best program for him to attend. Thanks, friends. Perhaps when he returns we'll have news of where we'll go!

Eggs, Eggs, Eggs

Our self-imposed quarantine ended on Thursday, just in time for the battalion Easter Egg Hunt. I had to wake both girls from their naps in order to go, but once we arrived there weren't any complaints!

Kathleen jumped right into the fun, testing out the bounce house.

After a bit, the egg hunt officially started. It took a little explaining, the whole "hang onto your basket, pick up an egg, put it in your basket, look for another" thing... But eventually Kathleen managed to collect a respectable number of eggs. Whenever she found one, she'd shout, "Hooray!" She was even more enthusiastic after the hunt, when she realized they had candy!

Kathleen and Jim also competed in the egg toss. Although they didn't win, Kathleen loved throwing the egg. She has quite an arm.

Miraculously, neither of them got egged!

Kathleen was considerably less excited about the Easter Bunny. Our unit chaplain -- good sport that he is -- played that role for the day, a job I didn't envy in the heat! Anyway, no amount of coaxing would convince Kathleen that she should get close to him. When asked if she wanted to hug him, like her friend Grace did, she replied with a strong, "NO THANK YOU!" Even though Daddy held her, she wasn't even sure that she wanted her photograph with that Bunny.

However, when we explained that the Easter Bunny had brought all the candy, she did thank him -- and sweetly, at that!

Having practiced the art of egg hunting, on Friday we worked on some egg decorating.

Madeline loved watching the colorful commotion. We had to watch out, though, because her reach is quite long -- she almost got dyed herself! Kathleen was also delighted by all the colors, but seemed to favor the orange dye. That's probably because it was closest to her. You can see her influence in our completed eggs... there are a lot of orange ones!

We hope that your preparations for Easter have been as much fun, and we wish you a joyful blessed Easter.

Our Days Indoors

Fortunately, we seem to be finished with hand-foot-and-mouth-disease. We're glad of that, because we were getting a little stir-crazy, cooped up inside. We'd read books, colored, done puzzles. . . we'd done everything! So we decided to mix up some fun and made playdough.

If you've not made your own playdough, I highly recommend it. It's inexpensive, it's easy, and you know exactly what your toddler is putting in her mouth, if she's inclined to taste her toys . . .(Not that that ever happens around here.) Even better, the salt in the recipe makes the surreptitious tasting a little less appealing! If you need a recipe for playdough, here's the one we use:

3 cups flour
1.5 cups salt
3 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp cream of tartar
3 cups water ( If you're making colored playdough, add food coloring to the water. Make it really, really bold, because once you add it to the other ingredients the color becomes a lot lighter. Pink playdough is easy. Red playdough, not so much.)

Combine all ingredients in a large pot over low heat. Stir continuously until no longer sticky. (Really, just keep stirring. It'll come together, but it takes a while. Stop stirring and it might burn. Ick!) Store in an air-tight container.

Kathleen requested purple playdough. Even though it looks grey here, it's purple. Sort of. I think I need to go back for some sort of color tutorial! Playing with playdough kept Kathleen occupied for some time. Her favorite toy -- my old garlic press. At least someone's using it!

Madeline didn't get to play with the playdough, but she was hard at work, too. She's more and more chatty. She's babbling and squealing all the time, making her own little running commentary on our circus. I think when she actually speaks, she's going to have a lot to say! Also, as I've mentioned before, she hasn't quite worked out the whole crawling thing. She's got all the component parts -- she can sit herself up, she rocks back and forth on all fours, she moves from a sit as though she's going to crawl, she scoots around on her bottom or on her tummy, mostly backwards. And out of nowhere the other day, she managed this:

(I do have a cover for that outlet, but I'd just finished vaccuuming in there, which is why it's off. Just so you know!) Anyway, I've been saying this for weeks now, but I think this girl will be on the move any day now!

An Afternoon at Our House

Last week (before the onslaught of illness) we spent an afternoon in our front yard, whiling away the time until Daddy got home from work. We meant to meet him out front, but by the time he actually came home, we'd all eaten supper and the girls were in the bath... Still, we had fun.

Madeline played on a quilt on the lawn. Although she hasn't quite figured out crawling, she's quite good at scooting and wiggling around on her bottom. She kept moving herself to the edge of the blanket so that she could snack on the lawn. She had a whole basket of toys to entertain herself with, but she prefered the lawn. Eventually she settled for munching on a bug toy. At least it was a toy!

Kathleen "painted" the front walk for me, with an old paintbrush and a little bucket of water and foodcoloring. (Good thing it's just food coloring, because she prefers to paint things pink, which might not be Jim's first choice!) It's one of my favorite distractions for her, and one I loved as a little girl. My sister and I spent hours "painting" the patio in our backyard. When Kathleen announced that she'd finished, we decided to water the flowers and the lawn. But Kathleen can't resist a sprinkler, it turned into a little more waterplay than we'd first imagined. Still, you have to love the good, clean fun of a sprinkler!

We're grateful that spring here is more like summer, so that we can sit in the sun and run around in wet clothes in the beginning of March. There's a good chance there won't be much of that next year, wherever we wind up!

So much for the luck of the Irish...

I'm beginning to think that "the luck of the Irish" isn't actually for those of Irish descent. Because if it were, as an O'Connor (well, formerly, at least), I'd be having a fairly lucky St. Patrick's Day. And for the second year in a row, that's just not the case.

Poor Kathleen seems to have hand-foot-and-mouth-disease. I say "seems to have" because thanks to the whims of Tripler Hospital and Tricare, getting Kathleen seen by a pediatrician right now will take an act of Congress. . . I realized that her diaper rash wasn't actually a diaper rash when she was taking a bath on Sunday night, and I noticed that she had little bumps and blisters on her hands and feet, as well. A quick google search reinforced my suspicions -- it looked just like hand-foot-and-mouth disease, which I remember having as a little girl. (What did parents do before the internet?!) Although we couldn't get to a doctor in person, we spoke with our favorite doctor, Aunt Angela, on the phone. She assured us that there's no treatment for the lovely hand-foot-and-mouth-disease. All we can do is use tylenol for fever or discomfort and try to push liquids. And since it's "highly contagious," we've got to stay away from any other children. Poor little Kathleen.

That being said, Kathleen doesn't seem too uncomfortable. She has been a little cranky, but that's to be expected. (And, frankly, knowing that she is sick explains the past couple days of crankiness. I kept taking her temperature, because she sort of seemed sick, but the thermometer said she was fine, the liar!) Still, being home-bound wasn't exactly what we had planned for St. Patrick's Day. In fact, most of our plans hinged on being able to get out buy some things at the commissary. Thankfully, Daddy was our hero and came to our rescue, making the all-important commissary run at lunchtime!

So, we celebrated St. Patrick's Day in a subdued fashion. We'd intended to decorate cookies for all our little friends, but that suddenly seemed distinctly unkind. Since we'd been talking up the cookies for days, we still decorated some, but only enough for our family.

Kathleen used the green, orange, and shamrock-shaped sprinkles with abandon, decorating the cookies with all the subtlety of a two-year old. You can't see it in this photo, but the tray has about a quarter-inch of sprinkles all around!

We enjoyed the cookies after our dinner of Irish stew and soda bread, a meal Kathleen rejected in favor of kiwi and only kiwi. (At least it's green. And a fruit. It could be worse, right?) Madeline also passed on the stew, instead enjoying a sampling of some of her favorite homemade purees -- pears, prunes, and butternut squash. That doesn't sound like much a celebration to me, but she seemed pretty happy.

We hope all of you enjoyed a happy and healthy St. Patrick's Day, and that you're enjoying the luck we haven't had!

Celebratory Pancakes

The circus stopped for a celebratory breakfast Friday. Even though it was a workday, the four of us managed to get to the Koa Pancake House for an omlette and some banana pancakes in enough time for Jim to zoom into work. (Banana pancakes -- another thing I just didn't appreciate until we moved to Hawaii. I'm not a banana person, really, but I love banana pancakes.)

We're so proud of our daddy!

We were in a celebratory mood on Friday morning because Jim heard from not one, but two of the PhD programs that he'd applied to. And both said yes! They were the last two graduate schools to notify us and it felt like we had been waiting forever. Hooray for acceptance letters!

In addition to being excited about Jim's acceptances, the news made us happy because we now know at least a little more about where we'll be headed next year. We'll be living in one of the following places: Chicago (University of Chicago), Columbus (The Ohio State University), Princeton (Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton), or Palo Alto (Stanford University). The only school that didn't want us was the University of California at Berkeley. And considering all the nonsense that's been going on there about the Marine recruiting office, I'm not sure that's entirely bad thing. (My favorite coverage of the demonstrations in Berkeley has been from The Daily Show. If you're a fan of the show, you might want to check it here.) Even though we haven't decided where we'll go, it's nice to have four, definitive options. Only Army life could make you feel like four choices is really narrowing down your options!

Practicing for Celebrity

We recently asked Kathleen what she'd like to be when she grows up. To our surprise, she answered, "Singer." We were thinking more along the lines of doctor. Or mommy. But, hey, she does like to sing. She sings all the time. I actually love listening to her over the baby monitor when she wakes in the morning or before she falls asleep at night, because she belts out her favorite tunes. (Her lyrics are a bit muddled, but she's got time.)

She must have been practicing for her intended career as a musical superstar the other night when we went for dinner at our local hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. For whatever reason, she decided to wear her sunglasses for the meal. Perhaps she was going incognito:

Come to think of it, she does always travel with an entourage...

And if the photos aren't enough to convince you that our firstborn is destined for stardom, check out her dancing!

Enjoying Our Island

We've already begun to think about the next place our circus will pitch its tent. We're not leaving the island this week, or next month, or even the month after that. But sometime before next fall our family will find ourselves somewhere else entirely. (Where? Good question. I'll let you know as soon I find out.) Knowing that, we've been trying to make the most of our time here on this island paradise. And on Saturday afternoon we did just that.

After the girls woke from their naps, we loaded everyone up in the car and headed for Waikiki. Now, although Waikiki seems to be "the" destination for every tourist to visit the island, we don't actually visit it much. There's almost always ridiculous traffic and crowds of people. We'd much rather visit the closer (and more laidback) North Shore, or take the girls swimming in Ko 'Olina's lagoons. But Waikiki has lots to offer, too, and we sampled some of it...

We headed right for the Waikiki Aquarium, which we love. Now, if you live somewhere where there's a large, impressive aquarium, you might not love our little aquarium. But we do! It has just enough for our girls. They don't have an attention span that's long enough to justify a big, fancy aquarium. The Waikiki Aquarium is right on the water at Kapiolani Park, so its setting is gorgeous. And it has some lovely exhibits -- we like the tidepools, and Kathleen loves the seals and the sharks. Plus, the girls are free and we have a military/kama'aina discount, so it's not particularly expensive. We like to go, visit the aquarium for an hour or so, and then stroll through Kapiolani Park and right into the heart of Waikiki.

Kathleen loved watching all the brightly colored tropical fish. It's really a shame she's not old enough to snorkel!

And I discovered my new favorite sea creature:

(Thanks, internet, for the photo! None of mine turned out...)

It's called a weedy seadragon, which is a great name, to begin with. They only live off the coast of Australia, the smart little guys, and when they're swimming their little flipper-things move so quickly that they're just a blur. They look like something that came out of special effects for a movie!

The last time we'd visited the aquarium was more than a year ago, the day before Jim deployed to Iraq. It was wonderful to watch Jim and Kathleen together and to know that we'll have lots more time like this in the years ahead. And it made me realize how much happens in the time the guys are gone. . . Just look at Jim and his baby girl last February:

And look at them now!

After we'd checked out all the fish, we headed back through Kapiolani Park, watching the water and all the people enjoying the sunny weather. We made our way through all the tourists, feeling rather smug that we don't have to pack our enjoyment into just a few days. We had a leisurely dinner at Duke's, where we spent some more time watching the water, and particularly the sunset. We ate opah, or moonfish, breaded with macadamia nuts. . . It was so delicious that I couldn't even feel guilty about eating the pretty little things we'd just been admiring. And we finished our meal with some hula pie. I'm definitely going to miss hula pie!

All that, and we managed to get the girls home and into bed less than a half an hour later than normal. Now, that's an enjoyable evening!

Off-Season Fun

We don't have fall here. We do have the start of the school year (although it's at the end of July), and we do have Halloween and Thanksgiving and all that. We just don't have seasons. Not really, anyway. We don't really get a fall or a winter or a spring. So far as I can tell, we have summer and cooler-and-rainier-summer. But even though we don't have fall, we do have leaves!

Last week, while Madeline was taking a morning nap, Kathleen and I headed outside for a bit of yardwork. After we'd watered our flowers (they're still doing great, Grandpa!), we decided to rake up all the stray leaves in the backyard. At first Kathleen just wanted to play with the rake. Eventually, though, she decided the leaves were more fun...

Crunching the leaves...

Whoops!

"Cover up me, Mama!"

Just imagine when she sees autumn on the mainland!

Tea for Three!

Kathleen and I have been enjoying tea parties since she first received her tea set. As she's grown, our little tea rituals have become more complicated. Kathleen can now pour tea, add a little milk, and spoon in some sugar. (All imaginary ingredients, of course.) She's an attentive hostess and will frequently ask if you'd like a "yiddle more" tea. She's also more than happy to whip up a treat upon request. Scones, clotted cream, cookies -- you name it, and she'll hand it to you on a moment's notice!

Occasionally our tea parties have been attended by one of Kathleen's stuffed animals (usually her giant Olivia doll from my Aunt Sharon). Lately, however, we've been having tea parties with Madeline! Now that Madeline can sit on her own and (perhaps more importantly) can grab things, she's a happy, if slightly rambunctious, addition to our tea parties.

Would you care for some tea, Baby Madeline?

Why thank you, Kathleen. I don't mind if I do!

Big Adventures on the Big Island

(A word of warning: in addition to being ridiculously late, this post will be ridiculously long and contain a ridiculous number of photographs. Call it an adventure in ridiculousness.)

Way back when Nan and Grandpa were visiting, we took advantage of a three day weekend to go on an adventure to a volcano! There aren't too many times in your life when a three day weekend means that you can visit an active volcano, and we'd been meaning to make the trip to the Big Island to visit Kilauea for some time. So, on a Friday morning, the six of us boarded a plane for the fifty minute flight to the Big Island. The flight alone would have been adventure enough for Kathleen, who pestered us about when we'd get on the airplane from the moment she woke that morning, which, not coincidentally, was the first she'd learned about the big plans. Good thing we had an early morning flight!

When we arrived in Hilo, we drove right to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park and made it there just in time for lunch. The military has a resort on the Big Island, right inside Volcanoes National Park, which couldn't have worked out better for us! We spent the weekend in a three bedroom cabin, which was ours for less than the price of a hotel room in other locations. Since our cabin wasn't quite ready for us, we threw caution to the wind (read: we skipped naps) and headed out to explore the park. Not too long into our exploration, both Madeline and Kathleen were sound asleep.

So, while the girls slept, the adults alternately whispered and pantomimed to one another, pointing out the unbelievable landscape as we drove our rental minivan down Chain of Craters road. The scenery is truly breathtaking. You can see the way the volcano's eruption has changed the landscape over the years. The lava has done distinctly different things at different points. It can be smooth and ripply or sort of crumbly... and in other places there are vents where big clouds of steam puff out of the ground! And out along the horizon is the startlingly blue water. Afraid that the sliding doors would wake our sleeping beauties, we just kept right on driving. Eventually we reached the end of the drivable road and held our breath (hoping we didn't wake the girls) to hop out and take a peek at this:

Amazing! After that Kathleen did wake, so at our next stop, she came with us. Madeline was still sleeping, so she and Nan took a little break while the rest of us hiked out to see petroglyphs carved in the lava rock. Kathleen got the best deal:

It wasn't a long hike; it was maybe 1.75 miles. But it was a gorgeous day and we could see out to the brilliantly blue ocean. Plus, we got to see the lava formations up-close and personal:

It was sort of amazing to see the petroglyphs carved in the rock. You see some of the characters so frequently (on so many touristy things) that I'd practically forgotten their origin!

By the time we finished hiking and driving (lots more driving!), we were able to check into our cabins, get settled, and have some dinner. Our cabin had a fireplace, and since the altitude makes the park cooler than we're accustomed to at home, we actually lit a fire. And since there was a fire, we had s'mores... Chocolate and marshmallows and graham crackers certainly made us happy! Messy, but happy.

Full of sweets and tired from our first big day of adventuring, we called it a day. Kathleen even slept in a twin bed for the first time. We were nervous, but (like so many other things) she wasn't! With a kitchen chair pushed up against her bed so she wouldn't fall out, she slept right through the night.

When we woke the next morning we were freezing! I don't know how cold is was, really, but it was awfully cold to us! (Friends on the mainland, feel free to mock us for our inability to handle temperature change. Moving back to the "real world" is going to be quite a shock.) Fortunately, the sun was out, so it warmed right up! But we made a habit of lighting a fire in the morning after that! And having the fire turned out to be just perfect for our slower-paced day. We decided to let Madeline take her morning nap while the rest of us relaxed -- we read, took walks, played at the playground (wonder which one of us that was!). And when Madeline awoke, we headed out to see some more volcano sights.

We decided to take a stroll through Thurston lava tube, a tunnel the lava created as it ran into the sea.

Kathleen passed on a ride in the Beco, leaving it for Madeline. Instead, Kathleen insisted on carrying her own backpack, laden with toys. We kept offering to take it for her, worried that it would weigh her down, but she wouldn't have any of it. "My carry it myself!" she'd insist. After the lava tube, we hiked to the edge of the Kilauea Iki Crater and peered in.

Wow! We hope to be able to go back some day when the girls are older and we can hike down into the crater. But after our little hikes our "do-it-myselfer" was tuckered out, so we headed back to the cabin and for a picnic lunch and naps. (Sightseeing with children is an entirely different matter than sightseeing without children!)

We spent the afternoon in Hilo, taking in the enormous banyan trees on Banyan Drive. Each tree was planted by a visiting celebrity. We saw trees planted by Amelia Earhart, Richard Nixon and FDR, to name a few. We also stopped by the Lili'uokalani Gardens and took a walk, enjoying not only the beautiful pagodas, bridges, and plants, but also the views of the bay. Kathleen was particularly impressed with the koi and the little crabs that played in the ponds.

We also visited Rainbow Falls, another sight Madeline missed because she was asleep in the carseat!

We had intended to spend our last day on the Big Island seeing more of the volcano, but we were stymied by Madame Pele (the volcano!). Of late, the volcano has been spewing a lot more sulfur gas into the atmosphere. Sulfur gas is poisonous, so parts of the park had been closed. We'd done our sightseeing in the open, safe areas of the park, but on Sunday even the open areas of the park weren't considered safe for babies and small children. The air quality was really bad. We snapped a quick photograph in front of the Kilaeua Caldera and then headed out of the park and into Hilo, where the air was at least moderately cleaner. We took an incredibly scenic drive along the waterfront, ate an enormous lunch at a local restaurant, and before we knew it, it was time to fly home.

We were happy to be able to share our big adventure with Nan and Grandpa... and we hope we get to have another one soon!

Of Parties and Prepositions

On the afternoon that Madeline was baptized we attended a very sweet birthday party for a very sweet girl. Kathleen's friend Charli turned two!

Charli, her sister McKenzie, and her parents are here on exchange from the Australian army. They live just across the street and next door to Kathleen's friends Luke and Grace, which is fantastic. We used to have two friends and now we have four! We are so blessed to know them. Not only is it fun to play with Charli and McKenzie -- it's great fun to listen to them, too. We love the little accents!

The party was held in the backyard. "Backyard" hardly captures the setting, though -- it was lush and green, shaded by huge old trees. The children ran and played while the adults relaxed. One of Kathleen's favorite spots was on the airplane teeter-totter. The toy was brand-new to the neighborhood, so it was a popular play place and usually crowded with kids. But when everyone else was eating some cake, Kathleen made a break for it!

And, since it was a birthday party, Kathleen got to sing "Happy Birthday." In Kathleen's version it's, "Happy Birthday at you," which never fails to get a chuckle out of me!

Happy Birthday at you, Charli!