"I having fun with my friends!"

We've spent the last week in a flurry of fun! Our friends John, Marie, and Anna Childress are here from North Carolina, and we've been enjoying every moment of their visit. It's been such a blessing to be able to spend time with them again and to get to meet and know Anna. She's such a little sweetheart -- just like her parents!

Kathleen is delighted with our visitors, whom she refers to collectively as "my friends." They're the subject of her first question each morning -- "Where my friends?" And she checks up on them periodically during the day. If she can't see them (and occasionally even when she can), she'll ask about them. Kathleen just doesn't want to lose track of them because, as she explains, "I having fun with my friends!"

Little girls having fun in the little house.

Our days have been so full! Over the last week we've visited beaches, strolled up to Waimea Falls, eaten shave ice, snorkeled in Hanauma Bay, and spotted about thirty sea turtles. We've gotten a lot of sun, snapped countless photographs, and moved around a TON of sand (which somehow sticks to our feet no matter how much we sweep the house!).

Here are just a few of our memorable touristy moments:

Dads and daughters (and another random little girl, apparently) took a swim at the lagoons.

We drove over to an air base on the Windward side of the island, where we found a beautiful and practically deserted beach with breath-taking views.

We drove up to the North Shore to make the little hike to Waimea Falls. Even though the falls were really, really small (not a lot of rain lately), we got a beautiful photo.

As we were leaving Waimea the girls got a little too close to a peacock. Just as Marie wondered out loud, "You don't think it'll be mean, do you?", the peacock darted its little head at Anna in a most menacing fashion. Anna was awfully brave!

We spent a day on Waikiki beach, where John and Marie did a little bit of kayaking.

Madeline perused the menu at Duke's Canoe Club. She's not tasted it, but she hears the Hula Pie is excellent.

And we discovered that everyone loves shave ice!

We'll be sharing more adventures this week, and we promise more pictures, too!