Geckos and RATS

One of our favorite things about living in Hawaii is the gecko. Some might find it disturbing to have a little "lizard" in their house, but the gecko is not your average lizard. It is a symbol of good luck. They eat the bugs and delight the girls. Who could ask for more than that? An adult gecko is only about 3 inches long. They are night animals so we usually see them at night. For a few weeks Katelyn had a gecko that would come out at bedtime and carefully watch over her at night. She remembers the "dedo" in her prayers every night. If you ask her where the gecko is, no matter where you are, she will point up. Last night at cub scouts our friend Dawn was holding Katelyn when she was asked to say the closing prayer. Katelyn realized she was saying a prayer and started shouting, dedo, dedo, dedo. She didn't want Dawn to forget the gecko in her prayer. On our way up the stairs to take the girls to bed we found a gecko on the wall so we had a photo session with the gecko.




Uh Oh, the gecko ran up Katelyn's arm. Don't worry, she recovered quickly.

Now, on to the not so delightful part of Hawaii. The RATS! We have heard tell of the rats, even seen a few eating oranges out of our tree. We set traps on the fence and haven't had problems since, until last night. I have no pictures of the following scene, so you will have to picture it in your mind.

We were just about to go to bed. I went into the kitchen for one last thing. I hear a scurry on the other side of the bar. I think, I thought I just saw Jake in the bedroom and that doesn't really sound like Jake anyway. Then I see it, a big fat RAT. It runs under the counter and slips in behind the stove. I scream for Rusty. He comes running. I tell him what happened. He goes outside and gets one of the rat traps from the fence. I stand guard with the broom so it can't get out of the kitchen. Jake helps me. Then he is trying to decide where the rat would go. We can't leave the rat trap in front of the stove. There is a remote chance the one of the girls would set it off, and those things are huge. He pulls the stove away from the wall and doesn't see a rat. He asks, are you sure you saw a rat. I have no doubts. A 14 inch rat (from head to tail) is not my imagination. He opens the drawer underneath the stove (which thankfully has nothing in it) and stares into the eyes of the RAT. We deliberate on the situation for awhile. I call Holly, who greatly appreciates the vision, as she just saw a rat in her house for the first time this week also. O.k., it's getting intense. We get a golf club. Rusty's plan is to poke the rat up against the wall, then kill it by smashing it with a golf club. Jake and I stand guard in case the rat makes a break for it. Our job is to keep it in the kitchen, and if it gets out, run after it to see where it goes. The rat will not stay against the wall. He almost jumps onto the counter. Then he makes a break for it. I start screaming. I swat it into the kitchen once. He scurries. Rusty is batting at him with the golf club. Jake is running around trying to eat him. I am still screaming. I hit him again with the broom, and again. Still screaming. Still batting. Still running around trying to eat him. He dodges to the left and runs into the play area. He is holed up behind a bean bag chair. Or so we think. Jake and I stand guard while Rusty yanks up the bean bags. He was nowhere. Our best guess is that he escaped through a cracked screen behind the bean bags.

Maybe if he is still in the house the geckos will eat him.

Spearfishing

Rusty started spearfishing pretty much as soon as we moved to Hawaii. Since there isn't a whole lot of hunting on the island, he made up the difference with spearfishing. The sport involves freediving or diving with a wetsuit, really long fins, and a weight belt to help you get to the bottom. Once you get to the bottom you try to attract the fish in various ways and hope one gets within shooting range. Then you shoot the fish and swim back to the top before you run out of breath. Mike, Rusty's brother, is part of the fun. They also have several friends that go with them. Kalani is pictured on the far left with Mike and Rusty. He is a veteran spearfisherman and has helped Mike and Rusty with equipment choice, technique, and learning the best ways to cook the fish. Also pictured is Nelson, and Ernest (not pictured) is another favorite spearfishing partner.

They have learned which fish to shoot and not to shoot. All of these are delicious fresh fish.

Kyleigh and Katelyn get excited when daddy comes home with fish. Katelyn equates the cooler with fish. Whenever she sees the cooler she says "fssshhhhy."

Neither of them are afraid to touch or hold the fish. Pictured below is Katelyn feeling the fsssshhhhy.

I like the fresh fish, too. Everybody wins.

Fathers Day

We had a fun fathers day this year. The girls and I made Rusty some fun presents. Each of the girls made him a tie and we attached candy to them. Katelyn gave him tootsie rolls and Kyleigh gave him lifesaver mints. They decorated the bags that they put them in. Kyleigh made him a wheel. We gave him the wheel in the morning and every hour he got to spin the wheel and whatever it landed on she did for him. There was a back scratch, get him a drink or snack, hugs and kisses, etc. They had fun with that all day.

We also gave him a picture frame with three pictures. In the pictures the girls are holding letters that spell dad. The idea is to take pictures with the same three letters every year and replace the pictures in the frame. How fun is that.


Mike and Holly came over for the afternoon and we had a special fish dinner with cheesecake for dessert. Happy Fathers day to Rusty. You are such a great daddy!!!

Kukiolono Golf Course and Park

Kukiolono is a golf course/park in Kalaheo. It is a fairly short walk from our house and best of all they allow dogs (on leashes, of course) which is kind of a rarity around here. We try to go on a walk up there regularly. Kyleigh's favorite is a golf ball hike. Rusty found a path that goes down into a ravine type place. It is under one of the golf holes and people hit golf balls into the ravine all the time. It is kind of like an easter egg hunt and every time we hike down there we come out with atleast fifty golf balls, many of them expensive, brand new balls. Kyleigh also loves Rusty to swing her (as seen below). She has fun and he gets a good arm workout.



Alot of times we take Kyleigh's bike and she dings her little bell whenever she is behind us, around any other people or dogs, when she is going around a rock or over a crack in the path. Pretty much all the time.

One time we left the stroller and bike in a grassy spot because both of the girls wanted to walk. When we came back a lady was standing next to our stuff and she had called the cops. I think she was afraid we had been forced to leave our things behind or something. She was nice and glad we were O.K. They called the cops back and all was well.

The girls like to take turns walking Jake. Even though he is getting older and slower we are still afraid he will see a cat or something and pull them into the ground running after it.

For this purpose we invented the double leash method. I walk Jake on the six foot leash and we give Katelyn the retractable leash. If he decides to run after something he hits the end of my leash long before he hits the end of hers and she thinks she is walking him by herself because no one is holding onto "her" leash. Everyone is happy.

Katelyn is getting so big she can almost walk the whole way be herself and she screams when we try to put her back in the stroller. The problem is that she is so independent that she wants to walk her own way. Most kids will follow when you say, "O.k., we are leaving now, see you later." Katelyn doesn't even care. When you are out of site, she is not fazed in any way. Every time we end up returning because she refuses to follow. Oh well, I'm sure it is a great trait, the kind you want your kids to have when their peers are doing stupid things.

Kukiolono (koo key o low no) is a golf course that was created as the private golf course of a man who is buried in the chinese garden that is on the golf course. He donated it to the state and it was turned over to their care after he passed away. I am thankful to generous people that give for the enjoyment of the public.

Pre-School Graduation

Kyleigh is officially a preschool graduate! We had so much fun doing preschool this year. The name of the preschool was Keiki Preschool (Keiki in Hawaiian is children, pronounced kaykey). It was a rotating preschool with myself and 5 other moms. One of the mom's created the program when her older kids were small and it was fabulous. Kyleigh went to preschool 2 days a week for 2 hours each time. We had a group of songs we sang at the beginning of each day including "there are 7 days of the week," "What's the weather," and "here we are together." A rotating trifold display board highlighted jobs for the day, birthdays, the current weather, and a calender. There was a theme for each preschool day. Each theme had ideas for circle time, books to read, crafts, activities, songs, and snacks. Themes were widely varied from doctors and dentists, to amazing ants. We had four field trips toward the end of the year. They included a train ride, trip to the police station, trip to the fire house, and a morning at the botanical garden where the kids were scientists classifying seed types. Everyone was sad to see it end but most of us have younger kids and it will probably be close to the same group doing preschool for the next bunch of kids in a year or two. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

The graduate with her candy lei's.

Marching in to pomp and circumstance (yes, they actually played pomp and circumstance).

Receiving her diploma.

Throwing her hat in the air.

The whole family.

Rise and Shine

My favorite time of the day is morning. This particular morning both girls slept in and looked so cute I had to take pictures of them. When Katelyn wakes up I pick her up out of bed (she is usually in her own crib, not my bed) and she always hugs me and pats my back like I am her baby. Kyleigh wakes up and asks if it is a preschool day. Both of them like to snuggle and play in bed before they get up. How could it not be my favorite time of day?

What's new?

Rusty and Kyleigh had fun cleaning up the yard in preparation for ......


Holly and baby Naiya's shower. We had a book shower where everyone brought books as gifts (among lots of other fun gifts). The shower was based on Holly's favorite children's book, Streganona. It is about an old witch who has a magic pasta pot. We had chicken alfredo pasta and garlic bread for the food. We also had books for prizes for the winners of the games.

I even did my best in an attempt to make a "book" cake. This is two full size cakes with color copied pages from Streganona that were laminated with contact paper. I didn't want to actually laminate them because I needed them to be more flexible so I could bend them over the cakes. I trimmed the edges of the cakes so they would look like an open book and layed a ribbon across the middle for a bookmark. It was a fun thing to try.

Baby Naiya is getting bigger and bigger. Her sweet little cheeks are filling out and to Rusty's delight she will suck on his nose when she is hungry. (He has always thought this is so funny).

We had a momentous occasion last Sunday. Look closely in the picture and you will see Katelyn's ponytails. That's right, her hair is just long enough for some scroinky little ponytails.

Kyleigh continues to be the best big cousin and quite creative in her endless inventions. This one is a Maya wrap. Holly was given one as a gift and it wraps around Holly just like this one wraps around KyKy. The baby fits right inside and makes for a hands free holder without the baby's legs hanging out the bottom like a front pack. Kyleigh created one out of Christmas wrapping paper and you can see her tiny little doll's legs sticking out in this picture.

Between Kyleigh and Katelyn we hardly stop laughing around here!