December 2010

Charlie, who started kindergarten a mere five months ago, is starting to read.  This boy refused to learn his alphabet, as he insisted that he would learn when he started school.  I wasn't worried about his intelligence, as he frequently used phrases such as "Oh, I just adore Maisy" when talking about how he feels about our little dog.  And I trusted that he'd learn what he needed in good time.  So it has been quite a pleasure to see him first learn his letter sounds and names, and now learn how to put them together.  He's rather nonchalant about it all, but I'm very proud of him.  Of course, I can't show that I'm proud of him since he would find it to be a lot of fuss about nothing and just make him mad.  Or frustrated, as he would say, since he tends to like more precise language. 

Our December is flying along.  I can't believe how quick it has been!  I was in the midst of finals week, but at this point I have on last class to go, and it's very low key.  Thankfully, as the others took a bit of time.  I also can't bring myself to stop going to the classroom, being that I feel a great fondness and commitment to the students I work with.  Today I actually had a student say, "Hi, Mrs. Ricci," when I stopped to get gas.  This is a boy who is one of those cool, tough boys but I've developed a relationship with him because he knows that I think he's very smart and capable.  He responds by actually saying hello to me!  Most of the other 9th grade students tuck their heads and act like they hope I don't embarrass them by recognizing them.

The kids are excited about Christmas, of course, and we have to keep reminding Emi to breath.  She starts to pant, taking quick little excited breaths and getting all worked up.  She's also reading a lot, in due to the fact that she got three books from one of the school book-sales.  These books are a series of short, scary stories.  She loves them.  She reads them aloud to Charlie and the two of them get so freaked out that Charlie just shakes his head and says, with eyes wide, "That's so scary, I think I'm going to scream." 

Tonight we are heading over to the cafeteria, for a dinner hosted by the 4th graders.  They are doing a Hawaiian studies unit, and as the first quarter draws to an end the students are displaying their accumulated knowledge by cooking for their families and doing a Hawaiian chant and introduction.  Emi has been practicing in school and she said that the entire 4th grade made laulau for the dinner, a Hawaiian dish prepared by wrapping taro leaves and meat inside ti leaves, then steaming them.  

Roller Derby Fan-Girls

I had the privilege of taking these three girls to the inaugural Roller Derby event in Hilo.  It was HUGE.  I had three tickets that were given to me, and I figured it would be fun to take Emi and a friend or two.  The girls got excited about dressing up and they decided to support the "Scaries".  It was a Scaries vs. Fairies event, though personally, both teams were a bit on the scary side!  The stadium was packed, lots of crowd participation with people in funny costumes and plenty of fish net stockings.  The girls really got into it and screamed themselves horse and had the satisfaction of having their team win a resounding victory.  My personal favorite?  D'evil'D Meggs, the short little bullet, though Emi liked Firefly Fatal who was quick and spunky and wore a dark bandanna and was looking like an outlaw.  Bam BooHoo was good in the front and knew how to throw her weight around, and for the Fairies we couldn't help but admire Scrappy Drue, the short and persistent jammer that really knew how to skate. 

We've had a great Thanksgiving weekend and I took a few days off of work.  So after eating copious amounts of turkey and stuffing ourselves silly, we had some time to play it off with a couple of beach days.  Today Aaron's working to take down a tree limb- we have a fast growing tree that's been reaching out towards the house a bit too much, so he's doing that project.  The girls are drawing (Emi's friend Zoe slept over last night and they've had a calm morning with a little Mario Cart and lots of colored pencils), and Charlie is pretending he isn't here so that I don't notice that he's STILL playing computer.  It's a good and subtle strategy on his part.

Emi's Christmas Tree: a post from Emi

Happy Holidays!
from Emi

The Coolest Field Trip

The chant- all the kids wore their special kihei that they have made as part of their Hawaiian Studies unit.  This is a year long unit, focusing on history and traditions.  This field trip took the entire fourth grade about 10 miles down the road to an archeological site called Kahu Wai which is estimated to be over 2,000 years old, one of the early Hawaiian villages.

The kids are walking through the forest to the site of the men's and womens' Hale.  They had a common courtyard garden where sweet potatoes were grown, which the early Hawaiians got by trading with the native Peruvians.  It would have taken nine weeks of canoe travel- three to Tahiti, another six over towards Eastern Island and from their to the South American mainland.  Amazing, huh?  It's a long trip, especially as it was done in a double hulled canoe using ancient navigation techniques!

The kids worked filling a couple of raised beds and then planted some sweet potatoes.  Part of the trip stressed the fact that part of the culture is based upon taking care of the land.  Malama ka Aina.  It was fun to see a bunch of kids with shovels and dirt.

The classes all had three stations, and at this one they worked on learning a hula that went with a chant.  They learned to try some of the food that the early Hawaiians would have eaten, not only sweet potato but also some steamed breadfruit.  The Kumu, or teacher, talked about the Polynesian triangle, which stretches from Hawaii at the top, to Tahiti on the one side and Easter Island on the other.  Then he talked about how the cultural value of harmony was also a triangle, with the sun/sky/heavens at the top, family one one side, and the land on the other.   The hula the kids learned was a story of this.

The best part of the day!  This site has a caretaker and part of what they do is offer some cultural trips like this, and part of what they do is make the traditional Hawaiian sled.  They are made of hard-wood, narrow rungs held together with lashings made of the traditional hala weaving.  The kids all got a turn to try and make it down the hill.  It was neat to hear them cheer each other on, and laugh uproariously when someone tipped over.

Emi's Swim Meet

Emi  swimming her 50 meter breast stroke.







 Emi had her first swim meet on Saturday.  We got up a bit early and drove over Mauna Loa to Pahala.  It's a tiny, dry town that's in the middle of the worst drought in the U.S.  Poor Pahala.  There's just this area right on the other side of Volcano National Park where it gets so brown and dry.  It was odd to drive into it.  And the air is thick with sulfur, so after a couple of hours of swim meet both Emi and I had burning eyes.  The meet was at this tiny little pool, run by a woman named Cassandra.  She and I took our first lifeguard training courses together way back in what Charlie calls "the old days."  It was 15 years ago, so according to the Charlie time line, that is ancient history.  Emi was a bit nervous when we got there and said, "Oh, I think I'm getting a little stage fright", as she watched the hundred or so people streaming towards the pool.  I told her not to worry, all of us are going to be watching our own kids.  She ended up having fun and doing really well, finishing second or third in every one of her heats.  Her age group, 9-10 year old girls, was the largest age group, around 20 girls doing each event.  There were three or four heats, depending on the event, with six girls in each heat.  Her team mates all did well, and I think that all of the kids just had fun.  The nice thing is that all of the kids on the team, ages 6 to 17, are really nice kids.  They are a relatively small team and there are three different sibling groups that are in it.  But it's one of those activities that I like to have Emi involved in just to expose her to a group of good kids.  She's already asking when the next meet will be!  There are three more between now and the end of October, and she's looking forward to them all.

End of August

This is a picture of Charlie, at his Na'ali'i luncheon.  It's essentially a student of the month thing, where the kids get to sit at special, decorated tables and parents serve them lunch, then serve them a buffet of treats, chips, juice, and so on.  Parents can join their children for the lunch, and the whole thing is special in a low-key way.  Charlie was actually sick yesterday, he had a bit of a fever and sore throat, but he worked very hard to make sure he was well enough to be at school today.  Emi was on lunch monitor duty, so I had a good time seeing her as well and taking a couple of photos.  The hair nets cracked me up.  She actually gets an award tonight, a special pin recognizing her for not failing the No Child Left Behind tests.  So we're having a busy but proud day. 

I just thought I'd put up a few of the pictures for everyone to enjoy before I have to load up the car and go pick everyone up.  Emi has swim team after school, and she was sick last week with a cold and missed a couple of days, and then this week she's still been a bit stuffed up.  But today we go to the pool.  It's hot and dry, the trades are a limp bit of breeze that occasionally waft in through the windows, but mostly the air is humid and stagnant.  It's actually a bit of a drought; anytime it doesn't rain for a week, we have a mini-drought.  I actually enjoy the droughts if the trade winds are working, but when they take time off I tend to complain.  And force the kids to all go to the pool or the beach as much as they can stand.  One nice thing:  when it's dry, the grass stops growing!

Kids in School

Both Emi and Charlie started school!  Charlie is in Kindergarten, this will be his second full week.  He seems to like the routine, like the friends he is meeting, and he likes the adventure of sometimes buying a school lunch- ah, the wonder of mystery meat!  I'm finding that I don't actually have much time to do much during the week, being that I've fit in a few appointments and errand days, and somehow by the end of that it's time to pack up the swim stuff and go get the kids.  Emi is doing the novice swim team, so every day after school we head to the pool for an hour.  Charlie started jiu jitsu a bit before he started school, so Aaron and he go off to do that two or three evenings a week.  Basically, we went from a busy summer to a busy school year! 

I love having both kids in school.  Charlie acts like it's all old hat, and he tells me when I can say goodbye to him.  Any kiss or hug has to happen in the parking lot, before entering the school.  And he'll hold my hand while we cross the street, but once across he drops it and walks like he hardly knows me.  I imagine that in the next month he won't even want me to walk him to class.

I'm starting my volunteer/observation work at the Pahoa Intermediate and Highschool next week.  I'll go in for two full days, Tuesday and Wednesday.  I just went in to talk to the vice-principal about parking and getting her recommendation so that I can take the substitute teaching course.  However, I don't think she much likes the looks of me.  I'm also unsure of how often they have student teachers at this school.  They seem at a complete loss as to what I am, what I do, and how to treat me.  The office people all look puzzled when I say I'm going to be student teaching and I start next week.  "Where will I park?"  I asked, and they said the visitor stall.  I told them I'll be there all day, twice a week, and I was met with odd, confused expressions.  They said to talk to the vice principal, and she told me to talk to someone else who has the parking forms but was teaching a class when I poked my head in the window.  Nobody seems to know if I'll be a visitor or an employee.  When I asked the vice principal if she'd send the recommendation for me to take a substitute teaching course, she said "No."  Very abrupt.  This recommendation is usually a formality and most schools are eager to get their student teachers as subs since we're going to be around and it's easy to rope us in to jobs that aren't anyone's favorite.  But apparently she needs to assess me to see if I can fit in to the 'culture' at Pahoa high. 

Oregon and Keiki Steps

well, I think Emi is having a nice summer!  This is her and cousins Anna and Joe.  Cute trio!  My summer has been a busy one, trying to keep Charlie occupied while Emi and Aaron were gone.  I also had the plan to repaint Emi's room when she was gone, and the bathroom needed some freshening up.  Let's just say that for ten days I don't think I sat down once.  Or if I did, it was to put together a puzzle with Charlie or read him a story.  The end result is a nice looking bathroom and Emi's room looks very bright.  She chose the paint colors and I have to admit that it was hard for me to stand there in Home Depot with the paint swatches and say, "Mix up these two colors, please."  One wall is this bright pink, the other three are a color saturated blue/green.  I was tempted to tone down the colors, but after the paint is on the walls I have to say that her choices were great!  Way more bright and colorful that I would normally pick, but pretty inspiring.

The other big news is that Charlie started what is called Keiki Steps.  For two weeks he is in kindergarten, from 8 to 12:30.  It's a free program offered for kids that are entering school for the first time, kids that were home with caretakers and new to the whole school experience.  Charlie loves it.  He was so ready and it was pretty obvious that this was what he was waiting for.  Yesterday afternoon the growth and feeling of confidence was very visible.  He was relieved that he didn't have to do any reading, which he was afraid of.  He announced, "Guess what?  I didn't have to learn anything!"  This after a big day of learning how to act in line, push in chairs, go to lunch in the cafeteria, follow teacher instructions... I told him that I think kindergarten will be like that.  He'll learn a lot and a lot of the time it won't feel like learning.  He was also very impressed with the fact that he had cornbread for lunch.

Friday Emi comes home with her Grandma Judy.  Judy will visit for a week and a half, which will be fun for all of us!

Summertime!

Oh, summer!  School is officially out today, and Emi is no longer a third grader.  Instead, she's a not-quite-fourth grader with a huge pile of old papers, projects, half-broken crayons, and work books that are sitting on the counter.  She doesn't want to throw this stuff away yet, because it's all so sentimental still.  Gradually, we'll sift through it and the best things (plus ALL the awards) will end up in the chest of 'special' drawings and work that may some day fill an entire garage the way Emi and Charlie produce.  Every picture is a special one, of course, even the hundredth tentacle alien monster (Charlie) or the twentieth lovely mermaid (Emi).  So here I am, facing summer vacation.  I have yet to make my phone calls begging to borrow a kid or two for playmates, but we're setting up our summer schedule, which will include many trips to the beach, tide pools, and parks.  Charlie already has a plan for tomorrow.  We'll go walk along the flat cliffs, exploring the tide pools and the wild feeling place that is right around the corner from the Warm Pond.  We walked out briefly yesterday and he was so excited because it seemed so strange and different, even though we were less than five minutes from the parking lot.  

Today I went in to Emi's class for the last time this year.  I did some inventory work for the teacher, and brought in a big batch of popcorn.  I've become fond of that group of kids, though!  I don't see them every week day like their teacher, who is just tired and ready for the summer.  I see them once a week for an hour and enjoy every one of them, especially those two trouble makers that end up under their desks on a regular basis- two boys that can't keep their to their seats and are ready for anything physical at a moment's notice.

I'll keep you posted on summer plans!  Emi and Aaron are intending an Oregon visit, with details still a work-in-process but nearly solid.

Mid-May

It's been a busy few weeks, with a visit from Chris and Deanna, the final weeks of my school term, and then (oh, yes, we did) a new little rescue dog.  The visit was fun, with snorkeling at the tide-pools down by the vacation rental where Chris and Deanna stayed.  The house is perched right there on the edge of the tide-pools, overlooking the black lava and the ocean.  Then we culminated the visit with a much anticipated stay over at the Hilton Waikaloa, otherwise known as "the water slide hotel".  The kids were awake at dawn, ready to ride the tram that runs the length of the hotel, walk around, and then watch cable cartoons while waiting for the water slides to open at the reasonable hour of 9 a.m.  There's nothing reasonable about our two kids, though, so dawn it was! 

This photo is from our drive out to the lava viewing place.  And no, those glows aren't the lava, but the reflectors shining the flash back at us.  But the lava has slowly crept towards the lava viewing area, but moving so excruciatingly slow that it's almost all crusted over and black except where the edges glow orange in thin cracks.  There were some trees still alive in kipukas (pretty much the opposite of a hole, or puka, this is a place where the lava has previously flowed around a hill or area where there is relatively older vegetation), but this vegetation would occasionally burst into flame.  It was a bit like watching a distant bonfire, because of course the county civil defense keeps people inside boundaries, and well back from that fresh flowing lava with its thin black crust of cooled rock.

The end of my term has been fairly uneventful.  I can say that now that it is over.  The classes were both intensive, so the finals were more presentations of the work we had done over the term- more a process of organization than anything else.

So....the new dog.  The dog was a rescue that Emi's teacher took on, but her husband realized that he isn't much of a dog person, especially a fairly energetic, skittish dog.  I half-in-jest said, "Oh, we've got a great place for dogs.  Let me know if it doesn't work out."  Well, it didn't work out, and now we have Maizy.  Or Mixie, depending on who you ask.  The dog is a terrier, and I'm enjoying her.  She's still a pup, only five months old, and while shy, she can also be quite a funny little thing, racing around the house with Sparky until I have to kick them outside into the yard.


Last of all, I wanted to post a link to photos.  This is the Shutterfly site that I've used a lot before, but I just added a couple hundred photos.  My Dad took a whole bunch of pictures of the big birthday bash, which were pretty fun.  Enjoy!  http://riccisinhawaii.shutterfly.com/?role=-1     

Birthday Weekend

Oh, what a weekend!  I spent the week very busy trying to get homework and housework done so that the weekend could be a wild party.  And it was.  The kids decided to have one big party together for their birthdays, and the plan was that guests would arrive at 2 in the afternoon.  Emi couldn't sleep for a couple of nights (oh, anticipation) and Charlie cried when Aaron explained how the day would go.  The tears were because the party wouldn't start until early afternoon.  Charlie was expecting festivities to get under way immediately after breakfast.  Then he woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't fall back asleep.  I went in his room and lay down to help him relax, and he'd suddenly whisper, "Mom, after cake, we'll do presents."  His mind was racing right along.  His wonderful big sister made him happy:  she had bought two gifts for him, and she wrapped them up and gave them to him, so his day started out like he had been hoping.

The party itself was such a wild rumpus.  There were about twenty kids in all, and they self directed, creating these games and rules without any adult intervention.  It was fascinating to watch.  At one point the four oldest boys started a game of keep away, and it evolved into something that most closely resembled a rugby game, girls against boys, complete with tackles, passing, strategy, and teamwork.  The funny thing was, all of the kids were under control even as they played so intensely.  It was amazing to see them create a game and then self-regulate even in the midst of the wild fun of it all.  I will put some pictures up when I get them from my Dad, the designated photo journalist for the afternoon. 

Sunday was a day of recovery for the kids and I.  We stayed at home and loafed about, while Aaron went and played a soccer game.  He got a good kick in the ribs, a danger of playing goalie, apparently.  He just got over a bruised rib on the other side, so now he's sore again, but still going to practice tonight.  Plus, the Trail Blazers are going to be playing, and Aaron can stop by the sports bar on his way home and have his night out.  He gets his night out, usually soccer or cards, and I get my day surfing.  It's a good balance, since I really have a hard time caring about a play-off game, and Aaron isn't interested in surfing. 

The Endless Easter

Happy Easter, everyone!  For us, it started with the Easter Egg Scramble on Friday, continued Saturday with an event in Pahoa, and culminated in two Easter egg hunts today:  one here (with way, way too much candy....seems I would buy a bag each time I went grocery shopping the past month and didn't keep an inventory) with the neighbor boys and Frances, and then one next door at the boys' house.  Ah, the excitement, the sugar, the fun!  Charlie ate too much candy- he doesn't get many chances to over-indulge and he really seized on this one.  Emi was much more deliberate, savoring that favorite chocolate and anticipating the days to come.  This candy will probably last until Halloween. 

 The jump rope in the Easter basket was a good thing- it's kept her busy and bouncing most of the morning.  It's better than fighting with her brother!  That happens sometimes, especially with the overdose of excitement.

Tomorrow is Emi's birthday, so I look forward to baking a couple dozen cupcakes for her to take to class (will anyone seriously feel like eating a cupcake?) and then planning a special little dinner.  We're planning a birthday bash for her and Charlie the weekend after next.  As for the rest of the family:  Aaron's on a run with Sparky.  That little dog is good for at least five miles a day, and he doesn't mind doubling up on his run.  Five in the morning and he's good for another few in the afternoon, maybe some sprinting around the yard chasing a ball.  On the other hand, the old dog Lenny is good for about half a mile.  A mile is stretching it, and when I tried to take him on a longer walk he kept wanting to lay down in the grass and he was worn out for a few days.  Poor guy.  He loves to take his walk, but it's short and involves a lot of sniffing.

I'm finishing up the last few weeks of the term, so I've been busy with that, plus getting Charlie's kindergarten registration done, the doctor appointments lined up, not to mention the occasional colds and coughs that Emi brings home from school....family life is a busy life, even when it ISN'T a holiday or birthday month.  Though those sort of months seem infrequent.  I can't figure out how come the year has so many holidays and goes so fast.  As a kid I couldn't figure out why the holidays were so spread out. 

Spring Break

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks.  I had a mid-term due and an interview for my teaching program.  Then along came spring break, with beach days, trips to town for the movies, and friends over every day for play-dates.  Yesterday we finally had a mellow day.  It got cold and rainy and so we had an easy, at-home day with a trip to the library.  Unfortunately, Emi got sick in the middle of the night, so today I have a pathetic, blurry eyed little girl slumping around on the couch and moaning occasionally.  Good think it's movie night!  Because the only one who could do more than sit around it Charlie, and he's busy drawing right now. 

Oh, and during the middle of all of this Charlie has another loose tooth.  I'm not prepared for this boy to be growing up so quick.  He's loosing his teeth a bit on the early side, but it just makes him seem too big!  Too grown up.  Emi was doing some scrap-booking (one of her many projects) and Aaron and I were looking at her pictures.  There were these pictures of Charlie with his fat little baby legs and his blond, blond hair.  I have to admit, I still think of his as that little boy!  And next month he'll be five already. 

Emi's Criteria

I wanted to write about a funny conversation I had with Emi last night.  We were chatting at bedtime, and she told me that she has a big crush on someone.  I asked who it was and she told me it was a boy in her class, Kaimi.  Now, this boy is polite, athletic, and smart.  He's also quiet, a bit reserved, and nice.  Not a bad choice for a crush.  But the real reason?

"I like Kaimi because he is such a good kicker.  He can kick the ball sooo far."  Her eyes got big, she described how he could kick the kick ball up over the fence, the telephone lines, and across the street!  Then she continued, "You know, I think a husband should be a good kicker.  They make good dads."

So there you have it.  As third graders contemplate life and the future, their criteria are not necessarily what we expect.  Emi, thinking of her far-off, someday life, contemplates the boy she likes and decides that his kicking ability seals the deal.  

Student of the Month

Mid-term?

It seems like it's been a while since I put up a post.  I've been working on a project for one of my classes, which included a blog.  It kept me a bit busy whenever I was near my computer.  But it's temporarily over.  I think it was roughly equivalent to a mid-term. 

Big news for Emi this week:  she became a Na Ali'i student.  That is what the 'student of the month' is called here, and she is so excited.  She brought home a bumper sticker ("Proud to be Pahoa Na Ali'i") which I'm sure will proudly ride our bumper once we wash our car.  It's been dusty around here lately, and my kids aren't quite old enough to wash the car without me and well, frankly, I was busy with that class project.  Maybe Charlie and I will wash the car tomorrow.  But Emi is excited because being Na Ali'i means that she gets the special honor of being fed non-stop deserts on Thursday.  She gets to sit at a special table, and she and her fellow Na Ali'i get to eat lunch and then eat as many deserts as they want off the special Na Ali'i table.

Before I go I'll share my Charlie quote of the week:  "Mom, I think I'd like to be a spider."
Me:  "Really?  How would you become a spider?"
Charlie:  "Well, I can't really become a spider, but I think I'd like to be one.  A giant, poisonous spider."

Charlie is smack in the middle of his "kids say the darnedest things" stage.  I find it very funny.  And being that he is a fairly serious little boy, it's important to take it seriously.  Sometimes I have to turn around and cover my mouth and laugh as silently as possible because if he so much as suspects that a person is laughing at what he finds serious, he's ready to throw punches.  We were talking about kindergarten and he asked, "What about bullies?"  I told him it was against the rules to be a bully at school and that the teachers are very careful about that.  He said, after a moment of thought, "That's why I need to control my anger and use my words."

February? Already?

Just when I think the holidays are over, here comes Valentine's Day. And of course this means excitement, especially for a certain eight year-old little girl who loves all things having to do with hearts. Oh well. I've relinquished my life to the excitement of holidays and I'm hoping that red construction paper and lacy paper doilies will be enough this year. Emi's been planning chocolate cupcakes, individualized for the entire class. I'm hoping a bag of chocolate hearts will pass muster.

We spent Super Bowl Sunday in town, at my brother John's place. He bought a new tv in anticipation of the event and Emi and Charlie enjoyed watching about ten minutes worth of commercials. You can tell the demographics commercials aim for when watching them with kids. One commercial made Charlie crack up, but everyone else in the room had a blank look. And I think it was a job search commercial, so any four-year olds looking for work would take notice. I ended up taking the kids out to a beach park, where there were dozens of kids and plenty of Mom's and maybe one or two men, not including the lifeguards. It was pretty funny, actually. I unfortunately forgot to take a book, and so I sat and watched the whales breaching and doing their tail displays. I called a couple of friends, and I actually lasted three hours before I couldn't take it anymore and called the kids in to leave. This particular beach, Onekahakaha (long O, E makes a long A sound, and all the A's make a short an 'ah' sound), is like a sandy tide pool, a kid beach that gets a few feet deep at high tide and at low tide it's a huge wading pool. The kids love it.

We finished off the day with a little fire in the backyard. It was perfect for marshmallows, which was the whole point. Charlie had pointed out the necessity of buying the ingredients for s'mores last time we were grocery shopping, and so the entire week had been him reminding us to have a bonfire. Then what does he do? Stuff marshmallows in his mouth, unroasted because that's the only way he likes them. Then he eats his chocolate, then he says it is time for a bath. Aaron and Emi stayed out and enjoyed the evening for a while, and Charlie got his bath and went to bed.

Charlie always does some deep thinking when he is settling down into bed at night. One night he very seriously asked how people without teeth manage to eat, and I, just as seriously, replied that they eat soft foods like bananas and smoothies and such. A couple of nights ago he told me, "Mom, you are old enough to have your own house, you know. But I'm not." It was very hard not to laugh at this one, but laughing just makes him very frustrated, because these observations are as a result of some very real thinking on his part. I told him that it's true, I am old enough. But he continued, saying that I have to live with him still to take care of him. So we see whose house this is, in Charlie's mind.

End of January

January treated us well. We are having a drought in Hawaii, which means cooler, dry weather. This is nice, but because we live where it usually rains buckets there are tens of thousands of people who live with catchment systems. This means we catch the roof run-off in huge tanks and use it for household use. Because we live close to an active volcano we have acid rain, so it isn't exactly the purest stuff on earth. And because we live in the tropics there are all sorts of strange bacteria and virus' that do super nasty stuff. We don't drink our catchment water, due to the very remote possibility that an African snail could come in contact with a rat and then crawl over our roof. Somehow the combination of the two can result in a disease that no one on earth wants to endure. Seriously, one must consider these things when living in the balmy world of no winter.

The sum of this is: when it doesn't rain, we have to pay attention to how much water we have in our huge tank. We never even got very low, but there are water tankers working over-time in the area. For a couple hundred bucks a person can call up Ace's Water Hauling (or any of the other companies) for a water delivery. In a drought, when everyone starts ordering water, delivery can take a week or two. That's a long time to be without flushing toilets or showers, and so any time we have a drought, Puna goes into a low-key panic.

The irony is, the last time we had a drought in our area (which lasted about six weeks) a storm hit. The drought ended in a three week deluge, with about thirty inches of rain falling. You really gotta roll with it around here.

Last weekend my brother, Chris, came for a visit. It was a nice weekend, some surfing, sailing, family dinner, and a BBQ. We went out on my Dad's sailboat to see if we could find some whales. There were literally dozens of whales, but they were shy. They would come cruising by and then disappear. I took some pictures, but the whales look somewhat like little black smudges against the expanse of blue ocean. Chris and I both dove off the boat, but that was a little weird. Being in blue-water is something of an odd feeling. The water gets very clear, and very blue. It's a strange feeling being that far from shore and surrounded by so much ocean. Neither of us spent much time in the water. I think that a person would have to get used to that sort of thing.

We're having a mellow Sunday. Last night we all went to dinner at our friends' house and ended up staying out late. Emi was a bit accusatory. She said, "What? It's ten? Why did you let us stay out so late?" I said it was because they seemed like they could handle it, but she still was peeved, so I changed my story and said that we were really trying to just make her miserable. I think she preferred to believe the later reason.

The real reason we stayed out was this: Irma, our friend, makes the best salsa. And when she cooks, she makes a feast. So it takes about five hours just to be able to really enjoy all the diverse food she makes. I came home a few pounds heavier, and wanting to start the evening all over again in order to fit in more of her food. Last night she made something called Sope, which is common in Mexico City where she is from.

Back in School

School started up, after a long vacation. Emi wasn't too thrilled but she was happy to see her teacher and friends. Both this week and last were pretty mellow for Charlie and I. We played games and read books, took a library trip, went into town for a TB test. In Hawaii, TB testing is an annual event for most employment. School kids only need to get it every few years. Charlie was relieved that it was me getting a shot and not him and I didn't have the heart to inform him that he'll be getting his own TB test before he starts kindergarten. He's already dealing with plenty of other information: you can't take all your clothes off when you go to the bathroom. You can't pee in the bushes outside at school. You have to wipe yourself if the situation demands wiping. You have to wear underwear. He's okay with all of it, even the underwear stuff. He's a practical kid, but he is also very resistant to change. Hence the fact that he is getting kindergarten information a good seven months before he needs to apply said information.

I also started my classes, which promise to be interesting. One is based on computer and technology use in education and by the end of the class I should be able to blog, among other things. I'm happy that I'm at least a little ahead of the curve.

This picture is of Emi her first day back at school. She dressed up and wore her watch and a pretty new necklace. She's been like that lately: more aware of looking a certain way, even if that certain way means she wears her new striped leggings (blue and black) with a red and gold polka dot dress. She drew a picture today of herself as a teenager, complete with henna type tattoo design along the side of her face (thanks, Mermadia Barbie.....) and purple and gold hair. She said, "Will it drive you crazy when I have hair like this?" My response? "Honey, you drive us crazy even when you don't have gold and purple hair." She takes great pleasure in that fact. It's part of her Emi-ness: being able to make her parents crazy. She just wouldn't be who she is if she wasn't a technicolor girl.

Happy New Years!

Ahh, Christmas. It came in with a flurry. It was like trying to brake a run-away truck once Emi and Charlie woke up and realized what was happening, which took all of thirty seconds or so. It was a fun day, with Christmas morning at home, then Aaron went to play basketball with my Dad and John and Peter. Emi did art and craft projects, Charlie played with action figures and goo. He got this one action figure that shoots goo out of his hand once you load its back with the stuff. Then we had dinner at our house with Mom and family, and Dad and his girlfriend, Jeannie. It was a nice evening.

The next day we headed over to Hapuna to wear ourselves out, which we succeeded in doing. The surf was up, the waves were pounding the beach, and I came home with my arms actually sore from holding on to a boogie board and trying to not let the waves rip it away from me. Aaron dug a huge hole in the sand and the kids played until sunset.

New Years Eve, in Hawaii, means fireworks. We ended up having a spontaneous block party at dusk last night, with neighbors strolling by and stopping to watch the show. Amazing how a few bucks worth of pyrotechnics can make a party! We celebrate on East Coast time, which means the fireworks started at dusk (around 6:15 or so) and they were all over by 8. This includes the time spent with sparklers (Emi's favorite) and smoke bombs (Charlie's favorite). This morning Emi got an invite to go to a movie with a friend, which almost made her Friday chores worthwhile....

Last week Charlie also lost his first tooth. He had a crooked tooth ever since he was a year old and knocked one of his front teeth sideways. The dentist said that the root was probably damaged and he actually expected it to fall out a lot earlier. Now Charlie will most likely have one front tooth missing for the next year or two! It never was a loose tooth, either, it just sort of fell on out.

Charlie and Aaron are off to the park, I'm going to think about starting dinner. Happy New Year to everyone!