Super Grover

 We have taken a lot of very pleasant walks over break, enjoying the many lights.  Tonight Case asked to walk to "the Christmas tower."  It is hard to refuse such a cute offer to wear him out.  He brought along Super Grover tonight. 

Beachy Christmas

 After lazily opening presents and eating breakfast we headed to the beach--we may have all gotten each other books that we would happily bury ourselves in for hours but it seemed terrible to ignore a lovely 80 degree Christmas. 

 We stopped at Halona to look for whales, but didn't see any today.  The waves were big and the blowhole was really going though.  Case was less impressed than dozens of Japanese tourists.

 Then on to our beach, which we nearly had to ourselves. 

A friend was telling me how much she missed seasons the other day.  She really wanted to make a snowman with her kid.  We may not have Frosty here, but I like our buddy Arenaceous the Sandman much better.

Christmas Morning

Crustacean

 Hey Dad, sorry to disturb your nap, but you have something on you.

Yeah, here's your problem.

Winter is coming...

 And with it come big waves.  It is mostly the North Shore that people head to for the big surf, but the waves everywhere are bigger, especially on a windy day like today. 

 Large waves crashed against the breakwater we like to watch turtles and crabs from.  That did not stop us from going out there of course.

 We did re-evaluate soon though.

 

 Mokulual Island is rarely hard to see due to waves.  Still lots of people in the water though, great day for boogie boarding.

Honu

 On Saturday we went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.  Case loves looking at all the fish and chattering about them through the snorkel.  He floats better than anyone I know.

 We were there early this time, and the beach was nice and quiet (comparatively anyway.)  Swimming after a large shape in the water, Case and I were delighted to find a turtle munching away on the seaweed that makes their flesh green.

 We quietly watched the turtle eating for nearly 10 minutes, which in Case years is the equivalent of about 3 weeks.  The turtle kept a casual eye on us but didn't mind our staring, drifting with the waves nearly close enough to touch.  We actually had to back away from him several times, as I really didn't want a wave to crash him into us (he was over two feet across his back.)

When Case was done, he said goodbye and swam away.  What a lucky place for us to be.

Snail

I was writing a post today about Case's latest moist little friend, whom he has been playing with for two weeks now and loves very much.

But in doing a little research to tell you about this species, I learned a horrible fact.

The Giant African Land Snail, shown here to scale with a longhorn cow, sometimes carries a nematode that causes meningitis.

So despite being a rather good drummer for a mollusk, he has to go.

Hoping to avoid any repercussions from the snail's sudden absence, we are letting Case play video games while we sanitize every surface the creature has slimed.

If Case asks where his snail friend is, we'll probably tell him that the snail "ran away into the mountains."
The truth is a little grittier.

Geometry

Today the boy who wears an ID bracelet because he can not give his name in an emergency told me "the shrub is like a trapezoid!" 

Christmas Tower

For the past several weeks we have been watching lights go up on the tower near the school. 

Friday night they finally lit it up, to Case's delight.  His beloved tower has been upgraded to the "Christmas Tower."

Then we stayed 90 minutes longer than we had expected because Case thought Tops in Blue was amazing. 

Levitation

 Levitation is totally possible if you free your mind and concentrate really hard.

 Here is Case, drifting gently along the beach.  If you notice his tightly clenched little fist, he is bringing along a snail for the ride of its life.

Cooking with Case: Haupia Pie

 Haupia pie is a delicious island dessert with a layer of coconut jell/pudding on top of a layer of chocolate.  Recently the three of us demolished one in one day even though Dad only let me eat two slices.  So instead of pumpkin pie (boring) they put me to work making Haupia pie.

Make a graham cracker crust instead of a traditional crust because regular crusts are impossible, not that good anyway, and you don't get to smash anything while making them.

 Ask to play Wii Sports, you never know.

 Microwave some coconut oil and butter.  Spill it casually, to punish mom for making you work your fingers to the bone.  Add the big bag of crumbs then wander away while it is pressed in to place.

 Make the mistake of playing with too loud a toy and be called back to the kitchen.  Eat as many chips as possible before microwaving them.

 Stir frequently.

 Wait until Mom's back is turned.

 Fold in the whipped cream.  Ask if your parents would be amenable to playing Kinect.

 Spoon chocolate mixture gently into crust.

 Remember that you are working with chocolate!

 Open a can of coconut, after panicking that you were going to use your coconut best friend. 

 Stir with some other stuff.  Remind Mom that you can stir while playing Cooking Mama too (she has certainly forgotten you wanted to play video games by now.)

 Pour coconut jell on top of the chocolate.  Spread whipped cream on top of that.

 Loose your mind when informed that it's not time to eat it yet.  Use this to barter (successfully) for some video game time already.