Koko Head

Because we are lucky and this base is awesome, Those Whom Decide These Sorts of Things turned this already three day weekend into a four day weekend.  Hurray!  Case officially had school today, but we pulled him out so we could all spend time together.













HAHAHAHAHAHA
Yeah right, turn down state funded babysitting?  No way, we chose a hike that Case would hate and did that instead.  That hike ended up as the Koko Crater Stairway.  And we were correct, Case would have been miserable.
Koko Head is less of a hike and more of a 1100 step stairmaster workout.  It is only around a mile, but the elevation gain is 1200 feet.  You step on railroad ties, left there from WWII when the Air Force had a small outpost on top.  Early on you have to cross a small bridge, constructed for rail cars and not pedestrians.  Under our feet in the below picture?  The top of a not insubstantial tree.  It is a great WOD, but not for a little guy who still needs to go down stairs one at a time. 

 As soon as my legs stop shaking I want to try again to beat our time.  Who's up for it?

I make him walk a mile there and back, too

School is exhausting work.

Beach

 I have not taken a lot of pictures at the beach since we got here,for the obvious reason that we are too busy having fun at the beach to document how much fun we are having at the beach.  Also, nothing kills your happy family togetherness buzz like getting sand in the mechanism of an expensive lens, not even dumping over your kayak in the waves and cutting up all three people's feet on the coral (ahem.)

But we are mostly unpacked now, letting me find important gear like the dry bag.  We are having fun trying out different places and finding the best beaches to snorkel and catch snails.

Once and Future King

I apologize.  These are terrible pictures, with crappy light and stuff everywhere.  The movers have just left and 8500 pounds worth of stuff is in boxes and piles.  

But look how very happy he is!  In Alabama, Case had a good wooden sword that he would play with while dressed in his Legend of Zelda Link costume.  He would go in the backyard and hit trees and chop at the long grass.  So imagine his immense delight when we opened a box containing a REAL SWORD.  He probably heard a fanfare and assumed he went up a level. 

First Day of School

 First day of school, already!  And we started two weeks late, since we got here nearly the same time it began.  My huge kid wears a uniform this year, and shoes that are the same size as mine.

 Case seemed reasonably happy to be going.  I skipped the whole mile there.

 We are close enough to walk, and are lucky to take sidewalks through the pretty historic homes here and beautiful big trees.

I loved our last little school, but it will be nice to start fresh here.

Checking in

 Not a lot of pictures from me lately, as I have been doing fun things that do not lend themselves to taking pictures like going to the beach and snorkeling.  But rest assured we are having a lovely time, and have discovered that:

 Honolulu has great fireworks,

 and atrocious traffic (possibly so you can enjoy the rainbows we see nearly every day.)

Case is finally happy again,

 and is back to letting me take pictures of the back of his head in really amazing places (Hanauma Bay for this one.)