Flowers

 She's so cute!

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhh!

It does leave a wicked pigtail hangover though.

More Trouble

If you look really closely, you might be able to tell exactly how high on the tree River can reach.

Not so silent a night

Little girl was having trouble sleeping the other night, but was quite happy to blow bubbles and listen to daddy play guitar for a while.

Pig tails!

 Aww, wookit the widdle piggy tails!  They have rendered the speech centers of my brain faulty.

 She's too cute, I can't stand it.  She looks life a flapjack octopus.

She's even adorable when heartbroken because I am not picking her up.

Roller Coaster

 At the Bishop Museum right now, the rotating exhibit is about roller coasters.

 Right up front there is a 1/20 scale coaster called "the Black Plague."  In real life the 9~ Gs would put you out cold, but in miniature it is just hand-flappingly awesome.

The model has a timer on it, so the car will only launch after a three minute break.  There is nothing he will wait 3 minutes for, except to push the button to start the ride.  And he'll do that as long as we are willing to let him.

There are some other hands-on demonstrations of the physics involved, as well as a large screen that plays video of several roller coasters set up with feedback chairs to simulate a ride. 

But after a couple minutes exploration we always end up back here.

Tiny girl, old gods

 Keep up, we have places to be!

 Saturday morning at the Bishop Museum.  We were the first people there.

 River says hello to Kū, Lono, and Kāne.  Kū is wrapped as it is not his season.  Winter belongs to Lono, the god of peace and rest.  At the end of Makahiki the Akua Loa (image of Lono) will be taken down, and Kū is unwrapped to rule again. 

 River is most impressed by the cool rocks the gods have.

The little god River is waving at is Kaneikokala.  He has a neat story.  A man in Kawaihae was led by a dream to the spot where the ki'i (tiki) was buried.  He said the ki'i had pled to be brought in from the cold.  He was brought to the Bishop museum in 1906, and installed in the hall.  Later, plans were made to move him outside to a more suitable location, but the little ki'i was having none of that and refused to be moved.  As far down as they dug to excavate him, the stone continued farther.  Clearly he prefers it inside.

It's so beautiful...

The kids, bonding over one of the few things they have in common:  Baby Neptune.

Marlin

Such a cute little clownfish.  I love the one eyeball, Case's own observation of the side view of a fish. 

Aquarium, and Study of Butterflyfish

Visiting with the reef fish.  I'm certain the porcupine fish recognizes him.



Copper Banded Butterfly

I could watch this tank all day.  River excitedly chatters and signs "fish" while chasing them around.

Long Nose Butterfly

Case's current favorite tank.  He loves the clownfish.

Threadfin Butterfly

Crusted generously in sugar from malasadas, River sacked out in the car.

Trouble

Walking

Click on the post title to open this section on its own to view videos.

 

A couple weeks ago we were here regarding locomotion.

But we have since upgraded.

 

Halloween

 The Caped Crusader,

looking resolute.  He successfully went trick or treating for the first time this year!

 The little monster,

 adorably causing destruction.  She wore herself out destroying Tokyo and was in bed before the trick or treaters even hit the streets.

I thought I looked fabulous, but River was not a fan.

Case's Birthday

 Case's favorite part of a birthday party is the singing and blowing out of candles.  So for his day, we do it as many times as possible.

After the traditional "Happy Birthday" we relit the candles for a verse of "Happy Birthday Children Dear," and again with "This month is such a special one."

 We finished up with "Pat-a-cake" due to the obvious cake reference.

Happy Birthday big guy.

Drawing

Some cool work from Case the other day.  Click on it to open larger, it is worth checking out the details.  I like making these charts for him, they make him draw things he just wouldn't think about sketching on an average day. 

The lollypop and microphone are pretty lazy, but I am so delighted by the dog playing with balls, and the piano.  I am very amused that when pressed to draw a guitar, Case chooses a Gibson Flying V.  So metal.


apple, bee, cat, dog, egg, fan, guitar
hat, insect, jellyfish, kite, lollypop, microphone, net
octopus, piano, quail, rainbow, sun, turtle, umbrella
violin, whale, x ray, yoyo, zigzag.

Birthday Girl

 It is rather amazing to think that River has been around for a whole year now.  We had a fun day at the tide pools, then partied the night away.

Case insisted on the hats.  Good choice.

 River thought they were awesome.

 He also decorated River's cupcake.  He's been looking forward to using the #1 candle for weeks.

River enjoyed the cake as a full sensory experience.  Why stop with merely tasting, when you can find out what it sounds like squishing through your fingers, or what it feels like in your hair?  Can you really say you understand frosting if it hasn't been rubbed on your cheeks and clumped in your eyelashes?

You know you have truly experienced a meal when you need a bath afterwards. 
I'm so glad you are around, little girl.

Beach Babes

 

 Case was there, and had fun, but every photo of him now has a terrible, pained grimace on his face.  So there are significantly fewer pictures of him being snapped.