Happy Halloween!

Festive pancakes

I thought the boys would like a few pieces of candy corn on the morning pancakes. Wrong! They ignored them. I guess M&Ms in Halloween colors would have been a better bet. Second Furlough Friday today; the boys are currently enjoying "The Ghost Who Was Afraid of Halloween" (Super Why!). My task today? Make costumes for the boys. Robbie has said all week he wants to be a ghost. Then last night he got it into his head he wants to be a red ghost. Uhhh, no.

Just around the corner...

Halloween! Coming soon. And these cards would be coming soon to family...if they were in the mail already. I made a few greeting cards using scrapbook stickers and plain note cards. Had Robbie do a few by placing the stickers all around (not these, I got a little anal and took over). Even tried to get him to sign his name, but that didn't last very long. When you're a preschooler, you can only be asked to sign your name a few times before it gets really old. Come to think of it, I've had to write a few checks for a few bills this week, and I guess signing your name as an adult gets old, too. Cards are packaged and sealed and ready to go, just need to fix the right postage on them and they're off. Odds are slim they're make it to the Mainland by Saturday, but we tried!

I'm such a sucker

OK, so for whatever reason, the paper didn't come today and I've opened and closed the front door a few more times than normal while looking for it. On the most recent pass, I check on our door resident. And check it out! He's got all his legs, plus a stubby second antenna. Here I thought he'd been a victim of the ground keepers. I still left him there. Unless it's confirmed he bites, he's not bothering me.

Critter cam!

We found this guy hanging on our front door this morning. Haven't seen one like him in a while, not sure if it's seasonal or weather related. Almost always on an external door or window when spotted though. He was on the door when Robbie went off to the bus, still in the exact same spot a few hours later even though we've gone in and out of the house a few times. From bottom leg to tip of his one antenna, he's about a centimeter shy of the length of my iPhone. In addition to a missing antenna, he's down one front leg. I feel a bit sorry for him so will let him be.

Sunday afternoon in the park

My sister and family came over to my Mom's house on the Sunday I was back in the Bay Area. We made a run with my niece and nephew to the park I grew up playing in and around. It's changed a bit since then, with a nice skateboard section and updated (read: a little safer!) playground equipment, but the heart of it stays the same: large pond with ducks and the usual paths carved through the grassy areas. After a little while on the swings, we thought it was going to start raining so we packed up and made a quick getaway. I snapped this picture of my Mom, holding my nephew's hand with one arm, and holding on to the leash of her beloved dog Max, with the other. When I told her I took a few pictures of her from behind, she looked aghast (I think this would be a universal reaction, no?). But I reassured her the composition looked really good and was actually quite flattering!

Furlough Friday is on

The court has spoken and let the Furlough Fridays stand...for now. I believe the judge made a good call to postpone his actual decision for a few weeks. If he indeed overturns the Fridays, then schools and parents will have more time to prepare. In a statement which will no doubt leave Noel stunned and asking for a DNA test, Robbie declared this morning that he wanted to go to school. Life is confusing, son. No school for you. Instead we're taking a road trip to get out of the house and see some of the island we don't get to often. This shot is from my Mom's garden earlier this week. The day lilies were thriving!

News and notes from the island

Here's another aerial shot from the plane on Tuesday. Minutes earlier the pilot had gone on to say that no more electronic devices were allowed, etc. But then I look up out of my window to see the Leeward side coming into view, with a great shot of the Ko Olina coves from the air and I couldn't help myself. So I guess I shouldn't be posting these as they were taken against FAA regulations, but worth it! I had my iPhone in my purse under my seat, but the DSLR camera was out of reach in the overhead bin. Hard lesson learned!
If you place this picture side by side to the left of the earlier pic posted, they should more or less match up. If you look hard, you can see the man made coves and the Ko Olina hotel properties. (Not having the iPhone in my hand made me miss a really great shot. Doh!) That bizarre rectangle butting into the coast is not a cove, rather an industrial port. From our neighborhood, we can see the industrial port and the ocean beyond it, but the coves are just out of view. TheBoat no longer runs due to budget cuts, but when Noel was commuting on it, that's where we drove to catch it and later pick him up. If I were more industrious, I could also draw a line to show you where the Oahu Railway train runs in this area, but sorry, no time for that just now!
The first "Furlough Friday" is scheduled for tomorrow, but word is that a Federal judge is going to rule this afternoon on whether or not it will be a go. A group of parents got together to challenge the days off. So I will watch the news this evening to see if I need to get Robbie up for the bus in the morning. On a lighter note, the first humpback whale sighting of the season was yesterday, in waters off West Maui.

Mainland run...in reverse

I'm home now and getting back in the swing of things. Went to the Bay Area for a long weekend to attend the National Kidney Association's Annual Authors Luncheon. A fabulous event! More on that later. Also was able to see many friends, as well as spend a lot of time with family. Although my boys were missed, the days flew by filled with good times that were truly good for the soul and spirit.
I sat on the left side of the plane that brought me back to HNL yesterday, which offered this view of Leeward Oahu. The large mass of homes in the center of the photo above the freeway (H1) is where we live. To the left and out of the frame is Ko Olina. Below the freeway (in view) is commercial development in Kapolei (stores and gas stations, etc.) as well as more housing. The plane was flying east over the coastline, in its final descent to the airport.

Riding the Pineapple Express*

So the week went well with the two boys home. Pretty much a normal week with errands, shopping, playing with our train set, and late afternoon playground runs. We picked up a new tricycle for Cub, but he's not that into it yet. On Saturday I wanted to treat the boys to a train ride at the Dole Plantation (it was really for me, celebrating that we made it through the week!). I was buying tickets and forgot to ask for the kama 'aina rate (local rate) but the ticket agent asked me and gave me the discount without even asking for ID. Nice! But then as we were about to board, one of the staffers pulls us aside and asks to take our picture. Oh, I thought, so we don't look so local after all. Instead of getting out of it, I went ahead and roped Robbie in and smiled. I wasn't even thinking of the pic as we got off the train, they actually spot you and come up with the print. I looked and was surprised. A very good smile on Robbie and I didn't look like the frazzled mom I had expected to. Had I known this, I probably would have moved closer to the train as the photographer asked, stood up straighter, and tried to get Cub to look at the camera (and maybe smile, but looking and smiling is asking for a lot!). We'll take what we can get! The picture ($15) ended up being more than the train ride for the three of us ($12.75) but going with that day's theme of "treats," I figured why not. I also like the continuity of Robbie holding the red train in the pic this time.

* We rode the train years ago (pre-Cub) when Robbie was a year or two old. I didn't remember it being called the Pineapple Express then, but I'm sure it was. I guess they don't have rights to the name...the plantation administrators had to be appalled by the movie of the same name!

Waiting for the train ride

Cub's 2nd birthday was Saturday. On Sunday we celebrated with a ride on the Hawaiian Railway - a train ride that starts in Ewa and runs through Kapolei, KoOlina, and up to Kahe Point. We snapped a few quick shots of the boys just before the train pulled out of the station. Robbie was completely excited. We couldn't figure out why the birthday boy was making this face. (You can click on the pictures in the following posts for a larger image.)

Waiting for the train ride (2)

Next shot on the camera roll...Cub's expressions had Noel and I laughing to the point of almost crying. Note him clutching a James train from the Thomas the Tank Engine set.

Waiting for the train ride (3)

Here we were getting rather excited and making a lot of "woo-hoo" type sounds. Cub still wasn't into it.

View from the train

Like the Sugar Cane Train on Maui, the Oahu train has roots in the sugar cane plantation era. During the 90 minute train ride, we got the historical overview of how the train came to be (a narrator is on board), when and where it ran and was used, as well as some other fun facts. The train starts in Ewa and reaches its destination (Kahe Point) in about 40 minutes. We sit for about 10 minutes along the coast before the train heads back to Ewa. No turning around or repositioning the trains cars...we just went back.
Here's the gorgeous view of the Waianae Coast from that final stop before heading back to Ewa. On the mauka side (not pictured) you would see Kahe Point. Sadly, a good portion of the trip is not this scenic. As we ride past Kapolei, it's pretty empty except for recent commercial developments like the new Costco. Through the KoOlina properties, we ride alongside the golf course. Past KoOlina, the train is wedged between the coastline and Farrington Highway and we finally see the ocean. The boys ended up having a lot of fun. Even the grandparents were up for more rides in the future!

Art imitates...life?

I've been pondering a functional re-org of our house and we've been trying a new sleeping arrangement for the boys. Basically seeing if they can sleep together in the same room so we can use our third bedroom as a dedicated guest room and office. I had concerns that they would keep each other up or otherwise disrupt the sleeping pattern. We've had a few hiccups but so far, so good. The other night Cub went down pretty quickly but Robbie was restless (and loud!) so I moved him to another room. He didn't like that! When he got up the next morning, he wanted to know if he could sleep with Cub that night, and when he got home from school, he reminded me again. So I guess it's working.

Sometime last week this drawing came home in his backpack. It has some inaccuracies! They do not share the same bed, rather they each have their own mattress. And we don't have a cat. Not sure where that one came from! When Noel saw it, he said, "So that's why my allergies have been bad recently!" I'm also unclear as to what the yellow box with the vertical stripes is. Best guess is the window with horizontal blinds. Nice eye for detail, kiddo!

Next week public schools are off. Officially called "Fall Intercession." Fall break! I don't remember Fall break as a kid! They do get the traditional 5-day weekend at Thanksgiving and a lengthy Christmas break, so this is not to make up for that. And in addition, due to state budget cuts, the teachers voted last week to add 17 "Furlough Fridays" to the calendar instead of teacher layoffs and other cuts. We have a lot of 3- and 4- day weekends in our future.