Couple time

Actually, the couples broke down as Jacqui/Danielle and Gabbi/Bill for Sunday morning. A couple of weeks ago Gabbi and Danielle had gone to an event at the Waikiki Aquarium and Bill and Jacqui had spent some time watching the sunset and exploring a nearby park. So, this was a chance to have some one on one time with each of the girls (we're hoping to do this about once a month). Danielle and Jacqui hiked Koko Crater, while Bill and Gabbi went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay.

Then Danielle and Jacqui met us at Hanauma Bay for a little more snorkeling. On the way back to the car, we saw a mongoose hanging out at the garbage can.....


Self portrait, by Jacqui!

Honolulu Festival

We ventured into the city for the Honolulu Festival this weekend. There were a number of stages set up around Waikiki and the Honolulu Convention Center. There was definitely a heavy Japanese influence at the festival as most of the performances that we saw were Japanese.

The first act that we saw was a Japanese drumming/woodwind group that performed a number of songs and did a "bone dance".


We also saw a Japanese halau (hula school) perform.


After sitting in the hot sun for a while, we needed to stop into the Yard House for some treats.

Then we went to the convention center to see the exhibits. We did origami. The girls got a flower (Gabbi) and Cat (Jacqui) painted on their arms. Finally, we watched part of a hula contest before heading back to our apartment.

Lei making (2)

The girls enjoyed their second lei making class earlier this week. With their new talents, perhaps our visitors can expect to be greeted with homemade leis on arrival (yet another reason to come visit!).

Moving around the island.....

Well, we moved into our 3rd (and last) temporary apartment since we arrived.... This one is in Kahala, south of Honolulu. We are about a mile or so from Diamond Head. We are closer to downtown than Kailua, so it will be interesting to do more in the city, while we are in this place. We'll be here until April 1, when we move into our new duplex (rental) in Kailua.

The apartment itself is fine.... The building is right on the ocean and has a swimming pool! We are next door to the Kahala Mandarin Hotel, which has a lovely beach and a lagoon with lots of fish and 4 dolphins! The girls took me over there to see the dolphins after a swim yesterday evening.

Gymnastics

The girls tried out a gymnastics class at the Hawaii Academy this week. They had a great time and basically had a private lesson. The gym focuses on tumbling and trampoline and has some students that are world class trampoline gymnasts!

The class was originally supposed to be an acrobatics class from a teacher that we met while hiking at Makapu'u our first week here. Apparently there were some scheduling conflicts with her, so the class was their standard intermediate level. The gym is near downtown Honolulu, so we have to fight traffic afterward. We may try to find a class on the windward side of the island once we get into our apartment.

Banyan Trees

Banyan trees are pretty incredible to see and explore. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera this weekend, where the girls found a great one for climbing. We did a really wonderful hike from the near the Pali highway through a variety of different tree stands....starting through bamboo, then on to Scotch pine, and finally in a koa and ohia mountaintop forest. We had great views of Honolulu, Nuuanu valley and Pearl Harbor. Here are some pictures of other Banyans that we've seen.

This Banyan grove was close to Rainbow Falls in Hilo. We also saw some famous Banyans while we were there, including one planted by Babe Ruth!

The Banyans send down shoots from their branches that eventually root themselves and form the wide "trunk". Before they get to the ground, though, the girls enjoy swinging from them!

Sometimes (especially evenings) the noise under the Banyans can be deafening with the calls of birds that are settling in to roost in them for the night.

Waikiki

We've had a couple of trips to the world famous Waikiki Beach since we've been here. It certainly isn't the most beautiful beach on the island (that would probably have to go to Lanikai, so far). It tends to be pretty narrow, lined with hotels, and crowded.

On our last trip there, however, we strolled through the Hilton Hawaiian village and saw flamingos! Jacqui was particularly excited!

There are also some nice views of Diamond Head along the way.

And you can catch a sunset on this side of the island!

Lei Making Class

The girls participated in a lei making class earlier this week. I'd say they did a fabulous job!

Apparently, there are 6 different methods for making leis. They are hoping to attend the class again to learn some of the other methods.

Storytellers at the Bishop Museum

We had a wonderful time at the Bishop Museum at a Native storytellers program. It included natives from (of all places) Hawai'i, Alaska, and Massachusetts! Their stories, dancing and music were fascinating! It was very interesting to see some of the differences (and similarities) among native cultures that are thousands of miles apart!

The performers helped each other tell stories and performed as a part of the ECHO project (http://www.echospace.org/). Their performances are coming to Massachusetts soon. Check out their schedule and try to make it to a performance!

The Alaskan natives (Anupiaq and Yupik) were wonderful to watch. They had us come up on stage to learn and perform (we'll get pictures from friends as soon as we can)

The Massachusetts representatives were Cape Verdean and Wampanoag of Aquinnah. We enjoyed talking with Jonathan Perry, the Wampanoag storyteller!

One down

Gabbi lost her first tooth on February 19!

It suprised Danielle and Gabbi both, when Danielle was flossing Gabbi's teeth and it popped right out!

Two more on the bottom are getting close!