Children's Discovery Center

One of the best things about being a parent is getting to experience childhood all over again. We visited the Children's Discovery Center for their Tooth Fairy Fun Day, which means we got in free with our insurance cards. The Children's Discovery Center is full of ways for kids to play pretend. It was so much fun to watch X pretend to fight fires, change car tires, brush giant teeth, have a tea party, and, his personal favorite, fly an airplane. I'll let the pictures speak for us.

Brushing the giant teeth

Father and son, pilot and copilot

Driving TheBus

Cooking some soup

Driving the fire truck

Putting tires on a car

Thomas!

Water play

Building a workbench

Shoeing a horse

Looking for eggs

Watering the plants

Medieval cooking

Playing with the castle people

Building

Sending a dolphin downstream

Preparing tea

Cooking with a wok

Driving a forklift

Steering a ship

Bellows Loop Trail

For President's Day, we visited the Bellows Loop Trail. What fun! X was able to ride his bicycle as he pleased, which in his case means stopping every twenty feet or so to pick up a stick or look at some picnicers. We did a very small portion of it, stopping at a grassy area where we could watch crabs on the rocks. My only mistake was going to the beach afterwards. It was completely packed. Note to self: avoid military beaches on holiday weekends.

February

I have to say, I am enjoying the un-February like weather here. This used to be the worst time of the year for me, as I imagine it is for many people who live where there is still winter. Living here is such a struggle financially, and I'm not sorry to say that we may be poor, but at least there's no winter. Boo-yah.

I had one of my bigger parenting fails last week. X loves to ride his bicycle at the farmer's market, which is held at a local elementary school with lots of walkways for smooth riding. When I packed him into the car to go, I left the bicycle on the curb. He didn't want to leave it. "Trust me," I said. Then I drove off without it. By the time I realized my mistake two hours later, the bike was gone. I told my son to trust me, and I let him down, losing his prized possession. I was inconsolable.

The next day, I went to the Sunday market to ask if one of the vendors had seen the bike. As soon as he saw me, uncle N told me that he had the bike and that he would bring it the next week. He took it with him because he knew X, and he knew we would be back on Saturday. Once again, I'm rescued by the generosity of our community. When he recovered his bike this past Saturday, X rode around gleefully, weaving in and out of the old Japanese ladies who frequent the Saturday farmer's market.

On the Pu'u Olia Trail

They stopped before I did.

Here he is at Tantalus Lookout. He has grown! Our picture last year has his head several inches below that top bar.

Reunited and it feels so good!

He will wear daddy's hat, but not his own. At Waimanalo Bay.