Aloha!

Well,

That's it. Hawaii came and went quickly. Now we're back in Seattle enjoying "warm" 64-degree sunny weather. We said "aloha" on Friday, May 4th and flew back to Seattle that afternoon. But not after enjoying our time on Oahu. Since the last blog entry we have done lots by some measures and not much by others. Mostly we continued to go to the beach, see Grandma and Grandpa (and their pool), and go on a couple of mini-adventures. It was sad to see Nana (the kids' great grandmother) pass away but we are happy we got to see her and talk with her one more time.  

Hadden finds a dead fish on Lanikai Beach. Hooray.

Leslie and Madeline visit...again!
Auntie Leslie and Cousin Madeline came back for a second visit at the end of April. It was lots of fun to have them come back. The kids adore Madeline and gave her rock start treatment all week. There were lots of arguments over who got to sit next to hear at meal time. Madeline was a good sport about all the attention. Leslie "got" to stay an extra day at the end because she (along with Hadden) was sick. Yucky.

Yvonne, Hadden, Leslie and Madeline stand on the shore looking for sea turtles. In this part of Lanikai, they come to within about 5 feet of shore. 

Clara plays with her lei that Steve and Hadden got her.

Madeline wears her plumeria in the right ear (meaning: she's "taken").
Not sure what the snot oozing down from the nose means.  

Nana passes away
I had to leave the island for 2 days for a meeting in Sacramento. I got back at noon on April 26th. Nana, age 96 (almost 97) passed away that day around 11:30 a.m. at Castle Hospital. Nana is my dad's mother. It was a sad day, but not too sad - it was her time and she had lived a long and good life. I am glad that the kids got to see her and talk to her one last time while here and am also happy that I got to do the same. We will miss Nana. When I told Hadden he said, "Daddy, I wished you didn't tell me that because now I'm sad."


Adventure to Kahana Beach Park
One morning we started out with the intention to go to He'eia Kea boat ramp to play and sample the General Store food there (supposed to be quite good). When we got there we didn't find an acceptable beach area so kept on driving. Before we knew it we were in Ka'a'awa and headed towards Laie. We finally stopped at Kahana State Beach Park, which is just around the bend from the over-hyped Crouching Lion Inn. The beach park was nice and, for the most part, deserted. We briefly met a surf instructor there with his class. He calls himself "Professor Surf" and "Big Z" (after the character in "Surf's Up"). Hadden really liked the Big Z name. Turns out he is a local boy - played for Dread Ashanti in the 1990s. I'm sure Yvonne and I saw him when we were dating back then.

Anyway, we spent plenty of time running from the surf. At first we just did the normal "woah, the water can't get me!" kind of thing. Then we decided to run backwards (backpedal) and found that it's quite hard to backpedal quickly without falling. Fortunately, falling is fun.

Everyone run from the surf!

Falling is equally as fun as running.

Three Muenches and a beach.

After the fun at the beach park is was time for lunch. Or, more appropriately, past time for lunch. We headed back to He'eia Kea pier to sample the General Store and Deli food. They had rather standard plate lunch stuff (beef broccoli, guava chicken, hamburger steak with gravy) with the usual rice and mac salad. But the ingredients were local and really, really tasty. Definitely a cut above the standard plate lunch place.

We get our plate lunches and dig in. Ono grinds.

A Favorite Tradition
Just like Kash and Haze before them, the kids LOVED looking for bugs to feed the lizards in Grandma and Grandpa's yard. Grandpa would "help" them find and catch some bugs (usually cockroaches) and then take them outside the kitchen to feed to waiting lizards. Kind of gruesome for the bug but entertaining for others - not unlike events in the Roman Colosseum.

Watching a bug just before its death.

Adventures with Mommy Gone
In the middle of all this Yvonne had to fly back to Seattle for some meetings. Rather inconvenient (she flew out on 30 April in the evening and back on 2 May in the evening - we flew back to Seattle on 4 May) but we "handled" (versus "canna handle"). The last day of preschool was May 1st and the kids said good bye to all their preschool friends. I made banana bread for each class. It was great having them in preschool while in Hawaii at the Cole Academy. Great school, very loving. We will miss all our "Hawaii preschool" friends and teachers.

The next day we went to the USS Bowfin memorial in the morning (at Pearl Harbor). It's a WW II submarine that you can tour. I sort of showed the kids what I used to do - even though my old submarine wasn't as old as this one. Everyone was very brave going on board and down belowdecks.

Look at us dad!

Hadden mans the 5-inch deck gun on the Bowfin.

Back on shore, the kids man the 40 mm quads. I'd just like to see any
airplanes penetrate this defense.

Clara womans the 5-inch gun at the Bowfin.

Daddy, were do you look? 

Oh...here. 

The family portrait at He'eia Kea pier taken by Leslie using a nicely painted container door as the backdrop. Once again, it's nearly impossible to get everyone to smile/pose at once. 

One of the last few late afternoons on Lanikai Beach. We were right across the street from this scene every day. The house we stayed in was fantastic and it never gets old walking down the beach in the early evening watching all the Lanikai Canoe Club paddlers in the water.

Well, that's it. Aloha,

Steve

Hawaii Five!

That's it. Hawaii Five. That's because Hadden is now officially five years old. Born on 12 April 2007, Hadden has survived five years in the Muench family - quite an accomplishment and the first kid to do so. Way to go. So far, we've have 2.5 parties for Hadden. First, we had the one (previous blog) in conjunction with Cole's birthday (March 8th) the week the Fenners were here. Then, we had a party this last Thursday at Grandma/Grandpa's house with Uncle Mike in attendance as well. Just this last night we again had cookies and ice cream as well as a gift and card from Uncle Mike. This is the birthday that just keeps on giving. I'm sure we'll do another party back in Seattle for all Hadden's Seattle friends.

Slippery Slide Slo Mo
First ever video from the kids doing the slippery slide. Both Hadden and Clara now are able to go down on their bellies, head-first.

Hadden and Cole hit the slide together in slow motion.

Clara hits the deck in a spray of water.

Easter Egg Hunt at Preschool

Hadden and Clara are going to the Cole Academy preschool in Enchanted Lake while we are here. They seem to like it now although Clara is not happy about being dropped off in the morning. She doesn't cry so much any more as get angry with us at the moment of drop-off. She does have lots of fun during the day, though. At least that's what they tell us. 

Hadden's class after the Easter egg hunt.

Clara finds a purple Easter egg! Mom is thrilled.

Clara's class after the Easter egg hunt. Notice Clara has her eyes
shielded. "It's too bright!"

After our trip to the Waikiki Aquarium last Saturday we stopped at
Kapiolani Park and had lunch at a celebration of the Thai culture.
Great food...the kids agree!

Hadden's Birthday (the actual day)
Started out by going to preschool with a loaf of banana bread made with apple bananas from Grandma and Grandpa's back yard and freshly grated coconut from Grandpa. Everyone liked it at school for snack. After preschool we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a birthday celebration and some pool time. Gift giving was mild because we have to spread it out over several celebrations. Clara even got something. Most importantly, we were with family and had lots of fun. We made mac-and-cheese with broccoli and Grandma made the cake.

Hadden REALLY wanted a mask and snorkel. Check. Now all
he has to do is learn how to swim.

Clara got something too. A Belle doll! OMG!

Star Wars shirt. Super cool.

Star Wars book! Sadly, Hadden did not get a tan for his birthday.
That's fine. We don't want any skin cancer for his 40th birthday or anything like that.

The birthday cake with a blue football. Nicely done Grandma!

USS Missouri BB 63

We went to Pearl Harbor today to visit the Mighty Mo. Fun little trip. Kids did well. Hadden enjoyed the really big guns while Clara liked going up and down the ladders on the ship. Mom and Dad got major flashbacks from our Navy days. Even saw the crappy lunch shack on Ford Island where I used to buy my lunch every day during Engineer's School. Mom saw her building she used to work in (IUSS) and we both got major whiffs of that metal-grease-fuel smell that's so common to ships. 

The kids, a Polaris missile and my finger. Oops.

Guns! 40 mm anti-aircraft.

A cute picture of the family in front of more guns.

Hadden's favorite picture of him on the Missouri.

Helping Clara descend a ladder on the Mo.

Hadden cons the ship. I think.

Clara gulps water on the bridge.

Clara cons the ship as a UI (under instruction).

Clara and Yvonne descend a ladder.

Walking through the bowels of the ship.

Hadden takes a photo of me and Clara.

Beach Bums and Easter

Well,

We have now been in Hawaii for over 2 weeks. It's been fun so far and the kids have taken to the beach and outdoors just fine. We have played with Nona and the Fenner clan and have now said "goodbye" to Nona and the Fenner clan - Hadden constantly asks when he can go over to Denver to visit Cousin Cole. Glad they had so much fun together.

Bye-bye Fenners and Nona
The Fenners were in Waikiki the first week we were here and we had the good fortune of seeing them on a number of occasions. Hopefully we were the draw and not just Lanikai Beach. ;-)  Hadden, in particular, had so much fun with Cousin Cole (CC) at the beach. Clara, of course, adores Madeleine. Actually, Hadden was the one following her all over the house making sure she was okay. Very sweet. That said, here's one of my favorite Nona pictures of Madeleine. Cute Fenner. Fennerific. Fentastic. Fennerlicious. Take your pick. We have evidence that everyone made it back to the mainland just fine - we have talked to Nona and the Denver Fenners since.

Madeleine Fenner poses for the camera in Lanikai.

 Birthday!
We had a small combined birthday celebration for Cole (March 8th) and Hadden (Aptil 12th) while everyone was in town. We even threw in a birthday present for Nona (February 7th) that was purchased in Rome. Actually, that one was added a couple of days later. It was a warm scarf so we were not offended that she didn't wear it the next day. So, Cole is 4 and Hadden is almost 5. They are growing up! Not that this is a surprise...it's just that sometimes our perception of time is not calibrated to our kids. Birthdays serve as sort of a recalibration moment.

Cole and Hadden blow out the candles on their combined carrot cake birthday cake on the deck at the Lanikai  House. 

Summit

On Nona's last day she summitted the Lanikai Pillboxes hike. Not sure what the summit name is there but it has to be at least 500 ft. Anyway, the view from up there is spectacular. It also offers a great perspective on our rental house and its proximity to the beach.

Nona at the summit.

This is a picture of Yvonne and the kids on Lanikai Beach taken from pillbox
number 2. I THINK I see them. Maybe not. 

"Da Mokes" from the pillbox. Mokulua and Mokumanu are twin islands (old cinder cones
from eons ago) that are now bird sanctuaries. They are 7/8 of a mile offshore and are often reached by
the multitude of kayak renters these days. Back in the day one had to swim, sail or paddle out
and could achieve relative isolation out there.

Our rental house in the foreground, left side (it's the pink one behind
the tall coconut trees). You can see the beach too. Not too shabby.
Turns out my dad knows the owners from high school and I know one of
their kids from high school. Small world. The neighbor graduated from my high
school one year before me. Again, small world. 

Easter
Easter is an official "big deal" now. Not because of anything Christ did. More because of the Easter Bunny and his tradition of hiding eggs with candy and toys in the yard. Also, we get to dye eggs, which the kids did in preschool and at home this year. So, early Sunday morning (7am about) we got up with the neighbors and their kids (Noe and Lina) to hunt for easter eggs in our yard. There was a lot of frenzied running around and bunches were found. I'm sure there a several that were not. I suppose those are left to the gardeners.

Clara finds and egg on a plumeria tree.

The kids pose with their booty. That's Lina (3rd grade) top-left, Noe (Kindergarten) bottom-left, and
of course Hadden in the middle and Clara on the right. 

Everyone gets back to checking out their eggs after the picture.

Steve, Clara and Hadden went to Easter services at Christ Church. Was good to see
the old church. Here are the kids in their "Sunday best" (Hawaiian style) posing with Grandma.

Slip-n-slide!

We have been having LOTS of fun with a slip-n-slide set lent to us by the rental owners. They have a fabulous yard in which to play too. On Easter Hadden, Clara, Noe and Lina played for a couple of hours. Here are some action shots of the day. Last week Hadden figured out how to slide head-first properly and today Clara figured it out too! "Daddy, I got the hang of it!" she kept yelling. 

Bunny Cake
It's kind of a tradition at the Muench home for Grandma to make a bunny-shaped cake for Easter. This year it was a carrot cake and was delicious. The kids got to help decorate it (and eat a few of the decorations). Too much fun. That's freshly grated coconut used for the "fur" and a collection of gummy candies used for facial features.

Happy Easter all,

Steve