Snorkeling at Shark's Cove

This is my first time to snorkel at Shark's Cove (north shore) and I like it better than the tourist's delight which is Hanauma Bay.  Trouble is, Shark's Cove is overwhelmed with 30' waves during the winter, which is when the international surfing competitions are held here at the north shore.  This time of year is delicious!  That's Ben in the foreground, and Sam just beyond.  Out a little further is quite a bit deeper, and I could take pictures of the scuba divers!  My poor Olympus underwater camera got swamped here, so I've had to capture Alli's pictures taken on her Pentax.  I've also copied her and bought a Pentax to replace my Olympus.  Thanks for sniffing out a different camera, Alli!

This "guy" is our favorite "find.".  It's a gobie, quite small and lives in holes in rocks.  He looks kind of like a worm, and sticks his head in and out depending on how much you scare him.

Check Alli's blog for pictures of even more amazing fish.

Poor Alli.  When voting between Mexican at Cholo's and a shrimp truck, the shrimp truck won!  Sam was the swing vote -- thank you Sam!  No mainlander in his right mind would stop to even take a picture of one of these, much less eat their food!  But here, they are legendary, and soooo good!  Don't believe it?  Look below.

We have snarfed it up, and Sam's now our resident "gobie" fish!

A whipping cream frenzy is about to break out!  Sam wants eyeglasses painted on his face!  By the time we were finished, he and Ben had white, sticky hair, white "deodorant" on Ben, and white "hair" on Sam's chest!!

Flat Island Rock

There is a rock just off Flat Island that I love to look through.  It changes with the tide, of course, and what you see looking toward Kailua changes minute by minute.  I'd love to catch a kayaker (preferably someone I know, like Richard), way out there in the distance.  Maybe I'll get it next year.

Today's paddle is more about the Shearwaters.  These birds nest on the ground and make the most unusual moaning sound you can imagine.  The first year I heard them, I thought a baby had been tossed.  After that, I thought it was a Siamese cat.  Shearwaters disappear out to sea after hatching their eggs, and we won't see them again until next year.

More "Home" Work & Mother's Day with a Must-see Video

Alli worked hard sanding the vertical deck wood and varnishing it.  Here's a view with the new rocking chairs on the deck which transformed its use.  Everyone gathers here now for many things, from "concerts" to "lie-monade" which Sam makes scratch from limes in the tree you see in the background.  Like the new exterior house paint?  The color is gorgeous!

Gramma, Sam and "Jack" (another lizard in Sam's hand) lounge for a bit!

After church, the boys and I conspired to bring their Mom a "singing" balloon, and leis.  It was fun for all of us to treat her!  Alli, we all love you so very much!

I had insisted that I'm now "gramma", but an unexpected Mother's Day bouquet greeted me at the car -- this is one of the hau tree clippings that met with the sawzall yesterday!  I loved it!!

Another Mother's Day treat -- we went to Honey's for music from "da guys" (Ben's lingo), and our dear friend and legendary music/songwriter, Eddie Kamae (pron. come-eye).  This photo is of "da guys" who come to Honey's weekly to jam, and do we love it!  Authentic Hawaiian music in the native language.

That's Alli and Ben at the far left, and then Eddie.  Sam gets to go up and jam with "da guys" any time he wants!

Here's Sam doing a little jammin' outside during the break.

Those are Sam's chopsticks moving so fast the camera couldn't stop them.  He drummed a piece so well I was totally blown away, and I happened to have my video zeroed in on him.  You MUST hear this at:  http://www.kampkrug.com/video/2010-05-09Honey%27s%20SamDrumChopsticks%282%29.MOV   It's 72 MB and takes about 5 minutes to load, but well worth the wait, IMHO!  Sam has a natural talent for this, and you'll crack up at the facial expressions and rhythmic body motion.  Quite a deal!



mother's Day picture taken outside at Honey's. I had sent all my mu'u mu'us home with Richard, when he left the first of May, so I had to run out to Sal's to get this for tonight, and it makes me look HUGE.  This was another wonderful Mother's Day!

Dave Exits on Business to Mainland, and Secret Ops Ensue in Kailua

Here's where we frequently gather for a muffin or other breakfast delight, to scope out the day's plans.  Dave will leave for Guam later this afternoon, so Alli will squeeze in lots of "daddy time" for the kids.

At the Association Pool

Ben's really getting the hang of it -- jumping off the edge.  Note those eyes are closed and a huge grin!  Like his big
brother, he's a water boy

At 5 years, Sam's been swimming underwater for a long time, down to the bottom drain!  A day later, he wanted to know if gramma could swim, so with that challenge set up, I had to jump in and race him to the drain.  He got there first!

I bet we all remember this pose for the first dive!

Before Dave could even land in New Hampshire, the female conspirators had raided Ace Hardware where I could get Alli another Mother's Day gift!  The earlier little gift was nice "sniffs" from a special Nantucket, MA perfumery, and now, something every girl should have -- a sawzall (reciprocating saw).  We did all our clandestine tree trimming, cut it up nice and small, and loaded 3 trash bins before Dave could even have landed!

Where we began the "harvest".

About a third of the way through.  There's more on the ground than in the air now.

Next, down the side of the house . . .

Loading the bins with more than the hau trees!  Sam wanted to jump, but that's 65 lbs that Alli had to "spot"!  Nice job, Alli.

With the big boys (Dave and Richard) off-island, Alli and I could go out to the Kailua Pub (such good food).  Neither of the big boys like it, so we rarely get our dosage of pub grub.  Nice day -- so much accomplished!