For Granddad

used completely without permission
Sand-Between-the-Toes

I went down to the shouting sea,
Taking Christopher down with me,
For Nurse had given us sixpence each-
And down we went to the beach.

We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor'wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.

The sea was galloping grey and white;
Christopher clutched his sixpence tight;
We clambered over the humping sand-
And Christopher held my hand.

We had sand in the eyes and the ears and the nose,
And sand in the hair, and sand-between-the-toes.
Whenever a good nor'wester blows,
Christopher is certain of
Sand-between-the-toes.

There was a roaring in the sky;
The sea-gulls cried as they blew by;
We tried to talk, but had to shout-
Nobody else was out.

When we got home, we had sand in the hair,
In the eyes and the ears and everywhere;
Whenever a good nor'wester blows,
Christopher is found with
Sand-between-the-toes.

-from When We Were Very Young A.A. Milne

Morning dip

Yesterday was a difficult homeschooling day, I was starting to wonder why I was attempting it at all. I found my answer this morning, a beautiful Tuesday morning family swim/paddle to Flat Island. Jason had prepared breakfast to go so we loaded up the kayak and the girls and headed to Kailua Beach. I had a wonderful swim, starting behind the market out to Flat Island and back with Daddy and the girls escorting in the kayak. The beginning of the swim was a little distracting as Ella yelled,"Mama!! Uppy, uppy!" However Dad settled her down and she spent the rest of the ride sighting sharks, turtles and coral in every ripple on the water. Its been such a long time since I've got to do this swim and it was beautiful. When we got back Daddy and Hannah decided to swim out to the buoy.


Since she has absolutely no body fat baby sister gets chilly quick so we decided to warm up by playing in the sand.

Baby mermaid.


Learning how to Shaka for the camera.

Exploring some tree roots with Dad.

This morning instead of trying to get a cranky Kindergartener out the door with her lunch and homework we spent it as a family swimming, paddling and playing at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world. We prefer going to the beach during the week since its not as busy. Dad will occasionally go in on a weekend so he can go in later on a weekday. He spent Saturday afternoon at the lab and is now back at work while the girls and I enjoy some lunch. Now that she's sufficiently worn out we can start some homeschool work while we're all in a good mood!

That been AWESOME!

Sunday we had the most amazing family day at the beach. We attended a Na Kama Kai ocean clinic.

http://www.nakamakai.com/

We arrived around 11 and were scheduled to do the clinic at 2 so the girls and their buddies spent the next 3 hours body surfing, boogie boarding and playing in the sand at this beautiful beach, Kahana Bay on the Windward side North of Kualoa Ranch. I hadn't been there before but its now one of my favorite beaches.


At 2 pm Hannah and her buddies loaded in an outrigger canoe and took a ride.


After that they helped shape a Koa surfboard for future keiki surfers who would be doing clinics in California.




Last but not least she got to try stand up paddling and catching waves on the surf board with her instructor.



Even with all these amazing things to try it was plain old body surfing with Dad pushing her into the waves that won the quote of the day, "That been AWESOME!!"

Sleep

So I haven't been able to blog lately, here's why. We're having some sleep issues. Notice none of these pictures involves a bed? Once she goes out, she's pretty easy to transfer but as you can tell she lays where she falls, fighting to the end. I'll return once we're a little more rested.