Way too many pictures.

This post really deserves to be about five small ones, but I don't have the patience for that. 

Theoretical post one: Fishing Day

Matt wanted to go catch a fish, and had heard that this beach was a good place. He went out onto the precarious, razor-sharp lava rocks, balancing against white-water swells, and caught us a gorgeous dinner. The girls and I played in the sand and explored. We saw this 'outsider art' structure, and when i was hesitant to let rosie play inside, she reassured me with, "it's okay mom, there's nobody sleeping inside!"

 Since we are on Kauai, there was naturally a drumming circle on the bike path near the beach. We had to go check it out and dance around.

 Rosie brought her own fishing pole, too.

 Dinner!

 Girls in tide pools.

 Theoretical Post 2: North Shore Fieldtrip Day

Our friends convinced us that Na Aina Kai botanical gardens in Kilauea are worth visiting-- once. So we shelled out the big, big, big bucks and got to play in the fountains, explore a fake Navajo village full of bronze Indians, and see some really lovely lotuses. The kids were tired and hot and dehydrated... so we took them to the beach to play some MORE. And --such luck-- the whole fleet of polynesian voyaging canoes was in the harbor. These canoes are amazing-- double-hulled, a marvel of ancient wisdom and modern technology. They navigate by the stars and power their iphones with solar panels. They give me hope for the future of humanity: we are capable of not only respecting the knowledge of the past, but expanding it into something redemptively meaningful.

 As we were walking along the beach, admiring these beautiful vessels from a distance, two of the crewmembers from Fiji waves us into their raft and invited us on board! I threw all of the kids in-- Rosie did not appreciate the sudden, unexplained change of direction, and maile was in the backback wailing. Then we all scaled a ladder from the raft onto the canoe and wobbled on the pitching deck. The kids got to climb around the bunks belowdeck, and I admired all the hand-carved wood and harassed the crew about their stories. They told me that Fiji has been reintroduced to celestial navigation from Papa Mao, the master navigator who brought the art back to Hawaii.

 There's the aft-- the solar panels and the hand-carved details and the bananas...

 Here is Ben, one of the crew from Fiji, explaining the inner workings of the canoe. This was their first landfall in five months. And they still have months to go as they circumnavigate the globe.

 Our friends joined us-- you can see the kids in the raft coming over.

 This canoe was entirely hand-made out of natural materials, and was in a place of honor on the beach. There was a large offering of fruit and ti leaves, and long streamers of roped ti leaves marking it off.

 We were all tuckered out. And i didn't even take any pictures of the free lapperts ice cream cone we stopped to get, or the steak we grilled, or the o-bon festival we went to late that night. It was a full day.

 Theoretical post number 3: Beaches are nice

 Theoretical post number 5: Staying home is fine too

The cat-in-a-box. You're welcome, interwebs!

 this was Rosie's art installation. I called it: Shelob in Yarn. Maile was the first victim to become entangled.

 Rosie loves her pea patch.

 Here Matt is trimming Rosie-goat's hooves and Maile is "wearing" her sister's new swimsuit, which she pulled off of the laundry line, all by herself.

 Who needs to pay 200 dollars to enroll in gymnastics when you have derelict structures by your compost bin?

 These shoes, "Haru shoes" as RJ called them, lived a long and useful life. Rosie threw them in the rubbish without turning into a pillar of salt but I had to fish them out to take a picture. They were well-loved. We will never forget you, Haru shoes!

 Helping daddy with the chicken cages is good fun.

 Theoretical Post Number, what... 6? Ganesh's chickens

It was actually chilly enough to put sweaters on. Thanks grandma M!

 We took a walk to our neighborhood sacred Hindu forest to say hi to Ganesh and pat the dairy cow through the fence. To my surprise, someone had abandoned a whole flock of really big, fat, gorgeous farm chickens in the forest. They are about three times the size of the wild chickens-- big juicy rhode island reds and blonde buff orpingtons.

 They were nesting pretty happily in the sacred trees. But when one of the monks drove by to tend to the cows (in his PRIUS) I asked him about the chickens. He said that for some reason the forest has become a popular live-stock abandoning location. Too bad, this sect does not allow the use of eggs! So he said I could take away as many chickens as I wanted. I complimented him on the dairy cows and he said, "yes, they are a TRAYsure." I couldn't help myself and asked where he was from. He got very closed off and said, "well, the mainland..." and I pressed: "My grandma from Utah says TRAYsure just like that. You must be from the intermountain west." He admitted he was and then jumped in his prius and drove away through the pasture. Sorry monk for distracting you from your detachment, oops. But I loved how incongruous it was. And suddenly I could transform him into your Provo Bishopric member-- shaved head to parted thinning hair, flowing bright tunic to suit...

 Anyway, Rosie played in the cherry tree while I tried to lure the chickens in.

 In the end, a big truck pulled up and scared them all away, and I had to resort to "chicken-chasin'" Which is undignified and ineffective. But I caught one! I was quite proud of myself until I realized that she is blind in one eye. Hah-- didn't see me comin'.

 Theoretical Post Number 7: SHEESH! Cute Rosie Photos

Rosie did a series of navel-gazing photos:

 Post number... pi: 4th of July! We go to bed before dark so we did some broad-daylight sparklers.

 At first it was fun all around but pretty soon Rosie became quite unhappy with all the noise and fire...

 Willing to suspend her doubts...

 Less willing. Maile was cautiously curious.

We've finally reached the end of this mammoth post! If you got this far, you deserve a cookie.