Honolulu Zoo

Yesterday my friend Nicole invited us to go to the zoo with them. We met up at the zoo first thing and headed around to see the animals. After we had gone around to a few of the animals we headed to the playground. We spent a quite a bit of time at the playground, but the kids had a blast!

After we were done at the playground we watched the Tigers play for a few minutes, and then walked through the African Savannah area. My favorite thing about the African Savannah area is that the animals roam around together. The Zebras, Giraffes, Rhinos, and Ostrich all share the same space.

They had a zoo educational area set up with some of the different animal info. Gabby was most interested in comparing her hand to the orangatan's hand imprint. They also had a few different animal skulls, and hides.

Pyramid Excavation

This week we (Kaylee, Gabby, and I) have been learning about Egyptian pyramids and mummies. Yesterday we built a step pyramid out of legos, and today we excavated a pyramid. Inside the pyramid that we excavated we found a "mummy", and a few treasures. It has been interesting learning about the pyramids, and fun doing the activities that coordinate with it. We learned how pyramids were made, as well as how archeologist carefully recover artifacts.

Falkor the Luckdragon

We decided to name our puppy Falkor because he looks a lot like the luckdragon on The Neverending Story. I made the comment that's wha he looks like last night just before we headed to bed and it just fit. This morning when I asked Kaylee what she thought of the name she was very insistant that she wanted it to be Beaches. I turned on the movie The Neverending Story and as soon as the movie ended Kaylee said "Yeah! I love it!" So, all it took was knowing who Falkor was in the movie and the girls love the name. So, we now have a little Falkor puppy.

Our new puppy

Today Paul called me on his way home from work. He wanted to go to the Humane Society to look at dogs. We went over there and found a cute 4 month old puppy, but when Paul went and asked about it we found out it had JUST gotten adopted. So, on our way home we stopped at a puppy store and looked at cute puppies. I really liked the Maltipoo, but not for $1300!! So, we headed home and looked on Craigslist. A new listing had just barely been posted for some Maltese/Shih Tzu mix puppies. So, I called about the puppies and asked a bunch of questions. We decided to meet up with the people (they lived in navy housing really near us, so it worked out really well). At first we weren't sure and we were actually heading home without the puppy and we decided to go for it. They were just so cute, and we really missed having a dog.

Our new puppy is only 9 weeks old, and adorable little fuzz ball. He is 3/4 Maltese, 1/4 Shih Tzu. He doesn't have a name yet. I am completely open to name suggestions: Cute boy dog name suggestions please.

Weekly Review - May 30-June 5

Sunday, May 30 - We went out to Bellows Beach...but I forgot my camera. Kaylee was getting really good on the body board. I snapped a few fuzzy pictures with my phone. After we got back from the beach and were all cleaned up we sat out on our patio and roasted some marshmallows.

Monday, May 31 - Memorial Day! Paul had the day off work for Memorial Day. We decided to go to a fair that was set up next to Aloha Stadium. It was way overpriced! But, at least we had some fun.

Tuesday, June 1 - Last time we went into the Lego store I saw a sign that said that they did a free "make and take" on the first Tuesday of every month. So, after taking Gabby in for her Kindergarten Well-Child check-up we went over to the Lego store. To our disappointment the free make and take was only from 5-7pm and I didn't want to go back late in the evening. We played for a bit, and then I got each of the girls a Lego grab-bag. There is an area that you an make your own Lego people. Kaylee was having lots of fun finding matching pieces and making matching Lego people.

Wednesday, June 2 - The kids wanted a snack, and they wanted to make something. So, we made Swiss-Cake-Roll-Cars. They were fun to make, and really yummy to eat.

Thursday, June 3 - Gabby got her Kindergarten Booster Shots. She was not happy with me at all. When we went into the immunization clinic she asked me if I would go talk to them and tell them that she didn't need shots. She got shots, screamed for a minute when they gave her shots, and then was pretty much fine. Just not very happy with me.

Friday, June 4 - Kaylee and Gabby really enjoy going to the Library every week for story time. This week they had a special guest to help kick off their summer reading program. They had the amazing bubble show. Kaylee was picked to have a bubble put over her since she was being the most well behaved She loved it and thought it was hilarious when a bubble would pop when it was above her or around her.

Saturday, June 5 - We went to the lagoon beaches at the Ko'Olina Resort to play. This time I made sure to bring my camera. I picked up...put it in my bag...and left my memory card in my computer. It was a pretty fun (and nice) beach, and it wasn't too busy. Next time we go somewhere I will make sure I have my camera AND my memory card.

The Amazing Bubble Show

The girls and I like to go to the library every Friday for story time. Today to kick off the summer reading program they had The Amazing Bubble Show. It was fun and she kept the kids very well entertained. She made tiny bubbles, medium ones, and extra large ones. She used store-bought products, as well as showing the kids all sorts of things they could use from around the house to make bubbles.

There were a few times she had kids come up to help her with the bubbles. It was kids who were sitting quietly, and listening. The last person she called up she said was the most well behaved child that had been sitting the best the whole time...it was Kaylee that had been invited up to help. First the bubble lady made a few bubble rainbows above Kaylee's head, and then she put a few bubbles around Kaylee. It was a lot of fun, and Kaylee especially loved it.

50th State Fair

There is a fair that has been set up in the parking lot at Aloha Stadium and a huge banner says 50th State Fair. We pass by Aloha Stadium quite a bit and the kids have been begging to go, so, since today is Memorial Day it was free admission for military appreciation day. We learned that it was NOT in fact the state fair...it was just simply a fair that happens to be in the 50th state of the nation. We also learned that it was a MAJOR rip-off. The kids had fun, and we enjoyed it, but we will not be going there again. As we have passed the fair driving around town the kids talked non-stop about the carousel, the Ferris wheel, and the bumper cars that they wanted to go on when we went to the fair. The first thing we came to when we walked in the gates was the Carousel. Gabby was to short to go on by herself so they required Paul to pay to ride with her.

Next we headed for the Ferris wheel...it cost us $12.50 for the 4 of us to ride the Ferris wheel! It was a nice ride, and some great views, but way to pricey for my liking. From the Ferris wheel we watched a pretty cool horse riding show with amazing acrobatics.

From there we headed over to the bumper cars...only to discover that Kaylee was to short to be a driver, and Gabby was to short to even go on the bumper cars. Paul went with Kaylee on the bumper cars, and I took Gabby over to the petting farm area to see the baby animals.

By then we ran out of ride tickets and I wasn't about to buy anymore...so, we decided to wander around through the rest of the fair. We wandered over to the carnival games and decided to play a couple games. The girls each played a couple of simple ball tossing games and they each won a bear, and a balloon type blow-up toy. I decided to play a game where you knock over the pile of milk bottles and won a little stuffed dog. Paul tried his luck at a few games and walked away from the games frustrated.

In conclusion to our carnival fun...What's a carnival without cotton candy? The funny thing? The cotton candy was the most reasonably priced thing at the fair...funny how that works. The girls really enjoyed the cotton candy. I had a little bit and because of all the humidity in the air here it wasn't as light and fluffy as I like it.