I AM Summer Fun!

It's summer!! Long lazy days are here and preschool is out! I am ecstatic about our plans. But there is something bugging me. A few different moms from a few different circles have encouraged me to sign my preschooler up for a zillion programs with them. Oh come on, they say, it will be so fun. That way we can do this and that together. And they don't take NO for an answer. It is not my idea of summer to load my kids up with activities just to get rid of them. And that is the caveat they present; we need a break from our kids. Now don't get me wrong. My kids are going to summer reading programs through our library and other kids programs where they will play with other children. But I am not going to load my preschooler up with weeks of activities just to get rid of them. This is probably going to make some people cringe and, oh, probably even ruffle some feathers, but I am telling you about what is important to ME and my family. I don't like the idea of dropping my kid off left and right at different activities all over town by himself and running myself ragged to get places on time, all in the name of a break for me. He is three. Maybe when he is a little older, I will drop him off different places, but not now. That is not summer fun, and not relaxing. Because folks, I AM SUMMER FUN.

In the mornings, Son1 and I spend a little bit of academic time together, no more than thirty minutes. He writes his entire first and last name independently, but we have to work on legibility. He is a lefty, which is posing a few fine motor challenges. We are also learning to write short words like "Hi" to send postcards on our upcoming trip. Hubby's mom sends postcards to him frequently, so he is motivated to learn to write.

One of the best presents my mother has given my kids (ok, all of her presents are usually good) is Highlights High Five. If you have not heard of this magazine you MUST MUST MUST check it out. It is a brand new in 2008. There are so many age and developmentally appropriate activities. Of course, since I used to write curriculum for my last school district in the summers before I had children, I don't just stop with the parent guide. I tend to extend the activities. So, when we read about Spot, a dog that hides under the bed, we used play doh to make little Spot dog. This is also great for Son1's fine motor skills. We pick out the rhyming words in the poems, and use the tear out cards in the back for Math skills. We sequence the stories, and work on listening comprehension. The Hide and Seek pictures reinforce visual discrimination. I could go on and on, but I won't. The parent teacher guide has plenty of ideas, crafts, and recipes that compliment the monthly magazine. We were sent a calendar in January from Highlights that we use to work on calendar skills, too. It is so fun for him and I am enjoying our one on one time! Starting in July I have planned a number of field trips for us, too.

There are times, though, when learning just happens all on it's own, and he goes a little Montessori on me and does his own thing. (I am a proud product of the Montessori method, so I can say that confidently. It explains a lot about me, though, huh? Yeah, I will take that as a compliment!!) Some days he insists on doing a puzzle, and today he told me he was drawing the American flag. He showed me he had produced a pattern, and recounted it to me. If you can't see it, don't worry, I couldn't either. But what matters is he could see it and recite it correctly.But that time is such a small fraction of our day. Most of our time is spent just being silly and goofy. Some days are chase days, or peek a boo days, or monster truck days. Our days amount to just undefined schedules and summer fun.Last week we went to the Ko'Olina lagoons. I felt like a star. I can't remember another time since having the two kids where I was in the ocean, alone, with both of them. I have been alone in a pool with them, but not in the ocean. I had Son2 in a floatie, and Son1 hung out on his boogie board. After awhile Son2 protested. I remembered I had my Body Glove infant carrier stashed in my back pack, and strapped him to me. The water was so shallow I sat on my knees and back on my heels while Son1 floated past on his boogie board. After awhile I called time to go. Just as we were about to walk up to the outdoor showers, Son1 flopped in the sand and made a sand angel.
This struck my funny bone and I laughed out loud. He has read in books and seen children on TV make snow angels. Of course he doesn't remember he ever lived in a snowy place, though. But there he was in the sand, his arms and legs swinging in and out, in and out, until he was satisfied he was done creating a SAND angel.

Night time is eventful, too. We are blessed to live on a culdesac with 10 boys under 9 years old. They own the culdesac. There are only two girls on our street. The boys really love Son1 and share their toys with him, include him in Hide and Seek games, and bike riding. So our summer nights have been active, until way past regular bedtime.We are having so much fun it shows. One night Son1 didn't quite get to his dinner.

GG is here!

Monday night GG flew in from Phoenix just to see her great grandsons in Hawaii. She is Hubby's grandmother, but her five great grandchildren call her GG, short for Great Grandma. She jumped right in with my two boys. She loves reading Son1 tons of stories, and he insists on sitting on top of her.
She treated us to a train ride on the Pineapple Express and we fed the carp at the Dole Plantation. If you haven't done that, and you have kids, that is a MUST DO. Ew...those fish are big and fat and slither up out of the water like hungry crocodiles for fish food. Ew! We stopped in Haleiwa afterward and GG spoiled us at our favorite homemade ice cream shop. Son2 had his very first ice cream...it was called Tahiti something. It was a vanilla ice cream. Oh that was so comical! Son2 cried, screamed, and squirmed each time the spoon was out of his mouth. He LOVED ice cream!Another day we headed out to the Ko'Olina lagoons for a swim and a beach picnic. We took turns hanging onto Son2 in the water.
GG and Son1 floated out in the calm water, and sometimes the gentle waves would push them onto the shore.
We had a bungie cord that was tied around the float to corral Son1 toward us. He loved every minute of the water, just like his big brother did when he was a baby. It was so nice that GG, the two boys, and I could all be in the water at the same time! GG is pretty active, but we just had to get her one thing, a walking stick. Now, GG refuses to use a cane, because she really doesn't need one. She had her knee replaced, and a walking stick just gives her better leverage every now and then on longer walks or hikes. Hubby just wanted me to go out and get an aluminum cane, and GG about came unglued. So Son1 and I ran around looking for a walking stick. GG has several of these in different states. She keeps one in California at her daughter's house, one in Colorado at another daughter's house, and one in Arizona where she lives, so she doesn't have to fly with a walking stick. She doesn't even use it every day, just on longer walks. Finally, the lady in the garden shop at Wal Mart suggested going to our local Hawaiian hardware store chain, City Mill. I explained to the man that my husband's grandmother needed a walking stick, and I needed a rounded piece of wood. He escorted Son1 and me to the back of the store, and waved us to a bin of bamboo sticks. He gave me this freaky look that suggested I might not actually want these sticks. PERFECT! Now, I ended up with a bamboo stick over six feet tall, but I figured Hubby could always cut it. I grabbed the stick for $3.69 and headed back toward the center of the store, where I asked another associate if they knew where I explained the project with the bamboo stick. I explained I needed a rubber bottom next. He looked at me with a cross between a puzzled look and an intrigued look. He led me to a section of rubber feet, and handed me a package. We squeezed a rubber foot over the bamboo, and it fit! Success for an additional $3.99! Once we got home, Hubby used his saw to cut down the stick, and wrapped the top with some duct tape. Now GG is set for some longer distances!

She will be here through the end of the month. Son1 is on Spring Break so we are able to spend all day together exploring the island this coming week, too!

Ko Olina Day

Son2 just wouldn't go down for a nap, regardless of our patience with him. He got up a little late, and it threw off his morning nap. Forget it. We snatched him from his crib and headed for the lagoons at Ko Olina.

At the edge of the Marriott resort are four large lagoons with white sand beaches. Small channels cut through the beach rock terraces that connect the lagoons to the open ocean. These channels allow water from the ocean into the lagoons, but are narrow enough to prevent high surf, so the water is perfect for families with small children all year round. (Otherwise, during the winter months the surf can get pretty rough, particularly on the North Shore.) These lagoons are about ten feet deep at the centers. The coastline was cut almost twenty years ago to create the four lagoons, and sand was imported to create four artificial beaches, one in each lagoon.

Well, by the time we got out there, Son2 was hungry. Hubby and Son1 got in the water while I fed Son2. I dropped his spoon in the sand accidentally, so I fished around for something to clean it off. Swallowed sand doesn't come out the other end too easily. I spent a smidge too long looking for a wipe in my bag, because I looked up and caught Son2 eating sand. Sigh. So much for avoiding sand in the mouth.

He was pretty anxious to see what his brother was doing. I hurried and changed Son1 into his integrated wet suit and headed for the water.

Son1 was doing some exploring in the water. This is a special boogie board we got Son1 with a kind of diver's mask attached to it. The rubber mask is sealed into the board and then pops up and out about three inches. Since the lagoon allows open ocean water in, a lot of sea life comes in, too. Often we see fish in the lagoons. Son1 calls this his surf board.
Meanwhile, we put Son2 in this floatie. We have a few of these. We are fortunate that our babies are apt to sleep in floaties, lulled by the water. Since Son1 loved to nap in these floaties, we tried the same for Son2.
We slather the kids in SPF 30 and dress them in SPF50 wetsuits for moments like this. They just won't wear hats in the water. Fortunately, neither of them have ever sunburned. Hubby hung onto Son2, standing over him casting a Daddy shadow, blocking the sun. He let Son1 and I take our turn exploring with his board in the water. We turned it sideways, laying on our tummies, and the two of us kicked and peeked through the mask until it was time to go home.