Welcome Fall 2020

 Well who would've guessed?!?!  Our small little town of Hilo became a hot spot for COVID in the past month and threw a wrench in so many of our plans for this fall!  Right as school was supposed to start in person the cases started to rise.  So needless to say, like so many other kids these days, the biggies are doing distance learning this year.  They meet their teacher online every day for attendance and then have live teacher lessons twice a week.  The rest of the time is spent on a variety of online programs to supplement their learning.  It's going as good as can be expected I think.  They started out their online school year at their grandparents houses but then Imiloa Astronomy Center started a fall enrichment program and so we enrolled them there.  They're able to do all their online learning and then participate in place based, Hawaiian culture activities like they did there over the summer.  And the best part is that they can socialize with other kids!

Other than that we're trying hard to stay busy and stay safe by not going out as much and avoiding crowded places.  Our garden is growing though I don't have any pics of that.  We've done lots of sleepovers.  Some hikes.  And lots of goofy playing around anywhere and everywhere :)

The start of 4th and 2nd grade!  They didn't have to get as dressed up (no covered shoes, just slippers) since they're were just going to Nana's house :)

Chan's desk set up at Imiloa.  He can log onto his Zoom lessons when he needs to and then participate in the Imiloa lessons when he's done.

Hot dogs and smores in the firepit!

Goofy girls :)

My kids all love the sand, sometimes I think more than the water

This girl loves to get buried in the sand!

They like to find all the creatures in rocks

More goofy girls

After school play time with Nana

Afternoon walks around the neighborhood

We're working on no training wheels but sometimes they just like to cruise with their old bikes

Since COVID we've found new places to visit and explore.  The kids had never been to this edge of the Big Island

Goodbye summer of 2020!

Back To School...Hopefully!

 So the big kids were supposed to start school last week but that got pushed back 2 weeks for more teacher/staff training.  Now they should start next week Monday if nothing changes between now and then.  Oahu had to shift to all online learning for the first month at least due to a rise in cases but we're still pretty low on the Big Island.  Less than 1% positivity.  So we wait.  Esme and Chan are so excited to go back, if and when it happens, despite all the changes.  They'll only be in school 2 days a week and then online the rest of the time so we'll see how we do with all that.

Poppy and Eve continue to go to preschool and are glad to be back there too.  We're soooooooooooo happy to have available childcare!  

The bigs continue to do their Kumon but no in person tutoring.  Piano might start back up soon and we'll start sending Chan when Esme goes.  We're not so sure about sports.  We haven't heard from tennis in awhile.  But Chan gets out and hits some baseballs once a week with an old teammate.  And still no judo either.  So we find a lot of other ways to keep busy - gardening, yard work, beach, parks, etc.  We're so thankful to live in Hawaii at a time like this!  

Aunty Amy, Malia and Charlie came to visit from Texas but they had to quarantine for 14 days first.  This was one of our visits while they were in quarantine :)

The biggies bounce between both grandparents and mommy on her days off.  Here they're enjoying a picnic at Mauna Kea State Park

Esme loves getting to spend time with Googoo (Allen's sister from NJ) and especially baking with her!

Twins!

Ice shave on a rainy day is just as good!

No complaints here!

We really need to get the twins off their training wheels but this wasn't what I had in mind.  Ha ha!

The COVID laundry line up

9 cousins and a crazy uncle

Keeping busy at Coconut Island

We got into the sourdough bread crazy awhile back.  We found a recipe for sourdough crackers made with rosemary from the garden

And here's some lilikoi (passion fruit) flowers from the garden too! The vine is currently loaded with fruit and we're waiting for them to ripen

Swimming at Onekahakaha

Goofy kid

Just missing 3 cousins!

Dinner with the sibs COVID style

Phew, no masks!

The girls love to wave goodbye whenever I leave.  I used to try and sneak out of the house to cause less of a fuss but they are not fans of that method.  They like a big send off :)

Fun at Liliuokalani Park

Discovering the Awapuhi Labyrinth

Happy 4th of July

It was a mellow 4th of July this year, like many muted celebrations we've had in the past few months.  But the kids still enjoyed some fireworks and sparklers in the driveway with no major injuries.  Woohoo!  

Eve was running around in her underwear most of the afternoon until we mandated clothing during fireworks.  Ha ha!

Poppy appropriately chose her 4th of July bathing suit from last year at the beginning of the day

It's still summer for the kids so the biggies are going between the grandparents each week and the twins are at preschool.  Thank goodness Keikiland is open!  Next week the biggies will start a 3 week summer camp at Imiloa Astronomy Center and that will take them to the start of school on August 4th.  We're still waiting to see what that's going to look like.  

Prior to the 4th we've been trying to find other activities we can do around town that don't involve large crowds and keeps us active.  We were super excited the national park opened though only limited trails were available at first.  

Chan keeps losing teeth left and right.  And the ones coming in are HUGE!  His orthodontist recommends pulling 4 baby teeth to make way for the chompers.  And then he'll still need to have 4 adult teeth pulled.  Yowzers!

A trip up to Mauna Kea park

We got COVID cuts at home one day!  Poppy has lots of whispy hair like her momma and our hairstylist said we needed to trim them or they wouldn't grow out as well.  So now Poppy has a thin layer of bangs which is a first for any of the girls. 

Once the National Park opened up completely we did the Kilauea Iki crater hike, a little over 4 miles.  The kids did amazing and thankfully had each other to keep them going.  

It was a beautiful clear day and we had it mostly to ourselves!

Happy Father's Day Allen!  We usually go to this smoothie shop and take a picture in this configuration every Father's Day but it's closed for COVID so we had to make do at Nana's house instead.

Chan likes to wake early and wait for mommy when she's out running in the morning

These two rascals.  What would they do without the other?  

Esme has also been losing teeth a lot lately.  She's started on the molars recently.

Chan playing with his favorite veggie

We made a trip out to Mauna Kea Beach and it was so amazing!  We haven't been in awhile and so the kids had a ton of fun.

They love getting buried in the sand for some reason

And then Chan likes to bust out of his Chan-cano (like volcano)

Chan is living his dream of going fishing.  Thanks Uncle Judd!!!

And the twins discovered some of Esme's old books.  Usually it's just Eve who gets lost in books but somehow these ones drew Poppy in too.