Tongue Twisters

Aloha Kakahiaka! Sophie is learning some Hawaiian phrases at school. That one means "Good morning." Ryan tried to teach her to say, "Aloha Cucaracha!" She wouldn't.

Daniel, meanwhile, keeps calling the monk seals at the aquarium chickmunks. Confused? It goes like this:

Monk seal + Daniel's mixed-up associations = chipmunk + Daniel's lisp = chickmunk.

See?

We had two good Bible studies this week; Ryan's Thursday-night group had six people, and our Friday night group had eight, not including the kiddoes and their good friend Allison. On Friday, we ate something purported to be New York Style pizza. It tasted good, but it was dressed way too colorfully and wasn't nearly as loud and aggressive as it could have been.

Saturday we went to the beach in the morning and in the afternoon visited the Bishop Museum, which had free admission for the day. Sophie and her tiara fit right in with the artifacts of the Hawaiian Monarchy. Both kiddoes enjoyed the science building with its three-story high volcano - they got to control its "eruption" by pushing different buttons to alter the gas mixture in its cone. In the treehouse area, they dressed up in different animal costumes. They also climbed atop a giant African snail.




(By the way, Hawaii has the biggest, grossest snails and slugs you've ever seen. The slugs are longer and fatter than a large human finger. Also, I have no idea whose backside that is in the picture.)

Ryan is studying hard this week for his Presbytery exams on Friday. He'll fly in Thursday night, then wake up to an hour and a half exam before the committee. After lunch -- during which he can brush up on any areas in which the committee thought he was weak -- he has to preach a sermon, and then sit for another exam, this time in front of the entire presbytery. He flies home Saturday morning.

Please pray that Ryan will have energy for the long, draining day, and that he will represent what he believes honestly and humbly. Also, for a good memory for his exams!

We appreciate your prayers. We miss you all and would love to hear from you. Drop us a call or an email and let us know how we can pray for you, too!

The Consequences of Kmart Shopping

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The Myers have been running all week - some of us more literally than others. Not just going to Kmart - although we did that twice this week. The second time, we bought Sophie dresses and pjs so she doesn't have to keep getting stuck in her too-small clothes. (Major sale alert - tons of items for $2.99 each.) The first time, Ryan bought Daniel Spider Man shoes . . . and The Force Unleashed for the Wii. All week, he's been wielding his Wii remote like a lightsaber, using his "force powers" to create lightning storms, hurl heavy objects, and duel hot alien Jedi chicks.

Not coincidentally, we've had several male visitors this week, at least one of whom went directly out and bought his own copy of the game.

Ryan would like me to point out that so far all the alien Jedi women are, in fact, blue and / or possess tentacles and so do not in his mind fit the criteria of "hot."

Aside from the Star Wars mania, here's what our schedule for the past week looked like:

Tuesday: Swimming lessons for Daniel. He's doing well, despite telling his teacher, Lara, that "only girls blow bubbles."

Wednesday: Class for Carrie. City Church choir practice. Sophie sings; Mom is the practice pianist (their paid pianist has another gig on that night, but still plays for the service). Sophie also had a field trip to the Plantation Museum - Mom chaperoned - where the kids saw plantation-era houses from different ethnic groups, a taro patch, a general store, and learned to count to ten in Spanish, Okinawan, and Hawaiian.

Thursday: More swimming lessons for Daniel. This past week, Lara enlisted another Daniel, a fellow lifeguard to help persuade Daniel to blow bubbles. They failed, despite demonstrated proof that it is not an exclusively female activity. I also took Daniel this week to "Tutu and Me, " a free traveling preschool complete with circle time, activity centers, a little library, outdoor play, and snack. It gets its name because many children in the native Hawaiian population are cared for by their grandmother, or "Tutu."

Friday: Praise Ballet for Sophie. Bible study at the Myers'. Our Papa John's pizza arrived after 1 1/2 hours of waiting and increasingly annoyed phone calls from Ryan. Sure enough, our lesson in Ephesians 1 focused on our eternal calling to God's glory, which Ryan decided did not involve bawling out the pizza guy.

Saturday: Beach day. Ryan and Sophie got sunburned. We had dinner with Jan and Judy Dill: "Tutu and Me" is one facet of of Jan's organization working with native Hawaiian families. Judy teaches college math and fed us her auntie's secret recipe Chinese salad.

Sunday: Church. Sophie barely made it out of the tree she likes to climb to sing the first song with the choir. Potluck afterwards. Ryan and Simpson played pick-up flag football and volleyball with a bunch of (much younger) guys at a local park. They are hoping to get some more church folks involved next time.

Monday: Due to yesterday's exertions, Ryan spent the whole morning going between Shirokiya and Brookstone at the Ala Moana mall, both of which have expensive electronic full-body massage chairs. (He did get some work in, preparing for service.) Daniel had an acai and blueberry Jamba Juice, in honor of Darcy. After school, Sophie had her first official piano lesson (not taught by Mom). Pastor Andy's daughter Avi came over to play kid's monopoly, and Harvey brought us homemade pickles.



Somewhere in there, we bought Daniel a new play hut. And one of Sophie's Kmart acquisitions was a new leotard.

We want to take this opportunity to let everyone supporting us know that you will receive an end-of-the year statement from the City Church of Honolulu for your tax records. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all the love you have shown us, in both tangible and intangible ways. It seems incredible that Ryan is getting paid to build up the church by nurturing friendships, having barbecues, and getting folks together to hang out, and we know none of this could happen without you. We love you all!

Lava, Sweat, and Other Things that Flow

This morning we hiked up Diamond Head, a dormant volcano, Honolulu's most famous landmark and an historic military defense site. It's a .8 mile climb in the glaring sun, 560 feet to the top of the crater, part paved trail, part dirt switchbacks, and ends with over 280 steep stairs. From the top are panoramic views of Waikiki.



The kids did great, got all the way up and down without any whining or complaining, and both only falling once. At the top, we looked down on the bunkers located inside the crater, and Sophie asked, "What happens if the volcano interrupts?"

As we were leaving, completely sweaty and red-faced, I told the kids to lick their lips and see what they tasted. Sophie asked, "Why do I taste salty?" I asked her what she thought. She said, "I don't know. Boogers?"

Our brochure says that Diamond Head is an "excellent example of a tuff cone." I think this means that the cone is made of rock formed from volcanic ash. Either that or it's some hip hop term I haven't heard yet.


We ditched the expensive shave ice at the Diamond Head concession stand and instead went to Waioloa Shave Ice for the best shave ice this side of the island. Shave ice is better than any snow cone

you have ever eaten;
instead of being ground up into chunks, the ice is literally shaved off in fine particles, heaped into a paper cone, and doused with syrup. It's like eating flavored snowflakes. Ryan and I split a POG (passion, orange, guava) shave ice, and Sophie and Daniel opted for vanilla ice cream.


Since we weren't tired enough for the day, Daniel and Sophie decided they wanted to go swimming. We just got back from the Makiki pool, where Sophie hitched rides on Ryan's back and Daniel peed on the kiddie pool deck. He was dripping and shivering so much anyway that no one noticed.

As soon as we got home, Sophie and Daddy washed the TB. Sophie earned a dollar.

Everyone is going to sleep well tonight.

Too Cute for My Suit

The kiddoes in their swimsuits: Daniel especially gets a lot of smiles as he bounces down the beach with his inflatable inserts in his speedos, front and back. He looks like he's going two directions at once. Sophie is just proud to have words on her bottom - who wouldn't be?

Aaah! As soon as I sat down to write this blog, it started pouring, and I had to dash outside to rescue our clothes (the darks, if you want to know) from the clothesline. One of the hazards of living 5 minutes from the rain forest.

This weekend, Ryan finally got tired of me complaining about the unwashed socks smell of our couches and spent the afternoon steam-cleaning them. Too bad that Daniel fell asleep on one this afternoon without emptying his bladder first.

Our schedule is getting steadily fuller. Daniel now has swimming lessons on Tuesdays and Fridays down at the Makiki pool. I'm glad we have these photos immortalizing his "floaty" swim suit, because soon he won't need it anymore. Plus, someday they'll make really good blackmail.

Sophie started praise ballet class today, along with a few of her friends from church. I'm not entirely sure what "praise ballet" means; I think it's classic ballet forms choreographed to worship music. She came home and showed me a tondu. Ryan tried to tell her it was a fondue, but after six years, she's wise to him.

Tonight we had our first official community group / Bible study. We had 16 adults, 7 kids, one act of violence (Daniel pushed Liam, 14 months, because he wasn't Sean), one injury (Sage, age 7, fell off the bed onto a board game and gouged her knee on one of the pieces), 3 kinds of dessert, and 72 slices of Costco pizza. Oh, and we studied Acts 19, as a set-up for the book of Ephesians.

Just for fun, and because I'm an unrepentant English major (and a hopeless nerd), I'm throwing in some book recommendations -- all children's or YA, all things I've been reading this week -- for anyone who's interested. Seriously, stop reading here if you're not, because I ramble on for a bit:

Momo, by Michael Ende (author of The Never Ending Story). Wanna read a banned book? Spanish editions are freely available in the U.S., but it is not published here in English, and its British publisher is forbidden to ship it here. (I got it from an online used book seller after my prof assigned it for class; he's ordering copies from a dealer in England who doesn't mind smuggling them out) It's a very gentle fantasy about a girl who saves her town from the Time Stealers. Completely G-rated. I can't imagine why it's not allowed in the country - except that it offers a devastating critique of a media-driven and consumerist culture. Also stars Cassiopeia, my favorite precognitive turtle in all of literature.

Earthshake: Poems from the Ground Up, by Lisa Westberg Peters, pictures by Cathie Felstead. Fun poems about geology. Sample line, from "Instructions for the Earth's Dishwasher" : "Remember / if anything breaks, / it's your fault." Sophie might be a tad young to understand all the puns, but she'll get the gist (jest) of them.

A Wreath for Emmett Till, by Marilyn Nelson, illustrated by Philippe Lardy. A Printz Honor Book for Young Adults. A heroic sonnet cycle -- fifteen interlinked sonnets, with the last poem made up of lines from the previous fourteen -- about the 1955 lynching of teenager Emmett Till and the acquittal of his murderers. Beautiful and horrific and intricately crafted, and with notes from the poet and the illustrator explaining the literary and visual allusions.

Lately, I LOVE The Magic Treehouse books. Sophie is reading them non-stop and I got hooked, too. A little Arthurian legend, a little time travel, two siblings that actually like each other (a rarity in my house), and a lot of history, art and literature. And Morgan Le Fey as Camelot's librarian. It doesn't get any cooler than that.

(Unless, of course, it's a bonus Daniel picture . . . )

This is what happens when you try a new beach

Jellyfish! Actually, it was a very undramatic encounter. It was only one baby Portuguese man o' war, maybe a centimeter wide. It was quite beautiful: a translucent polyp with indigo tentacles. It brushed up against me and, thanks to a strong current, was out of range by the time I yanked Sophie out of the water. It raised a few lines of pin-prick sized welts on the inside of my right upper arm and stung like crazy for about twenty minutes, and then felt fine. I can see a few red marks now, but nothing I'd notice if I didn't know to look for them.

Supposedly a good, cheap treatment for a jellyfish sting is fresh urine. But I didn't try it, so I can't say for sure.

The new beach in question is Kailua Beach. Sophie had a day off today, so we decided to venture out of Waikiki. ("There are other beaches out there, you know," Tara told us.) Cousin Guy mentioned Kailua - so off we went. We took the scenic route, which is about 40 minutes of driving around the coast, past Hanauma Bay (famous nature preserve, great snorkeling) to the Windward side of the island.

Kailua looks like a fantasy version of a Hawaiian beach. The water spreads out in wide ribbons of sea green to turqouise to deep blue and there are small, green peaked islands on the horizon. The white sand feels like powdered silk underfoot. The waves were too flat for body boarding, but great for the numerous kayakers and windsurfers, and Ryan and Sophie had a rollicking time body surfing. Daniel, as usual, was in and out of the water every five minutes. He gets cold fast. (He takes after his Grammy Marilyn.)

We had a meeting at our house tonight with about a dozen people interested in forming a community group / Bible study. We did a potluck dinner - Ryan made kahlua pork in our landlord's crock pot, and Mandy Watanabe brought a killer fruit pizza. For an icebreaker, we had to talk about our favorite childhood superhero. Perfect opportunity for me to break out a photo Tara just sent of us with our Dad, circa 1980 (?). Check out those underoos! (And the bowl haircut. Thanks, Mom.)



It's late now and I'm going to bed, but wanted to post some pics for Aunty Tara, so she can get her Danny and Sophie fix. The first is of the kids' first bubble bath here in HI. (There was a sale on Clean Kids Natural Bubble Bath.) Note the Peach the Starfish tatoo on Daniel's chest, courtesy of Aunty Cris and Uncle Darcy. The second is of Daniel reading to himself and halfway sulking about it. He prefers to be read to.

nostalgia

We bought Daniel a children's Bible a few weeks ago. His favorite story from the first has been Samson - mostly because our former cat is named Samson. Tonight for the first time, instead of saying "Sam-san," the way he has since he learned to talk, he pronounced the name correctly. It's progress - but I'm a little sad to see the baby pronunciation go. I felt the same way when Sophie switched from "beesee" to "blankie."

The Bible also figured prominently tonight in Daniel's excuse not to go to bed: "You read me too long Bible verses and now I'm not sleepy anymore."

We just finished a dinner of fried rice (great kitchen sink meal and quickly becoming a standard) and now Sophie and Ryan are playing "Chicken Little" on the Wii. Why are the chickens in space again? I just don't get it.

I may post occasional random thoughts rather than complete updates, usually without pictures because I'm way too lazy to download those every time and hassle with the formatting, which for some reason is always more complicated than it should be. I don't think I'll have Ryan send out notices for these regularly. Just check in every so often if you're interested!

Love,
Carrie

Whatever Happened to Dim Sue?

Dim Sue - Noun. 1) Affectionate name for an analytically-challenged female, perhaps in a Shel Silverstein poem
2) What Sophie says when she can't remember "Dim Sum."

We apologize for the long delay since our last post. Here's what we've been up to in the meantime.

Sophie: At lunch with family and City Church group, commits linguistic crime above. Plays with friends Paige, Sage, Irina, Annika, Anneka, and Avi. Makes her own Okinawan headband at the Okinawa festival. Learns to jump rope.


Daniel: Goes to the Waikiki aquarium. Twice. Has a chance to hold a hermit crab. Refuses. Plays with his new best friend, Sean, an 18th month old who shares his love for running at top speed while insanely giggling. Alas, the joy is mixed with pain: Sean also likes to pinch. Hard.












Carrie: Procrastinates on writing this blog. Attempts yet again to bake Cris's cheese balls into actual ball shapes. Whether by humidity, altitude, or both, is yet again defeated. Sits in on a Children's Literature and Existentialism class. Learns that Heidegger is a philosopher and not a) a college football trophy, b) the East Coast version of Best Foods Mayonnaise, or c) an exploding blimp.

Ryan: Studies for his written exam - taken today! Sets a new personal best in grilling from noon to 8 pm on Labor Day. Learns to pronounce Okinawan beer "Orion" so that it doesn't sound either Irish or like the constellation. (Carrie tries and fails to write it out phonetically.) While playing "Rayman," tosses virtual cow over 700 meters.

All: Cheer Aunty Jan and Uncle Ron as they perform with their Taiko Drum troupe (group? corp?) at the Okinawan Festival. Wave to DeShannon as he plays at the same festival with the Royal Hawaiian Band. Spend Labor Day with Carrie's family - Aunty Marvalee and Uncle Soko are in town - in the afternoon and City Church folks at night.














Thanks so much for your prayers for Ryan's exam! He thinks it went well. Please keep praying: the oral component will take place by phone in two weeks. Also keep Pastor Darcy in prayer as he is in the Amazon working with a remote tribe. We also would like prayer for some family members who are going through a difficult time.

Aloha! We love you all.

Captions: Left to right by row
1) Irina as Okinawan angel; Sophie as Fairy Princess Tan Lines; BatDan; 2) Paige and Sophie; 3) and 4) Daniel with fish friends; 5) Daniel's BFF Sean, a real bruiser; 6) Carrie and Aunty Marvalee; 7) Sophie in Okinawan headband