Car Wash as Cultural Experience

	It's been a while, yeah. I like to catch charity car washes for student groups, but there hasn't been one in a while at a convenient time. Plus, Max has never been through a proper car wash.
	Afterwards, Max said we'd need to go through again tomorrow...
	Wonderful technology, and quite a ride for $7!

Also, the wandering chickens at Max's school lay some eggs, and the first one hatched just when we picked him up from school.  ¶ Friday, July 14, 2006 0 comments

  Happy Birthday! We celebrated Woody's birthday with the traditional Ken's Pancake House Birthday Breakfast....Needless to say, that pancake -- which we all help to eat -- never lasts long.

Max and I also made a cake, but the pictures didn't come out all that well and it's half-gone now.... Chocolate mint with a dark chocolate glaze and a vehicular theme (that's what happens when four-year-olds are your Art Directors) to the icing art.  ¶ Saturday, July 08, 2006 0 comments

  Fireworks

The first fireworks on the 4th was the Shuttle launch! I discovered, doing my early morning news check, that the launch would be on-line (I should have known, of course) and once Max realized what I was doing, he was hooked. The laptop belongs to the History department; I have temporary custody. We watched the countdown all through making muffins, and the launch happened while the muffins were baking

More traditional fireworks were being shot off that evening. We got a pretty good vantage point -- though the weather was rotten -- with our friends, and the "Fireworks" setting on my little camera works pretty well (though it has no zoom). Max and Kaj were having a blast before the show, running towards me so I could take flash pictures of them mid-stride...
  ¶ Saturday, July 08, 2006 0 comments

  New Toy: Tripod Edition

I got a new toy today: a half-decent (for actually decent, you have to spend more than $10) full-sized tripod. Max, who's been learning to use the mini-tripod more or less on his own, was fascinated, and we spent almost an hour this afternoon taking pictures and learning all the knobs and tricks. That's not full height: it goes up just over four feet.
One of the fun things you can do with a tripod is take pictures of yourself.
Another fun thing, of course, is taking slow exposure pictures....

  ¶ Saturday, July 08, 2006 0 comments

  Pearls and Penguins As I noted before, Max got two pink pearls at Hilo Hatties, and we had them set. The pendant was easy enough, once we asked every jewelery shop in town and found the one guy who has some silver catalogs. He couldn't do the ring, though, so we sent that back to our favorite silver/goldsmiths (they did our wedding rings) in Kansas City. It got here today, so we can finally take pictures of the set:
  ¶ Monday, July 03, 2006 2 comments

  New (to us) Playground For a change of pace, and because it's summer and not in constant use, we went over to the elementary school playground/park. Had a lovely time on the play structure(s) (I'd call it one large structure; Max counted it as two or three depending on whether the bridge counted as a connector between or part of) and then Max and I played catch for a while.
  ¶ Sunday, July 02, 2006 0 comments

  Fauna On our trips downtown, if we have time to spare, Max likes to feed the fish at the Kalakaua park pond. Apparently, koi like small bits of nuts, and we usually have some for snacks.

From a recent episode of mowing. I'd taken a break, sat down, and noticed my hitchhicker... Cute, I think.

Frogs, at night.

Toad: quiet, welcome	Coqui Frog: loud, unwelcome

  ¶ Sunday, July 02, 2006 1 comments

  Flora (Mostly)

Max took this picture, sitting in our porch swing (note the canopy at the top), and it just came out so pretty and so neatly framed.
These plants grow in -- and nearly choke -- the pond at Kalakaua park. The flaring colors remind me of Peacock feathers.
The Lychee are ripening but it looks like it'll be another few weeks before we get to eat them. Either ours are ripening slowly or other folks' go quicker, because we've had some really big tasty ones from the Farmer's Market. Once they come in, we're going to have pounds and pounds....
I just love the color of these Ti-plant flowers.
	These fungi were at my doctor's office (outside, of course): I was early for my appointment, so when I spotted these pulled out the camera (yes, I carry one or the other pretty frequently these days) and snapped this. If you look closely in the lower right hand corner, you can see a centipede. And there's a slug crawling on the underside of the largest fungus.

  ¶ Sunday, July 02, 2006 0 comments