random pics

Pics from April and May. We played "chubby bunny" with all the peeps and marshmallow candy from the grandparents. Thanks everyone! 

We started donating toys and Swishy was always up for a ride. He got needier in the last few weeks we were on Big Island, I think he knew something was happening, and he didn't want to get left behind. 

Lots of baking and trying new recipes. Here's a new look for apple pie.

We gifted all of our amazing homeschool stuff to friends on the island. It was hard to let go of some of it, but it also feels good to own so little. I took pics of some of the faves, in case we homeschool again and I want to buy it again.

We left this big pile for our friends, the Brewers, and she was SO excited when they got home. She said it was like Christmas!

Sleepy pets in every area of our house. Whiskey, Snow Baby, Grassy and Swishy. 

More coconuts from our trees. Always a treat.

While driving to our friends house to drop off some homeschool stuff, we spotted a HUGE goat. Matix tried to befriend him and get him out of the road. Maybe it was his shirt that made him seem more approachable...? Only in Hawaii.

We kept watching the Coronavirus cases rise in the US. Now it's much higher and still going on. 

Lots of baking. Lullaby made these chocolate chip cookies, and Hawken helped get them off the hot cookie sheet when they were done. Good team, and tasty cookies. 

Solace is a WIZ with math and loves asking us these looong equations... Try to keep up! He's amazing. 

Grandpa Chuck sent this long interesting looking package to the kids to keep them occupied. It was a set of large papers with mazes, puzzles and word searches for them to do. So fun! Thanks Grandpa!

Matix brought lots of blankets and pillows out onto the trampoline to practice flips. He's getting really good at scary looking tricks. 

One evening at dinner a Hawaiian Hawk, called an I'o, flew into our traveling palms. It's sitting in the middle of the picture on the horizontal green branch. He look s like an owl, but he's not. We call Hawk I'o sometimes just for fun. He loves it. 

We downloaded an app called "Simply Piano" which makes reading music more like a video game and ALL the kids love it. After a couple months only, they were playing chords, using both hands to play, and loving it. So fun.

Reading books together outside on the trampoline is a favorite family pastime. 

Another lost tooth for Matix. I'm surprised he has any left with as fast as it seems that he loses them. 

Scaring people I love makes me so happy. We all play, and everyone is a good sport, don't worry. 

Snow Baby loves to sleep on the roof of the house, wild thing. 

We made up some paints for the kids to paint the cement under the house. It didn't keep them as busy as it did when they were babies, but they still had fun. 

Snuggles in the morning with some of my favorite people. 

Moonlight through the jungle leaves will always be my favorite. So lovely. 

Our pineapple plants started growing baby pineapples! Aren't they the cutest?!

Even the cats love the trampoline. One will jump on top and the others will hide below, sometimes jumping up to surprise the one on top. 

The big boys got a letter from their friend Logan. He went to preschool with Hawken when we lived in Texas so long ago. It was fun to get a letter from him. 

One of Hawken's favorite friends, Dayo, spent lots of time talking with Hawken through messenger so they could make silly faces and use all the filters. I'm glad quarantine happened in the age of electronics.

Running into friends in their cars was as much as the kids physically saw their friends for months. They've never cheered harder from the car. 

Swishy turned 10, and we celebrated with a burger.  He loved it.

Paul is so good about including the kids in his chores. They have learned SO much from him. 

Noni fruit coming on in the food forest.  Lots of people use it for medicine. We don't, but are happy to share it with anyone who wants it. 

Wild orchids grow in the weeds. So pretty. 

Strawberries coming on too, but we didn't eat any, the birds always got them before we did. 

The view from the lanai, kids in the coconut tree, always.  Sometimes we even pull the trampoline up to the edge so they can climb up and jump down.

Trampoline time is a favorite. All day, every day, even when it rains. 

Homeschool views that cannot be beat. 

Warriors with their arrows, getting ready to go hunting. 

Marshmallow structure for homeschool is harder in Hawaii because of the humidity.

Here are some of the quarantine memes that we laughed and laughed about. 

Snuggle kitty going to the vet and rode the whole way on my lap and when we stopped she wanted to peek out the window. 

She's a lover and likes to knead my stomach before laying down. It's so funny. She's done this since she was tiny, and still does it now.

Playing on the trampoline all by herself. 

The kids made pancakes all on their own and were SO proud of their work.

We got the cats their carriers and Whiskey loved it right away, then Swish saw that I was giving a different pet attention and was so jealous. 

The kids got to do lots of one-on-one dates with Paul.  The restrictions for the ocean were very specific, and we knew people who got tickets for just being at the beach. You could be IN the water or walking to the water, or from the water, only. Anything else got you a $1,000 fine.

Paul was late coming home from work and didn't answer his phone, so I went to check on him and caught him hanging out with his friend Erik. Quarantine is hard on everyone.