Hey Girlfriend!

Ariel

More video of Ella on the diving board:After Ella's swim lesson we headed back up Tantalus Drive to do some hiking. We settled and a short little trail designated "good for children." It was wet and muggy, slick and mosquito infested - we didn't last 20 minutes which is good seeing as the trail was only a 1/4 mile anyway. There are lots of trails in that mountain range but many seem to meander along cliffs - far too dangerous for our little explorer who spends much of the hike looking through Ron's "noculars" instead of paying attention to where she is walking :)

Byodo-In Temple

After Ella's dentist appointment we drove over the mountains to the Valley of the Temples Memorial Park. Byodo-In Temple is a scale replica of a 900-year-old Japanese temple and is built entirely without nails. The golden Buddha in the temple is thought to be the largest figure carved since ancient times and it's more than 18 feet high. It made us miss Korea and all the beautiful temples; even wishing we could go back and let Ella explore a different culture.

Gymnsatics

Today was Ella's last gymnastics class. She doesn't know it but we didn't sign her up for next month as we might be leaving the island in September. She's been with her gymnastics BFF, Jenesis, and coaches Lawrence and Utah, for the past year and a half... it was a sad day for me as I realized we are coming to the end of our time in Hawaii and slowly things will be wrapping up :(

Ballet and Diving Board

Children's Discovery Museum

We had a play date with some friends at the Children's museum. Lots of fun stuff for the kids and lots of friends to play with!
Lots of job exploring...should I be a fire fighter? a judge? a mechanic? or go into dance? or theatre? or better yet...travel the world! The possibilities are endless!

If I haven't mentioned, Ella loves her swim lessons and as it was the last day of the session, she posed with her little swim boyfriend, Hiroshi and then chilled next to Samson.

Goose Egg

Ella banged her head on her table tonight trying to reach down for something. A little misjudgment = a whole lotta screaming. She has a sizable goose egg that formed seconds after the impact but a freezie pop and some ice helped... of course in the life of a toddler, no "boo boo" is complete without the appropriate bandage, with or in Ella's case, without blood :)

Good Day

Ella had gymnastics this morning and after we decided to make caterpillar crafts before lunch:
We went to swim lessons this afternoon and Ella has so much fun. Her swim instructors find it hilarious that Ella will go down the slide on her belly when even some of the older kids who can swim, won't.We wrapped up the day with a nice family dinner at Ala Moana.

Swimming

Tantalus Drive

We headed out for a drive today and visited the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.From there, we took Tantalus Drive which claims to be one of the most peaceful drives on Oahu despite being minutes from the bustle and congestion of Honolulu. Tantalus Drive winds its way into the hills of the Honolulu Forest Reserve at the foothills of the Koolau Mountain range and is indeed very quiet and remote. We had a picnic lunch at Puu Ualaokua Park at a summit of 2000 feet, and had spectacular view of Downtown Honolulu, Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbour. Gorgeous!