Moving, Again

Well, I thought I should mention to all of you, in case you didn't know.... That we are almost done with our Hawaii trip and we'll be moving back to Seattle on December 23rd!  We are all so excited to be coming back to Mead and our old friends and of course all of our Bean family!!!! We have missed them so much. I'll try to do a blog post about all the things in Hawaii we'll miss. Our adventure has been so much fun, but I can't wait to go back HOME to Seattle!    ~~~~~Nixon

Honolulu - our city for the last 6 months

Back to Seattle on Dec. 23rd!!!

We've Been Busy with Visitors!

This is Nixon. I haven't posted in a long time. We've had a LOT of visitors lately and a LOT of school work. Here are the visitors - my best friend Sawyer and his sister, Grandma and Grandpa Douglas, Grandma and Grandpa Bean and my Uncle Chris' family. Here are some pictures:

Climbing the China Walls with Sawyer

Snorkling with Sawyer

Hanauma Bay with my Douglas grandparents

Boogie Boarding at Waikiki with my Grandpa Douglas

Waimea Falls with my Bean grandparents

Polynesian Cultural Center with my Bean Grandparents

 Well, we're having fun with all the visitors. Uncle Chris and Aunt Jodi are here now. It's so fun!

Homeschool

An interesting thing about Hawaii is that school starts in July! Since we are only living in Hawaii for a little bit, we are homeschooling. That means my mom is my teacher. We started in August.

Here are some cool things about homeschooling:

1. We can do school in our pajamas
2. We can do school before breakfast or after dinner.
3. PE is swimming in the pool or going to the beach!
4. We don't have to walk to and from school like last year we would walk for a half an hour.
5. My mom lets me pick what I want to study and learn about. Like ROBOTS!
6. We have treats!!! Mom and I made brownie cookies on Monday.
7. Lego Challenges - look at the pictures below to see some.
8. Field trips!!!!! We've been to Bishop Museum, Sea Life Park, Polynesian Cultural Center, the temple and more.

Homeschool is awesome!

Lego Challenge: Marble Run

Lego Challenge: Symmetry

Lego Challenge: Form letters with Legos

Kayaking to the Island

For my birthday, we got Kayaks. At Kailua Beach, Dad and I (Lincoln) went kayaking to this flat island nearby. The waves were crashing in our kayaks but we made it! My arms were SUPER sore. I had to fight the wind a lot. At the island, there is this place that is roped off to protect nesting birds. I saw a hole with a mother bird and an egg. We walked around the whole island. It took a third of a mile and we were there for over 2 hours. I loved the island!  ~By: Lincoln

Hikes in Hawaii

Written by: Nixon

Our family loves hiking. Hawaii has a lot of different hikes. Here are some of the hikes we've been on so far.

-Waimea Valley:   Difficulty 1 out of 5. It has a paved path. It has lots of flower and goes into a forest. At the end it has a big waterfall and you can jump and swim at the bottom of the waterfall. (Most expensive)  I got about 10 mosquito bites here.

-Koko Crater: Difficulty 5 out of 5. Only the boys in my family went. It was hard. It goes straight up a volcano crater. The path is so rocky and follows an old train track. My legs were so sore even the next day. Lincoln moaned in his sleep with sore legs that night. The view was amazing. We could see the whole southeast side of Oahu! (FREE!)

-Lyon Arboretum - Difficulty 3 out of 5. It has a gift shop. It had a statue. It has a bunch of plants that the University of Hawaii planted with a map and names of all the plants. It has a kid's garden with a pond that was neat. It is uphill on a rocky path that leads to a little waterfall in a REAL rainforest. ($5 donation suggested) I got about 2 mosquito bites here.




-Manoa Falls - Difficulty 4 out of 5. It is next door to the Lyon Arboretum. It is a 4 because we went after a tropical storm and it was muddy and slippery. It goes up a rocky/muddy path to a waterfall taller than the Lyon waterfall. ($5 for parking). I got about 5 mosquito bites here and one GIANT BUG attacked Lincoln and Kennedy here. Kennedy killed it!!

-Koko Crater Botanical Gardens - Difficulty 2 out of 5. It is a dirt path but it doesn't go uphill. It is a flat circle path inside the crater. There are Plumeria plants of all colors and it smells good. There were crazy cacti in the Cactus garden. (FREE).

-Diamond Head - Difficulty 4 out of 5. The path is a combination of paved, dirt, spiral stairs and a dark tunnel. It is a crazy path. It was crowded. The view was good, we could see almost all of Waikiki. Dad had to carry Reagan a LOT! ($1 per person).

Come to Hawaii to HIKE WITH US! It's fun! Where do you like to hike? Comment below!!!!!!!!!!!

Lincoln's 7th Birthday

Hi, this is me, Lincoln and I would like to tell you about my birthday. We swam with stingrays on Saturday and my birthday was on Thursday.
I went to the kitchen table and saw kayaks!

Then my mom made Strawberry Guava pancakes with Coconut syrup. It was awesome.

And one of my presents was a little bag of three stingrays and a lot of sharks (they are toys, not real). But in real life, mom and I swam with stingrays. I was nervous and we got to touch the stingrays. There was also some fish and we got to snorkel and feed them lettuce. I kind of felt them nibbling me. But it was a lot of fun.

On my birthday, Dad and I went to the Marina and tested out the kayaks and then we went under a bridge out to the ocean and met the rest of my family at the beach. Then everyone got a turn on the kayaks.

It was the best birthday EVER!!!!
~Lincoln (my first blog post!!!)

Beaches

Sandy Beach

We've been to several beaches so far. I really liked the sand at Sandy Beach. It was soooooo soft. But we couldn't play in the water there, it was too dangerous. I liked watching the local surfers there though and you could see Koko Crater.

Kuliouou Beach

 We went to a super close beach, Kuliouou Beach Park at low tide. We could walk out for like a mile. There were tide pools and we could walk all the way out to an island that usually you would have to swim too. We found a lot of sea glass there.
 Our favorite beach is Waimanalo Beach, but we always see Jellyfish warnings there. Lincoln was stung by a jellyfish in California two years ago. Mom now keeps Vinegar in the car at all times. We also keep our boogie boards, sunscreen, beach toys, bug spray and bandaids in the car at all times now too. If we see an awesome beach, sometimes we stop and go for a swim! Random! And fun!

Waimanalo Beach

Waikiki

When Uncle Doug came, we went to Waimanalo. It has good boogie boarding waves. You see Rabbit island there. It isn't crowded.

 A LOT of people go to Waikiki beach. There is not a lot of parking and there are too many people, but it is good for little kids. We don't go there often.

We go to a LOT of beaches. My favorite thing to do is Boogie Board. Kennedy and Reagan like to build sand castles. Lincoln likes to try to find sea shells and sea glass. The beach is fun!

Basketball Camp

For my birthday, my parents sent me to a basketball camp here in Hawaii.

It started yesterday. It is for seven days. It goes from 8:30am to 2:30pm and they feed me a snack and lunch. I made some friends and I am having a great time so far. Today was really awesome because 3 University of Hawaii basketball players came and signed my basketball! (Player #11, #25, and #32)

They even played 3 on 3 against us. My team won the game! I'm going to watch all the University of Hawaii games on TV now to see if I can see those 3 players I met.
I'm getting better at dribbling while running. The last day of camp we are playing against each other. Can't wait!

Polynesian Cultural Center

We went to the Polynesian Cultural Center with Doug & Megan's family and we learned about different islands next to Hawaii. These are some examples: Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji. In the New Zealand area, we saw dancers use pois. Then we tried to do it. It was hard for some people and easy for some people. It was in the middle for me.  I really really want to buy pois to practice at home!

We learned how to play a game where we tap sticks and throw sticks at each other.
We fished and none of us caught a fish.





And also we did spear throwing and Braxton was really good.


Uncle Doug got called up during one of the shows and had to dance and play the drums. It was pretty funny.

And also we went to a fire show at night that showed how one island attacked Hawaii and a guy got married and killed (not in real life, it was a show).

If you visit, we will take you to the Polynesian Cultural Center. I loved it. I want to learn more about these islands the next time I go.