Hawaii

The girls finally got to go on their first trip to Hawaii this July. Lem and I added a 3rd and 4th notch to our "Hawaii Vacations" belt. Lem was signed up for doing the We the People Institute for 3 days in Honolulu and with his ticket paid for and a daily stipend, we couldn't pass up cashing in some mileage tickets and companion fares so the rest of us could come along and enjoy some fun in the sun. We had a direct flight to Honolulu and the girls did extremely well sitting for the whole 6 hour journey-watching movies, coloring and playing with new treats Mommy packed special for the occasion. Sycely was glued to her window as we made our approach, catching her first glimpse of the island and taking in all the sights. After landing and grabbing our luggage we got our rental car-a pretty crazy, hot and delayed journey in itself- and headed to our vacation rental condo, just blocks from the beach. We got settled and unpacked at our amazing condo and took a little walk around the area and grabbed some dinner. After getting the girls to bed in their room, Lem made a run to the grocery store across the street and got our kitchen stocked with some staples for our week-long stay. We were all tired from flying and were glad to get to bed and rest up for a busy, fun-filled first day the next morning.

Our first morning, we started our week-long tradition of enjoying fresh fruit (a whole pineapple cost just over a dollar!) on our huge lanai. Our balcony went the whole length of our unit and had full walls of sliding doors in the living room and the girls' bedroom. Not only could we enjoy the morning sunshine lounging in the patio furniture during breakfast, but we also enjoyed a spectacular view of the Ala Wai canal, beach and city.After breakfast we all got ourselves suited and sunscreened and were ready for our first trip to the beach. About a 5 minute walk from the lobby, the girls first set foot on Waikiki Beach. It didn't take any time at all for them to kick off their sandals and ditch their cover-ups and hit the water.We spent most of the day enjoying the perfect warm water and soft sandy beach, while basking in the delightful sunshine. The girls loved just hanging out in their floaties, not a care in the world. We went out a little further and had some fun splashing and jumping with the waves as the broke. We grabbed lunch (McDonald's meals come with a little bowl of pineapple!) and headed back to our condo for naptime. Both girls took a snooze while Lem headed to the nearest Starbucks to use the Internet to keep up with the online class he was teaching-I know rough summer school job, huh? Teaching via computer and iphone from Hawaii!After the girls were up from their naps and Mommy had gotten in a little poolside lounging, we headed out to Ala Moana mall for some dinner and shopping. We ate at Bubba Gumps, an old stand-by for us, but another first for the girls. They were tickled when their food arrived in boat shaped baskets, and included jello! They were also pretty excited about the make-your-own sundae they got to create and share for dessert.Mommy hit a few stores at the mall and the girls got to check out the Disney store and chose their souvenirs there. Usually we go to Build-A-Bear and they make a stuffed animal to commemorate our vacations, but there wasn't one in Hawaii so they had to "settle" for the Disney Store this time ;) Sycely chose a Finding Nemo playset and Ella picked a stuffed animal-Penny from 101 Dalmations. The next morning we hit the Honolulu Zoo for most of the day. (See its own blog entry for details and pics.) I spent some more time pool time reading during nap and then we all headed to the theater to take in a movie-Harry Potter for me and Winnie the Pooh for Lem and the girls. We followed that up with dinner at IHOP (yeah, breakfast for dinner) and headed home to hit the sack.

On Sunday, the girls and I went to the Honolulu Aquarium, one of Sycely's favorite sites on our trip. Lem spent so long looking for a place to park that he eventually just gave up on meeting us inside and just hung out watching some surfers down the way. The girls had a blast seeing all the fish and other sea creatures at the aquarium and Sycely loved the touch tank exhibit outside even got to hold a tiny hermit crab and be "hugged" by a sea urchin (if you put your finger between their spines, they squeeze you.)

We hit the beach for awhile before naptime. Lem did some of his online grading and such and Mommy got to have some solo time at the beach in the afternoon. I walked a few blocks to International Marketplace and a few other stops along the way and met back up with the family after the girls were up. We headed out for some dinner at Red Lobster-yum cheesey biscuits! We all hit the sack early that night, since Lem started his training the next morning and needed to be rested up.

Lem had his training Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 8 to 3 or 3:30 some days. The girls and I started off our days with breakfast (on the lanai) then spent our morning at the beach. We made the short trek to the beach and back about twice a day each day. The girls were real sports about the walk and being responsible for carrying their own floaties. Sometimes we even spent some time at the rooftop pool before hitting the beach. We were pretty much in the water one place or another by about 8am every day!

We'd wrap up our morning at the beach and head back to our condo for some showers and lunch. After the girls were clean and fed, we'd all have naptime (including Mommy most days. When Lem got home from his class around 3 I'd head up with a book to the pool and he'd get himself and Sycely ready for round 2 of daily beach time while Ella finished napping. By 4 or 4:30 Ella'd be up, he'd get her ready, too and we'd be back off the beach for another couple hours! That's pretty much how we spent our days, not too shabby, this vacation thing ;)

We had so much fun, the 4 of us, in the evenings. The water never got cold and we'd enjoy sunshine until around 6 or 6:30 and then we'd head off for some dinner (and sometimes dessert-hooray for Yogurt Land right on the beach!)On Wednesday evening we took the girls to International Marketplace to browse the booth of authentic tradition Hawaiian wares. We even got to see a performance by some drummers and hula dancers from one of the luaus. They each picked out a Hawaiian necklace souvenir and then we headed back to our condo for some fresh, hot pizza dinner before starting to get our things backed and hitting the sack. On Saturday, we had spent a good chunk of our day playing in the water at Ala Moana beach, just a quick drive down the way from the condo and Waikiki. We did more of our usual sunbathing, swimming, and floating in the glorious sun and super warm water. Lem took the girls back for lunch and nap while I got to get in a couple more hours of shopping at Ala Moana shopping center. When the girls were up we met up at the mall for some dinner and headed home for bed.

Besides our daily trips to Waikiki Beach and our day at Ala Moana, we also spent our last day at Weimai Bay and Turtle Beach, but that was such a spectacularly special day that it earned itself its own blog entry...so click and read on for the rest of our Hawaiian vacation story :)

Hatching our Flock

For years I've been wanting to do an eggs hatching project with the girls. I used to incubate eggs in my pre-school classes when I was teaching and I've always wanted to replicate that unique learning experience with my own kids. Until this summer, I haven't been able to make the right connections to get the incubator, eggs and brooding equipment affordably. I was able to coordinate with a friend in Eagle River that has chickens and we were able to "foster hatch" our own little flock of chickens without having to buy a thing!

I took the girls out to Eagle River to tour the farm, see the baby and adult chickens that live there and pick up the eggs, incubator and brooding box, etc. We got to hold chicks, feed the chickens and help collect eggs while we were there. We loaded up all our supplies, made a pit stop on the way home to feed the ducks and geese at the Eagle River duck pond, and grabbed some lunch to munch on the drive home.

When we got home, we got the incubator set up, stabilized the temperature added water and got the humidity to the right level and put our eggs in on the automatic turner. Baring any complications we should have little peeps hatching in 21 days.

Sycely and I worked to make a countdown calendar to help us keep track of hatching timeline. We labeled each of the 21 days with a number and marked the days we needed to candle the eggs, take them off the turner and our expected window of hatching days. Each night the girls crossed off the day on the calendar.

On day 7 we did the first candling. During candling, you use a light to look into the egg and see the developing embryo. We cut a small hole in a shoe box, set up a tv tray and a strong light in the girls' bathroom and set about checking all our eggs to see if there were embryos developing inside. At 7 days the you are able to tell which eggs are fertile and developing. Those light passes uniformly through those that are not developing. If the egg is developing the embryo appears as a cloudy or "full" spot inside the egg, usually filling up about 1/3- 1/2 the eggs at this stage. The girls were so excited to see that there were babies growing and that all our attentiveness to regulating our incubator was paying off.

We candled a second time on day 14. During second candling the developing embryo not only fills the egg pretty much entirely, but you are also able to see blood vessels, the heart beating and even the baby moving around back and forth inside the egg. We set up our second candling in our closet where it was plenty dark and the girls got a kick out of being able to see the chicks looking alot more like baby living things and not a "cloudy mass." ;) Sycely, particularly wanted to see each one moving and identify the blood vessels and other parts of the embryos.

On day 18, we took the eggs of the turner so that the chicks could start positioning themselves to hatch. We also increased the humidity in the incubator to ensure there was plenty of moisture to keep the membranes wet as the chicks hatched so that they were able to hatch successfully without drying out. It also helps the chicks warm up and dry out and fluff up after hatching. Then we waited...the whole family was anxious for our chicks' arrival. Even Charlie helped keep an eye out for any developments ;)

At about 3am on day 20/21 I spotted the first tiny little hole in one of the eggs. First, the chicks peck a tiny hole in the shell. This is called "pipping." Once they pip a teeny hole, barely big enough for their little beak, they rest for up to 8 hours. During this time you can see their little beak open as they breathe and occasionally they will peep.

When they've finished their post-pip rest, they begin to peck at the pipped hole and make it larger. They peck at the hole thousands of times, gradually making it bigger and bigger. There is often rolling around and more peeping during this phase. It can take several hours for the chicks to peck the hole big enough that it forms a crack around the circumference of the egg. The girls got to see lots of this process as our chicks worked their way into the world.

Once they get a crack around the egg, they are able to push with their head or feet and open up one end of the egg and then they kind of toss around until they are able to work their bodies out through the open end. This is probably the most exciting part of the process. We'd all gather around the incubator and peer in as the little guys made their way into the world. Once one hatched the peeping increased as they ones already hatched encouraged those fighting their way out of the eggs. It got pretty noisy in there!

One night we had one new hatchling and one imminent arrival and several that had pipped. By 3:30am there were 5 hatched and by 7:30am there were 7 new babies flopping around in the incubator. That was a riot! We had 15 successful hatchlings. Several other pipped but never made further hatching progress.

Once the chicks cleared their eggs they stayed in the incubator until they were completely dry and their downy feathers fluffed up. Then we transported them into the brooder. The brooder is just a big bin with bedding in the bottom, food and water and mesh wire panels in the lid for water and to put a heat lamp. Sycely helped transition the chicks and get them settled in their temporary home. They were so super cute all huddled together in a little pile of peeps. Anytime we'd walk by or come up to the brooder they'll all stand up and tall as they could possibly be, peeping and reaching the little heads up to us.

Like all litters, ours had a runt. David, as we named him, (in honor of the Biblical David who, despite being the smallest of all his father's sons, was destined for great things, including being king) took almost 14 hours to get out of his egg, so long that the membranes began to dry out after being exposed to the air for so long. Pieces of the shell began to stick to his little skin, especially around his wing area. He eventually made his way out, but several days later still wore the tiny scraps of shell and measured only about 2/3 the size of his siblings.

We kept our little flock for a few days, spending lots of time holding the chicks. Sycely also enjoyed doing some "supervised playtime" with them. This involved blocking off both entrances to the kitchen and allowing them free rein to skitter about. The night before we left for Hawaii, Miss Anita came by the house and collected our chicks and all the hatching equipment. We bid our little flock farewell. I think the anticipation of flying out the next morning made that alot easier on all of us!