that is not a bug

Now that Gordy is "a big kid" he frequently helps me out with the compost.  We sift through it to separate out the stuff that needs a bit more time to decompose from the composted material which we load into buckets and then distribute on the garden.  Gloves are mandatory for me, but Gordy always ends up taking his off so that can "use his hands better".  And, while playing in the muck is fun, we have to be very mindful of what's in our hands because almost every time we compost, we come across at least one centipede.  Our best plan of attack is usually for me to watch the thing while Gordy grabs the snippers.  We find it, snip it, toss it in the driveway, and then Gordy gets to have a turn with the snippers to make sure it's life is over.  The whole thing is very exciting for him and he always ends up showing off the centipede remains to our neighbors, Todd, and anyone else who will listen to him.

our little fish

Gordy has recently gotten to a point with his swimming that we can almost call him water safe.  He can tread water for quite some time, can swim with digger arms (free-style) for about 10 meters (with a few head up stops), can swim backstroke for 10 meters without stopping, and as long as he has goggles, can swim underwater quite comfortably.

This summer we spent many days at Laniakea where Todd would surf and Gordy and I would go back and forth between catching non-breaking anklebiters on our little mini softtop, using the board as a diving board, and snorkeling/diving around the reef.  He got so comfortable in the water, in fact, that one day at Waimea, he dove down approximately 10 feet to touch an algae-covered rock!

Now that summer is over and the winter swells have started rolling in, our snorkeling/diving days seem to be close to over for the time being.  However, we scored a pretty calm day this last weekend at our beach and I brought my camera!

It has been pretty amazing to dive/snorkel around with Gordy and to experience all that the ocean has to offer with such a tiny human.  While underwater, we've seen a ray at Waimea, tons of turtles, a purple sea slug, and many many sea cucumbers, wana and fish.

Already looking forward to next summer!

almost lost

Each weekend, in order to keep ourselves sane during these pandemic days, Gordy and I have been going on some kind of adventure - a bike ride, a hike, a picnic lunch, etc.  And, while our adventures are always fun, they've been getting less and less exciting because we find ourselves repeating the same adventures over and over again.

So, we pushed ourselves out of our comfort zone and found a new hike to try.  Our google researching led us to believe that the one we selected was a 2-hour easy/intermediate hike with rewarding swimmable fresh water pools and a waterfall at the end - yay!.  

To get to the hike, we drove to the back of Pearl Heights and parked near the entrance to the forest reserve.  We started down a wide dirt path with incredible views on all sides of the surrounding mountains and valleys.  Soon, we started our decent down the mountain and the trail got narrower and narrower.  If not for the LOUD family in front of us, we may not have been sure that we were even on the right path.  Things got muddy, slippery, and occasionally treacherous (had to use trees and ropes to keep ourselves upright), but we decided to keep at it because this was our weekend adventure!

After about an hour, we (and the LOUD family) crossed paths with another family who told us we had at least another 30-40 minutes to go... Everyone was pretty devastated, but we had already gone so far that we couldn't turn back now.  Instead, the LOUD family took a snack break and Gordy and I took the opportunity to sneak past them.  We were both pretty certain that we'd made a great decision and were enjoying our serenity when we finally landed in a dry riverbed... no pools, no waterfall, and no people.  Gordy saw the look on my face, realized that we may have been lost and began to get worried.  I told him not to fear, we retraced our steps and about 30 minutes later we arrived back at the spot where the LOUD family had taken a break.  We took a rest for water and a snack and realized what had happened - we had been so excited to sneak past the LOUD group, that we ended up on the wrong path and went the wrong way down the mountain.  As much as we wanted to go swim in the pools, we were both pooped (I had carried Gordy for about 20 of the 30 minutes back out of the riverbed) so we decided to go back to the car.  

Three hours after we began our walk, we arrived back at the rav covered in mud, sweat, mosquito repellant, and very hungry.  In the end, we did have fun, we definitely had an adventure, and we really weren't very lost - maybe only for a few minutes.

jellyfish are bullies

Gordy has had a rough go these last few weeks... about two weeks ago, we were playing in the shore break at our beach when he jumped off the board and started grabbing at his legs and groin in pain.  I looked on the board and saw a jellyfish with four yellow tentacles writhing around.  We ran home, rinsed in the shower, dabbed him with vinegar and finally got him in the bath which was the only thing that stopped his crying.

His wounds finally started healing, so about one week later, we went for a "quick dip" in the ocean.  Gordy lagged in the water a big longer than I did and again I heard him start panicking and grabbing at this groin.  This time, he happened to have clothes on which made things worse because it took us time to get his shorts and sun-shirt off of him leaving more time for the jelly that was stuck inside to sting him.  Hoping to get him home quickly this time, I threw him on my hip and ran.  We made it home and into the tub, which again seemed to relieve a majority of the pain, but his wounds were more serious this time with actual burn markups on his stomach and in three places on his leg.

Today marks a week since his second sting and he's still taking antihistamines at least once a day.  He has something called "Delayed Allergic Reaction" which apparently means that his body is triggering an auto-immune response to continue to fight the venom.  The immune response makes him itch all other and gives him hives in random places all over his body including his head.  Not sure how long that is going to continue, but the good news is that his burns are somewhat healing and he seems to be in pretty in good spirits.

When asked about the incidents, his typical response is that "jellyfish are bullies"... it's hard to disagree.

Gordy's theory of redistribution of wealth

Yesterday, our family of three was on our way to Waimea to enjoy the last few hours of sunlight when we heard a news story on the radio that caught Gordy's attention.  The story was talking about the number of people who have lost their jobs/businesses due to the pandemic and are struggling to put food on the table.  Gordy asked us what they were talking about and after we did our best to be honest and tell him the truth, he paused for a minute and then said, "maybe we should give them some of our money".  There are many reasons that we are proud of our human, but his kind, caring, thoughtful, compassionate, empathetic heart is very close to the top of our list.  

Gordy - our world needs more people like you.  Don't ever change.

still isolating...

Our island began opening up recently and, of course, COVID cases are on the rise.  We went from 0-10 cases per day to 100+ per day in a a matter of weeks.  Awesome.  So, we continue our isolation...

We've still been going to the beach a few times a week,

We've found an old face painting kit and have found new ways to use it,

Lots of bike rides around the street, on the trails at turtle bay, down to Crozier to see the animals, etc.,

Hikes up Kealia,

And lots of "Ohana Hugs".

We don't see an end to this new way of life anytime soon, so we are settling in for the long haul.  

hurricane douglas

Hurricane Douglas (category 1) came barreling towards Hawaii last weekend and was projected to come very close to Oahu.  We were all told by various news stations to do any necessary shopping, to put away and tie down anything that could get blown away due to the 80+ mile/hour winds, to trim trees, to board up windows, watch out for flooding, stock up on water and gas, and to prepare for what could be a serious storm.  The worst day for us was projected to be Sunday at about 8pm.  

So, in true Todd Sells fashion, we did nothing until 9am on Sunday when we saw how close and strong the storm was.  We then spent the next 5 hours trimming our trees, making a last minute run to Costco (turned out to be a great time for a shop as there was no one there), cleaning up our downstairs, tying up the rubbish bins, etc.  As the day went on, we experienced on and off sprinkles and very little wind.  

Then, while watching the 5pm news update, they showed how "unpredictable" the ocean was while showing a video of rock piles - the ocean looked a bit wild, but what stood out to us was the gorgeous GOGO pool!  So, we packed up, suited up in wetsuit tops, grabbed a boogey board and headed up for some fun.

In the end, it turned out that our island was very lucky.  The hurricane took a slight turn to the north which resulted in almost no wind and very little rain.  Lucky indeed and we are even more happy that we made the effort to enjoy the beach!