Last Minute Summer Fun

The week before school started we tried to do some of our favorite things...
I took the girls and their friend, Jaydon to the Public Museum. Here, they are looking out over the desert scene.


Emma, Jaydon, and Alyssa in the tropical rainforest.


Pretending to sleep on a huge ice chunk in the Ice Age Wisconsin exhibit.


We always have to take butterfly pics when we come here, it's got to be one of our favorite areas of the museum.


So pleased that she got the butterfly to land on her finger.


Rebekah thought that if she just stuck her finger out like this and waited, a butterfly would come right to her. The funny thing is, that each time a butterfly came close, she would pull her finger away, flinch, and blink her eyes like she had a last minute change of heart.


Alyssa is like "The Butterfly Whisperer." They LOVE her!


And they love her hair too! As we were leaving the exhibit we had to coax this one off her head. I actually meant to get more of her face in this photo, but I guess I was too focussed on the butterfly.


Kamele getting close to the butterfly on Emma's finger.


Emma and Jaydon by Em's favorite, the Buffalo.


Alyssa by the lions, we love how cute the baby ones are.


Kahiwa by another favorite, the elephant.


We also went to play Mini Golf on this day because we had a coupon for buy one get one free, so we thought we'd take advantage of that :-)
The course was a little challenging for the 6 and under crowd. Way too many sand traps, water hazards, and rock gardens to lose the golf balls in ;-) They had fun, it just became a huge game of who could putt their ball into the pond, then fish it out with the nets that were provided.


The four kids on the 4th hole.


Kamele and Kahiwa trying to hit into the same hole at the same time.


Rebekah proud of her shot, and Jaydon happy for her to.


Alyssa taking a turn.


This one had a tricky loop to either hit through or around. Two (E and J) of them tried to go through the loop, and two of them chose the more conservative hit around method (A and R).


This was their favorite hole on the course. There was a tube to hit the ball through, and they discovered that the ball would shoot through and go flying when they hit it through backwards from the bottom of green. I had to drag them from their repeated attempts to play the hole backwards once the group behind us started catching up.


Sitting on the bench after the game. Rebekah had lost all interest in taking photos by now, and was bargaining with me to get them all ice cream.


At the same course, but a day earlier the kids had fun with Dad on the driving range side.


Emma on the putting green.


Alyssa practing driving. She loves golf, and I loved her outfit choice, the cute purple hat and silver shoes.


Dad and Ka'iulani at the tees.


Alyssa had a sleepover with her friends, Hannah and Faith. Hannah and Faith are two of a set of triplets. Their brother did not join the girls for their "dress up party." :)


Emma built a magnetic structure that she wanted us to take a picture of.


We went to the zoo...
The zoo always does something cute with these bushes and the flower bed area that the girls are standing in front of.


Sister hug.


I somehow lost a few of the photos I took this day, I think I accidentally deleted some that I inteded to save. Usually these orangutans look very solemn (out of all the animals at the zoo, these are the ones I feel sorry for. Some animals benefit greatly from the protected habitat at the zoo, but for orangutans, I always get the feeling that they feel all caged up and would much prefer their natural habitat, although I know they need protecting too). But today both mother and father were joyfully playing with a baby that kept walking between them. This is not the best picture I took of them that day, but it's the only one that remained on my card when I went back to look at them.


Eating a picnic lunch.


Peeking at me from behind her sandwich.


Checking out a peacock. Alyssa was puffing out her chest trying to get a reaction from the bird, and at first it hardly noticed her, but before we left it jumped over the stone ledge they are standing in front of and started following us all around.


The girls by a pretty floral bush. This is another pic I lost, I had one of them facing me too.


Looking out at the swans on the pond.


Emma liked the bears.


Alyssa loved the giraffes. I have since seen her write on a homework sheet that giraffes are her favorite animal. We have a really cool looking giraffe here that looks like it's colors are flipped, it's the farthest one on the right. It's very light in color, and in person you can especially see how different it looks from the others.


At the zoo playground. Soaking up our last few days of summer!