So here's one of Gianna's favorite activities, captured by my new Smartphone. Since of course it is not compatible with Apple, I have to email them to myself, then download them onto the laptop. Sigh. Should've just gotten an iPhone, but thought it would be redundant given I already own an iPod Touch. She is removing the snails we collected in our yard, and placing them at the base of a tree in the park, their "new home."

At any rate, the 4th of July holiday was quite fun. On Saturday I dragged Joe to the aerospace museum, which turned out to be pretty cool. They had a Star Trek exhibit that Gigi really enjoyed, especially the transporter thing. The rest of the museum was pleasingly cavernous, with most of the planes actually being outside on the tarmac. Some of them were open, and I think even Joe was impressed with the WWII troop dropper-offer one. There's also a space-aged theme playground right next door, with 3 different levels. I was quite impressed.

In the afternoon, we then went to Karen's house for her barbecue. The whole gang was in attendance, and we nibbled hot dogs and the usual bbq fare. Gianna enjoyed twirling the sparklers, but when it came to letting off the larger stuff, she wasn't interested whatsoever. I guess she was scared by the smoke and noise. Joe took her inside the house, and we split soon after that. On Sunday we went to Melissa's and spent a few hours swimming by her pool. Brian always puts on a yummy spread-tacos, guacamole, salads, etc. Then, on Monday morning I met Melissa and Brian, and Julie the Mormon at the movie theater to watch "Eclipse," the 3rd installment in the Twilight series. Silly, sappy books, but nice to escape for a bit. Joe stayed at home with Gigi so I could go.

So on to our Monday in Hawai'i, before my memory fades. We piled into the rental van and headed out early for Waimea canyon. Since it is a some distance (for that island, anyway), we wanted to see that before the week got away from us. The way there was breathtaking, of course, and as we drove along the rim. We stopped at the first lookout....difficult to keep one eye on the toddler while the other eye is soaking up the view. The drop off was precipitous in places and it wouldn't take Gianna long to clamber over the fence. She wasn't too happy at the lookout area, because there were all sorts of places she couldn't go. But we did sit down in some grass for a little bit, as there was a vendor peddling dried fruit and stuff, so we had a snack before leaving. We stopped in Kolo'a near Poi'pu and had lunch at Tomkats. It wasn't very busy and it had a courtyard that was open to the air. There was a kitty there that kept G amused for awhile. She fell asleep on the way back, which was good because the prior 2 days she didn't have a nap at all. After that, we went swimming again, beach, etc. Gianna developed a liking for the hot tubs, which she called "hot bath tubs." Since there were several, I could usually find one that was either vacant, or occupied by kids already so she couldn't disturb too many folks. Mostly she liked pushing the button that ran the jets off and on. We had also gotten a little inner tube that gave her some autonomy in the water (and no doubt a false sense of security) which she enjoyed tremendously. She would sink in, and say, "Feee-yalls good, mommy! Fee-yalls good!"

Well, I'm getting tired and I've got to pay some bills, and task which I loathe. Not even just because money is exiting the household, but I literally loathe writing out the checks, weeding out all the junk stuffed in the envelopes, etc.