It's July. When Did That Happen?

So many things kept us busy in June that I didn't find much time for blogging.

So thought I give you a quick recap, because -- guess what?!? -- I'm planning to be equally as derelict in my updates in July.

Finn finished kindergarten, declaring that he wants to be "an art teacher during the week, and a dolphin trainer on the weekends" when he grows up. I'll let him figure out on his own that his current plan doesn't leave much time for boogie boarding.

After school was dismissed and talk turned to first grade, Finney earnestly requested that his most favorite-ist kindergarten teacher in the whole wide world, seen below, be his teacher every year from now on.

Meanwhile, Shea finished her first semester of preschool, which she liked a little more each time she went. Which is to say she totally hated it at first and grew to kinda like it. Things reached an all-time high when she agreed to wear the silly hat.

With our newfound free time, we went to the Honolulu Zoo, a beautiful parcel of land that sits beneath Diamond Head and just across the street from Waikiki Beach.

And then, trying to squeeze the life out of our annual passes, back to Sea Life Park.

Finn started summer school, and so did Shea.

Another milestone: Shea (sort-of) sat through her first big-girl movie theater movie, Kung-Fu Panda, incurring only one brief lobby time-out for repeated and noisy squirming, and then fell asleep on my lap for the last 20 minutes of the film.

We had a great visit with some old friends from California.

Other bullet-pointed news items:

• The fucking ants ate through the wiring in our television and killed it dead.
  
• Finn turned six and for his birthday dinner requested ramen noodles and nigiri sushi. He actually ate pieces of tamago, sake, maguro, ebi and unagi -- and tried, but didn't care for, the tobiko. I didn't know what sushi was at 6 years old. He's on his way to becoming a real island boy.
  
• We hosted our first slumber party -- with SIX six-year-old boys -- and survived.
  
• The kids finished their first series of swimming classes -- and Finn, finally getting the hang of moving through water with his head semi-submerged, swam half the length of the pool on his own.
  
• Getting a taste of the bitter medicine his friend Logan had to swallow last summer, Finney said goodbye to his best Hawaii buddy, who moved away to Texas.

And there it is, in a nutshell. We'll be vacationing soon, so have a great rest of July and we'll hopefully see you again in August!