the longest day of the year.

Happy Solstice! It's the first official day of summer & it darn well feels like it. Ninety-nine degrees. Bit on the cool side. (I'm only half joking.)

I celebrated in increments. Strawberries for breakfast, visiting the nature center's pond (two kids fell in--heh. Neither was hurt, though!), cooling off with an iced beverage* when I got home, writing my birthday wishlist, listening to the Jack Johnson station on Pandora. Aaand, happy news, I have Harry Potter tickets! Oh, yes.

So, today was my first day as a CIT. It was, as expected, fine, but long. We played tag, pet a snake, and splatter-painted, among many things. Well, the kids did. I mostly cleaned up paint, put away toys & tied their shoes. But you know, it's worth it.

[We were talking about going to the sun, and being inside of it.] One little girl: "It would be like being in a really hot pineapple!"

Because of that.

Where do kids even get these things?

Anyway. I spent a lot of time outside, in the sun. It's quite tiring but it makes it all the nicer coming indoors, to air-conditioning. I love being outside all day and then just hanging out in the evenings. Browsing inspiring blogs, making lists, yes, eating dessert. Speaking of, I'm currently compiling a list of things to bake when I have the time--do you have any good recipes to suggest? I'd love your ideas.

Well, it's the first day of summer, so I hope you did something fun! If you didn't, it's okay, you still have all summer. Ride bikes, drink lemonade, go barefoot. Embrace the sunshine (but don't forget sunscreen!). And to my southern-hemisphere readers: have fun in the cold. I envy you in an odd way, as it's really hot here.

Also: These pictures are old; from last summer, with my point-and-shoot (you can see the reflection in the first one). I just haven't taken any since I got home so I'm resurrecting these. Huzzah!

-Kendall

*Which is actually water but that sound lame so I went with the generic. 

home (finally!)

I'm home. Okay, you probably could have deduced that from the title, but I thought I should make it clear. Home.

Sidenote: It's weird typing on a real keyboard. I've gotten used to the laptop one...but I like this one so much better.

Moving on.

Before our flight yesterday, we went to this really authentic Hawaiian place for dinner (by authentic I mean they didn't have forks for sad people like me who can't figure out chopsticks). Then the plane left at 10:30 and we arrived at LAX (which, despite being such a famous & busy airport, doesn't have WiFi!) around seven in the morning in that time zone. We didn't have time to get breakfast before boarding our next flight to Dallas, and then we had another plane to my hometown. Three flights is too many.

So, in conclusion, I got about four hours of sleep (while sitting up, mind you), all I've eaten since yesterday is a cinnamon scone (which was very delicious but that's besides the point), and my luggage took its own route home. I am just a ray of sunshine right now!

No, but seriously, I'll be fine once I have dinner.

On top of that, tomorrow I start a two-week session of being a CIT (counselor-in-training) at a local nature camp. This will be my third year doing this, so I speak from experience when I say that these days are long and tiring (8-5, baby). Fun, though. Working with four- and five-year-olds is never a dull experience!

So, that's where I am now.

I would be unpacking but my suitcase isn't here yet. Instead I'm just catching up with blogs...and I'm not complaining. ;) Just waiting for the pizza to get here...

Happy Monday!

-Kendall

blue skies & blue ice (hawaii part four).

Wednesday, after I blogged, we went to a lighthouse. This one, in fact. A cute little thing, built in 1913 (I think), but no longer in use. We couldn't actually go inside the lighthouse because of repairs (which was pretty funny considering they still charged us $10 but...) but we got to walk around it & the view was spectacular.

Fact: I have always thought it would be kinda fun to live in a lighthouse.

Another fact: I am fond of this picture. >>

That afternoon we drove to Kapa'a to look in some stores. On the way there: hundreds of palm trees! So many palm trees! An army of palm trees!

On the way back, my grandma got thirsty so we all got shave ice. It was humongous! (It took me like five tries to spell that word, nbd.) I got vanilla which turned out to be blue (?) but it still tasted exactly like vanilla. Ah, the power of modern day science! Anyway...I ate it all. :)

Yesterday was a pretty great day. We biked about ten miles around the beach and then went to this adorable little cafe. I got mango iced tea, mhm. Then in the afternoon we went to the beach. It was semi-raining but the waves were good yet not too powerful and I actually managed to boogie board (gawd. What an awkward word).

Today, I'm going to boogie-board more and watch my dad surf (interesting). Tomorrow we're going to kayak early in the morning, and Sunday is our last day here. We leave that afternoon/evening/I really have no idea and then spend the night on the plane and arrive home Monday midday. The last time I've flown overnight was to Germany, ten years ago, but I still remember it being dark and getting blankets and stuff.

Tangent (because I'm on the topic of my trip to Germany): If you count airports, then I've been to England & France. I mean, my body was physically within the borders of those countries, therefore, in a manner of speaking, I've visited them. What now? I want to really-actually visit them some day, too, of course. :P But until then...

Have a great weekend!

-Kendall