3 kids...2 dogs...100 fish....1,000 bugs

Merry Christmas! It used to be Christmas Eve up until about two hours ago...why am I still up? It has been crazy busy with parties and shopping and sleeping, I just wish there was more of the latter. I will post again later this week, I have pictures from my job where I took another ride around the island in a helicopter and then there was Benji's 30th Birthday Party and the most elaborate birthday cake you have ever seen.

But, I did want to take my three cousins out again before the christmas lights dimmed. So we picked them up from my auntie and took them fishing AGAIN. This time I took Scott and an extra dog. We're dog-sitting our friend Trisha's dog, Jordyn. She's a real cute dog but she and Charlie aren't exactly friends. At least they tolerate each other but they've staked out different sides of the yard and never cross the imaginary border.

We went hiking farther down the stream this time...the one thing I hadn't planned was the later time of day meant bugs bugs bugs everywhere. The kiddies looked like monkeys as they squatted by the water and scratched themselves silly with one hand as they held the net in the other. So keep that in mind as you look over the pictures, Jasen was too preoccupied with scratching to stop for many pictures. Jasen was a little more active this time...he actually moved and ran up and down the side of the stream...and he actually caught more than rocks. He managed to somehow catch a little tadpole which Charlie almost accidentally ate when he was drinking out of the poke container makeshift aquarium. Jasen did give up fishing after that, he peaked early...and he began launching every free-standing rock into the middle of the stream. Poor Jaren and Sierra were sitting patiently on rocks with their nets poised over the water and just when they seemed ready to spring, Jasen's rocks would scatter all the frightened fish.

Sierra and Jaren were so well-behaved and polite. We wanted to give them an afternoon of playtime but they were constantly watching over Jasen. Scott has always liked Sierra and Jaren a lot but now he has fallen in love with Jasen. Probably because Jasen learned his name. Scott is such a softie. Karen says it is because Scott has a picture with the mighty morphin power rangers in our christmas newsletter, it makes him cool. And Jasen gave him hugs and kept asking "where's unko cott?" every time Scott wasn't in his direct line of sight. It was real cute.

We took them to church but Jasen refused to go to the nursery. He wouldn't even go up the stairs near the nursery, his eyes would water and he would mournfully plead "no. i want to go home." Oh, it was so sad. So he just played in the courtyard. Then I took them to see christmas lights on Namoku Street. People had working train sets, inflatable snow globes and ferris wheels, and there was even a T-Rex. If you ask Jasen what his favorite part of the christmas lights was though, he would tell you "mighdy pawr mornin razahs." I'm not quite sure where he thinks he saw those.