Hi, Everyone!
Bill-kun and Karin-chan and their mommy and daddy came to Hawaii, too! I gave Bill-kun and Original Lion-san a big welcome hug! It was a very long trip for them to come from Japan, so I showed Original Lion-san where to take a nap in the sun. The first day of their visit, Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s mommy and daddy did a lot of shopping for things that are hard to get in Japan. Then Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s daddy grilled steaks for dinner and we all ate on the lanai. After that, we watched the sun set and it was time for bed!
On Friday, I helped Karin-chan eat her breakfast. She was sleepy because she was five time zones away from home. That’s just like me when I first got here, but in the other direction! Aunt Kara and Grandma and I took Bill-kun and Karin-chan to the beach to see a monk seal taking a nap. We were all good helpers and didn’t disturb the monk seal! On the way back, Bill-kun and Karin-chan chased roosters and looked at trees and climbed on rocks and watched the people riding boogie boards in the surf. That was a very busy walk!
On Saturday, Aunt Kara and Uncle Steven had to go home. I was a good helper and made sure they had breakfast, first. Then Grandma and Grandpa and I went to the Saturday Farmers Market to get more bread and goat cheese. I made friends with the goat cheese lady, but I was so busy having my picture taken with her that I forgot to pick up the goat cheese we’d bought! Grandma and I had to go back to get it when we took Uncle Steven and Aunt Kara to the airport. Guess what? The goat cheese lady remembered me and had saved our goat cheese for us!
Saturday afternoon, we all went to the beach. We had fun swimming and building a sand castle with a lot of towers! There was a sea turtle taking a nap on the beach, right where the monk seal was the day before. I guess that must be a nice place for naps! After we got back from the beach, Bill-kun and Karin-chan and I tried out boogie boards. We saw children using them as floats, but I don’t think we swim well enough to use them in the big waves!
Saturday evening, we went back to the Mexican restaurant that is friendly to little lions. Then Bill-kun and Karin-chan and I found a railing to use as a jungle gym. After that, we went to the ice cream store. Look at the yummy ice cream cone Bill-kun got!
Sunday was a really busy day! First, we drove to Kileaua Point to see the birds at the lighthouse. Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s daddy figured out how to play a DVD in our car, so Karin-chan and I watched Bill-kun’s preschool dance recital over and over! When we got to the lighthouse, the ranger gave Bill-kun and Karin-chan junior ranger activity booklets to use during their visit. That helped them learn about the birds and plants they saw. Some of my nene friends from my last trip to Kauai even showed up! The nene is the Hawaiian state bird. They are cousins of the Canada geese I see at Sodus.
On the way back from Kilauea, I sat with Bill-kun. We stopped to buy food, then we had a picnic lunch at Lydgate Park. The playground is really nice! There are lots of places to climb and slide and swing. We had a lot of fun there! Karin-chan showed me how to climb on the web of rubber hose pieces. The playground is next to a kukui nut tree, and there were lots of nuts on the ground. Bill-kun showed Karin-chan how to get the husks off by stomping on the nuts, and I kept track of the shelled kukui nuts. They aren’t good to eat, so we left a nest of them to grow new trees.
On Sunday night, Joe-san and Nancy-san and Moose-san came to join us, too! Monday was Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s last full day on Kauai. Karin-chan and Nancy-san and I took a long walk to the beach in the morning, then Joe-san and Nancy-san and Bill-kun and Karin-chan’s mommy and Grandpa went to the sunshine farmers market. They brought back another pineapple, some passion fruit and some rambutans, and they bought a filet of nice fresh ono at the fish market. Joe-san and Grandma made a special dinner. I helped Grandma make a pineapple upside down cake while everybody else was at the beach. Then Grandma made a macadamia nut, ginger and potato chip topping for the ono, and Joe-san made a sauce out of leftover shrimp broth, salsa, white wine, coconut milk and banana. Grandma used up the purple sweet potatoes to make a casserole with more pineapple and some onion. It was a yummy dinner! After dinner, Bill-kun did a paper and pencil maze that his daddy made for him. Then Karin-chan and I had some quiet time on the lanai while her mommy and daddy packed all the supplies they bought to take back to Japan. Everybody had to get up very early on Tuesday, so that Bill-kun and Karin-chan and their mommy and daddy could get on their plane to go home.
That was good practice for us, because we have to take the same first flight on Saturday when we go to Maui. But before then, I’m going to be very busy showing Moose-san around Kauai!
Love,
Lion-san