First Visitor
"Mom, come see we've got our first visitor to the Butterfly Garden!" And sure enough there is a little tiny creature chowing down on our flowers. He stayed for 3 days eating everything in sight but he hasn't been spotted lately. We'll keep our eyes peeled. We've also found a list of native flowers that will attract butterflies so we're going to add some of those to our garden.

This week has been about getting organized. I'm still wading through different curriculum and project ideas trying to find some kind of direction. Its been a wet week, we thought Hurricane Felicia was coming our way but luckily the cool water slowed her down into nothing more than wet weather. Our indoor activities have included banging on the piano, making play dough, reading books and emptying out the coin jar, a favorite activity.

We have a lot of coins in our house and I have placed plastic jars all over the house in an effort to contain them but whenever one of the girls spy the jar the hands go in and the coins go everywhere. We're working on coin names and values but it is not nearly as entertaining as simply grabbing a hand full and dumping them on the floor and watching them scatter.

When the rain really starts to pour and we can no longer see the mountains out of our windows due to all the clouds its time to throw on the swimsuits and go dance in the rain. We get out our inflatable toys and boats and head up the driveway to send them afloat down the incline towards the storm drain. We race the boats and check to see if the water is deep or fast moving enough to support a little person riding a boogie board but so far no luck. We try and figure out where our river is deepest due to the shape of the driveway and where the current is strongest due to the merging of streams from all our neighbors' rain gutters. We usually finish with Mom vs. the girls races up and down the driveway and splash fights. Then its time for baths and snacks.

So this week's focus is creating a Butterfly Garden. We recently met Janice Crowl the author and Harinani Orme the illustrator of the book "Pulelehua and Mamaki" at a book signing at the Bishop Museum. The book tells the story of Pulelehua (a Kamehameha Butterfly) and the wise mamaki tree where she grew up and returned to lay her egg. We decided we'd like to see more butterflies. This winter we had a large caterpillar visit us one afternoon and since we couldn't figure out what kind of caterpillar he was, and what kind of food he would need we released him from our terrarium. We believe he returned later as a huge moth so our interest was stoked.

There was also an article in my Canadian Living this month about how to create a butterfly garden and what flowers and trees work best. I'm not sure how this will translate in Hawaii but its worth a go. Yesterday we went to the Garden Shop and picked out some colorful plants. Next we need to find a Crown Flower cutting and start growing our own Crown Flower. Hannah enjoyed painting a pot for our garden.

So the focus this week was reading. We have a list of kindergarten books from a local school and have been visiting multiple libraries hunting down these books and have been introduced to an array of new authors and wonderful books. We've been reading books at breakfast, in the bathtub, in the park and on the coach, anywhere we can find a moment. The focus has been on reading for pleasure and fun, the only way my daughter responds to anything these days. My youngest daughter is quite taken with David Shannon and his book, "No, David!", especially the illustration of David running down the sidewalk naked and another with his finger firmly wedged up his nose. My older daughter enjoyed "When I was Five" by Arthur Howard since, as she explains to everyone she meets these days, "I am five!"