Grandma and Grandpa Packer's Visit - a little late!

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit us from October 1st to October 15th. It was a lot of fun to have them here and to have the kids get to know them a little better. Grandma pulled out all of the stops and did some fun science experiments with James. James loves science and Grandma was willing to oblige. This is the volcano
We did it several times but with the delay on my camera I couldn't ever time it right. It exploded blue liquid. It was pretty fun!

Grandma also brought Daniel a great pirate costume.
Daniel loves to dress up!

Here is James and Grandma making blue putty. It was pretty gross. James thought it was great. They made several batches of putty and learned the more food coloring the better!

Yuck!

James thought this was great!

I was surprised that he would touch it but he was all over it!

The more you worked it the more solid it became, it was putty in no time!

Putty anyone?
(Note to self: if you smash it into your shirt it doesn't come out very easily!)

We took Grandma and Grandpa to the Zoo!

While we were driving there we ran into a friend (that lives right next door) so they joined us for the morning! The kids had a great time and Grandma and Grandpa seemed to enjoy it too! Our zoo is better than most arboretums so it was a fun, hot day!

Lots of turtles at the zoo!

Daniel looking at all the koi fish in the moat around the monkey house.

While Grandma and Grandpa were here Sterling thought it would be fun to go spend a few nights at the Hale Koa, a military resort down in Waikiki. I have to say I wasn't very excited about going but now I am glad that we did. Everyone has to have the "Waikiki experience" at least once!

We took Grandma and Grandpa to a Luau at the Hale Koa.

Hale, a firedancer, also happens to go to James' school.

He is only 9 years old and an amazingly talented fireknife dancer.

We hadn't been to this luau before, but it was definately worth doing.
(My beautiful arm tattoo is only paint that I got that night at the Luau. It washed off in the shower! Daniel was able to sweat his off that night, it was pretty hot!)

Grandma and I got pedicures, you can't see it very well in the picture but I have a beautiful hibiscus flower painted on my big toes and Grandma got plumeria flowers on her toes. I didn't get a picture of our feet together, Grandma has that one on her camera. We had a good time just talking and getting pedicure while Sterling and the kids took naps in our hotel rooms.

Sophia and Daniel thought this was great. This is the Hale Koa playground with my cute kids poking their faces through!

That night we went to Benihana with the kids and Grandma and Grandpa. The kids had some great "kid" chopsticks so they had a great time eating rice and "things" with chopsticks.

We went for a walk through the Hilton Hawaiian Village.

There were some little wooden statues. Daniel was very mesmerized by them. So when all else fails.... if your not sure if it is fake or real poke it in the eye!

Very confusing!

The kids were very excited that they got to take turns using the camera. On Monday we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center and walked around the Laie Temple Grounds.

This is a pretty good picture being that either James or Daniel took it!

The temple is under construction so if you look closely you can see the scaffolding and the missing windows.

This one shows the missing windows a bit better.

On the temple grounds there are amazing flowers.

Yet another picture taken by a random son.

Grandma learning about all the different flowers from our tour guide, Sterling!

It had just rained, sprinkled really, so the flowers had water drops on them it was amazingly beautiful.

There were several colors of hibiscus flowers all over the visitors center.

After we were done at the Temple grounds we got back into the car and went to the PCC.

Sterling and Joel (our Friend from Ft Gordon) doing the Tahitian Dance!

Daniel had seen the palm tree climbing and was sure he could do it too!

He did pretty well, but it was much harder than it looked.

Once you get up, how do you get back down?

Sterling thought he would make a go of it as well, he didn't get much higher, and didn't look nearly as graceful!

The Packer Family with Cap the Samoan Ambassador for the center.

We had a great time, we love the PCC!

We had a great time with Joel and with Grandma and Grandpa while they were here to visit!