Turtles and Seals

This has been a fun weekend of wildlife! I started training Friday to be a Hawaiian Monk Seal Response Team member. Essentially this means that when a seal hauls out of the water, you go rope it off and stand guard to make sure no one assaults the seal or tries to pet it. You also answer a bunch of questions from tourists and locals about the seals, but I hear it's pretty much the same 6 questions over and over again. I've thought about doing this for a while, but now that the baby is up here it really sparked my interest. I obviously am not going to have an abundance of free time with school starting next week, but all they ask for is 3 hours a week. I can do that and I can take Eve with me too. I went last Sunday and took some really cool pictures, but we continue to have desktop issues and I can't upload them yet. Friday I didn't take any pictures and it really didn't do anything of interest while I was there, just nursing and sleeping. I actually got to see 3 seals Friday night. Honey Girl and her pup were the main focus and Right Spot was hauled out further down the beach.
Yesterday, I took Eve and two of her friends to Papa'iloa and we saw a bunch of sea turtles out. I took some pics with my phone. I really should remember to take my good camera with me when I go, but I keep telling myself I have a bazillion turtle pictures as it is plus with the computer screwed up, I couldn't upload them anyway. This is one of a turtle swimming in the surf. That rock looking thing...it's a turtle.

1st Day of 2nd Grade

Yesterday was Eve's 1st day at Waialua Elementary. She woke up excited and ate breakfast on the porch with CRH while I ran around getting ready for work. Nonni called before we left and then she called Papaw too. As we were taking her in for her 1st day, a huge brilliant rainbow was out over the school...it was pretty cool! This school is so much bigger than her old one. As we were leaving her in her classroom, I started to get a little teary looking at my baby sitting there alone in her seat. I knew how she was feeling and resisted the urge to stay and hover. She ended up knowing quite a few kids in her class from Summer Fun, so that worked out well.
Her teacher, Mrs. Luarca, is pretty strict according to Eve and she's been teaching there for 29 years! Her homework last night was to write a letter back to her teacher introducing herself. I think it's going to be a good year!