The Curtis Clan - Winter 2007
Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox
During December, we had lingering sickness, with each family member getting a stomach flu bug about a week after the last one. Cate started it in Huntsville, than Jane the next week, Bethany right before Christmas and Randy right before New Year’s. The holidays were definitely a family time as Randy was off for 15+ days off in a span of 17 days. Atypically, we decided not to add to any festive anxieties by leaving town or starting/continuing any major home improvement projects of any note.
Christmas with the Curti
Upon coming down the steps and seeing all her stuff, Jane exclaimed “Santa came after all”. When asked later that day about being visited by Santa, she happily noted “I was bad, and still got stuff”. In retrospect, our using the “you better watch
out” threat on her to improve her behavior ahead of time, appears to have backfired (ah, those pesky unintended consequences).
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Jane and Cate view Santa's bounty
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Among their gifts was a Little People Nativity Scene that they could play with, which Jane called their “Jesus Barn”. Another
present the girls got was a medical check up kit. Cate was pretty cute giving us check-ups and
us and then the cats; particularly when she’d used the scope for looking in the ears, nose and throat and saying “All clear” after examining each part. The girls got mostly books as gifts (literally dozens) and an unexpected favorite was the SuperHeros ABCs. They loved it. They also loved their complete Beatrix Potter gift set. Their interest was particularly sparked a week latter, when the Kirkwood library had a reading of Peter Rabbit and a life size costumed rabbit as a promotional push for the Renee Zellwegger film “Miss Potter”, to which we got tickets to a free sneak peak screening. For the next few days we read the Potter series. Another gift that scored well was the School House Rock DVD. Jane may not know her phone number, be able to spell anything reliably but her own name but she is well on her way to being able to recite/sing the preamble to the Constitution and sing about what conjunctions and interjections are (in an odd symbiosis of gifts, the Super Hero ABCs is packed with interjections). The CD player/karaoke machine with microphones was a hit too. However, the most coveted and played with items were the tiara, necklace, earrings and ring set that Cate received from her Uncle Micah and Aunt Tiffany (because we specifically requested not getting any Princess stuff). Paybacks…paybacks.
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Cate and Jane with
their karaoke machine dreaming of American Idol
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For the Epiphany, we joined Uncle Charlie and his Alton neighborhood with their annual Christmas tree burning bonfire at Riverview Park. A fun family tradition that the girls enjoyed.
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Randy Cate and Jane at annual Christmas Tree in Alton
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End of the Diaper Genie?
The end of January the Curtis family reached a happy milestone. Bethany had volunteered Cate for another P&G pull-up study, with a new product that was super secret. It was a bumpy couple days at first, as guinea-pig Cate was a little traumatized by the experimental items. However, a couple of days later, the experimental pull-ups had encouraged Cate to start using the potty every time, including the elusive BM. Within days, she was staying dry including throughout the night on occasion. By the weekend, we took her to the store to pick out her own big girl underwear: Strawberry Shortcake and Tinkerbelle. Yeah, yeah we know there might be some hypocritical aspects to our purchasing the Disney near-Princess product but we told her what ever she wanted and were just as glad they didn’t have any Wiggles for girls like she wanted (not sure having caricatures of 40 year old Australians dancing males who all live together and wear the same clothing was a better choice). Going out means, numerous trips to the potty (like all families with toddlers we can rate the relative quality of potties at the local groceries and department stores) but we are on the right track. For the month of February, nap and night time weren’t reliable, so we kept her in pull ups for sleep times but after several nights in a row without incident, she completed the transition. So what is the super secret pull-up, we can’t say but it worked for Cate.
It will be interesting to see if it ever goes to market as getting kids out of
pull-ups is not in the interest of the company.
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Cate roller queen
(and no unsightly
pull-up lines)
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World According to Jane
When trying to convince her mother to go to the Jakers! web site on PBSKIDS so she and Cate could play, Bethany offered the excuse that she didn’t know the web site, to which Jane impatiently replied: “Just Google it Mama!” We didn’t see it but we’re fairly certain her eyes rolled at her mother’s ineptness. And we’ve got 8 ½ years until she’s an “official” teenager.
Still, we're glad she's displaying an embrace of technology.
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Cate and Jane enjoying
the computers at the Science Center
where there is no
squabbling over who has the mouse
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Future Miss Gracious Living / Domestic Diva
Jane’s love for parties grows. Over the MLK weekend, she insisted that they (Bethany, Jane and Cate) get dressed up in their best party dresses for a tea party with one of her sets of china tea sets. She made invitations (surplus Harry Potter invites she got from school) and gave them to the family. Sister Cate was happy to follow suit. Randy’s thinking they need some mud puddles to splash in on the spring camping trip.
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Jane on her 4 1/2
Birthday (she got to bring in cupcakes to school
since as a summer birthday kid she would never
get to celebrate with her classmates otherwise).
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Fortunately, to help smoothing out some of the girly-girly tendencies, the Webster Groves Early Childhood Development Center came to the rescue with a science day at Jane's School. The reptiles and amphibians were a hit and the girls even came around to touching and holding them (albeit with "some" coercion from Dad).
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Jane and Cate examine a toad and
lizard
(it's better when you don't have to actually
touch them)
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Krikee! Jane and Cate -
Crocodile Hunters? (actually it is an alligator)
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February
Winter finally hit St. Louis in late January and early February with days and weeks where it didn’t get above freezing. We got another round of snow, resulting in more snowman making and
sledding in the yard with the girls.
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Cate with her second snow man of the season (she had "some" help from
her folks)
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The weather definitely had an impact on our activities as it seemed so much easier to just stay home. We didn’t really get the cabin fever doldrums. Lots of fresh free TV on with sweeps month and Randy continued his indoctrination of the girls to the best of Broadway with viewings of films and CDs (Sound of Music; Oliver, Fred and Ginger films, etc.) when there wasn’t. One Saturday, we were invited to visit our
neighbor's Speed Shop (Tuxedo Park Racing) set up in one of the warehouse bays in Sauget, IL (a strip club is at the other end of the building). It was great fun.
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Tina, Joanne, Charlie and Bethany
enjoy the digs of Tuxedo Park Racing in Sauget
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Hawai'i !!
As the norm, Randy work took him out of town on Valentine’s Day, only this time it was perfectly OK with Bethany as he was in Hawaii and she got to go too. A few of Randy’ colleagues had been working on some specialized research regarding Schofield Barracks on Oahu. He had made it clear to them from the start if they need any one to help in any way (research, map and photo analysis, chauffeur, bag boy…), he was there for them to assure the success of the mission. He left on Sunday the 11th and Bethany joined him on Tuesday. We got a room at the Marriott Waikiki Beach. Bethany had a few days to relax at the beach and by the pool as work kept Randy occupied until dusk every day. At night we explored the Waikiki Beach strip of Kalakaua Street.
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Bethany Pineapple Woman
(this is as close as she came to the coconut bra
and grass skirt)
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Observation #1 - Traffic in Paradise
You’ve probably heard the quip questioning why Hawaii needs an Interstate when you can’t drive to any other states. However, Honolulu highway traffic is no joke. It is really bad most of the time. There are only about 51+ miles of “interstate” on the island but about 13 miles of it forms the backbone artery of Honolulu development between the airport and Waikiki beach. Getting caught in it during the waking hours will involve bumper to bumper action for a few miles at the least. Only at 10:30 at night did traffic seem to flow at the proper capacity.
Our guess is it will get a lot worse before getting better. The city council was bickering about the route of a multi-billion dollar light rail effort, so mass transit is at lest 5 years away.
Observation #2 – Hawaiian Language
Reading street signs to navigate around town was challenging as they all tended to look be an unfamiliar variation of Kalikianimoa (I made that up but it looks like the name of half the streets at first glance). Trying to pronounce the words while possible, took 3rd grade reading skills long rusty for sounding words out and still sounded like you made them up anyway, at least to the “ugly American” ignorance.
Most of this is a function of the 13 character Hawaiian alphabet, which has only 12 letters readily understood by non-linguistic mangers and nearly half of those letters are the vowels (AEHIKLMOPUW). The thirteenth is the kina, which “marks the glottal stop as it is used in many Polynesian languages”, such as the proper spelling of the state: Hawai’i. Don’t ask us to explain any of that further, as we copied it off of
Wikipedia. Coincidently Wikipedia takes the root of its name for the Hawaiian word wikiwiki for quick.
We also tried to get the complete meaning of Aloha, which transcends hello, to include
a general welcoming spirit and fellowship, blessing, love and several other positive things too. We were less enthused with the second most common word Hawaiian heard, “Mahalo”, which means Thank you. We don’t have anything against saying thank you but 90% of the time
we saw it used it seemed forced, contrived and an awkward embrasure of the culture for tourism sake (e.g. Mahalo for not smoking; Mahalo for not tracking sand into the hotel, Mahalo for not jaywalking).
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Bethany on a boat with Waikiki Beach
behind her
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Observation #3 -Waikiki Beach / Kalakaua Street-scape
Working during the day (or lack of a car)
prevented our site seeing around the island except for Waikiki Beach until
Saturday. If all there was to Hawaii was Waikiki Beach, there would be
little reason to come this far. If you’ve been to any beach town shopping
strips, this one is very similar with a typical mix of souvenir / t-shirt shops; street artists/mimes; guys with parrots to take your picture with; places to eat;
etc. A few differences of note though. There is an ABC Store on at least every block, literarily. We were never more than 700 feet from one, and they were almost identical in their offerings. Our Marriott had two at opposite ends of the block-long lobby. We were also surprised by the very high end stores present along with the souvenir stores: Tiffany’s, Louis Vutton, Prada, etc. There are at least three Coach stores within a ½ mile stretch too, though that didn’t register with Randy to notice even one (odd how you can be completely oblivious to things directly in front of you that you have no interest in). The other main oddity is that the Japanese tourists seem to out number the US ones, especially in the more upscale shopping areas. Additionally, there are tourist shops geared specifically towards them, most notably the “shoot real guns” arcades (there were at least 3). Still there are free live music acts on the beach and its very vibrant at all the times we visited.
Sight Seeing on Oahu
On Saturday, we, along with Randy’s two colleagues Shelia and Jennifer, who stayed an extra day, took in some of the cultural and natural wonders of the island. First up was a trip to USS Arizona memorial. Between the museum, boat ride to the memorial and back and the crowds, it took right at the 3 hours the AAA tour book said
it would. Moving but it took a bit longer than we planned. After that we made a quick jaunt up to the North Shore to see the killer waves of surfing fame, but not before taking in lunch at the Dole Helemano Pineapple plantation. Our time gazing at the big waves was a bit of a Chevy Chase
"Family Vacation" moment as we had an appointment to take a submarine ride back a Waikiki.
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Randy and Bethany on USS Arizona Memorial with the Mighty MO in the background
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The group of us got tickets at less than a third of the standard cost through the Army’s
MWR [Morale Welfare and Recreation] group (there is an occasional advantages to being a DOD employee). Leaving from the Hilton complex, the Atlantis IX is 60 passenger submarine and reportedly the largest in the world for this sort of thing. The trip lasted an hour or so and was pretty cool as we got to see lots of fish and several sea turtles. The marine life was all clustered around coral training reefs and sunken vessels that the company had bought, cleaned and sunk for that purpose. It must have been a kind of
a lame tour before the sunken vessels and training reefs were emplaced because that’s the only place where marine life was visible. As an added bonus, the boat ride out to where the submarine surfaced offered fabulous vistas of Waikiki and Diamond Head.
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Randy and Bethany riding out to the
submarine
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Afterwards, we scooted up the east coast a bit past the Diamond Head crater on Highway 72. Once the road enters Koko Head District Park, it becomes ultra scenic and a joy to drive, up through Waimanalo Beach. We stopped at the blow hole overlook between the park and Sandy Beach, which included the secluded beach memorialized in the film version of From Here to Eternity Beach. We didn’t feel like twisting ankles hiking down and to recreate the Burt Lancaster/Deborah Kerr steamy wave scene and appreciated the view from on high, which provided a great place to visit and watch/listen to the pounding surf.
Big Island Day 1 or Randy versus the Volcano
Our vacation really started on Sunday as we took an inter-island hop to Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii. We didn’t realize until we already made our plans and bought our plane tickets that Sunday was Chinese New Year. It would have been fun to see the parading dragoon, firecrackers and other festivities in Honolulu’s Chinatown but oh well.
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Randy in the rainforest
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Hilo is on the windward side or rainy side of Hawaii and includes lush vegetation, considered rainforest in places. Our limited time in the largest community on Hawaii was a grey overcast sky familiar to anyone whose lived in the Midwest during winter or the Pacific Northwest. Definitely coffee country, which most notably comes from the sunny, arid side of the island in the Kona area.
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Randy and Bethany on
road blocked by lava
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A short drive south from Hilo, is the Hawaiian Volcano National Park, where the volcano Kilauea has been erupting at the Pu’u O’o Vent for the past 24 years (since January 1983). About a month before our trip, we had watched a Nature special on PBS with the girls on volcanoes, which included images of the town of Kalapana being wiped out in the 1980s by the lava flow. Once Jane and Cate heard we were going to Hawaii and possibly seeing a volcano, they started pleading with us “Don’t go to the Big Island;
don’t go near the lava”. No amount of explanation or assurances that we would be careful seemed to allay their fears and they admonished us to avoid the lava any time it came up for the following few weeks. Much of the signage and pamphlets at the ranger station echoed the warnings of danger with a clear intent to dissuade people from visiting the active lava flows. Due to our arrival after lunch, we were limited us to roughly 5 hours of day light to enjoy the sites, and spent only a short time at the Kilauea Visitor Center. It is worth noting that the visitor center is at 4,000 feet elevation and was a very chilly 50 degrees with the rain and winds. We headed southward along the Chain of Craters Road briefly stopping at the Thurston Lava Tube, a 500 years young underground “lava cave” in the rain forest and the Pauahi Crater, an extinct lava vent. We also stopped at the massive Mauna Ulu lava shield (field) created by flows from 1969-1974 eruptions. It seemed really big until we neared the Pu’u O’o lava flows along the expanding coastlines. We parked along the road and hiked to the NPS visitor trailers at the Holei Sea Arch. We both hiked a couple thousand feet eastward where the trailers use to stand along the roadway until the lava nearly engulfed them a few years ago and they were moved in a nick of time. Given Bethany’s oft broken ankles, she didn’t venture far on the uneven lava beds, instead satisfying herself with the ranger’s spotting scope of a lava flow on the hill side in the far distance and reading next to the pounding waves.
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Bethany at Mauna Ulu lava
shield from 1969-1974 eruption
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In willful disregard of his daughter’s instructions to avoid the lava, Randy hiked the 2.5+ miles across the irregular phoehoe flows. Although moving along faster than most others, it still took an hour to cross the terrain. The constant winds dispatched the sulfuric fumes until he was within a few hundred feet of the recent lava flows. The other noticeable change was the rise in temperatures about 20 degrees (which had already risen about thirty degrees from coming down to sea level from the visitor’s center). The new lava was silvery metallic in appearance as opposed to the rusty black of flows older than a few days. It took a few minutes to locate where the lava was flowing. Randy got literally within spitting distance of the oozing molten lava. To prove the point he horked up a loogie to expectorate and watch it vaporize. Not content and unable to suppress the 7th grade boy buried deep within him, he hurled some rocks at the lava, but they generally bounced of the lava which quickly crusts over. Unless you score a direct hit at
the red hot part with some energy it doesn’t do much. In fact it doesn’t do much than, as the old rock simply merges with the molten new rock and it quickly becomes indistinguishable.
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Randy with the molten lava (note: orange lens
over left shoulder)
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It was a moving and thrilling encounter with the majesty and power of our planet; almost a religious experience. This hot spot is where the Hawaiian Archipelago begins. This is how the earth began. A trip to Hawaii is in itself a moving testament to the glory of life and a tactile monument to evolution, as 90% of the flora and fauna is endemic. The diversity came from pioneer species getting a foothold on the barren landscape and evolving from there. Randy, the geologist/theological engineer type, likened it to a trip to Mecca for a Muslim (without the stampede of other believers during Hajj).
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Flowing
lava
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Observation #4 – Highways in Paradise
From Volcano, we traveled along Highway 11 to the south and west part of the island. A couple things became obvious with our drive around the island. Hawaii’s highways are very well maintained and constructed. This was particularly noticeable while driving several hours on two lane highway at night. Normally this would be somewhat nerve wracking. However, the pavement was smooth and lanes exceptionally well marked by center reflectors as well as reflectors on the outside of the lanes. This and the zero likelihood of hitting a deer made for a fairly enjoyable drive. Hawaii may have the highest gasoline tax but the results appear worth it. Especially to those of us from one of the lowest gasoline tax states which oddly coincides with some of the most poorly maintained and least upgraded highways. Another pleasant difference between Hawaiian and Missouri roadways – no billboards. There may be fascinating caverns to visit, radio
stations to listen to or products to buy here but they don’t deface the view informing you of it. Even the graffiti is less annoying. The black lava flows along the roadway for much of the south and west parts of the island are covered with expressions of love and “I was here” statements outlined in white corral stones. Mostly harmless.
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Bethany at Holei Sea Arch
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Observation #5 – Resort Living in Paradise
Our destination was the Waikoloa Beach Marriott Resort and Spa, chosen primarily as a place to stay because it was one of
the two Marriotts on the island and we have lots of points (and used lots staying two nights at this very upscale resort community). Arriving at 9:25 at night, we didn’t feel like exploring the area for eats and settled for pizza from the grill that was closing in minutes. Waikoloa is a planned resort community with an
adjacent Hilton resort, some private homes and condos and a smattering of shops. Being on the leeward side of Maun Loa and Kea, the west side of Hawaii is generally sunny and arid, great for fun-in-the- sun activities. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in the way of soil, as the terrain consists of ancient lava flows with minimal vegetation. It must be horridly expensive to build there as everything is placed on top of lava flows, which must be pneumatically busted up to flatten them or doing anything below grad, like place utilities. Dirt is trucked in for gardens and grass. It looks nice when it is done but explains the lack of development older than the last few decades. The Waikoloa shops included a Tiffany’s and other high end shops, a few $30+ a plate restaurants and thankfully a food court. We had to drive about 26 miles south to Kailua-Kona to find any typical real services (like a choice of feminine hygiene products beyond what you’d find at a gas station). There were some families at the resort but mostly it was pampered upper middle class retirees. The resort was very nice but we didn’t really feel at ease there given the disparity betweens the have and have-nots, which was particularly stark here as the workers couldn’t afford to live anywhere near their work. We overheard one employee say she comminuted 2 hours each way…for a job at the food court.
Big Island Day 2
Monday was a low key day with no agenda. We got up late, drove to Kailua-Kona, which had the full gamut of services you expect in an US town over 10,000 people. We ate at Denny’s, which both of us agreed was the best meal of the trip (you can’t beat eggs, hash browns, toast and all the fixings done right, when that’s what you want). We did some light site seeing and shopping before returning back to the hotel mid-afternoon. By than it was overcast but we still went to the beach about 800 feet from our rooms. There’s not much to do in Waikoloa at night so after some late night swimming and hot tubbing, we called it a day.
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Bethany and the Waikaloa sunset
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Big Island Day 3 – Falling Water
On Tuesday we tried the beach again before leaving including Randy’s 15 minutes of snorkeling using the complementary goggles, snorkel and fins that came with the $15/day parking/internet/2 mai tais a day package. Without glasses, it’s hard to appreciate the fish you see which have to be pretty big to be even noticed. We didn’t stay long as this was our day to look at some of the big water falls in the rain forest that Hawaii is famous for. A brush fire closed the saddle road between Mauna Loa and Maun Kea, which would have been cool to drive in some regards but we can’t complain about the drive along the northern island loop highway we got “stuck” taking. It was pretty cool seeing the graphic climate, soil and vegetation changes on either side of the mountains. The drive along the coast was very nice and we stopped several times to view the waterfalls along the stream run-off from Mauna Kea. They didn’t rate a mention in the local guidebooks but they would have been a destination in Missouri. The AAA recommended Akaka Falls State Park were very nice.
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Bethany and Randy at Akaka Falls
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On the walk back to the car as we crossed in front of a 15 foot falls, Randy quipped in mock disappointment “Is that it?” A couple overhearing him began to turn around until we explained it was only a joke. The Rainbow Falls just outside of Hilo were very easy to get to but after the dramatic 420 foot drop of the Akaka Falls it was bit of a let down (especially without any rainbows). During a swing through downtown Hilo, we took in the King Kamehameha statue before heading to the airport. As we flew over the island flying back to Honolulu that afternoon, we realized we almost certainly wouldn’t have seen anything but fog if we had taken to the Saddle Road back to Hilo as clouds encircled the mountains from about 5,000 to 10,000 feet of elevation. We were sad to leave the big island and would go again.
Leaving Paradise
Bethany returned to St. Louis on Wednesday as was the plan. Randy stayed a few extra days, since the team didn’t have access to all the records they needed to the previous week. It didn’t take too much convincing to get him to stay but after the sights of Hawaii, returning to Waikiki was a bit of a come down and he didn’t do much new in the evenings. Still, can't you beat listening to the waves wash ashore, particularly at night when the din of the swimmers and sunbathers are gone? You can have hundreds of feet of beach to yourself and it is one of the most relaxing times to go.
Being back home it all seemed like a dream, more so than a typical trip does. It was great to be back with the girls and they loved the souvenir leas, monkey wood snack bowls, aloha dresses and shell necklaces (courtesy of Hilo Hattie’s for walking in the door).
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Aloha sunset
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Observation #6 (the last one) – Airport Seating
Sitting in the Honolulu airport ready to go home it dawned on Randy that he was sitting in the WORST waiting chair he’s ever experienced (and he’s had some experience sitting at airports). A damaged one across the way, clearly shows the seats consist of a slightly padded piece of plywood suspended like a swing to the arms. The positive spin would be that this seating makes you grateful for the “comfort” of the airplane seat on the long journey to the mainland.
March
On a Trader Joe visit at the beginning of March, the cashier asked Cate what her favorite color was for a balloon. She said “Purple and pink”. He than asked whether she came there often and she said that we go there all the time. The cashier than went over to the flowers and presented her with a bouquet of purple tulips. A month shy of her third birthday and she’s got men bringing her flowers.
March came in like the proverbial lion but by the second weekend it had warmed up considerably, the sun was shinning and spring began peeking out. Randy took the girls on a Metrolink “adventure” to the Arch and Mississippi River front. They were enthralled with the train ride the whole way there and back (and were secretly jealous of the old man who got to ride it every day?). It was great to see their joy in a simple pleasure of suburban commuter life. We didn’t take the ride up this time but they primed for their next visit.
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Jane and Cate at Mississippi River
atop statute of Lewis and Clark's return
with Seaman
(...really, that's the dog's name)
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The last full week of winter, Randy had a research trip to California including LA, San Luis Obispo and Sacramento (not a bad winter for work trips). Instead flying between SLO and Sacramento, Randy decided to drive it and was able to talk his old college roommate Jake in to driving down and joining him. After a night of drinking in the bars of SLO with the kids from Cal Poly and feeling old, they headed up Highway 1 for a glorious drive up the coast. Overcast, grey clouds shrouded much of view so it wasn’t the dream drive of Hollywood fantasies. Eating some fabulous oysters on the docks of Morro Bay, we couldn’t see Morro Rock rising hundreds of feet above us less than a thousand feet away. Hearst Castle – lost in the Xanadu of fog from the visitor’s center. Still it was pretty cool stopping seeing dozen of sea lion s basking on the beach and inspecting the anemones, snails and crabs in a secluded tidal pond.
Pictures will be added later.
The next day Randy spent hanging out in San Francisco primarily in coffee shops (and one Tea shops that served $6-8 pots of tea; ~12 oz.- go figure) and the new building of the de Young Art Museum. That night, he went with a group to see a series of banned Warner Brother’s cartoons in a 16mm film warehouse in the Mission. Although the studio removed the cartoons from general distribution for their racism and misogynistic format, Randy remembering watching all of them on TV during the halcyon days of his youth in the late 1960s.
Meanwhile, Bethany was left holding down the fort with the girls.
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Jane and Cate bloom with smiles in their flower head bands
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One nice Tuesday, Bethany and the girls went to the Butterfly House in Chesterfield. There were gobs of cool looking
butterflies but unfortunately none with the girls too. Still they looked awfully cute before leaving.
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Cate and Jane ready to go to Faust Park.
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Well that's about all about for another season.
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Jane and Cate goofing around with Mom's hat
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