The day that the boys had to be returned came all too quickly. I felt like we had to cram weeks worth of time into that last day. I really wasn’t ready for it. But we had a good last week. On the 4th of July, we went to the water park with the cousins and watched an amazing fireworks show at Schofield Barracks. Then on the last day before their return, we decided to go fly a kite. We drove to Ala Moana beach park where we had a quick peanut butter and jelly lunch before we busted out our dragon kite. We flew it around the park in perfect weather. The boys had a great time flying the kite and chasing it’s shadow. We got it up there for a good amount of time. Gavin really got quite good at it.

As fun as it was, the boys quickly started to get worn out and were itching to go across the street to the beach. Mary hung out with Leif and I spend most of the beach time with Gavin. I hadn’t felt like I had got to spend enough time with just him this summer. But this was a great day for that. We spent some good quality time together finding coral and shells. We swam and splashed and had a lot of fun. Leif floated around in his tube and played in the sand. Mary spent some time with Leif in the water and then relaxed on the towel watching Leif play. The sun was hot and the weather was perfect.

When it got to be close to dinner time, we packed up our things and went back to the car. It wasn’t hard to get the kids out of the water. We just told them we were going to go to Dave & Busters, which we did. It took a while for the waiters to seat us due to their disorganization, but once we were seated, they were friendly and helpful. We all got ourselves a delicious meal, which the kids devoured instantly, and a couple of power play cards. We took the cards, along with some leftover ones from a previous trip and spent the next 1 1/2 hours playing games. Mary found herself sucked in to the coin drop games. Gavin hit an impossible 450 ticket bonus. Leif ran around like the king of games and played anything we would let him.

At the end of the game playing, Gavin had enough tickets to get himself a hat, and Leif had enough to pick up a little toy bicycle. We all went away happy. We also went away tired. Leif tried so hard to stay awake in the car. He made it most of the way too. He didn’t make it though. He fell asleep very hard a few minutes from the house. Gavin still insisted on being read his book by granny. Leif didn’t twitch a muscle as I slipped him into bed. It’s no surprise that after a day like that, we all slept quite well. The kids got kite flying, swimming at the beach, games, and toys. And I got a full day of quality time with my boys. What more can you ask for in a last day of summer with your kids?

Today I took the boys to the Waikiki Aquarium. Gavin and I had never been there before, but Leif was a pro. He knew where all the cool stuff was and wanted to show us everything. We were given those hand-held tour guide controller things and Gavin used it for every display he could. When Leif figured out what it was, he did the same. He would find the numbers on the wall, punch them in to the controller, and listen to the man talk for as long as he could before wanting to look at the next display.

We each had our favorites that we wanted to stay and stare at all day long. For me, it was the jellyfish. Not the clear ones, but the ones that looked like they had bred with octopus. They were so fascinating. For Gavin, it was the clear jellyfish. There were 30 or so jellyfish in that tank and they were lit with a black-light so we would be able to see them better. He was also enamored with the octopus and the predator tank, which contained various sharks and other big mean looking fish. As a matter of fact, he had to sit and erase old pictures and videos off his iPod because he ran out of space. As for Leif, his favorite thing was outside at the reef tank where he was able to hold the hermit crabs and touch the sea urchin.

We spent almost 4 hours there looking at all the coolness in the tanks and learning about them and commenting on how ugly or pretty they were. In some of the tanks were fish that you had to search for because they blended in so much with the coral. Leif enjoyed playing find-the-fish and matching the fish in the tanks with the pictures below that contained the name of the fish and a blurb about them. The anemones were mesmerizing. They swayed and moved with the current while the fish just swam in and around them.

We had a really fun time. The kids both got to pick out something from the gift shop. Leif picked a semi-truck with “Waikiki Aquarium” stickers all over it. Gavin chose a wind up submarine that dives and surfaces on it’s own. We all left happy people.

Today was my day for bring the boys to see the USS Missouri. We were off to a slow start having lost the car keys, but after finding them wedged between the bed and the wall, we were off. We drove over and met the cousins there.

We arrived in no time. We got our tickets and took a big tour bus over the bridge to Ford Island. After getting on to the ship, we took a quick 30 minute tour of the main deck. After that we were free to roam about the ship. Gavin and Chris stuck together pretty well. Mary wandered on her own a little bit. Leif and I split from the rest and checked out the upper decks, right up to the navigation deck. It was pretty awesome. It was quite an amazing battleship. And I even learned a few things. Like, one of the 16″ rounds from the large cannons weighs as much as a VW beetle. And two of the 16″ cannons weigh as much as a Boeing 747 and can create a crater the size of an olympic swimming pool. Also that the signing of the Instrument of Surrender that marked the end of WWII was held on the USS Missouri. Anyway, it was a great experience and the kids had a good time.

This was the last full day of Dad and Leif time. We did nothing in particular. Besides driving to the grocery store for a few provisions, we spent most of the time lounging around the house and being together. We played a lot of cars and trains and toy house. We ate ice cream and snack bars and leftover Gordon Biersch pizza and hamburger. We played hide and seek in the bedroom and ghost tag at the playground. It was a decent day.

And thus ends my time with Leif. Or at least my one-on-one time. Tomorrow, Leif and Mary return and we start the rest of our summer adventures. The boys will stay for my birthday hurrah, and then they will have to go back home. Until then, I have a few ideas for what we will do with our time. I’ll be working the rest of the summer, but we’ll have nights and weekends. Sounds like a phone plan.

I had so much fun with Leif these past 17 days. And now it’s over. Now my time with Leif and Gavin begins.