The Bishop Museum

A few weeks ago, it rained and rained and rained. Fortunately, we'd been saving a visit to the Bishop Museum for just this kind of weather. It also helped that we chose one of their frequent 'free admission for military and locals' days. This is a great museum, but they charge for it - $18 for adults and $15 for children.
We thought we'd stay dry, but it turns out that the different types of exhibits are in different buildings around the property. Here is the planetarium viewed through the rain:
The Bishop Museum has something for everyone. The main hall has some natural history animal exhibits. The coolest thing we saw was this life size whale (sorry - I played with my camera settings the whole time, and still the pictures are very dark. Someday, I will take a class!):
The coolest thing about this whale was the fact that one side was open to show the skeleton of the whale. It was great to be able to show Crumpet how similar our skeleton is to a whale's despite the very different lives we live. Their flippers are built just like hands!
Crumpet loves rays so he enjoyed studying this one.
The main hall also houses several floors of exhibits about Hawaiian history, as well as information about other Pacific islands. This is a model of an ancient religious site (heiau) in Hawaii. We saw the ruins of one recently, and it was good to see what it would have looked like in use.
Grass house:
This is a quilt of the Hawaiian flag. When the island was taken over, the people were not allowed to fly their flag, so they created many of these quilts to demonstrate their love of their land and culture.
This is a rotten picture of dancing costumes from another Pacific island.
After we were finished in the main hall, we walked over to the science hall. This was definitely our favorite area. Here is the crazy tunnel into the volcano area:
They have a giant "working" volcano. You can walk inside and learn about volcanos (if you could sit still that long - someone in our group couldn't!):

Or you can walk up to the overlook and push buttons to make the lava at the top bubble. Crumpet loved this.
There was another volcano exhibit where you could compete with other people to create enough pressure in your section of the volcano to make it erupt first:
There was an area to dress up as forest creatures:
Crumpet is a serious snuggler, and he loved this mouse costume:
We learned about the animals that are native to Hawaii, and about problems related to bringing in foreign species. This giant snail eats the smaller snails and causes big problems. We know this because our garden is overrun with snails...
A third building houses the museum's traveling exhibits. Right now, the exhibit is about Creatures of the Deep Sea.
Above, you can see Crumpet with a giant squid. Below is a large wall mural showing depths at which various creatures live:
The museum also has a planetarium. We attended a show where we were taught to navigate by the stars. The Hawaiians used to travel around the Pacific in canoes, using nothing but the stars to guide them. It was very interesting. But our favorite thing in the planetarium was this giant sphere in the entrance. You could change the pictures that were projected on to it, and guess which was Crumpet's favorite? You could make it look like the Death Star from Star Wars... Eventually we had to drag him out so other people could use the machine!
This thing was beautiful, and Crumpet's dad is still scheming about how to get one for our living room... I'm not sure how I feel about that!

The Bishop Museum was a great place to spend an afternoon. We all loved it, and we are looking forward to going back in March, when the traveling exhibit will be about dinosaurs. However, I have to say that I am really looking forward to a day, sometime in the distant future, when I can stop and read the information about the exhibits. Right now, I am dragged from one area to the next and I feel like I miss a lot and don't actually learn much. Still, it is lovely to see the excitement in Crumpet, and so this is fun too!
For more field trip posts, visit Live the Adventure!

Honolulu City Lights

Honolulu lights up for Christmas! The palm trees are lit up and the stores are decorated. The best area to visit is City Hall. The building itself is decorated inside and out, and the whole block is full of displays. There are rides for the kids, and snacks too. We chose to take a trolley ride into town to avoid the hassle of parking, and we knew Crumpet would love it. He did. Look at the joy on his face:
When we got downtown, we were given half an hour to explore. Here is a barefoot Santa doing the shaka with his hand (this is a hand gesture the Hawaiians use to say "Everything is alright dude!" Crumpet has gotten pretty good at it...)

A sea turtle with snacks...
This was a beautiful tree:
Santa was in City Hall, but Crumpet would have nothing to do with him this year:
He would pose with the Bumble though. This is the Abominable Snowman from the Rudolph movie. I love it!
There were people applying glitter tattoos for the kids. The man said that if Crumpet was careful not to scrub the tattoo in the bath, it would last 3-5 days. He has been obsessive about not touching it and reminding us not to scrub it, and this tattoo has been on for 2 weeks! I'm pretty sure he'll have a crazy snowman shaped suntan when it finally comes off!



I love this tree. It looks like it is covered in giant Easter eggs.
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaiian for Merry Christmas.
Next year we will drive in so we have more time to explore. Crumpet didn't get to ride the rides, and I'm sure we missed some displays. We loved this trip though!

The Contemporary Museum in Honolulu

I like to expose Crumpet to new cultural experiences every once in a while, so we decided to check out the Contemporary Art Museum in Honolulu. Contemporary art is not usually my thing, but this museum had a few things going for it when I was choosing a location for our field trip. First, I'll be honest, was the awesome review of the flourless chocolate cake in their cafe! Second, they have beautiful gardens, and third, the museum is free to the military. So off we went to explore, and I am so glad we did.
Photography was not allowed in the galleries, which is unfortunate. Some of the art was just weird, but some was really neat, and I found one exhibit truly beautiful. Crumpet enjoyed a lot of the art because it was so odd, and it certainly gave us something to talk about!
The gardens were lovely, and there were many pieces of art incorporated into the landscape. The black and white painting below, and the reflecting pool in front of it, were my favorite.

There were nice stone trails through the gardens, and we saw a few pretty birds.


Some of the art was useful:
Some of the plants were weirder than the art - I LOVE Hawaii plants...

This is an old tennis court that has been painted...
Bird and cat resting:
The chocolate cake was absolutely worth the drive, even if we hadn't enjoyed the museum so much! There were multiple layers, filled with delicious cream. Crumpet inhaled most of it within seconds. The boy likes his chocolate! We also shared a lemonade, which was quite good. This is one of those places where a slice of cake and a glass of lemonade cost $10, but every once in a while, it's fun to splurge. And this cake was so worth it...
I hope to go to the Contemporary Museum again when they change exhibits. For more field trip posts, visit Live the Adventure!

Field Trip Friday - USS Missouri

Several months ago, we visited the USS Missouri, or as Crumpet says "The Mississary". This is an old World War II ship which is now a museum here in Pearl Harbor. We can see it every day from Crumpet's bedroom window.
The USS Missouri was commissioned in 1944 and it was used in battles in World War II. It was on this ship that the Japanese signed the official instrument of surrender, thereby ending the war. The ship was used again in the Korean War before it was decommissioned. The Missouri was reactivated in 1984 and used once again during Operation Desert Storm in the 90's, before being retired once and for all. In 1998, it became a museum.
Crumpet's dad has done some volunteer work refinishing the decks of this ship, and he was given a few pieces of the old decking as a souvenir, which is pretty neat.

Big guns:


Crumpet signaling other ships using the lamp:

Below deck:
In the mail room, stamping packages for sailors:
Typing up important messages, on a typewriter... Remember those?
My husband told me what this was, and I'm ashamed to say I've forgotten, exactly. I think it has to do with deflecting incoming missiles, but don't quote me.
View of the USS Arizona Memorial from the top of the ship:
View of Ford Island, where we live:
Crumpet enjoyed sitting here and 'shooting' the guns. He spent a lot of time shooting guns on this ship:
I'm thinking about taking Crumpet back to visit this ship while Daddy is deployed. He wasn't very interested in things like the kitchen and dining areas, or the sleeping areas. There are no guns in those areas, so who cares about that boring old stuff?? Now, I'd like to have him look around again, so he has a better feel of where Dad is living right now. If we go back, I'll add more pictures to the blog.
For more field trip posts, visit Live the Adventure.

Blog on Hold?

I know it's been a while since I posted here. I'm not sure what to do with this blog while my husband is deployed. Crumpet and are trying not to go on any big excursions that hubby would be sad to miss. We are definitely keeping busy, but we're mostly doing kid things instead of touristy things... I could post weekly pictures of what we're doing, but I feel like I post pictures in a million places. I have family members with varying internet access and capabilities, so I update our own website, facebook, and my homeschool blog. Posting pics here too feels like overkill! So for now, I may not update much, but I will be back when hubby gets home and we start traveling again. Stay tuned...