Abominable!

It snowed about four inches last night. Enough that the boys and I had an excellent snow ball battle this morning. Afterward Ben built his first snow man all on his own!

Sleigh Ride

Were heading East for Christmas yesterday/today. We were off to a rough start. Nate was sick which made us late to the airport. Then I had to run back to the car for a forgotton handbag. Thankfully, agg and security check were moving fast and we made the flgiht. Naomi was on my lap for the overnight leg. She was NOT sleeping then. Must be a mother's touch.

Birthday Girl

Sue's birthday today! Even though we both worked today I figured out a way to celebrate. I had a Balloon Boquet sent to Suz' work, and then hand delivered a Cheesecake factory "Key Lime Cheesecake". By the time Sue got to work that evening everyone knew. They all sang happy birthday to her and enjoyed the cheesecake. It was a total suprise. I'm starting my Christmas vacaction early tomorrow so Sue can sleep in. Pua ting worked till 1 last night. I've also got one more special suprise event planned for this evening. Hopefully the babysitter can make it this time!

Christmas Parade

Ben took this picture of Sue and Nate during the Christmas parade this evening in Ewa Beach.

The parade had several vintage Corvettes and instead of floats, Christmas themed scenes went by on flat bed trailers of truck rigs. Lots of loud honking and candy throwing to the kids on the sidewalks.

(picture links to youtube footage)

Board Walking

Had a fun session at Chun's again before work this morning. Lots of little chop on overhead faces. The board was sticky, had to keep the tip up dropping in, and lots of funny board walking to roll into better spots on the wave. The illustration here expresses one of today's board walks.

Rainbow Jam

Rainbow-Jam:(noun) When highway traffic slows to a crawl so vehicle drivers can pause to see something beautiful.

Busted Grommet

I had another 'first' during a long morning session at Chun's today. I broke a fin. The first wave I caught was big and crowded, I had an ugly bail, and the fin banged into my calf. The "Island Creations" fin is slotted into my epoxy 9'2. A threaded grommet securing the fin to a small piece in the slot broke away. Fortunately I an extra fin to salvage from back in the car.

I always wanted to try and do something which mixes Kabuki and surf art.

Here's a first crack at it. Its inspired by the last 2 weeks of Kona weather combined with big surf.

I felt kind of like this last weekend when I surfed Makaha. Huge lumps of wave with very little form.

December Still Life

The papaya tree we planted a year ago, offered its largest crop ever this morning. Usually we only get about one every other week. With all the rain I pulled five (five!) yellow fruits from the tree this morning.

One of them I had to toss, it overrippened right on the tree. The snow man in the picture is a sock craft that Ben did in his first grade class last year.

IScream!

Konas still shredding the waves, no surf today.

Took Ben on a Costco run, on the way we stopped at City Mill, Game Stop and Baskin Robbins. He'd never had BR before, I told him it was the best. For maybe the first time ever he agreed with me!

Unsurfable

Sunsurfable: Adverb, a term describing a body of water which is inhospitable for surf riding. Eg: the North Shore yesterday, lots of foam and big junk.

Kunia road was still closed, Kamehameha was opened up, but still several down lines like in the picture above.

Falling Down

Ewa Beach is apparently the new windward side of the island. Killer Kona winds started around midnight. Sue and I cat napped  the rest of the night between closing windows, mopping floors and consoling frightened children. Here is a shot of our distressed back yard after the rain marinade and strong winds. I got up for practice at 4:20, and the pooling on H1 had already made a pre-5 AM traffic jam. Love'n it!

Bird Poo

Naomi had a funny look on her face yesterday playing in the park. She likes to put interesting bits in her mouth. This was one item she spit back out.

Makaha

Greg Adams is a local grown in Makaha. I went out with him and his family to surf the West side some today. It was my first time on the break at Makaha, and my second time over at Pokai Bay. Greg took his first run on the new 10 foot I did the art for there. It was windy and choppy but the size was huge (easily 12' faces). It was a good experience and I'm glad I went, but I would sure like to see the West side again on a cleaner day.

Brunch at Pacific Beach Hotel

Sue had a suprise for us. She got us all to go into Waikiki as a family. We found out where on arrival. We had the brunch buffet breakfast at the Pacific Beach Hotel.

It was an awesome spread, prime rib an omlet stations, fresh butter fish, terriaki, eggs bennedict done with Kalua pork, fired noodles, tempura, crab legs, fresh fruits, veggies, cheese, probably a dozen varietys of poke and sushi, a table of desserts, and the coffee was Kona.

The entire restaurant part of the hotel is built around a 3 story fish tank. Most tables end into the wall with the tank, bu all tables have an amazing view. Sue booked us in time to enjoy lunch and be there for the daily fish feeding.

The tank is stocked with enormous rays, some puffers, saddle rass, yellow tangs, trigger fish, mullets, chub, surgeon fish and many others. At feeding time a scuba diver entered the tank, and hand feed the leviathans.

Good food, good times, kudos Sue!

Barreled!

I ended up in my first barrel ever today. It happened at Chun’s before work at around 8 AM. Here’s excerpts from an IM I wrote to a friend just a couple hours later:

I didn’t really know what happened till I came out of it...I just kind of saw water sort of splashing over my head. I was crouched low high on the wall with one hand touching the face.....I came out, cut hard right landed over the top on my feet and two regulars were looking at me with big eyes... I was like stoked, but I didn't know what they were looking at.... (they) were like, whoah man, you just got barrelled!... then the other guy was like ga-ga-yeah

Down with the Sickness

I got something from the kids. It was tough getting through yesterday. As bad luck would have it I was scheduled to do a full day developers lecture for coding in a particular (name omitted) simulation application. Try that with a sore nose/ears/throat. I got done by 3:30 and headed straight home.

I crashed out at 4 PM, and didn't wake up until 7 AM today. Thats probably the most consecutive sleep I've had in over 2 years. Today was still rough, but nothing like yesterday. I'm trying hard today to get caught up on the software development work I should have been doing instead of lecturing. Its not like I had a choice though.

Puffer Fish

I got a new shortboard cut around the time of my birthday. I kind of use it when I can, but it hasn't quite been fun yet. After getting around on a 9'4 using a 6'1 puffer feels like walking on a giant bar of soap with stilts on. We've had some crazy Kona weather lately. Wind is blowing from the wrong side of the island and brining rain and storm with it. White Plains wasn't clean but it was pretty big (supposedly 4-6 faces... I'd say maybe 4). I took just the short baord for an hour before Suz work. It was a lot of work, and some pretty short rides but I did have a good time. I caught about 6 or 8. Three of them were personal best on the board to date. I think the trick is popping up quick, but not too far on the back of the board. Also unlike the long board, you almost have to be IN the break in order to catch.

(Art on the left is a custom laminate design I asked Elusive Surfboards to glass in to my short board when they made it)

Blown Out

10/27: Sue worked Friday afternoon and will work all day Sunday, so I took Saturday after her sleep in to run around the island. Surf report was only good for the East shore so I went that way. I've heard that Diamond Head blows out by 11 even when its good, I just didn't know that applied to the whole Eastern shore. It does. After a 2 hour drive I finally pulled in and met up with a buddy to surf his break off of Flat island in Lani Kai. The locals thought it was a great day. I... not so much. These waves were made from pure wind fetch. Some were about 2.5 to 3 feet. Hard to paddle out, it was hard to get around the outside because of the length of the break, the current which pulls into flat island, and the insane wind coming from off shore. Flat Island, surfed it. done. never again.

10/28: Watched the kids all day. Sue had 12 hours at the store today. After I tucked the kids in, I did up Greg Adams line up sticker for the deck. He wanted a blood drop which had a Hawaiian flag in it. I guess it works, if you cut him, he would bleed Hawaiian.

10/18/07: Went to Chuns at sunrise for an hour and a half before work. First big swell of the season! 10 foot faces. Tried surfing it on a new board (6'1 Puffer). I'm not confident on it yet, so I just tried to stick to shoulders and leftovers. Caught about 6, all overhead, and didn't kill anyone. There were alot of early breaks and outside sneakers, everyone got burried at some point in their sessoin.

10/19/07: We had a power out all along the South shore at 2 PM, so I headed home. Sue sent me out, I went back up to North Shore. Took the van this time so I could bring both boards. Went back to Chuns/Piddlies/Leftovers. Much smaller today, very fun. I selected the long board (9'4). Smooth, long rides. Line-up wasn't consitant. This worked well for natural paddlers like me. I didn't miss much.

Naomi, answered my first question yesterday.
Me: "Do you hear a loud noise?"
Naomi: "Yes"
Wow, she's a real little person. Good job, here's your kiss!