Ho`olaulea`a

We went as a family to see Ho`olaulea`a 2009 at Kamehameha high school up on the mountain side. Brother Noland played, and there was lots of food. The kids enjoyed a keiki rides section at the festival. It was filled with huge air filled jumper houses, slides, and small carnival rides. By the time we left the littles were happy, crying and exhausted all at the same time. video

Icebreaker

The water at Richardson, the pool at Pearl Harbor was 70.5° F this morning. That's the coldest I've seen it yet. I'm bouncing back pretty well from a shoulder injury and managed to get 3.6k in. The good part about swimming in cold water is that you can't feel a thing, butterfly is just about as easy as freestyle. The bad part is you've got bad proprioception, so you are more likely to reinjure.. oh, say an overworked shoulder joint?

Bush Men

Hau Bush, White Plains, Swabby Lands, they are all breaks in the ("dirty") SouthWest. Dirty because on a given day, its usually choppy water, no clean lines from left to right on the horizons. Well, usually. Today was a beautiful day to be a Bush man. Nothing really big, but easy paddling and waves clean enough to know when to charge and when to wait. I got there at sunrise this morning and had the break all to myself for atleast an hour. I took this picture afterwards while I sat around and dried off with a salty smile on my face. Dogs life.

The Goat Ate My Zoo Pass

We had a fun trip to the Honolulu Zoo this afternoon. The kids and I played on the big banyan tree, saw the elephants, the monkeys, the aviary and the "Keiki Zoo". The Keiki Zoo is a special place for kids to pet some of the animals, and climb around on exhibits. Once again, knowing that it would be a short visit, I got us a family annual pass (only $25) so we can go back again whenever. The Zoo gave me a temporary copy of the pass on yellow carbon paper, and they are mailing us the cards in the mail. Guess who ate that bright yellow sheet right out of my back pocket? That's right, the goats in the petting zoo!

Musubi Man

"Run! run! as fast as you can. You no can catch me! I'm one musubi man!", Sandi Takayama reads aloud her Hawaiian version of the Gingerbread man at Holumua Elementary school's "Literacy Night". In the end rather than riding on a foxes head across the river, he paddles out with a surfer. Following a message from the administration, and book reading, kids go from station to station to do reading related activities. The kids and I made cards, book marks, hand puppets and even bought one of Sandi's other books to read later.

Volcano!

Sue scooted off to work and the kids and I went to the Bishop museum. They close at 5 so it made sense to get a family membership for the year so we could come back and visit again (only $50). The museum is a campus built around a central area. There are several buildings. Today we only had time to visit the Richard T. Mamiya Science Adventure Center. Inside the kids enjoyed a walk through volcano exhibit, and a hands-on undersea robot submarine rig, among other things.

When Pigs Fly

Our family friend "Piggy" came out to the island to stay as our house guest over the last 10 days. We've never seen a more enthusiastic tourist. He not only wanted to learn how to surf, by last weekend he was determined to drop in at the North Shore. Sure, Chun's no problem. Pig also spent some of his hard earned vacation time sky-diving with Pacific-Skydiving an outfit operating out of Dillingham airfield in the NorthWest. video