Kayaking!

Today we kayaked out to the Mokulua Islands (aka the Moks) which are actually pictured in the photos we took last weekend I believe. We borrowed Neecie and Jeff's two person kayak and headed out this morning. It only took about 20 minutes or so to get out there and was kind of overcast which is good for me to not get QUITE as much sun! We walked around part of the island which is actually a seabird sanctuary. As you can see in a few of the pics there was a baby bird in a hole, and another hole had an egg in it. This was a common sight out there.

This afternoon we're heading to Nicholle and Jaron's wedding on the beach. It should be a lot of fun and we also get to see my good friends Katie and Nick and Autumn who I haven't seen for a while.

Enjoy the pics!

Starting point

If you look reallllly close, you can see a house with a red roof, that's where we started!

Another hike in paradise...

Well, first things first... I think those of you who read this already know by now, but Renee has been offered the athletic trainer position at Kalaheo! Woohoo! So to celebrate, Friday night we went downtown to First Friday which is something that takes place (duh!) every first friday of the month. We enjoyed a drink at a martini bar, then had dinner at a noodle house and walked around and looked into various art galleries that were open for the festivities. Then we checked out a small improv theater that was doing short 30 minute shows to get more people in and out of there. It was actually pretty funny and I think we may go another time to see the full length show. We also got to hear traditional Bon Dance music and see a Chinese dragon (operated by one person) on the corner. We topped off the night with a little slice of cheesecake from a local business... yum!

Saturday we didn't do much... ran a few errands and then went and saw All About Steve. Pretty funny movie, lots of the funny stuff is in the previews, but still a good laugh. Then we relaxed at the studio, swam in the pool with the fam (Lily loves the water!) and had them over for dinner.

Sunday entailed church, and then lunch with Mom at Pinky's... SO good... and then nothing but vegging and TV the rest of the day as it was very overcast and rainy the whole day. We watched Mr. and Mrs. Smith and The Breakup on TV... gotta love holiday weekend TV.

Today we were determined to do something outside, so we got up this morning and headed to Lanikai and hiked to the pillboxes. These are old, leftover bunkers from WWII... interesting pieces of history. It's a relatively short hike, strenuous at the start, but SO worth it... the pics (the first is from the beach entrance, looking up to the pillboxes), can't even fully illustrate the views... amazing! After that, we headed down to the beach that you can see in some of the photos and hung out for a few hours. That's it for now... until next time...

Hiking and learning...

Our latest adventure took us to the westernmost tip of Oahu. This is somewhere I had never been since I lived here. I had been close to this area for various school camping trips, but, had never actually gone into Kaena Point State Park. The unique thing about this park/reserve is that it's the only part of the island that does not have a road on/through it. It's the area that keeps anyone from being able to drive completely around the island. Renee and I met up with a small group of people to hike this area as part of a Native Plant hike/tour with a well known native plant expert and nursery owner. It was a good learning trip for me, and fun for both of us to be out there. Gorgeous weather, despite the fact that this is the hottest, driest and windiest spot on the island. Then we drove back along the north shore for some more fun... and of course had to stop at Matsumoto's for some delicious shaved ice!

Enjoy the couple of pics, the last one was from atop an old tower/bunker looking back. The north shore is to the left and the south/west shore is to the right. This site gives a little more info and photos http://www.travbuddy.com/travel-blogs/23990/Our-Hike-Along-Kaena-Point-Trail-and-Nature-Reserve-Park-at-Sunset-Waianae-18

Lily and fun...

Thought I'd post a few pics from the last couple of weeks. We've had a lot of fun with friends and family in town recently for Lily's baptism. Also, my friends Jake and Wes from high school were both in town with their girlfriends so we hung out with them several times and had a great time. I don't have any of their pics yet, but hopefully sometime soon. Below are pics of us with Lily, a photo from the baptism, us at the Pali Lookout, a shot of us at the ASLA awards from the other night, and a shot of me with my boss Lester at the Hawaii Chapter ASLA awards. He actually took home a merit award for a recent project he designed. It was a neat water feature designed outside of a new performing arts building at the all girls school in Honolulu, Sacred Hearts Academy. I actually found a short video of it, it was still under construction around there, but you get the idea http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zh_FCjj2eD8

Until next time...

Been a while...

Well as the title says, it's been a while since I posted any updates... but frankly that's because we really don't have a whole lot going on these days! Over the last few weeks it's pretty much just been work, eat, sleep, relax/do nothing. Which isn't bad from time to time, but we would like a little variety in our days. Actually last weekend, Renee and I became a two person cleaning crew and attacked mom and dad's house (with their help) and went through closets, shelves, boxes etc. and tried to help them declutter the house a bit (which also involved removing some of our boxes that are still there). We cleaned out/threw away about two to three pickup truck loads of stuff to the dump... unreal! It was two full days of cleaning/throwing away etc but it was very productive. My aunt and nana are coming out next week for Lily's baptism, so that has given extra motivation to clean house... it will be great to see them again!

Last night, my boss Lester and his wife Carolyn took me and Renee to the final concert of the summer at the Waikiki Aquarium. It was a sold out show and took place at the aquarium in an amphitheater/lawn area that was actually designed by Lester several years ago. The photos (and 1 video) are from the show... the entertainer was Willie K who is very big here, and has won numerous Hawaiian music awards. He also was telling the audience about his recent month long tour through Europe with another band, and that he was doing that to try and spread Hawaiian music to that part of the world. A really great show, he was a lot of fun and an amazing voice. Enjoy!

Day 8 and misc photos

Since we last posted, there hasn't been a whole lot of news. We've spent some good quality time with the family... relaxed around the house and went by my new office late last week. The first couple of days this week I actually went in early to help out on a deadline for today. Now I've got the rest of week to hang out with Renee and the rest of the family before starting the real first full week of work on Monday.

The photos below are of a few things in San Diego from our visit to Balboa Park, and then the garden pictures are actually from the backyard of the home/office that I am working at now... not a bad place to walk out to and just relax for a couple of minutes during the day. The pictures of the family are just a few from the photos that a friend of Becca's took for her earlier this week...they are really great! Until next time...

Home Sweet Hawaii...

Well, the big road trip adventure is over, with a little bit under 5,000 miles travelled in the CR-V!! We spent some great time with a few more family and friends in LA and San Diego. Got to watch the fireworks on the 4th from a boat in San Diego Bay off of Coronado which was really cool. Spent some time at the beach and biking around Coronado. Then got a brief tour of La Jolla with our friend Nicholle who will be in Hawaii in a couple months to get married. We got our car processed and dropped off to be loaded on to a ship... should be here the end of next week hopefully.

We got into Hawaii yesterday afternoon and have been enjoying family time, especially with the new baby... Lily's adorable! I'll get some pics up soon probably. Nothing else really new around here... will update this from time to time probably, but not as religiously as on the road trip. Until next time...