Showing posts with label Hawaii. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hawaii. Show all posts

Monday, March 22, 2010

Thursday, January 15, 2009

With Apologies To Anyone East Of The Rockies

After flipping on Good Morning America this morning I witnessed a frightful weather update for the eastern half of the mainland, with lots of swirling blue graphics, a few negative temperatures sections, and prominent use of the term Wind Chill.

We're expecting a big storm here today and tomorrow, with waves expected to reach an impressive 35 feet on the North Shore and winds of up to 60mph that will likely fell many trees tonight. So when the GMA broadcast cut to our local weather report for the islands, these conditions were highlighted.

But it was the extended forecast that caught my eye and made me laugh, predicting conditions for the weekend would be drier and with cooler-than-usual temps.

While today and tomorrow showed raindrops and clouds, the calendar panels for Satuday and Sunday displayed, in all capital letters, the word CHILLY.

The temperature high meterologists expect? The one that elicited the word "CHILLY?"

77 degrees.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2008 In Photos

2008: The Year in Photos


In January the kids got buckled into the car for school, backpacks and lunchboxes in hand -- Shea, for the first time.



In February the kids got spoiled all kinds of rotten.


In March the kids and I climbed up Diamond Head together.
This is the view from about halfway up.


In April, still getting used to the whole concept of preschool, Shea cried through most of her Easter parade. Afterwards, her brother comforted her.



By May, Shea had long-since figured out which of Finney's friends were the cute ones and flirted accordingly.



In June, we posed for a family portrait in our backyard because I needed to submit something for my
20-year high school reunion brochure. 20 years.


In July, while visiting California, the kids got to wear fun hats in a photobooth at
Frankie Dino's 6th birthday party.


In August Finn kept a keen eye on the competition at his school's jog-a-thon.



In September the kids watched The Red Balloon on my computer, wearing next to nothing and loving it.



In October John showed Shea how he shaves every morning.



In November we all watched history being made by
someone who can actually bodysurf Sandy's.


In December I actually talked Shea into wearing a dress AND a hat.
Which she wore for about 10 minutes.


Here's wishing you a fantastic 2009!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Meeting Mufi

While visiting the Honolulu Zoo last month, we had a chance to schmooze with Honolulu's mayor, Mufi Hannemann. He was there to announce the birth of three new baby tiger cubs.

Dude is super tall. And plenty dapper.

Seriously, I think I swooned a little.



Tuesday, October 28, 2008

So True


The best part? This t-shirt retails for a whopping $37.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Friday, September 12, 2008

Oh Yeah, He'd Like You To Know He Surfs Now

Waikiki, August 2008

In the orange rashguard: Finney

In the blue rashguard: his buddy David

In some of the backgrounds: Diamond Head

In my mind the whole time: He's so lucky to be growing up in Hawaii

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Home Again

Sweet home Alabama, we're back in Hawaii!

We had a lovely, indulgent vacation filled with Mexican food, family, friends, the beach and baseball. And then some more Mexican food. Really, things don't get much better than that.

Since I have about eleventeen kajillion photos to share, I thought I'd break up the trip into bite-size events and updates. So stay tuned for those.

Not promising chronological order or any semblance of organization, but I'm sure you'll get the drift.

In the meantime, here's a shot of Finney's first day of first grade.

"Um, if anyone out there's three years old, can you please throw a massive tantrum at the idea of posing for a photo? Oh, you there, in the pink! Yes, you're three, you say? Perfect. Whenever you're ready..."


Friday, July 04, 2008

It's July. When Did That Happen?

So many things kept us busy in June that I didn't find much time for blogging.

So thought I give you a quick recap, because -- guess what?!? -- I'm planning to be equally as derelict in my updates in July.

Finn finished kindergarten, declaring that he wants to be "an art teacher during the week, and a dolphin trainer on the weekends" when he grows up. I'll let him figure out on his own that his current plan doesn't leave much time for boogie boarding.

After school was dismissed and talk turned to first grade, Finney earnestly requested that his most favorite-ist kindergarten teacher in the whole wide world, seen below, be his teacher every year from now on.


Meanwhile, Shea finished her first semester of preschool, which she liked a little more each time she went. Which is to say she totally hated it at first and grew to kinda like it. Things reached an all-time high when she agreed to wear the silly hat.

With our newfound free time, we went to the Honolulu Zoo, a beautiful parcel of land that sits beneath Diamond Head and just across the street from Waikiki Beach.





And then, trying to squeeze the life out of our annual passes, back to Sea Life Park.




Finn started summer school, and so did Shea.


Another milestone: Shea (sort-of) sat through her first big-girl movie theater movie, Kung-Fu Panda, incurring only one brief lobby time-out for repeated and noisy squirming, and then fell asleep on my lap for the last 20 minutes of the film.


We had a great visit with some old friends from California.







Other bullet-pointed news items:
  • The fucking ants ate through the wiring in our television and killed it dead.
  • Finn turned six and for his birthday dinner requested ramen noodles and nigiri sushi. He actually ate pieces of tamago, sake, maguro, ebi and unagi -- and tried, but didn't care for, the tobiko. I didn't know what sushi was at 6 years old. He's on his way to becoming a real island boy.
  • We hosted our first slumber party -- with SIX six-year-old boys -- and survived.
  • The kids finished their first series of swimming classes -- and Finn, finally getting the hang of moving through water with his head semi-submerged, swam half the length of the pool on his own.
  • Getting a taste of the bitter medicine his friend Logan had to swallow last summer, Finney said goodbye to his best Hawaii buddy, who moved away to Texas.

And there it is, in a nutshell. We'll be vacationing soon, so have a great rest of July and we'll hopefully see you again in August!