A Week at Home

I just got back from spending a week with Casey in Hawaii. We saw most of the key spots, ate lots of ono food, saw my friends get married, and got through it all with somewhat of a tan. It was way too short of a trip, but it was awesome to be back.

I just wanted to put this up before the Hawaii pics.

This is my latest painting which I gave to my friend Shelly for Christmas. Its a Tree Sparrow!

Ok, on with Hawaii. As I said, my friends got married! This is early January 2, 2010.

There is Lauren with her maid of honor Denise (in the foreground) and bride's maid Randi (sounds like a Barbi doll) They all looked fantastic, besides the stomach confining dresses.

Here's Lauren and Pa going down to meet Brandon. As you can see, it was probably the most beautiful day one could ask for.

After a few words from the pastor and a few tears from everyone else, they were pronounced! Congrats you two!

After the ceremony we headed over to Kaimuki for the lunch reception. The food was delicious and the vibe was awesome.
Here's Lauren chuckling after her first attempt at throwing the bouquet ended up smashing against the ceiling. In the words of her mom, "It's not Judo Lauren!" Well, the second attempt was a bit better, this time just smashing into Casey's face. I guess that counts as a catch!

Here's the gang. I swear, every time we take one of these, we look older and older. Is there a trend going on?

The rest of our time in Hawaii was mainly spent on the beach. Diamond Head, Sandy's and ....
Lanikai! I love this beach. I wish we had gotten there a bit earlier to see all the sun as it tends to hide behind the Koolaus (one of the two volcanoes that made up Oahu) on its way down. None the less, it was still a gorgeous day.
I don't have any pictures of it, but after dinner we headed back to see the stars. It was a bit cloudy and we could only see a few stars, but that disappointment was overshadowed by the rising moon. At first I thought it was a cruise ship, but the dull red light kept rising and we soon realized it was a giant moon. What a sight!

We also got to climb Diamond Head, the remains of a giant volcanic eruption. Here's Casey looking like a true local girl with the plumeria in her left ear, showing that she's spoken for (by ME! haha). This is on our way up.

And this is up. At the top you have a 360 degree view, over looking Diamond Head beach, off to Waikiki followed by Honolulu, around to Manoa, Kaimuki, and Palolo and in the distance Koko Head, Makapu'u and Aina Hina. If these words are foreign to you, then substitute them with "a lot of towns on the island." Either way the view was awesome. My only complaint was all the vog, brought over by the Kona Winds. Its usually a lot more clear.

On our last full day, we headed up to the North Shore to check out the massive swell that was building. We stopped to grab breakfast and headed to Waimea.
Here's the parrot of the only guy that was out in the water, sponging his way down the 8ft surf.

After Waimea, we headed over to Pipe to see the waves there. You could tell the swell was building in the short time we were there. The waves were huge and it was a great way to enjoy our last day in the sun.

This is a picture of the waves at Waimea in the morning. Spectacular!

On Wednesday, we ate breakfast at Diamond Head Grill and headed to the airport. Luckily things were on time and we didn't have to linger at the airport like we did on our way to Hawaii.

Walking back to my house, which is directly in the background of this picture, I was this. Let's just say the chilliness of this picture kind of describes how cold I felt.