Avik Turns 1

Well, the weekend ends. Rylan just went to sleep and now we sit back and remember another hectic weekend. We had great fun - the entire family hiked Manoa Falls trail, Jim went out and partied on Saturday night, and we all went to Avik's first birthday party. We have photos from everything except Jim's night out, which happily went undocumented, until this brief description. Ernest, Matt and I went to the Red Elephant to hear Yasuko Hayakawa, a pianist from Japan, play with local guys DeShannon Higa and Abe Lagrimas. Good jazz stuff in a nice place with maybe 75 other people. Abe is our old favorite from when Doug and I used to see him when he was still in high school. At this show he played vibes and he, and the rest of the band, sounded great. They recorded the entire show so we will have it on CD some time. We then went to The Dragon Upstairs, a nice place down the street, where the band showed up for an afterparty and more tunes. I don't remember exactly what happened after that, but pizza and a japanese surf band were involved.

Ok, here are some photos and commentary on the rest of the weekend...

First thing on Saturday morning we had to harvest a bunch of bananas. Here Rylan enjoys the spoils.

Later in the day we rode the bikes up to the Manoa Falls trail head and set off.

This is after the hike is over. Rylan had not hiked enough yet and was still running around up until we strapped him back into the bike seat.

First thing on Sunday Rylan ate cereal on the steps with mom. He does this every other morning with dad, but this morning dad was still recovering from Saturday night.

Here is Avik - the son of coworker Lawrence and his wife Chetna, but I always spell that wrong. He was surprizingly in control during the cupcake consumption.

Because there were so many adults and the area was contained the parents got to relax a little too.

Rylan is already working the ladies in the crowd. Here he holds a flower for Elise. Actually, he ran right on by Elise and tried to eat it.

Well that is it for this weekend. Rylan still is not talking, but is getting closer, perhaps. If anyone want high quality versions of the photos just let us know, medium quality is available through this site. Leave a comment so we know you are actually looking at our blog. Thanks everyone. Aloha...

Utility Vault Dance

Here is a little video, my first try at a You Tube thing. This is Easter down at the park. Rylan often does this little dance on random flat objects, most often utility covers. Enjoy...

First Post

Server is down at work so I have time to mess around and thought I would try this. Easter weekend was a fun time around the house. We had Rylan's cousins Cassie (Joel's daughter), Brianne (Jocyln's daughter), and Darrian (Jocyln's son) join us for an egg hunt. Before they arrived we hid the eggs around the yard but Rylan would follow behind and "find" them as we went. That was the best he did all day as far as finding anything. The older kids did well, found all the eggs, and then we walked down to the tea house for lunch. After lunch we visited the nearby park for some jungle gym and tree climbing activities. A good busy day, but no surf.

Going to keep this short for now, as a first test. Decided to start this because I have been looking at http://www.cafines.blogspot.com/ for some time and thought it was a great thing.

Now I'll see if I can add some photos.

This is the crew ready to start the big egg hunt. 72 eggs found. Brianne, in the middle, was the best hunter.

Here Rylan plays in the fountain at the tea room during lunch. He got so wet I had to take him home and get a new shirt while the others ate lunch.

This is Rylan's favorite spot in the playground - the suspension bridge. The entire thing goes up and down and the chains make a nice rattling sound. Then the chorus line starts.

Then here is Rylan looking up in the tree as Mom climbs.