April/May Family events

A few weeks ago now (4-22-08) we met up with Joni’s uncle Gerry who lives in the Philippines and was in town on a drug rep junket – Gerry is an oncology surgeon or something like that. We were only able to share a drink with him down at his Waikiki hotel. Officially Gerry is a second uncle or something but because he is the same age as Joel he has been more like a cousin to them. Anyway, here is a photo of us around the pool bar.


Rylan has had a cold on and off for the last few weeks so has not been at his best. Still, we have managed to spend a good amount of time trolling the neighborhood parks, visiting friends, and having a good time. One Sunday (4-27-08) we all went to the Japanese Cultural Center for their Keike Festival a week in advance of Kids Day. There used to be separate holidays for boys and girls but now it has been combined to one Kids Day – this is all in Japan by the way, Hawai‘i has just adopted the holiday. Had a good time checking it all out; bought a fish kite to fly on Kids Day and Rylan did a hand print and then the volunteers at the festival drew Kanji characters of his name and other symbols over the hand prints. Looks very cool.

This is a typical scene as we walk from the park/Safeway back home. On the stroller is our umbrella, toys we bought at the Manoa Hongwanji (Buddhist temple) rummage sale, and an orchid we bought at the orchid show in Noelani school.

The following weekend we were working hard to prepare for Joni’s parents to arrive along with the rest of the wedding party. Joni’s friend Myra got married this weekend so the weekend before Joni was working to prepare for that. Unfortunately Joni’s parents had to cancel their visit but are doing fine in Las Vegas. I worked on getting the grass planted in the side yard but we found time to enjoy a bbq at Michael and Lynn’s on Saturday (5-3-08). They are adopting a baby from a former Soviet republic – Kazakhstan I believe, they leave this week to pick up a 1-year old son – so we had a lot to talk about regarding their preparations. Rylan baby-proof checked their house by climbing and pulling on everything. On Sunday we had a party of co-workers and others at the house. We ate beef-roll, aka Jaba roll, and had a great time.

Here Rylan hangs out on the stones in our side yard. I removed all the soil and sand between the rocks and put in new soil that the new grass should grow in well, rather than the junk sand the old grass never liked.
Because of the gap between the stones Rylan was very cautious about crossing from stone to stone.

At the party Rylan was quite the little begger boy. He always kuddles up with Val and he was rewarded with corn at the party.

After getting corn from Val he would go next door and slurp some of Dave's water. He had to stand on his tip toes to get it.

Monday (5-5-08) was Kids Day. For whatever reason fish are the symbol for boys and it is tradition to fly a fish kite for each boy in your family on Boys Day.
Here Rylan flies his own fish kite in our yard while wearing his Japanese outfit given to him by Matt and Chizuko.