Bike, Mastered

Have not taken many photos recently so had not done a post in a while. In the meantime Rylan has been steadily improving his bike riding skills. By weekend 3 he was riding non-stop for as long as he wanted, not falling over unless he ran out of energy. I would set up cones for him to navigate and he quickly was doing the slalom courses I set up. But that was all on flat ground. It seems after all that time of steady peddling he forgot how to use his brake; so the first time we lead him down a hill of any magnitude it was not pretty. The first time he picked up speed down a hill he didn’t know what to do and just ramped off the sidewalk into the grass and went over the handlebars – no big damage thanks to the fact he had his helmet on correctly (if it had been further back on his head like many people wear their helmets his face would have been messed up). It has taken some time to get him over that first downhill experience, but he seems to have it figured out now. Now all I have to do is find more suitable hills for him to practice on. In the search for good hills we have gone to UH, first on Saturday morning and then Monday afternoon. Have a few videos of him practicing Monday afternoon below. The videos show him weaving his way through a loop where he goes down a ramp (hill) into the art building, meanders through the various columns and such, then peddles up the hill on the ewa side of the building to do it all again. He does use his brakes well now as he goes down the ramp. The longer video shows the entire loop, starting at the bottom of the hill.

On Sunday we did this circuit probably 15 times and on Monday we did it another 15 or so. Sunday we continued down to HIG and Sakamoto and did more hills and various routes. That area is perfect when there is no one around, like on a Saturday or Sunday morning. On Saturday he rode essentially non-stop for 1.5 hours, at which point he crashed due to exhaustion and got a good scrap on his elbow, but that was quickly forgotten.

We will keep working on the bike riding and razor-scooter riding and try to get him back to swimming again soon.

Bike, Second Weekend

So, we worked hard on the bicycle with Rylan this weekend. This video is probably his best ride. By Sunday, the day this was shot, he was able to ride as long as he wanted and go in the general direction he wanted to go. Still I have to get him started, but not much, and be there to catch him at the end (most of the time).

We also did Chinese New Years down in Chinatown this weekend. Always a great time. Happy Near Year again everyone.

Bike First Try

Well, it was easy to talk Rylan into taking the training wheels off his bike, but it wasn't so easy to get him to really make a solid effort to ride the bike. This is just the first try though, so hopefully next time he puts forth more effort. Still, good stuff to remember, so here it is.

This is down at the elementary school in our neighborhood. Seems like a lot of people learn to ride bikes there. There were two others that seemed to have very recently made the leap to riding without training wheels and had come to practice some more. The pavement is a little rough though, so any wipeout can result in abrasions. He came away unscathed this time though. Here is Rylan and Mom working on it.

MLK Peacock Flat Camping

Went camping with the MLK crew for the holiday weekend. Luckly both Joni and I got a holiday day for this one and didn't have to take time off work (unusual I do not get holidays like this it seems, next one for me isn't until Memorial Day I think). Anyway, the MLK crew has been doing adventures on the MLK weekend for many years now. Somehow we had the good fortune of getting invited this year. The crew stayed on Oahu this year and so we just drove up to the North Shore and headed into the mountains - a state campground known as Peacock Flats at an elevation of roughly 1,700 feet. Here are some photos of the trip.

This is the entrance gate down at Farrington Highway. Luckly for us, MLK master organizer Michael Constantinedes is a forester for the DLNR and was able to (a) get us reservations at the campground, and (b) get a key to the gate so we could just drive up the paved road rather than bump over the 4WD road that starts on the West Side.

Our first day up there we did a hike (1.35 miles each way) up to the ridge between the North Shore and the West Side. Ate lunch looking down into Makua Valley.

One the way down back to camp the boys took a break and Joni caught them with the camera.

Was also Rylan's 4th birthday during the MLK trip. Camping on your birthday with your best friend - he seemed to love it. I like this shot because you can see his best friend Liko in the left corner trying to blow the candles too.

One tradition of the MLK group is doing a puzzle during the holiday. Everyone got caught up in it at one time or another. This is taken on the last night and we were able to finish it up the next morning before packing up.

Here I am with our tent. Up this high the forest is different than the typical dry forest down near the beach - nice Norfolk pines to cushion the ground. There was also a nice big grass-covered clearing off to the right of the photo where others put their tents and we had our meals and such.

NYE on Kauai

Heike, Jim, and Lucas visited Kauai for New Years Eve. Joni, Rylan, and I flew over and joined them for a nice long weekend. They had a nice place in Hanalei (north shore) rented for the week and we just moved right on in with them, bring along all our leftovers from Christmas (Jim and Heike probably don't want any turkey for awhile now). The kids hit it off immediately and got along well throughout the weekend; it seems that as long as their ages are reasonably close in this phase of childhood any two boys will get along well. With all the vacation-time activities available they were not about to get bored either. It was a constant beach trip with some fireworks, cake, and playground thrown in. The adults also managed well as everyone seemed to have the same priority: surf. Joni called it our best surf trip ever because we didn't have to travel very far, the waves kept coming, she got to surf with Laird Hamilton, the kids were able to come along and have fun, and the weather was good. We surfed a number of spots including at least four spots in Hanalei Bay (Pinetrees, the point, the bowl, and the point on the left side), Anani Beach, and Kalihiwai Beach. Not being local I don't know the traditional names of the places we surfed, but they all had their good points. Surfing on Kauai's north shore is a lot different than Oahu's north shore though - Kauai seems to be dominated by long boards and SUPs while Oahu seems to be dominated by shorter boards.

Anyway, here are some photos from the trip. First is the Rylan and Lucas reunion on the beach when we arrived, instant joy. Rylan is standing in a hole, he isn't that much shorter than Lucas. This is Hanalei Beach right near the rental house.

The first night we were there was New Years Eve. Not a big deal in relatively sparsely populated Hanalei - we were asleep before midnight and were not jolted awake by people going crazy at midnight.

New Years Day is Jim's birthday, so the day started with cake for breakfast. The kids helped mix, bake, and decorate the cake the night before and enjoyed anything that had to do with the cake.

This is following a nice surf at Anini Beach, very near Hanalei. The kids enjoyed surfing in the sandy-bottom shallows here. The adults enjoyed the "A"-frame peaks off shore.

Here are Jim, Heike, and Lucas on the grounds of the St. Regis hotel that overlooks Hanalei Bay. Things were too expensive to hang around too long, but the view is nice.

The next day had huge surf so we looked around and settled in Kalihiwai. Great beach but not much in the surf department. There were a number of tow-in teams off shore but the swell wasn't wrapping in to the beach very well. The kids and everyone enjoyed the time at the beautiful beach though.


We did go out for dinner one night. Food was bad, but we enjoyed ourselves anyway. Here is the entire gang at the table.