Mele Kalikimaka

Trying to get caught up...we had a busy couple of months with the holidays, the Sackett-Pasquales visiting, nonni visiting...

Ummm...Jacqui, they are called stockings, but...

In Hawaii, companies do indeed ship Christmas trees for the season. Apparently, every few years they have a "shortage". This year, multiple container were rejected because of invasive wasps that survived the trip. So 2 weeks before Christmas on a Sunday afternoon (not having heard about the shortage) we headed to the large tents that are set up in parking lots to sell the trees...they were all either gone or packing up. The girls were devastated...as we pulled into the last possible spot, we saw one more tree! We pulled up and were given the sales pitch that this beautiful 8 foot spruce could be loaded on our roof for only $210 dollars...we headed home, treeless. Danielle, Gabbi, and Jacqui had plans to go searching the following day. At work that Monday morning, after a few conversations and a web search, I heard about the tree shortage and a possible solution in Waimanalo. Live Norfolk pines! Sure they don't smell nice or have very many branches, oh yeah and the ornaments fall off the flimsy branches really easily, but we had a tree!!!

so, we had some friends over on Christmas eve. Khris, Bruce, Zoe, and Cristoff came over. The kids had a blast (as always) and the adults drank wine and talked. It was a lot of fun! We sang some Christmas carols and the kids opened some presents. My friend Jamie came over around the time that they were leaving and we had a chance to hang out.






Gabbi read the other kids the latest story of the adventures of Bobo the Christmas Monkey!! This year Bobo and his friend Hugh Manatee worked to clean up the environment. My Dad has been writing a new book each year for the last (I think) 5 years. They are great stories and include a new character. This year Hugh was a big hit! Thanks Dad!!!


Gabbi with Hugh.



Danielle outdid herself this year (as usual). She made fairy bowers for the girls to hang over their beds. Some friends have had them over the years and Danielle was inspired! She hung them as the girls slept, so that they could wake to them on Christmas morning.



Christmas morning was fun! The kids had a blast opening all of the gifts that Santa had brought, the gifts from us, and that had come in the mail.




After hanging out for a while that morning, we headed to the north shore. We were planning on watching the big surf that had come in and take a hike. It was kind of a drizzly morning and with the holiday, we hoped that traffic would be light despite the big surf....we were wrong. After sitting in traffic in Haleiwa for about 15 minutes, we decided to hike first. We were headed to the Peacock Flats area behind Dillingham Airfield. After talking to a woman that told us that it was now paved the entire way, we decided to try a different trail that was just up the road. The trail was fun. As we got higher in elevation, the rain picked up. When we got to the point that we were getting absolutely soaked, we turned around. We definitely plan to get back up to that trail again.

Christmas hiking...a little wet, but shorts and short sleeves...

We sat in traffic to watch the big waves at Waimea. When the surf get huge, the only break that will hold a wave is at Waimea Bay. A few weeks earlier, the Eddie Aikau tournament had been held, which is only held when waves faces are consistently 30 to 40 feet. (A note about wave heights...most of the world measures the face of the wave when measuring the height. So the wave as you are looking at it from trough to crest would be the height of the wave. In Hawai'i you measure the back of the wave...from the top to where the wave flattens out. This tends to be much smaller - 50 to 70% of the face or so. So when the surf report says 20 to 30 foot Hawaiian scale, you can expect to see 30 to 45 foot faces!) The traffic was ridiculous...at one point, Danielle got out to walk. She got a good distance ahead of us until we crept past her and slowly pulled away. We easily found parking at Three Tables (just past Waimea). Jacqui, Gabbi, and I walked back to the beach at Waimea and arrived at the same time as Danielle... We were treated to some great waves. There were about 15 - 20 surfers out and we saw some incredible rides and a few tough looking wipeouts!! We watched for about 45 minutes and headed home, after a quick stop to see some friends.

And of course the pictures, cannot do it justice...

Underwater Shots

Danielle and the girls got me an underwater camera for my birthday. So, over the past 6 months we've remembered to bring it on some snorkeling trips (and forgotten it on more...) Still getting the hang of exactly where to point. I seem to be shooting high on many.

We finally got a roll of film developed from the camera (when was the last time you dropped off and picked up film??!?)

I think I see it!


There it is!!

The not so elusive, but slightly blurry humuhumunukunukuapua'a


It's always exciting to see and swim with a honu (Pacific green turtle)


That is a red pencil sea urchin in the upper left corner.

Some of our favorite places to snorkel are Hanauma Bay, Shark's Cove, Molokini Crater, and Lana'i.

North Shore

We journeyed up to the North Shore last Sunday. I had my first soccer game in the morning. Then Danielle, Ruth Gabbi and Jacqui picked me up and we headed North.

Danielle and Ruth took an African dance class at the Pupukea community center, while Gabbi and Jacqui met our friends Jason, Lynn, Elijah, and Oliver at the beach right next to it. After Danielle and Ruth got out of class and cooled off, we ate lunch and walked a little bit down the road to Waimea.

Waimea Bay is one of the most beautiful and fun beaches on the island. In the summer, the water is like glass, we're getting to the time of year when the surf is moderate. The waves at Waimea form this incredible surge that pushes you up the shore and then pulls you back into the ocean. It is really a ton of fun to play around in the surge. In another month or so, we won't be able to get into the ocean most days because the surf will be dangerous. For now, we'll take advantage of the awesome water and scenery!

The east end of Waimea Bay even has some pretty good snorkeling...

The view looking west along Waimea Beach.

The kids having a blast, as usual!

Finally, we caught the sunset at Haleiwa Beach Park. It was an awesome sunset with some nice waves and surfers to watch. One father, daughter team was doing some great tricks, with her getting up on dad's shoulders and a variety of other stunts!



There was a nearly full moon that night. We actually did a full moon hike the following night at Makapu'u.