Happy Birthday Queen Kapiolani

Revered Hawaiian monarch Queen Kapiolani was born on December 31 in 1834. This past Saturday night, we went to a special commemoration event at the Iolani Palace. The tour is a special production on an evening the Palace is not normally open to the public. The grounds and the palace exterior are adorned with colorful Chinese lanterns, as it was when she was celebrating her birthday when she lived in the Palace. We stood in line for over an hour and a half in the on-and-off drizzling rain, but I enjoyed it. Here's a shot taken while we waited, with Grammy-nominated Hawaiian artist Cyril Pahinui entertaining the folks in line.

12 days of Christmas - Seasons Greetings

As usual, there's so much more that I want to do than I can get done. I have not (yet) seen the annual gingerbread display at the Sheraton Surfrider in Waikiki nor have I gotten out of the car to take pictures of the Honolulu City Lights (all we've managed to do is drive by it a few times). But I have done a few other things that weren't originally on the master list for December; one was to tour the Iolani Palace at night. More on that later...for now, here's a shot of King Kamehameha (again). He sits directly across the street from the entrance to the Palace on King Street. This time he's backed by festive lights on the State court house. I thought it was kind of cute in an odd, out-of-place way. And in the spirit of the season, I will let the "Season's" vs. "Seasons" argument go!

Making a list and checking it twice

Whether or not you believe Santa comes to town with Rudolph at the lead, you've got to admit this is a fun day. Busy as an adult, but fun. Robbie asked this morning if Santa was coming to his house, and I said, "Yes...tonight!" Then I asked him what Santa might bring. I fully expected him to say, "Bull and Bruno" the name of a train set we bought him already. But he surprised me by saying simply, "Toys!" Merry Christmas to all.

12 days of Christmas - Holiday card outtake

Another year, another late holiday card photo session. The four of us went to Ko Olina on Sunday for our annual shoot. And like last year, it was very tough to get consistent shots. I made the mistake of playing my cards too early. In my defense, Robbie went through my stuff almost immediately and found the snacks. Then he pretty much wouldn't sit down, even our talk of Santa not bringing him a new GeoTrax train went unnoticed. So here's continuing the tradition started last year - a preview of the card with one of the outtakes.

12 days of Christmas – a Christmas miracle

OK, so this is a stretch for the Christmas posts, but I had my first turtle-on-the-beach spotting over the weekend and was pretty excited. I see tons swimming in the water, but never one to just hang out on the sand. We were heading to Sunset Beach on the North Shore Saturday afternoon and Noel spotted him on another North Shore beach as we drove by. Noel’s sister and husband are in town from Baltimore, and they were traveling in the car behind us, so I didn’t want to disrupt the caravan and stop. But on the way home I wanted to and lucky for me, he was still there (and I had just enough light to shoot with). Here he is in all his sleeping glory!

12 days of Christmas - Santa Claus Station

Not too many people know this: I'm a member of a stamp club. I'm outing myself here, I realize, but how else will I explain the following? (Or maybe it finally makes sense why I blog about stamps now and then?) I really should have brought this up much earlier, as much of the following information is pretty useless to you right now. Every year during the month of December, if you stick stamped mail within a box or larger envelope and then mail that to the postmaster at the Santa Claus Station, Indiana post office, you will have the mail inside sent to the recipient with a collectible post mark. Each year the design is different. This year's winner is shown above. Yes, I received one! They will only stamp mail delivered to the postmaster until Dec 24. So I'll make a note to remind you about this in about 11 months.

12 days of Christmas - more adventures with beverage containers

While downtown Honolulu has the main holiday lights and tree display, Kapolei also tries to spread the cheer. They had a tree lighting ceremony and parade planned for last Saturday, but it was rained out and rescheduled for this weekend. However, that didn't wash out the holiday spirit at Kapolei Hale. Here's a tree I spotted indoors earlier this week - Diet Coke cans create the branches with Christmas lights and fake holly scattered around. Yes, I also think this is a LOT of soda.

12 days of Christmas - Cinnamon ornaments

Time's running out on me, I've got roughly eight days to post seven more Christmas treats. Here's one again from Robbie. Cinnamon ornaments! Made in school. Note that they are surprisingly sturdy yet still didn't have a chance in our household. Within minutes of the backpack opening the afternoon they came home, Cal, Brady, and even Cub managed to sniff, lick, and/or get a bite. Robbie wanted to ride around with them on the handlebars of his bike (which we're allowing indoors until he gets better hang of it) which was sooo cute, but ultimately I had to hang them out of reach for fear of more damage.

12 days of Christmas – the Heineken tree

The world famous Heineken tree can be found here in Kapolei. Yes, you’re reading that right. I read about it in the paper a few weeks ago, googled the street, and laughed when I saw that it was a short walk from one of Robbie’s favorite playgrounds. I drove through the neighborhood yesterday at noon and snapped these pictures. The homeowners claim each year in January they take down the tree and recycle the bottles, then over the course of the year they throw block parties and more beer is consumed and bottles saved. I don’t care how many people “donate” to the cause - that is a LOT of beer! One night closer to the holidays we’ll probably take a drive over there and check out the street at night. The whole street plus random houses nearby really decorate. The Heineken tree is also lit. (Pun intended.) Cameras and tripod ready and waiting!

Family tradition

I come from a family of good drivers with good records on the road. But insurance companies would think twice about covering us if they knew what occurred in our driveway. Once my sister (driving my new-used car) ran into her own car, busting my tail light. My Mom has too many incidents to mention here, and she tells the stories better anyway. My Dad surprisingly had the gravest accidents, including running over my foot (luckily, missed my toes and just got my shoe stuck) and sadly, hitting one of the family cats. So it should surprise no one when I did this damage earlier today before heading out to the post office to mail Christmas packages. Not sure which is more disturbing: a) my initial thought was that I’d left my brake on as I felt the resistance of the plant, b) when I realized it was an object and not my brake I thought I hit the stray cat the neighbor has been feeding, or c) I was clearly at least a foot and a half off the concrete.

12 days of Christmas – Scary gingerbread

As a kid, I apprenticed under a master Christmas cookie maker. Every year during the holidays, I would watch in awe as a dear family friend and neighbor made dozens and dozens of cookies to share with us (and have us over for a cookie decorating party, too). So I’m a little embarrassed to share this pic with you today. Last week I made gingerbread cookies and planned to bring them to a holiday party on Friday night. I waited until Friday mid-day to frost and decorate them - and it shows. This was my first attempt. I looked at them and thought, “I can’t bring these! I can’t even let my kids eat them. The cookies look like ghosts and they will get nightmares!” Luckily I stopped this madness after frosting half the cookies this way and opted for a style that was easier on the eye. This second attempt got my approval to bring to the party, but by a nose. Although not that much better, at least they didn’t scare anyone.

12 days of Christmas – Santa snowman

It’s been raining here much of the last 36 hours; so much that the entire state is under a “Brown Water Warning.” I wasn’t able to head outside and take pictures like I’d hoped. Robbie saved me by coming home yesterday with artwork appropriate for the holiday posts. No, I won’t be turning this blog into a virtual fridge anytime soon, but I do enjoy being able to toss items after I’ve scanned or photographed them! This is one Mom who won’t be saving a lot of mementos.

Thanksgiving leftovers

Before Thanksgiving, Robbie came home from school with this in his backpack. I thought it was a fresh take on preschool Turkey Day hand-traced construction paper crafts. Good practice for tracing, cutting, and writing skills. (Robbie is our oldest and first in school, so a lot looks “fresh” right now.) I tried to get him to put it on his head for a photograph, but no luck. It ends up on the floor and is soon picked up by Cub. I get distracted with other things and later notice a few severed “fingers” around the living room. I find the object behind a chair and inspect it for damage.
OK, a shaka! Kinda of cute. So far, so good. Then…Oh no! When did our darling Cub turn into an angry youth?

Movin’ on up

Every once in a while Noel will get a client who lives on Maui. In early November, as a thank you, one of his clients gifted us with a weekend at the Ritz Carlton at Kapalua. The client’s wife’s aunt (or was it aunt’s cousin?) works on staff there. Sounded too good to be true to me, but it turned out fabulous. Our name was in the books, so it was all legit. And we loved it! Who knew you could get accustomed to five-star luxury so quickly?

On the first evening, the housekeeping staff arrives before dinner to turn down your sheets. Unfortunately, the kids had already done that for us. As Noel is declining the service at the door, Cub sprints around him and out into the hallway in just his diaper. Normally pretty cute on its own, but then he gets out of the diaper with one quick and dexterous pull of a tab and he’s really off and running. From inside, I hear the housekeeper shrieking and laughing. A party of six were leaving their rooms and heading to dinner, and Cub runs right for them. “Naked baby! Naked baby!” are now the laughs and chants. I finally get outside and down the hall to scoop him up, but our impact on the Ritz for the night was made!

12 Days of Christmas - City Lights

This weekend in downtown Honolulu, the annual City Lights display comes to life with a tree lighting in front of Honolulu Hale on Saturday night. A larger-than-life Santa flashing his holiday trademark shaka is seen here, a shot from last year's pictures. The Honolulu Hale display more or less marks the kick-off of all holiday displays around the island. Cameras are ready and waiting!

Backyard experiment ends badly

No, this is not a sick twist on my promised 12 days of Christmas posts. This is a follow-up to an earlier note where I tried a gardener’s trick of cutting and replanting. Obviously something has gone wrong. There will be no red ginger blooms from these transplants anytime soon! My neighbor who inspired me originally was in town briefly last week but I missed her. I’ve got to ask her if she had any more luck in her California yard than I did here.

12 days of Christmas decorations

Around Oahu there is a lot of Christmas fun on display. I hope to circle around to various spots and take pictures and share via the blog throughout the month. To get started, here’s a poinsettia taken last December inside the Ko Olina resort.