Saturday, May 21, 2011

Happy Birthday Susan

Susan and Nicole
 Tonight, we are starting to celebrate a special day for one of the ladies in our household. It is the birthday of Susan, the love of my life. We decided to have dinner in Waikiki at one of our favorite places, Dukes. We got into Waikiki a little early and walked to the restaurant and took in some of the local entertainment on the streets, there was the "Silver Man", now there are multiple silver guys, a guy dressed in a newspaper suit, a stuffed life size hairy dog of some kind, singing people and a lot of people giving massages too.
Dinner was just as we remembered it from the last time, very good, even though the prices have changed. The service was excellent, all requests were dealt with in a very professional manner. The Hula Pie was a hit at the table and it even came with a gaggle of waiters and waitresses singing happy birthday to Susan. The finale was the strolling musicians, they accompanied Nicole with two songs for her to dance the hula, she has not lost a step in her hula moves and we can honestly say that we have gotten every penny and more from her dancing instructions. She was graceful and swayed along with the trade winds to the strumming of sweet hula music. No one could ask for anything more from and evening. There was also great company joining us, Mary, Lance and Melissa, they have returned to the islands for good from Coronado, yea." It doesn't get any better than this", famous last words of another friend. Well, now it's time to say good night and I hope your day was heavenly and everything was perfect.......aloha



 the girls hanging out





 Happy Birthday Susan

 hana hou, dance for us some more
 Lance, Mary  and Meliss

two silver men and a dog

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

On the Westside at Ko'olina

Ko'olina golf course

the Disney Au'lani hotel
 Welcome back to Ko'olina, the area on the west side with I'hilani, the Marriot and now the new yet to open Au'lani hotels. The area has grown tremendously over the past five years. The once empty lots are now supporting the large and beautiful properties. The 4 lagoons are evolving all the time. They all are scenic and do well with small kids as well as adults.
Then there are the wedding chapels, they are shuttling wedding parties one after another, the Japanese take full advantage of these. There was one at each of the lagoons with another waiting for the chapels to be empty.
I remember when there was only one hotel and lots of empty space but now they have strategically place hotels and condominiums in those spaces. They are needed I guess to provide a relaxing environment for the tourists that what to see more of Hawaii then Waikiki.
I enjoyed the hour long walk and the awesome scenes within Ko'olina.
Hope you had an enjoyable day......aloha.
the I'hilani hotel

wedding chapel

just married






two crooked palm trees

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Westsidahz last Lacrosse Game of the season

they can handle the ball
The Westsidahz Wahine Lacrosse team played their final game of the regular season. They have become a scrappy bunch of wahines, they play almost with reckless abandon. The my not have won today's game but they gave the town team a tough challenge and there was nothing to be ashamed of. There was a new girl on the team that had not played with the team all season and what an impression she made.....where were you all season?
The team is really starting to gel and played as a solid group, they will be a force to reckon with next season.
The sun was unrelenting and the field was not in the best of condition but it was a hard fought game.
They played like the matured players that they have become and we all look forward to next season, we will miss the seniors that are graduating and wish them the best of luck in their chosen directions for the upcoming years. Mahalo for an exciting season........Aloha
ready, set..........

they didn't score.....

oops, 

she could go all the way.....









Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Downtown Honolulu

I'olani Palace

King Kamehameha statue
I felt really good today, it has been a while since my last post. Due to personal issues I was not available to go out and shoot. Even though it was a Kona wind day, I was definitely heading out to do some photo stuff. Parking wasn't that bad so, off to the palace I went. There were lots of people on the grounds, having lunch, taking naps, and just hanging out. The skies didn't present the beautiful blue that we usually see, but it was still a day day to shoot. As I started to shoot pictures, all the things that I have heard about history in these buildings I could visualize some of the things happening in these places. The royal palace, home of Hawaii's kings and queens. These places are nestled in a two block area, with the passing of time, the new and modern buildings have sprung up. Now the old buildings are dwarfed by high rises and many office buildings. There is a song that asks the question,"what would the royalty say about all this". To stand in front of the palace and look at all the buildings and see all the homeless people on the property, what a sight. Anyway, I enjoyed being out there and checking out the library, my photo club is presenting our photos for the public to see, I even got a call from a patron that wants to purchase my photo, that is very exciting to me. There were also lots of pigeons, and there were sympathetic on lookers that were pleased to share their lunch with them. I had a great day today, I hope yours was enjoyable for you too...Aloha
King Kamehameha statue










Hawaii State Library EOH photo display

save some for us.......