As I walked into the post office yesterday, I noticed a flyer on the bulletin board. “Hands Percussion Team at Hana Bay. Tonight at 7 pm.

Leif was too cranky and ready for bed, but Gavin and I were excited and ready for noise. We drove down to the bay where Heline Hall was buzzing with anticipation. The seats were almost full when we walked in. Finding two seats right in the middle, we sat down and waited. Shortly after two of Gavin’s friends showed up and found seats two rows in front of us. Gavin ditched me at this point.

Now every one was settled ant it was time to start. No sooner had the Hands Percussion Team been introduced than the subtle sound of a drum started to beat. This turned into a fast solo which then grew into a floor shaking, heart thumping, percussion masterpiece that was joined by seven more face painted drummers. It was absolutely fantastic.

After the first set, they allowed the kids to all sit up front inches away from the rolling drums and dancing percussionists. Hands shaking an butt wiggling, Gavin sat right up there and imagined playing along.

Halfway through one of their sets, it must have been obvious that the adults were doing the same thing. The beat quieted and slowed and a few adults were beckoned up, handed large drum sticks, and asked to play along with them. Following this, they got us all to play a copy cat game of clapping and yelling. It was loads of fun and sounded awesome.

Just a quick note because this is awesome. Holly spent much of her time over the past couple of years working hard on a few books. One of which her mom wrote called “Maile and the Huli Hula Chicken, one written by another local writer (Tia Monteaux Walls) called “Kekoa and the Egg Mystery”, and one called “If You Were a Dinosaur in Hawaii” in collaboration with BeachHouse Publishing. I am happy to announce that all three of those books are now published. She received her copy of two of the books in the mail last week and they look amazing. All three books will be on sale through Amazon.com as well as BarnesandNoble.com. I believe that select books are even on pre-sale through those two sites.

You can order/pre-order the books through the following links:

Amazon:

Kekoa and the Egg Mystery
If You Were a Dinosaur in Hawaii
No Slippers

Barnes and Noble

Kekoa and the Egg Mystery
If You Were A Dinosaur in Hawaii
Maile and the Huli Hula Chicken

Thanks to a good friend of ours, a new place to live has fallen into our laps. It all happened so fast. We gave our info to be passed on to the owner and they called us 2 days later. It all went uphill from there. Background checks, paperwork, deposits, etc all took place before we could really think about how awesome it all was. We finally got a place with a yard, no neighbors, a garden, a carport, an ocean view and much more. It really is all we hoped for.

When it came time to move, a couple of our friends really stepped up and helped us out a bunch. We had a bit of big furniture to move and no truck of any kind. Not to mention I can’t carry a large dresser and hutch by myself. For the most part, we moved everything in a weekend; Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday. Sweet. It helps that is was just up the road.

So anyway. With all that, we needed to celebrate a bit. We invited those who helped us move over Saturday night to have a sort of house warming party. And it was awesome. There were a total of 4 children and 6 adults total. The kids all got along great and kept occupied and out of trouble while us grown ups played cards, made pizza, grilled fish, threw back a few drinks, and just plain had a great time hangin’ out together.

I can’t really say how awesome that night was because it was really beyond words. Besides, I think you know what it feels like when you have one of those nights hanging out with friends that are awesome. Thank you guys for the help with moving. Much appreciated and much Mahalo.

It was a beautiful weekend on the island of Sodor. Wait. Crap. Too much Thomas.

We had a sort of a getaway weekend a few weeks ago. Some friends of ours invited us to stay at the “Hana Accomodations” (where they work) to hang out and have a little getaway. It was very nice. The kids all slept in one room, and Holly, Leif and myself had our own room, equipped with a mini fridge, sink, bathroom with a beautiful shower, a deck and an outdoor bathtub. I didn’t get much use out of the tub, but Leif had a good little romp in it.

That night:

• BBQed and ate addictive costco veggie straws. Man those are addicting.
• Admired the home-made puffer fish lamp
• Had a bit of good local live music from the party next door
• Kids all ran through sprinklers and rode bikes
• Watched an episode of Weeds
• Chased Leif as he ran circles around the property- Around the house, through the back room, through the kitchen, out the back door, and back around the house to do it again
• Showered in the awesome shower
• Relaxed on a very comfy, very long couch and talked story while watching a Wanda Sykes stand-up special

The following day:

• Ate cake for breakfast
• Watched the kids all play with neighbors and run around
• Chased Leif as he ran more circles around the property
• Helped clean up
• Took a walk to a cove containing a dead whale

We heard about this whale and had to go see for ourselves. It was a nice walk past Venus Pools and along the coast line. The sun was out and it was a cool breezy day. Perfect for frolicking along the coast to see a dead whale.

After getting back, we packed up our things and prepared to head back to the real world. It was a lovely little getaway. One that some people fly halfway across the world to have. Thank you Shelly and Aaron for the nice weekend.

Here are the highlights:

Holly bought me a new beer brewing kit, which included a few things I already had, but wanted more of, things I didn’t have and really wanted, and a box of ingredients to use them all. It’s beer making time.

Leif helped me to open my present and make sure that it was all accounted for and of good beer making quality. What a sweet boy.

For my actual birthday, Holly made me a beautiful breakfast of waffles topped with haupia ice cream , whipped cream and home made caramel sauce. It was oh so delightful. I snarfed it all fast like so that the whipped cream  and ice cream didn’t melt. Yum yum.

After breakfast, I opened up three little packages that were wrapped all pretty, sitting on the breakfast table, and waiting patiently for me. Oh how my family knows me. Gavin picked me up two Degoba bars from the general store so I could get my chocolate fix; one hazelnut, one chai. The other two packages contained my first ever brew maker apparel. Two shirts. One is brown and reads “Zymurgist”, the other is black and reads “Homebrewer” in the style of Metallica. How awesome is that? See?

For my birthday dinner, I simply wanted hamburgers. Delicious, fat, juicy, slathered with blue cheese, tomato, basil, ketchup and mustard hamburgers. That is simply what we had. That and some home brewed mango beer.

For desert, we had a beautifully baked creamy thick cheesecake, baked by my beloved. It made the house smell oh so good.

Turning 31 didn’t seem to be much different than turning 30. I suppose one good difference is that I’m in a better place now. No, really! We finally got the key to our new house. We finally get to move out away from annoying neighbors, unavailable washing machines, and the musical parking lot. Oh, life will be so much more peaceful. Yes indeed.

Sing with me…

Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday to me.
Happy birthday dear Michael.
Happy birthday to me.