After a conversation with my dad about all the cool things we have here in Hawaii, and even on our property, I was inspired to go cut down a bunch of bananas that we have seen just up the road. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones keeping our eye on that bunch. That’s ok though. With all the changes around the property, we were inspired to roam around and see exactly what kind of yummy goodies we have on property and where they are. We found a pretty good size banana grove a ways back. There were banana trees everywhere along with an unfinished house. It’s like they didn’t want to take anymore trips to Home Depot and just stopped building. On the outside, it was an unpainted cabin with a shingled roof. On the inside it was all frame. It looked pretty new too. Such a shame. It would have been cool to live in a house completely surrounded by banana trees.

We found a few trees that had bunches that were ready to be cut. So I pulled out the mormon lady knife and with a few swipes had me two large bunches of bananas and two banana trees ready to re-grow. Just had to rinse them, hang them to dry, and put them in a bucket for a day and we have large quantities of ripe bananas. I think we’ll be making banana bread in the near future.

But since the bananas weren’t quite ready yet, I made cinnamon raisin bread instead. And because I was in the baking mood, I also made cookie-topped brownies. They both came out awesome. I like to bake.

Meanwhile, the rest of the weekend was spent just relaxing and having a good time. We spend a bit with some friends chatting and letting the kids run amuck. We had some beautiful weather so we also spent some time on the porch with drinks and bubbles. Even the cats were enjoying the fun. Overall it was a nice weekend. I think we even went to the beach. Yeah. We went to the beach. Gavin’s friend came along with us too. I guess this is the start of summer. Sweet.

Failing to brew my new batch of beer on Saturday, I wasn’t about to let Sunday slip by without doing so. Sunday was also the day that Gavin had a play date with a friend over at our house. As it turns out, her dad is interested in the beer brewing process, so we invited the whole crew over and had a beer brewing bbq evening. That brought the adult count to 4 and the kid count to 4.

Holly made a run to the store to get some extra meat and some chips. She returned with 5 or so steaks and a bag of potato chips. But before I could heat up the grill, I had to get started on the beer. I set up all my supplies and went to work. With someone watching all my steps and movements, I was little nervous, but then again, it seemed to keep me focused on the task at hand. Don’t want to miss anything.

Once the beer was on it’s way and I had some waiting time, I fired up the grill and slapped on some beefs and hot dogs. Add some beers, a deck of cards and entertained kids and you have yourself a great night. I finished my batch of beer and set it in a corner to  do it’s thing for a while. We played Gin Rummy while the kids played hide and seek. Eventually they settled on the couch to watch a dragon movie.

It was nice to be able to sit around with friends and have grown up talk and just plain relax. With our new lounge chairs on the porch and the sun going down, it had an almost Lake George moment feel to it. Summer time is here and I’m hoping to have more of these moments.

This weekend = Taro Festival here in Hana.

For a year, Holly has been thinking about the orchid earrings she didn’t buy from last year’s Taro Festival. We found and searched the vendor that was selling them last year. We didn’t have any luck in that area. The jewelry is custom made and they didn’t have any more of the orchid earrings. They did, however, give Holly their card if she wanted them to custom make her a pair of the orchid earrings. Might make a good mother’s day gift from me.

After walking around all the booths, Gavin decided that of all the things there, he wanted to buy books from the Scholastic book tent. He’s a true librarian’s son. Of course the kid in him also asked for the ever popular water balloon yoyo. We got one for Leif and one for Gavin. Whoever invented those is a genius. Hours of entertainment. So Gavin walked away with his yoyo, a multi colored cat pen, and a Missile Mouse comic book. He’s a happy boy.

I received an overpayment reimbursement check from my CC, so I was able to spend a few buck myself. I spent half of it on food, and the other half on a mother’s day gift. I just have to remember to mail it now.

For lunch, we ate a pumpkin curry (totally delicious), panang beef curry (yum), a bacon burger and fries, and taro chips. To drink, we had the ever popular passion-orange drink. Mmmmm. We sat and watch the hula dancers while eating. They were lovely. There were even hula groups from out of town. I think one of the introducers said something about coming out here for the Hawaiians and not the haoles. It was hard to understand. But whatever. We still get to watch.

Somewhere in the afternoon, we headed for home with two exhausted kids. Leif took a good nap and Gavin spent some time with his DS. Holly and I spent some time relaxing as well. Something about a beer and a couch. Before the day was up, Holly made sure to model the new mug and earrings she bought for herself.

And that was just Saturday…

Friday mornings are always a bit hectic. I have my work meeting at 7 am. Holly has to be at work at 7:30 am. Gavin’s Tae Kwon Do starts at 8 am. It’s usually a bit crazy in the morning trying to get everyone up, fed, dressed, and ready to go. But today we did it in a reasonable manner. No scolding, rushing, aggravations, screaming kids (Gavin is innocent), distracted kids (Gavin is guilty), or anything of the sort. This put me in a good mood for the day.

We drove Holly to work and arrived to Tae Kwon Do 15 minutes early. The kids got out of the car and spent their time waiting over on the playground. Leif was in a good mood and was running all over the field as more kids showed up. The instructor’s car pulled into the driveway as I was talking to a new parent. She hopped out of the car, greeted us and we continued chatting. The instructor then remembered that she had to take her dog, Oprah, out of the car. It was at this time when Leif realized she was here.

Leif knows and loves Oprah. Oprah is really good around kids and Leif cracks up when she licks his face. He loves to pet and kiss Oprah. So when he noticed that Oprah was there, he started to head over to where the cars, and Oprah, were. I squatted down to say hi to Oprah. She was full of energy and wanted to greet everyone at the same time. She didn’t know which way to run. As I was petting her, she noticed the kids over on the playground and bolted to say hi. On the way, she noticed Leif coming to say hi and quickly ad suddenly altered her path of jubilation. Not realizing how close Leif was, Oprah crashed right into him. I watched as Leif was knocked off his feet, did a 360 in the air and landed flat on his face in the grass. It made him look so light. I ran over to him to pick him up as he immediately started to cry. He didn’t seem to be hurt, but I’d freak out too if I was flung into the air by a fast moving animal that was twice my size. Poor kid.

I think I was the only one to actually see the impact. I felt a pang of pain when I saw it. Oprah didn’t seem to be at all effected by the impact. She did get a good scolding though. Meanwhile, poor Leif cried into my shoulders for a few minutes until he became reoriented. He was a little wary of Oprah for a bit after that, but by the end of class, she was following her around looking for hugs, kisses, and wet slobbery kisses.

It looked something like this