It’s been a long time since Gavin has started Tae Kwon Do. Practically two years now. Last year he missed testing because he was off island for fall break. This year there was no way we were going to let him miss it.

He had his testing last month up in Makawao. Gavin was quite nervous. It was his first testing and he had no idea what to expect. Nor did I. He worked hard at home and in class to prepare and worked his way through the testing.
Today it has all payed off. In class today his teacher handed out awards and belts. Grin across his face, Gavin accepted his belt and award and bowed to his teacher. Gavin is now a yellow belt.

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I’ve recently decided it’s time to start actively working on opening a brewing company. The thought has been rolling around in my head for years now, originally as a brew pub. Although my current location is ill-suited for a brew pub, it is a great location for a brewery. I’ve already done research and have a lot that would need to be done to accomplish my goal. But I can’t move forward with anything until I come up with a name for my brewing company. I’ve sat and had a few brainstorming sessions (home-brew in hand) and narrowed it down to these names for serious consideration. Which would you vote for?

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.