Christmas In Hawaii-

Below are some pictures of our Christmas Vacation trip to Hawaii. We stayed at my Brother Paul's house in Kaneohe Hawaii on Oahu. We wanted to go to Hawaii to see Brian and his family before he leaves for his second tour to Iraq.

On the first day, we decided to go to Hanama Bay to snorkel. The park filled up before we got there and therefore we could not snorkel so we just drove along the coast and took some pictures at different scenic points. This a picture of Gavin with the Pacific Ocean in the background.







Also a picture of Judi at one of the scenic points.














A couple of shots of the coast line just north of Hanama bay.

























On the same day, we spent some time with Brian, Suzi, Fionna, Almut and Benedickt. Below is a picture of Fionna and Almut racing on their back porch.










Judi holding Fionna.

One 2nd day, Judi and I stopped by a Bhudist temple in a cemetary close to by brother Paul's house. The two photos below are of that place. It is a replica of a temple in Japan. It is really a peaceful place even though a lot of tourists stop by there each day.





















We spent Christmas day at Brian and Suzie's house.


Judi and I with Brian, Suzie, Benedict, Almut and Fionna.

Michael playing with Fionna and Amut and the toy train they got for Christmas.



Benedict is sitting up and will be crawling soon.

One day we went to Wiamea Falls.

Michael and Deanna with Wiamea Falls in the background.







Michael and Gavin Swimming in
Wiamea Falls










We also checked out the surf at Sandy Beach. Mike and Gavin decided not to surf here. They did surf in Waikiki earlier in the weak.











We also went to Banzai beach, but the surf was not up on this day.
















On the same day, we checked out Mr Matsumoto's store on the North Shore, the original shave ice store in Hawaii.







Gavin, Michael, Deanna and Judi getting ready to order shaved ice cups.












One evening we had Brian, Suzie and their kids over to my brother Paul's house for dinner.




Judi is teaching Almut and Fiona how to Hula Dance in Paul's house.






And Brian got out his flute to play with Judi accompliment.












We also visited a shopping center where Brian sat in Santa's seat with Fionna and Almut.












The last afternoon and evening of our trip was spent at the Polenesian Cultural Center. It is a fabulous show of all of the different Polenesian cultures where demonstrations, songs and dances are put on by BYU students from the different Polenesian areas. This is the way these students are able to pay for their college education. The pictures below are a selection of photos of that part of the trip. The first four photos are of a boat parade where each boat represents a different island group. The last three photos are of our family at a luau and an evening show where flash photography was not allowed.



I think these dancer's are Tongans but not sure.

Fiji Dancers














Somoan Dancers




























Hawaii Dancers











Aloha from the Polenesian Cultural Center

House Update - December 1st 2007

The chain link fence around our home has been removed so we can start installing the hardscape, sprinklers, landscaped, etc.


Inside the family room looking at the entrance. You can see the hardwood flooring is installed in this part of the house, but covered with paper to prevent damage by workers.



In the kitchen, the backsplash behind the counter has been installed. It is stone and the counter top is granite. The hanging lights will be covered with shades later on.

A close up of the back splash where the stove top will be installed.

Upstairs, a picture of our balcony taken through an adjacent bed room window.

A picture of the view outside the upstairs bedroom window.

The hardwood flooring in the office of our home. It is bamboo.

A picture of the kitchen area showing the island and the counter area behind the island.

A picture of the living room area where the piano will be located.

A picture of the dining room area and the living room area with the fire place.

Thanks Giving 2007

The pictures below are from our Thanks Giving get together this year. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the Roast Turkeys and other traditional Thanksgiving foods. But at least I have a few pictures of our family members to remember this day.


My youngest brother Joe, sitting in the atrium. He retired from Marina High School as the equipment manager last year and now spends his time at the Beach and other activities.


Sitting in the atrium with my brother Dennis, my dad Paul, my niece Jamie's husband Mike and myself.



Danny eating at the dining room table with the back of Dennis's head, my dad, Jim's wife Jennifer, my mother in law Anna, and Danny's wife Jean.


Holding hands in a circle for blessing of the food. You can see Gavin, Jim's wife Jenifer, my Sister Sharon, my brother Joe, my nephew Danny, Danny's son Jimmy.



The kids table before dinner.

John's wife Jennifer and their son Cooper.

My niece Jamie and Danny's wife Jean. In the front is another niece, Jodi.

Sitting in the family room is Judi, Joey, Danny, my sister Sharon, Dennis's wife Jan and Sharon's husband Jim.

Some of my niece's and nephew's kids.



My cousin Chris. He spent most of Thanksgiving day working on my computer to try to clean it up but he also likes our piano.

Judi's brother David getting ready to leave with his wife Chris.

Our House Update - 3 November 2007

This is the Front of our house. All painted, but still without the new garage doors. The roof is complete also.


Our family room is painted a light green.

The dining room and living room are painted beige.

We also have built ins for our walking closet.

This is Judi in the kitchen. Hopefully we will see the granite top on the island in the next week or two.

A final picture of the entry way from the family room.

My Garden

The picture above shows the right had side of my garden. On the far right side is a row of peas by the fence and a row of beans on the inside. Toward the back on the right side are beets and behind the beets are four broccoli plants.


On the left hand side are two rows of lettuce plants toward the front and toward the back are cauliflower plants and in the very back are some cabbage plants.



Another shot of the peas and bean plants.

Another shot of the lettuce plants.

In the middle of my garden are two planter boxes. The front box contains radishes, lettuce and bean plants. The second box toward the rear contains cauliflower plants. I don't know why I planted so many cauliflower plants. I wish I had planted more broccoli instead.

Suzie, Fiona, Almut, and Benedickt at the Airport

In November, Suzie and her children Fiona, Almut and Benedict left Hawaii to return to Germany while Brian trained at Twentynine Palms in California. Judi and I were able to see them at the Los Angeles airport where they changed planes from United Airlines to Lufthansa airlines. Unfortunately, the time to see our grand children was too short. They seemed to be happy and in good spirits.


Judi got to hold Benedict, but only for a short time. He seemed to be calm and quiet the whole time we were together.




While were at Lax, we were able to sit down in a restaurant for lunch.