The Little Guys

Zayne & Kavin hanging out together.

Hilo-August 2007

We spent the holiday (Admissions Day) weekend on the Big Island. One of my former co-workers, Amanda, was getting married at the Jacaranda Inn in Waimea. We decided to fly into Hilo and drive over to the Westside for the wedding. We took Kavin with us, so he could spent some time together with his cousin, Zayne, and aunties.

It was a relaxing weekend hanging out and eating. Yes, food was an important part of the day for both the kids and adults.

Came home on Saturday night and was putting away Kavin's bedding. I wondered where his pink "ditar" went that he had slept with the night before and started playing the moment he woke up. Jeff said that he (Kavin) put it away...next to Uncle Jeff's. Same way, minus the stand.

Na Pua Noeau

I had the privilege of working with 104 Native Hawaiian leadership students for 6 days. They came from various islands and ranged from freshmen to juniors in high school. All had a common purpose....to get away from their parents! Seriously, they came together to learn leadership & team building and attend the Native Hawaiian Education Association conference that was held on the campus of Chaminade University. We even had a bit of excitement with a fire alarm the first night at the Ala Moana Hotel.

Help on the way!

We finally got our grant money at work. We were able to hire two additional people last month. What a huge help! We now have an admin assistant (she's awesome!), and we hired an additional liaison to work with me.
The only bum side to this is that I have to spend a lot of time training our new staff. Fortunately, she's smart and quick to learn, so I don't feel like I'm constantly repeating and explaining things. I sent her out today to shadow my other liaison, so I could catch up with a lot of my work. My brain is fried after doing documentation on twenty files, returning numerous phone calls, and sorting through 55 emails.
I think I'm entitled to go grab some fries from McD's.

Spring Cleaning

My goal for the next couple of months is to go through our home, top to bottom, and get it cleaned. We moved in last summer, but we still have boxes that have never been unpacked. Sometimes, I wonder where some of the things have gone, but dare not to try to even go looking. In the last couple of months, I've emptied closets and cabinets and cleared out the things that were not being used or duplicates. It's amazing what those nooks and crannies hold! Fortunately, we have many ministry contacts around the island, so much of the things we didn't need went to others who really needed them.

This weekend, Jeff spent some time in the yard giving our plants some extra TLC. The grass (or rather weeds) is in the mid stages of "forest" again, so I think that this coming weekend it'll be time for a weed whacking. Jeff says that once the grass is completely covering, the weeds won't grow as fast. I hope he's right.

While Jeff did yard work, I pulled out the cleaning cloths and took off the dirt and dust in some of the cabinets, the counters, and the shelves. I attempted to reach some of the higher places, but for me, that's vertically challenging. I'll have to get the ladder out this weekend. It seems like it's a huge job, but I figured that taking care of it little by little is not as overwhelming.

Maybe I'll take some before and after pictures....

Happy Birthday Kyle!

It was Kyle's birthday last week Friday (March 2nd). He wanted to go to Makino Chaya for dinner, so we went!
The Aloha Tower location opened in December of last year. It's different from the King Street location in that it no longer has a menu that you order from. They have five different "kitchens" that you can take food from. It's still an all you can eat buffet, but the food choices seem to be much more than before. There's a tempura kitchen, teppenyaki kitchen (scallops & kobe beef cooked to order), hot food kitchen (noodles, rice, corn on the cob, chicken wings, etc), seafood kitchen (huge crab legs), sushi, salad bar, and dessert station. Kayla and Kyle no longer pay children's prices, but Kavin was the best deal and more than made up for them. He was free! He probably also ate more than them.
Here he is still eating after he was done and put into the stroller.