Mahalo for your kokua watching out for our keiki

Aloha!

You know what's fun? Going on a work trip to Hawaii.

You know what's more fun? Taking the family along and having a few days of rest and relaxation around the work schedule to ease the pain of summer's demise.

We spent August 16-23 on O'ahu, with the primary purpose being my attendance at a training course. The secondary purpose was fun, fun, fun. I gotta tell you, though, when we first arrived, Sam had some major jet lag - to the extent that my first pictures during the trip were night shots as I was strolling him through Waikiki at all hours of the night so that Nicki and Josh could get some shut eye.

We spent the first couple of days lounging around Waikiki Beach and met a few times with our old friends, Kristin and Dan, and their kids; who happen to be living on the windward side of O'ahu these days. My class kept me busy through August 20, but after that, we made the most of our time on the island.

On the 21st, we planned a big trip to the North Shore, only to find out amongst the entire island traffic jam that Aug 21st was the 50th anniversary of Hawaii's Statehood and was declared a state holiday. We went with the flow and managed to have a lot of fun up in Hale'iwa for a few hours. We stopped in at Cafe Hale'iwa to eat some brunch... banana pancakes for me... to die for. If you ever make it to Hale'iwa, be sure to get there on an empty stomach and hit the cafe. I promise you won't be disappointed. A few hours later, we stopped by Matsumoto's Store, which sells all kinds of stuff but is famous for its Shave Ice. When we got there, the line was out the door - FAR out the door. The Shave Ice was worth the wait. We eventually made it back down to Waikiki in time to watch the sunset, so with camera in hand I shot as many pictures as I could in the window of perfect lighting that occurs around Hawaii sunsets.

On Saturday, we went out to Kailua and Lanikai Beach. Lanikai Beach is in a residential area along the windward side, and its one of the most picturesque spots I've ever had the pleasure to shoot photos. The really good pictures from our trip came from this location (all pics are on our Gallery, dated 09/02/2009). We spent a few hours on the beach playing in the sand, but packed up early so that we could see our friends one last time before leaving the island. Before we left Kailua, we stopped at Bob's Pizza. Bob's a good guy and his pizza slices are huge. He makes authentic Boston style pizza, but I gotta tell you it reminds me a lot of Bronx Pizza in San Diego, hands down my favorite pizza joint on the planet Earth. But I know well enough not to compare anything "Boston" style to anything "New York" style... that'd be like adding gasoline to a fire. So I'll just say that if you ever find yourself in the Kailua area and you need a break from the natural beauty of the town itself (and its beaches), then head over to Bob's for the largest slice of "wicked good" pizza on O'ahu.

Sunday was a travel day. We woke up, returned the rental car, and took a shuttle over to the airport terminal. It's hard to say goodbye to Hawaii, so I'll finish this post in the same manner that I started it.

Aloha!