The Luau

So, it wouldn't be a visit to Hawaii without going to a Luau. So, we went.

The kids got a chance to practice with some of the props that the ladies use during the show.

J Man was pretty thrilled about his special drink.

Here we all our waiting to eat.

B and I in the glow of the setting sun.

So, here is what we ate. There is a pig in there.

After eating the amazing food the entertainment got started.

The "Fire Man" as J Man called him was has a crowd favourite. 

The "Fire Man" was also J Man's favourite and got a chance to have a picture taken with some of the men from the show. This picture makes me laugh, not at the performers, but at how white my little  man in front is!

Of course, having the Luau at a great hotel on the beach meant for another chance to see another amazing sunset.

The Hawaii House

Here is the house that we stayed in while in Hawaii. It had enough room for all 10 of us. Each room had it's own lanai and a great view of the ocean.

The real highlight was the pool. It was cold but very needed on the hot humid days. We spent lots of time in there, several times a day.

This is what our lanai looked like on the last day. 

Here is the view from the driveway/road as you drove towards the house. It's the house on the left. 

And finally, here is the view from the lanai of one of the many amazing sunsets. 

The Geckos

One of the only things my kids wished they could do in Hawaii was to find a gecko. Little did we know that was probably the easiest wish to full fill. They were EVERYWHERE!

They were smaller than I thought they would be but just as cute as you could imagine. 

The game for the week was to try to catch one. Only a few of us were brave enough to try, Paul's mom being the least of them. She really had no desire to be any where near them, probably similar to how I feel about spiders.

My niece though loved them and called them "puppies" till the last day and then learned how to say "gecko." So cute!

They were very curious...

...and brave enough to approach the "gecko whisperer" Cici.

She couldn't get enough of them and had them coming to her hand to eat. 

While eating outside they would join us.  On the table, under our feet. The reaction my sister in law gave when one touched her bare foot was priceless. Even funnier was the reaction she gave when her husband held a piece of lettuce up to her saying "LOOK A GECKO!" Still makes me laugh. 

This is Buddy. Cici named all of them, even the baby one that she was able to hold. Buddy though was a strong favourite. How could you not love such an adorable face?

Animals we have seen in Hawaii

Our list is growing, but here are the animals we have seen so far here in Hawaii.

Geckos, lots and lots of geckos. We have even held some baby ones, which was a dream come true for the kids!

Feral cats- in fact these cats look better than the house cat that lives next door. We have named him Mangie. He keeps us up at night with his cat's fights.

Wild goats on the side of the road eating grass in the lava fields.

A Humpback whale. He was putting on a show for us on shore with tremendous tail slapping!

Cockroaches. Enough said.

Lots of tropical fish while snorkeling. Puffer fish, yellow tangs, Nemo's, really anything from that movie we have seen and many more that we have no idea what they are.

Doves and many other birds that we don't know what they are, wake us up every morning, loudly, very loudly.

We had the chance yesterday at the Hilton hotel to hold some parrots. They were so sweet and the kids all had the chance to have Macaws sit on their head and hold a small green parrot like a baby.

There were also dolphins at the hotel. We watched mama and baby dolphins be trained and watched as visitors were able to swim with them as well. We passed on that adventure, $250 per person was a bit steep for us.

The highlight so far has been the sea turtles. At the Hilton there is a lagoon that you can snorkel in for free with sea turtles and tropical fish. It is so amazing. Paul got his high five and then also got a body check by another one. When they are all around you it is really intimidating, they are huge! Even little J Man went in today and swam with the turtles. B was happy enough to watch them from the paddle boat! Cici was a natural and lead the way. It will be one of my favorite memories from the trip, swimming holding my kid's hands following sea turtles as they glide below us.

We are hoping to see Manta Rays tonight.  They come close to shore near a hotel because the plankton that they eat are attracted by the lights of the hotel. Fingers crossed we can see these amazing creatures.

It is hard to believe that we leave tomorrow, it has been a fantastic trip. Lots of amazing memories made, we are pinker and saltier. Look forward to sharing more of our adventures with pictures when we arrive home. Till then...

Hawaii

We are here! There is no access to the internet from my devices here, so I am using my in laws computer here at the house. Hopefully, I can hit a Starbucks soon and can post a few pictures and highlights from the past few days.

We have been having a great time. The weather is amazing and being with family in such an amazing place is pretty great.

Just wanted to check in and say that we are having a great time, our skin is pinker and we feel relaxed. Stay tuned for more updates with pictures hopefully!

To Do List

Today I need to:

Get up and get ready
Get Cici up and ready for her running team, she leaves for school before everyone else
Get the others up so they can get to school, feed them
Take them to school (Paul gets to join all the fun today, it's his day off!)
Stay for J Man's party day and watch him do the songs he has learned this month
Go back to B's school to watch her do Gym Sense gymnastic program
Go get last minute things for our trip! Oh, ya, we leave for Hawaii in 2 days!!!!!
Go back to pick up J Man from his school
Get home, eat lunch and pack and clean and pack and clean and pack and clean
Bake a cake for a ladies dinner I am going to tonight
Go to the girl's school to watch Cici do her Gym Sense thing
Pick up the girl's from school
Get home
Feed them a snack
Pack and clean and pack and clean
Go to ladies dinner while Paul takes care of the kids and drives Cici and some of her friends to Youth group tonight... and goes back to pick them all up!
Come home and get some sleep!
Then pack and clean and pack and clean and pack and clean!

There is such an excited energy in the house with our trip in just two days. Hopefully you can follow our adventures on Twitter, though the internet at the house we are staying at doesn't work. There will be lots of pictures and stories of our trip though when we return. Stay tuned! Aloha!

Edit Challenge

Thanks to the new digital age, there are truly endless possibilities now in photography on how you decide to edit a photo. I thought it would be fun to show you two simple examples of how the same picture can turn out very differently. 

This is the picture that came straight out of my camera. 

This is one way of editing the picture....

Here is another way...

On one of the few sunny days here, I noticed the water drops hanging on the chain link fence behind our house. I thought it was pretty and challenged myself to see what I could make of it.

Here is the picture I came up with, this one is straight from the camera. It has potential to be cool and funky.

You can decide what edit you like best!

My kids have made their pics, now you can make yours!

More Guitars

This past weekend I took more photos of guitars. My client brought more for me to capture. The 1928 also made a reappearance. This has been a real learning curve for me as I have never done any studio work with lighting etc. I learned lots form last week's shoot and put those new lessons into this shoot.

Here are some of the shots from this past weekends shoot.