Filed under: Activities, Family, Kids, Sport | Tags: little league, baseball, waikahala
3 for 3. 3 RBI. The kid’s a natural. I guess I should come clean with the knowledge that there are no outs in the Shetland League. The last batter of each inning hits a grand slam every time. I think Taiyo’s enjoying the game, though. Even if he keeps complaining about how hot the uniforms are in Hawaii weather.
Filed under: Activities, Family, Hawaii, Kids, Sport | Tags: AYSO, goal, soccer dad
I have officially joined the “soccer dad” demographic. Today was Taiyo’s first game in the AYSO five-year old league. Unfortunately the other team had one of those kids with two older brothers who play soccer, so he shredded Taiyo’s team’s defense like lettuce. However, I am proud to report that Taiyo represented with two goals of his own. It just so happened that one of those was in his own net…
Ko Olina is a resort out on the leeward side of the island with four of the most ridiculously paradisiacal manmade lagoons you’ve ever seen. Definitely worth the 40 minute drive out of Honolulu.
Filed under: Activities, Big Island, Dining, Family, Hawaii, Travel | Tags: Big Island, hilo, lushness
Fourth of July weekend, parents in town, three day weekend. We jetted over to the Big Island, our collective first visit. Now the Big Island is, as per its namesake… big. We knew it would be impossible to digest in 2.5 days, and so we picked Hilo as our base, opting against the Disney-esque resorts of the Kona side for something a little more authentically Hawaiian.
Stepping off the plane the senses are immediately assaulted, with peaceful violence, by lushness. Hilo is one of the wettest places on the planet, and the foliage bears witness to this fact. We picked up our gas-guzzling, planet-destroyin’ SUV, and headed for the Dolphin Bay Hotel. This modest little row of condos lies just outside downtown Hilo, and though overpriced, is an enjoyable stay. The owner, John, doubles as a font of local knowledge, and is an invaluable resource. He is also the curator of a small jungle garden at the rear of the property, featuring a grove of banana trees that provides part of the fresh fruit breakfast every morning.
Our next stop was the legendary Ken’s House of Pancakes where I ordered one of the more disgusting culinary creations known to man. (That’s a stack of fried eggs, bacon, ham and pancakes.)
We then paid our respects to Pele, the volcano goddess.
Hiked the Desolation Trail.
And explored the lava tubes.
On Saturday morning we hit the farmer’s market.
Then drove down to Ahanalui, a natural hot spring fed by crashing ocean waves.
Instead of fireworks, we watched lava flow into the ocean at dusk.
The final morning before our flight we walked around Hilo, bought some sweets at the iresistable Sugar Coast Candy, and had easily our best meal of the trip at Cafe Pesto.
Filed under: Activities, Events, Family, Hawaii | Tags: art after dark, buzzing, fleur
On Friday evening I took the whole family out to the latest installment of Art After Dark. It seemed quite a bit more packed than the last time I went. Maybe a little too packed for the kids, but again I was blown away by the beauty of the Academy’s space, and by the buzzing energy of the event itself.
Filed under: Activities, Events, Family, Hawaii, Honolulu, Kids | Tags: iolani fair, rusting tilt-a-whirls
We were able to escape the human cattle pasture that is Punahou Fair, but with not much happening on a Saturday afternoon, we decided to hit Iolani Fair and find out what these school-sponsored fundraisers were all about. Now that I’ve survived the experience, I can share it with you: rusting tilt-a-whirls, half the inflatable slide/bouncing castles on the island, and raising funds, lots of funds. I guess the kids enjoyed it, but we left considerably lighter of pocket and weary of mind.
Filed under: Activities, Family, Hawaii, Honolulu, Kids | Tags: comfortable shoes, discovery center
Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center. You can’t go wrong (assuming your kids are in the 3-8 age range). Enough themed play areas to keep them occupied for half a day. Wear comfortable shoes.
Filed under: Activities, Hawaii, Honolulu | Tags: chinatown, commotion, markets
In the early hours of the weekend days, throngs of Chinese-Hawaiians and penny-pinching haole descend upon the Chinatown markets to get good deals on fruits and vegetables of dubious quality. It’s a real show to watch, full of rich smells and exotic commotion. From a more practical standpoint, however, it would take several visits to acclimatize to the shopping experience, and even when you had, it might be hard to justify the effort spent in a cost-benefit analysis.
Filed under: Activities, Hawaii, Sport | Tags: frisbee, polar bears, sports, ultimate
If you are reading the title of this post and thinking, “The ultimate what?” then you are in need of a serious education.
Ultimate frisbee is perhaps the ultimate sport, combining, as it does, the best of football, basketball and soccer with high-flying frisbee action. The only reason it has not shot to international prominence is that it is perpetually the sport of choice of the slacker, and enjoys a reputation as such. However, when played by experienced and athletic performers, the sport truly rises to levels of excitement that have potential far beyond the semi-underground place where the it resides today.
Like the ping-pong tables of our youth, frisbee has always been there, ever-present, under-respected.
I was introduced to ultimate in college, via the disorganized pickup game, and the slightly more organized intramural game. Later on in Tokyo I played pickup games in Yoyogi Park on weekends, but as the kids came my involvement gradually trailed off. Here in Honolulu I’ve gotten more involved than I ever have, joining the Hawaii Ultimate fall league. The folks in the league are pretty serious about the game, and I’m actually learning plays and formations for the first time in my life. The team I’m on, Polar Bears for Pipelines, is 3-1, but I’ve started to discover that there are differences between what I was able to do five years ago and now. It now takes me a whole week to recover from the hamstring strains and calf pulls that seem to slow me up in each and every game.
Filed under: Activities, Hawaii | Tags: adventure, awesomeness, hawaiian, hurricane hugo, park, waters
Gather round, kiddies, and I’ll tell yas what it used to be like back in my day. My grandparents had an old beachhouse in central Myrtle Beach that was built by my great grandfather, the savings and loan tycoon of Lancaster, SC. It was a pretty modest affair, a one-story, three bedroom cottage with sandy tile floors and a rickety wooden screened in porch. No ac. Across the road from the beach. That is, until the cancerous growth of beachfront hotels and condos rendered the ocean view and the beachhouse itself (demolished for a parking lot) obsolete. The grandparents received a newer, larger, more modern beachhouse further up the beach, in a more secluded area. We went there a few times later in our childhood, but it just wasn’t the same. In the aftermath of cleaning up from Hurricane Hugo, the grandparents decided the beachhouse wasn’t worth the maintenance hassle, and sold it.
There were quite a few happy rituals for us kiddies that were tied up with the summer trips to the beach. One of which was a trip to the local water slide park. I’m sure that place is a Walmart or something now, but at the time it was five slides of sheer awesomeness. The slides all had the same basic layout: winding halfpipes of varying degrees of speed and excitement. You went down on a rubbery blue mat. Simple stuff, a joke by today’s standards. Not much more than a glorified slip-n-slide. But I couldn’t get enough.
Since then, the only water park I had been to was Toshima-en, in Tokyo. Which was pretty decent, for a crowded Japanese theme park.
A few weeks ago, I took Taiyo to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park. I had a met a guy in our local park who claimed to take his boy there once every two weeks. I found that ludicrous at the time, and after our day trip, I still found it ludicrous. However, I could see maybe once a month. It is a very well-designed park (and not just for Hawaii). A couple of keiki zones for the smaller kids like Taiyo. And a slew of slippery sluices for the bigger kids. Made the mistake of trying one of those with Taiyo (who doesn’t swim) and took a dive underwater in the landing pool. Taiyo wasn’t happy about that. But two minutes later he was back in the keiki zone with a big grin on his face. Maybe next time we’ll spring for the year pass.
