Another Family Fun Day

Sunday was a family day.

First a baptismal celebration for Juliet's cousin's baby. Or in Filipino: the Grandson of your wife's mother's brother.

Then lunch at the Oceanarium Restaurant at the Pacific Beach Hotel.

Wrapped up with the picnic celebration for Royce's graduation.

Kegling is Kewl

We were at a birthday party for Netheniah today at Aiea Bowl. I haven't been there since the ownership changed and they renovated it.

It's much brighter and a little more contemporary now.

I understand the part-owners are two brothers who have some culinary background and they've upgraded the fare in the dining part of the operation.

The party was great fun although I chose not to do any bowling but the staff there worked hard to ensure that all had a good time.

Nate's a really good kid. This is him patiently waiting for the lanes to open up.

Aside from the obligatory pizza, soda and fries that you'd see at most 6 year-old birthdays they also served fried saimin, garlic chicken and garlic shrimp. The latter two were great, esp. the shrimp.

Happy Birthday Nate!

Tsaiko Gathering at Genji

What do you get when a roomful of Warrior football fans who also love to eat, talk, laugh, and sing come together?

A Tsaiko Karaoke Kall!

Juliet and I enjoyed the company immensely as we got to see a big gathering of Tsaikos that included people we see quite regularly at the gatherings and many we don't get to see very often at all.

It's a special group; we always look forward to getting together.

Prime Rib for Deux

With gas back over $3.00 per gallon and the opening of the Sam's Club gas station down the road in Pearl City, it was amazing to look over and see single-digit count of cars at the Costco Gas in Waipio. This was at about 10:00 am on Thursday. Usually right about opening time for the warehouse things are pretty busy at the gas pumps. Will have to keep an eye on that!



Went back to New Eagle Cafe last night. This time I went with Juliet. We decided the Prime Rib Special was too good to pass up. (two complete dinners for $29.99) Surprisingly, she finished the whole thing - about a 12 oz. cut!
...and we both enjoyed the banana pie for dessert which was in abundant supply this time!

Break in the Action

We just had a brief rain shower a little after sunset. Forecast for a little more rain in the next few days; a welcome break from the heat this past week.

Speaking of breaks. Glad Hump Day is done; looking forward to getting together with a bunch of Tsaikos on Saturday. Several out-of-towners will be joining us. That will be fun.

A few more pics from the party yesterday.

Joyful Gathering

The family got together again for a graduation party at Joyful Garden Fine Asian Cuisine in Kaneohe. It was a terrific 9-course dim sum meal. Most of the course were dim sum with a few regular courses like the beef with vegetable in a deep-fried taro bowl.

It was another nice gathering; everyone had a great time.

Oh Boy, Roy!

A special treat from the staff.

Braised short ribs.

Macadamia nut encrusted Shutomi.

A fun night out.

A very nice dinner at Roy's in Ko Olina tonight. I haven't been to one of his restaurants for dinner in quite a while. I liked the atmosphere at this location; it's not as loud and busy which allows dining to be more relaxed.

Party Prep

Everyone has a great time at grad parties (at least, that's the plan) but seldom does anyone think about the preparations that go into the event. My experience is that it's usually the parents who are most involved with things but it's a nice time to get family together and catch up.

Old School

Went to New Eagle Cafe with Ryan and Brent for dinner tonight. It's one of a dying breed of old time eateries in Hawaii. Kuhio Grill....Aloha Grill....Columbia Inn....Flamingo....

Good food. Reasonable prices. Good service (read as: fast!).

One thing that makes these places special is the waitresses. (No waiters; no wait staff; no servers) Older, local ladies who know their job - get the food down ASAP...but with character.

Ryan showed up a little late for dinner so Brent and I delayed ordering our dessert until he almost caught up. New Eagle has great pies. I think the owner's wife still bakes them. Brent orders a banana pie and since this is the first time to this restaurant, he has hopes that it will equal the pie he remembers from Flamingo. It does.

So Ryan decides he'd like one, too. Alas, the waittress informs us that Brent's was the last piece of banana. :-( So Ryan decides, no dessert.

A little while later she brings a small slice of banana pie!

The funny part is she tells us, "Here, had one small slice left. You cut my line, I was going eat 'em but das okay!"

"You cut my line!" Ryan and I haven't heard that in ages and Brent never heard it before! Too funny!

btw, Baylor is doing better today. Yay!

Prayers for Baylor

Prayers for Baby Baylor who's having a tough day.

Circumstantial Pomp

It was a weekend for graduations and grad parties.

Saturday saw us at HBA's graduation followed by a party to celebrate one of Brent's buddy's St. Louis graduation after which I dropped off Juliet to greet another friend's daughter at the Punahou graduation.

Tonight we attended another St. Louis graduate's party in Mililani.

This week there is more graduation stuff as we help Juliet's cousin prepare for her daughter's party (the HBA graduate) which is this coming Saturday.

End of a long week

Finished up a pretty tough week of work. Fast changes necessary to stay ahead of things in this market make it pretty fatiguing on the mind. The other thing I notice is that the down economy puts strains on personal relationships that bleed over into the work place; another thing that needs adaptation.
On a bright note, the books closed on May and it turned out to be a good month after all was said and done so that's definitely something for which to be thankful.

Had a great lunch today with some Tsaikos at Camellia. Good times.

Baby Baylor

Our friends Craig and Bri had their baby this morning.

Baylor was born at 8 am.

Here's his Uncle Billy Ray and the newborn. GrandDad Bill sent the picture to me. Everyone's real excited.

Congratulations!

Sunday in the Park

We had a late birthday celebration for Brent at Kapiolani Park yesterday.

Lots of fun and sun...so much that I was too tired to post anything last night.

We finally broke down and bought our own volleyball set and someone brought "Potagee Horseshoes". Everyone had a good time.