Solstice Canyon Trail Hike

As part of our ongoing intiative to explore Los Angeles, Mahina found a dog-friendly hiking trail in Malibu that led up to a waterfall. So, we decided that it was high time we took the dogs in the great outdoors, Solstice Canyon.

At one with Mother Nature again, Harley immediately took to the trails and was glad to be back in the wilderness. Duke, on the other hand, was a little more weary of the whole thing and stayed close to Mahina. The trail wasn't as crowded as we had originally expected, though I think that's because we missed the morning rush. Since we were just getting our feet wet with this whole hiking thing our path was pretty well laid out in front of us. No, it wasn't a paved road and yes it did involved river crossings...when the definition of a river is two inches of water. The four of us walked our way through the mile long path to the waterfall at the top of the stream. While dogs weren't allowed to get close to the waterfall itself there was a nice little area where they could jump in the river stream and goof around for a bit.

On the way back down, Mahina was reminded that hard way that what goes around comes around. Appaled by my decision to relieve myself outdoors in the wilderness as generations of our species has before me, Mahina tried to get blackmail worth pictures of me at one with the wilderness. A few moments later karma came back to say hello when the rock she thought was a solid foothold to cross the raging stream beneath us sunk right into the marshy dirty water and soaked her shoes and socks through.

To the squishing sounds of Mahina's wet feet we made our way down the last quarter-mile of the trail until we were back in the parking lot where Mahina was finally able to get her feet out of those wet and soggy socks.

On a more somber note, our delicate fragile male dog Duke developed a slight limp on his back right leg as a result of this hike. We are glad to update you however in August that he is walking around just fine and seems to have made a marvelous recovery.

Bridget and Ely's Going Away Party

We got an email one afternoon that our friends Bridget and Eli would be moving back to Hawai`i in the next couple of months. The email had come a little sooner than most people who knew Bridget and Eli expected...while it was always in their cards to move back to Hawai`i, doing so before 2011 was a surprise to a lot of people. But, such is life and when an opportunity comes your way, like it did for Bridget, you respond.

With only a few weekends left before the big move, Bridget and Eli organized a little going away shindig. Admittedly, Mahina was a little jealous that Bridget and Eli would be getting to move back to Hawai`i, but she was also really excited for the opportunity that they are pursuing. The going away party was originally intended to be a beach bonfire, but that didn't quite work out...which in the end may have been a good thing. Unbeknowst to anyone, the fire pits at Dockweiler Beach are all claimed by 10am with people coming as early as 6am to reserve the best pit on the sand. So when Bridget and Eli cruised over about 3pm to find a spot it wasn't happening. What we also didn't know what that there had recently been a couple of gang shoot-outs at Dockweiler, in broad daylight and at night, so maybe things we were working out in our favor after all.

We all ended up at Eli's college roommate, John's house in Torrance. John had a great bachelor pad which he had remodeled. A few other of Bridget and Eli's friends came over to the house and we all spent the evening watching Avatar in Blu-Ray (insane), grilling food and telling stories.

As the night came to a close, we all wished Bridget & Eli well and hoped to see them again before the big move. But hey, at least it gives us another excuse to go to Hawai`i!

Keith Urban Concert!!!

Concerts, Concerts, Concerts! I think I can officially say that I am hooked on them. This time Lucas was nice enough to give up his ticket to let one of my best friends, Jill, come with me. Since we all know how much Lucas is a fan of country music, we know that this was really hard for him to do. Hahaha. Jill and I started the night at her place getting ready and then headed over to grab dinner at Jerry's Famous Deli. Their pastrami sandwiches are AMAZING!

After dinner we decided to leave our car in Westwood and walk up to the UCLA Tennis Center where the concert was happening. This concert was a bit different because it wasn't part of Keith Urban's tour, but was a concert benefiting the Grammy Foundation. The proceeds from the concert were going to continue a summer camp that is held for high school students interested in music that don't have access to it in their school. Both of us had never seen a concert there so we were excited to experience one in such a small and intimate venue.  The opening act for Keith Urban was the Avett Brothers and their unique blend of voices and guitar did not disappoint.

When Keith Urban finally got on stage, the crowd was going nuts and our blood was pumping from all the excitement. From the first strum to the last note, every person there was taken aback by his voice, stage presence and guitar skills. I had read that he was known more for his guitar skills than his singing skills and boy were they right. You could tell how versatile he was with his instrument because after every song or so, he would switch up his guitar to get them re-tuned. My favorite part of the concert had to be when he brought up six kids from this year's summer camp to sing and play with him their favorite song. It was amazing seeing kids living their dream on stage in front of more than 1,000 fans. All in all, I can't wait for Keith Urban to come back to Los Angeles so that I can take/drag Lucas to see him perform!

Ho'olaule'a

Ho`olaulea comes about every third week in July and is a huge Hawaiian festival of the arts, foods and merchandise of the islands that is sponsored by the Hawaiian Inter-Club Council of Southern California. This year, after two years of attending as guests, Mahina and I went as workers. Mahina's halau volunteered with a local Hawaiian civic community to work the food booth baking Manapuas, Shoyu Chicken, Chow Mein and Wontons. As with most strenuous outings, if Mahina was "volunteered" to go, so was I. We spent most of both Saturday and Sunday serving up fresh Manapuas and lunch plates galore. Hawaiians lived up to their name and consumed their fair share and then some of the food we were serving

When we were dishing out food faster than we could make it, Mahina and I wandered around the fair grounds checking out the latest and greatest Hawaiian merchandise on display. Mahina was slowly making eyes with an ukulele and sending hints my way that she wanted to take up lessons as part of her Halau lessons and dancing. Little did I know that she was also scheming to get me to take up the ukulele and develop some musical talents.

Sunday afternoon rolled around and after being nearly buried alive in food and grease we managed to escape. After one last heavy dose of hinting and nudging we made our way over to the Styles of Hawai`i booth and purchased a Concert Ukulele by Lanikai as well as a hard shell case "to protect from the dogs." As soon as we were in the car headed home, Mahina had it busted out and was fiddling with it excited to be learning to play a new instrument.

Sliding into Home

Just my luck, I got suckered into another book signing; this time though I made sure that Mahina went and got a wristband, because there was no way I waiting in the standby line again. Luckily when Mahina got there they were handing out Letter F wristbands, but someone came back to turn their Letter A wristband in because they couldn't make it. From the back to the front, things were starting to look up in our book signing life.

This time we knew what time to arrive and got there with plenty of time to spare. Even though there were already plenty of people in line Mahina's Letter A whisked us away to the top of the queue. We both had horrible flashbacks thinking of Tori's book signing and remembering how long we sat around and waited so we could empathize with all the people sitting around and waiting.

Minutes before the event was to begin you could feel the sense of excitement building as people stared at the side entrace where Kendra and her entourage would enter from, look away for a second and you could miss the first glimpse. Girls screamed and the flash bulbs buzzed as Kendra made her entrance. By this time we had only been in line for maybe 30 minutes so we were feeling really good

After a short question and answer session, the signing began. 20 minutes later we were at the front of the line as Mahina fretted over what to talk with Kendra about. As she walked up, her trust back-up topic sprang to mind; Hawai`i! Kendra and her husband Hank had just vacationed there! With a sign of relief they chatted about Hawai`i and which hotel they had stayed at comparing pools and tanning spots.

Sugarland Concert... Again!!!

I know what you're thinking, "what, another concert?" Yes, 2010 has been the year of the concerts and exploring everything that Los Angeles has to offer. Lucas, being that he has his I.T. background, is always in charge of technology; whether it be our phones, our computers or our cameras.  With this in mind, what do you think could have possibly gone wrong? No, he didn't forget the camera, he just forgot the MEMORY CARD for it!  My husband; gotta love him.

Seeing Sugarland again has just solidified the fact that they are my favorite band.  I think they might also be growing on Lucas too.  William Hoge and Michelle Branch opened for Sugarland and they did not disappoint any of the fans as we all anxiously waited for Sugarland to come on stage.  Everyone sang along with Michelle when she sang Everywhere and All You Wanted, her hits.

Once Sugarland got on stage, the night flew by.  My favorite songs from them right now have to be All I Want to Do (Which is my ringtone) and Wide Open from their new CD that releases on October 19th (Yes, I know when it comes out).  I really wished that the night wouldn't end and that they would continue to sing.  I had Lucas save our less than 30 shots that we could take with our camera's memory for Sugarland. Thank gosh he got some great shots!

Can't wait to see them again!

uncharted terriTORI

Mahina had heard through the grapevine that Tori Spelling was going to be having a book signing at the Barnes and Nobles at the Grove. Being the Tori and Dean fan that she is, this obviously meant that we would be attending said book signing. Being our first ever book signing, we were clueless as to how these things worked. Knowing that the book signing was at 7:00pm we cleverly decided that 6:00pm would be an appropriate time to arrive; best to get there early right? Wrong.

These book signings are a production. People had gone to the Grove earlier that morning specifically to get a wristband to avoid the afternoon line; this smells like trouble. Needless to say, despite our early arrival at 6:00pm we were in the standby group. Book signings have set number of meet and greets and it wasn't guaranteed that being in the standby group would get you a "John Hancock." But the word on the street was that Tori was a "great book signer" and would stay until the last fan got an autograph. Good news for us.

Being the adventurer that I am, I thought it wise to bring the dogs with us so that they could walk around the Grove while Mahina waited in line for a little bit to get her book signed; ya, that idea was out the window. So the dogs and I walked around for a little bit and then they went to hang out in the car (Don't worry people, parking structure + cool night = safe dogs).

Mahina quickly made friends with the people in front of us in line and was having a grand 'ole time chatting it up while I was left to fend for myself in a line that wasn't going anywhere fast. When Tori, Dean, the kids and the entourage arrived there was a lot of excitement and flash bulbs going off as the paparazzi and fans alike tried to snap a picture of the celebrity family. At 7:30pm they were on Letter J, by 9:30pm they were still on Letter J. Combine "celebrity-time" with kids and you've got a recipe for a late running show. We'd reached the point though where we had been in line for so long already that what was a little longer to get the book signed; turns out a little longer turned into another 2 hours. By the time Mahina had made it to the front of the line Dean and the kids had departed (a spectacle in and of itself), but Tori and her entourage including Mehran trudged on through the night. Mahina and Tori chatted about how Tori's nick name for Mehran is Mahina or Meenah. Sadly just a few minutes before both of our phones died so the picture of Mahina and Tori was taken by Mahina's new found friend in line and even more unfortunately we never got a copy of it.

But rest assured my feet and disdain for waiting in line at Barnes and Noble can attest to the fact that we spent a solid 5 hours in line at Tori's book signing. Lucky for me Mahina already had her eye on the next big book signing... Kendra Wilkinson.

Run for the Trees for the Amazon Foundation

Along with our quest to really "experience" Los Angeles, we have also decided to participate in Runs/Walk in the area to support good causes and to get back in shape.  Our first event that we signed up for was the 5K Run for the Trees for the Amazon Foundation.

The Amazon Foundation was established in 2009 to acquire and to preserve large tracts of the Amazon rain forest in their natural state in order to maintain its ecological function, biodiversity, and climatologic function and to protect the region's long-term ecological viability and to create global awareness for the cause via marketing campaigns and charitable events.  No, I did not come up with that sentence, it is their mission statement and on their website.

Overall, it was a great experience, and I say "great" loosely because I spent the rest of the day tired, sore, and napping in bed while Lucas was laying on the couch in his own pain.  Hahaha.

One Year Anniversary - Cruise to Mexico!!!

The way we saw it, 365 days of marriage entitled us to a quick vacation. True to our recent vacation history we opted for a quick skip and a hop down to Mexico on a 3-day cruise stopping in Ensenada.

The Carnival Paradise departed LA on Friday the 11th and would ultimatly bring us back to reality early Monday the 14th. We got to Long Beach mid-afternoon and luckily beat the rush of people behind us to get onboard. Unlike on our honeymoon the embarkation process was a breeze with no technology issues to hold us up. The Paradise was essentially the same as the Victory that we sailed on last year just a bit smaller. Our cabin was the very front room on the port side, instead of a window our room came with 2 portholes lookng out onto the water. The portholes actually ended up being one of our favorite features of the room (the other being that the bed was two twin size mattresses pushed together - an ocean of room compared to our full sze bed).

We spent the first afternoon walking around the ship and just unwinding from a busy work week until it was time for dinner and for the ship to set sail. The trip wound up being our first experience eating with fellow passengers (last year they gave us a table for 2) and we wound up meeting some great people at our table: Nils and Katrina, from Utah, and Brooke and John from Fresno.

The only thing on our schedule for the weekend was a tour of the Bufadora (one of 3 blow holes in the world) and a tour of one of Mexico's oldest wineries, Santo Tomas. On the walk to see the Bufadora we came across a kiosk for an animal reserve in Mexico. As a gimmick for donations, they would allow you to take a photo with a baby lion or tiger ($20) or both ($35). Mahina and Brooke were in heaven at the idea of holding a tiger and a lion. Before they knew it they each had a baby lion or tiger in their arms, as John and I stood by with camera in hand.

We spent the rest of the morning checking out the winery and tasting an assortment of their wines. The winery has been producing award winning wine since the late 1800s and the winery is one of the only wineries to be run by a woman. We were able to not only try, but also buy some great wine.

Back on the ship, we all took advantage of the opportunity to just relax and unwind. The weather, while overcast for the entire trip, was still pleasant enough for us to enjoy the outside decks of the ship. That night we went to the ship's first show of the weekend which was loosely based on a western. Mahina also found and quickly became addicted to each evening's Bingo game. Although we never ended up winning any of the Bingo games we came pretty darn close.

Sunday, Mahina had found out about a backstage tour of the ship as our "at sea excursion." The tour took us through the kitchen, the laundry facilities, the engine control room, the bridge and also behind the scenes of the ship's performance stage. It was a great chance to see the behind-the-scenes of this huge cruise ship and get an insight into the day-to-day lives of the staff and crew on board.

Our weekend was a huge success for us - we got the chance to relax and enjoy ourselves for the weekend while celebrating our 1 year anniversary - and we got to meet some great new friends. Hopefully we'll be on our next cruise sooner rather than later.

Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum Concert

Yes, we know what you are all thinking.  Another concert?  2010 has been the year of concerts for us on our quest to immerse ourselves in festivals, concerts and everything mainland/Los Angeles.  We know that at some point we will be moving back to Hawaii and won't get to do this stuff there.  Let's be honest, why would a country music artist come to the islands of Hawaii?

As for the concert, it was once again a great time! Like our Sugarland concert, we travel a ways to see them, all the way to the San Manuel Amphitheater.  A small band called Love and Theft opened the show with a surprisingly great set list to kick off the night.  Once Lady Antebellum hit the stage, the crowd went wild.  From start to finish, they were not stop energy and talent.  When they sang "Need You Now," everyone was on their feet screaming and singing all the words; I think even the band was surprised how "country" Southern California could be.

As for the main act, Tim McGraw did not disappoint.  He rocked the house all night to about 25 songs.  Lucas and I were surprised that he still had a voice after belting song after song like it was his first. My favorite part of the concert had to be when he slowed down the house and talked to the audience about buy his first guitar.  He was 18 when he pawned his class ring for a guitar so that he could not become famous, but to "get laid."  How Funny!  Lucas' favorite part of the show by far was when Tim McGraw sang "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John and brought on a little girl in the front section to dance with him.  It was a great night!

Glee Live!!! in Concert

With the Glee phenomenon sweeping the nation and capturing my heart it was clear we had a one-way ticket to the concert with the original cast. We got Bailey and Aunt Karen on board to come with us and Bailey's friend Riley came along too. Riley, Bailey, Lucas and I had a lot of fun at the concert (The girls might have enjoyed themselves a bit more).  We made sure to sing along to all the songs, while Lucas naturally became the photographer of the "grand" event.  As I looked around the Gibson Amphitheatre, I saw the same "glee" on Lucas' face as many of the other fathers/husbands/boyfriends had.  Most of them probably didn't want to be caught dead in that place but there was a mutual understanding between them that they were being "supportive" by being dragged there.

Daughtry and Lifehouse Concert and Lucas' New Job

Fresh off of the Sugarland concert, I planned a Girls Night with some girls at work to go to the Daughtry and Lifehouse concert at the Nokia Theater.  That venue was one of the best indoor venues I have ever been to because of how acoustically sound it was.  We started off the night by grabbing dinner at Rock'N Fish where I had one of the best crabcake burgers I have ever had!

We entered the concert at the perfect time, minutes before Lifehouse came on stage.  Boy, did they start the night on a good note.  After Lifehouse played their setlist, everyone was waiting anxiously for the grand entrance of Daughtry.  The whole concert was completely overshadowed by the encore; the main singers from Lifehouse and Daughtry sang a duet mash-up of their most popular songs, You and Me and Home.  It was by far the highlight of the concert and made the whole audience wishing the concert wouldn't end.

Also on the same day, Lucas started his new job at American Golf.  We are so happy and excited for this change and with this new job.  Now we can't wait to learn how to golf.  If anyone has some pointers, please let us know!

Sugarland Concert = Best Concert Ever

We were off to Bakersfield, of all places, to see Sugarland in concert. Mahina had been talking about seeing them perform since they were on tour with and opening for Keith Urban. We finally managed to score some seats and hit the road for the long drive to the middle of no where. 

Once we made it, we immediately realized that we were about to be in the midst of a very rambunctious, beer guzzling crowd. But as soon as the concert started Sugarland took over and rocked the stage. They had incredible stage presence and were extremely enthusiastic throughout the whole show. There isn't a whole lot more to say about the show - Sugarland was incredible and put on a great show. It was nice to see an artist who spent a lot of time throughout and after the show signing fan memorabilia and gave one lucky fan a signed guitar. 

If you can check out the show, we highly recommend it!  We had such a great time at the concert, that we actually bought tickets to another one of their concerts in Los Angeles in July.  Stay tuned for that post!

Lucas' Class Lu`au

For the last 12 weeks, Lucas has been taking a beginner's course in the Hawaiian language which culminated in a class lu`au at the UC Irvine campus. We all got together to share in what we had learned as a class and celebrate over some great Hawaiian food and share in the culture together. 

Each student got a chance to share either a genealogy chant of their family, a hula dance or a song to the class. It was really fun to get to spend some face to face time with each of his classmates who he had otherwise known as screen names on his online class sessions. Randomly enough, and this just proves how small the world is, one of the other students, Haunani, taking a higher level Hawaiian class happened to know my mom when they were both in High School at Kamehameha. It was really fun to get to hear about their high school days.

On our way out, we got one last surprise from UC Irvine - a parking ticket. We were parked in the visitor parking lot, but apparently only some of the actual parking spots were for visitors. Naturally we weren't parked in one of these visitor parking spots, despite being in the visitor parking lot. Yes, California is that desperate for money that they'll do anything to issue tickets. This brings the count of parking tickets received to 3 by Lucas and 1 by Mahina in my car... Argh. 

Glee Premiere at The Grove!!!

Gleeks!

The addiction and phenomenon that has become Glee was not at all evident the night of the special premiere of the first episode of the second half of Season 1 at the Grove in Los Angeles... Ya right. When we got there at 5pm for the 7pm showing the line was already around the block and continuing to grow. KISS FM was playing host to the people in line as well as the premiere itself so luckily we had some entertainment while we all waited in line. The Glee Cheerleaders were working the line handing out hats, posters and water to everyone waiting.

After a short two-hour wait the line finally began to show signs of life and slowly started moving. We don't think that everyone made it into the special viewing area, but the fenced off area in front of the projection screen was standing room only as everyone got excited to see the premiere. Continuing to build the hype, KISS FM held a couple of Glee sing-off contests and dance contests giving away prizes and tickets to the Glee Concert before showing the episode. What we were really waiting for though was for the sun to set so that the projector screen wouldn't be washed out. Much to everyone's glee (no pun intended), most of the cast made an appearance at the premiere and said hello to the crowd and introduced the episode when it was time to get the show rolling. 

With the episode underway, the crowd went silent and stood transfixed on the screen as the episode was shown. At the end, they also previewed the next episode, Madonna, as everyone was walking out. When the night came to a close it had been fun and exciting to see the episode surrounded by a ton of fans and making out with special Glee water and a cast poster was great too!

Dinner with Ke`ala, Mac and Sarah!!!

Ke`ala was in Los Angeles for a couple of days with her boyfriend Pierre touring the city and seeing the sights which gave us all a chance to get together for dinner. We were joined by Sarah, Mac and her boyfriend, Joel, who came up from Long Beach. We all met up in Beverly Hills at Gyu-Kaku had a great time catching up on each others happenings while grilling our own food at the table. 

Having criss-crossed the globe on many adventures, Pierre and Ke`ala were slowing down for a couple of weeks to enjoy some time in Hawai`i with Ke`ala's family and relax around the island. Ke`ala and Pierre met in China while Ke`ala was teaching English and Pierre was attending university. It was great to finally meet Pierre and get to spend some time with Ke`ala catching up on our lives.

Mac and Joel made it up from Long Beach to join us all for dinner and it was great getting to see them again. Joel and I had taken up the duties of managing the grilling and were trying to keep up with the vanishing act the cooked food seemed to be playing.

Sarah had the stereotypical glow that comes with being well into the second half of her pregnancy and everyone was overjoyed to see her and see that she was doing well. The girls spent the majority of the night recalling great memories and telling stories about each other which was a lot of fun for all of us guys to hear. When they weren't trading stories, everyone was trying to guess what the sex of Sarah's baby was going to be. Sarah had made the great decision of not knowing what sex her baby was going to be until the birth (hint hint nudge nudge Mahina), so everyone had fun trying to guess and of course throw out names for the baby. It was sad to see everyone go as the night came to an end and everyone went on their way. But, it was a great chance to get to see everyone and spend some time together.

Gladstone's Brunch

Nema and Olivia were in town, and although they had a packed schedule we managed to meet up with them for Brunch this past weekend. Nema was craving a seafood, specifically lobster, brunch so we eventually ended up at Gladstone's. And by eventually, we mean an hour late because the LA Marathon decided to end its course right at the Santa Monica pier, making traffic on the 10 a nightmare. Leave it to Nema to head into Santa Monica as well and it was a disaster of epic proportions.

Meanwhile Mahina and I spent some time at the beach enjoying the ocean and relaxing; this also gave Mahina plenty of time to spew of comments about bicyclists hogging the road, valet attendants high-fiving each other and the general inept driving skills of Malibu's elite.

We all made it to Gladstone's where the four of us were also joined by Nema's cousin Payam and his girlfriend Maritza (Nema correct our spelling on this). We all settled into our booth and enjoyed a great seafood breakfast over watermelon mojitos and drinks. On a side note, Nema and Payam also managed to bring my phone back from the dead after Mahina broke it taking this picture of the beach, I'm glad to say it's alive and well again. It was a great meal and a laid back atmosphere at Gladstone's which made for a really nice brunch.

The Green and Anuhea Concert

Some of my old friends and classmates from Kamehameha had just gone on tour across the mainland and were coming into Los Angeles to play at The Mint. Naturally, Lucas and I made sure that we attended so that I could be with "my people" and he could "get culture."

The Green includes core members JP Kennedy, Caleb Keolanui, Zion Thompson and Ikaika Antone.  Now these boys were no ordinary "opening act," since all four guys sing and two guys can play two instruments.  Their first album, "The Green" hit #3 on the Billboard Reggae charts.  They could have definitely had a concert that only starred themselves, but with Anuhea and The Green teaming up, it was nothing short of a awesome treat.  They started off the concert and from the first strum, never let the energy die down.

Anuhea is in the midst of launching her amazing and I'm sure long solo career.  Already after her first album, she is nominated for five Na Hoku Hanohano Awards, which are like the Grammy's of Hawaiian and Local Music back in the islands.  Needless to say, she makes the whole island of Maui and the graduates of Kamehameha proud.

Thanks to Ikaika Sheehan, The Hawaiian Publicist and "The Guy that Has the Goods," we found out about the great concert and were able to pick up some gear while we were there.  Check out both of their websites that we linked for you for more information on their concert tour and their music.  You will truly not be disappointed!

Mahina's Birthday!!!

It was time to celebrate the joyous birth of Mahina again as she reached the last true milestone that comes with birthdays until the ripe young age of 65 and retirement come along. This year, our special day came a long in the middle of the week.

By virtue of that timing, what would ordinarily have been a birthDAY turned into a birthWEEK, which of course meant there was plenty of celebrating and the constant reminder that "hey, it's my birthday week!" We had a lot of fun though. Mahina finally picked up a dutch oven as part of her birthday gift from her Mom that she has been craving and has already put it to good use. We also started looking around for a beach cruiser that Mahina could take Duke bike riding with. To be clear though, Duke wouldn't be running alongside the beach cruiser, rather he'd be perched right inside a little basket going along for the ride. Sissy.

For her birthday dinner, we went to Benihana's in Beverly Hills and had a great meal. Our chef though wasn't as animated as most of the Chef's, but he made up for it with some great cooking. We had a great time and headed back home to celebrate with the dogs, who also enjoyed mom's birthday since they got to eat the leftover Benihana's for their dinner.  Tough life they live.

Valentine's Day

Ahh, Valentine's Day. Our first commercialized, over-the-top, excuse to go out to an expensive dinner and get dressed up...  Err, I digress. Our first Valentine's Day as a married couple. We had been debating where we should go for dinner, of course I had a couple of options already but we all know Mahina hates surprises and even when you try she usually guesses what's going to happen. So instead, we tried to decide on where to go together. We had been drawing a blank on anything that seemed truly fitting for the occasion until we got a letter from the Ayres Hotel. 

You might remember the Ayres Hotel is where we had our wedding reception. Some genius marketing person decided to send out invitations to everyone who celebrated a wedding at the Ayres and invite them to a special Valentine's Day dinner. Genius, I tell you. What better place, to quote the letter, "come enjoy Valentine's Day where it all began..." Enough said. We had our dinner reservation. 

February 14th, eight months and one day since we had gotten married, and we were back at the Ayres. Not surprisingly, there was a wedding reception just getting under way when we arrived. After we were seated we caught a peak of the Bride and Groom arriving at the Ayres and waiting in the lobby before making their grand entrance to get the party started. Ahh the memories. It was a quiet night at the Ayres otherwise, while eating at a hotel restaurant may not be the first option on many people's Valentine's Day itinerary, we were happy to see a handful of other couples back to celebrate their first V-Day at the Ayres.

Since this year's Valentine's Day happened to fall on a Sunday it left us with a whole day's worth of activities to celebrate with.  Did I also mention that because it was on a Sunday, I also lucked out and didn't have to buy overpriced flowers to be sent to Mahina's work and compete with the other husbands?  We all know that you women compete to see who gets the prettiest, biggest, and best flowers.  We decided to split the day into Mahina's plans and Lucas' plans - to be fair, of course. Mahina organized a great picnic in the park with the dogs and also managed to squeeze in an activity while we were there. With a quick stop at Michaels, we had managed to find two of those "craft in a box" designs which included the paint and everything to make our very own war ships. After a nice and relaxing lunch at the park, it was arts and crafts time. 

Naturally, arts and crafts quickly turned into a competition of who could build a better ship and who could paint it better. We were off, Mahina immediately referred to the directions while Lucas headed for the building blocks using the picture as his guide. In no time he had pulled away and was leading the building place. But shoddy materials slowed him down, allowing the ever persistent Mahina to catch up. It all came down to the paint job, and Lucas didn't stand a chance. Mahina easily pulled away on the painting, while keeping it neat and artistic, while Lucas struggled to throw paint on this boat and just get it covered. Hey, it's the thought that counts right?

Back at home, we traded presents before getting ready for dinner. Mahina came away with new Stila make-up she had been eyeing at the store and Lucas finally got a real set of collar-stays, no longer having to fiddle with the cheap plastic ones that came with his shirts. 

Once we were ready for dinner we headed over to the Ayres to cap off a great day. The food was great and we celebrated our first Valentine's Day married over steak, fish and champagne. Sadly, Valentine's day came to an end after dinner, but it was a great day filled with fun and comedy.