Hawaii, Part 1 - Lush

Earlier this month we had a fantastic week in Hawaii. We went to Oahu, which is the island with Pearl Harbour, Honolulu, Waikiki Beach, and a whole host of other touristy things which we thought might be more Lucy-friendly than the other Hawaiian islands.

We rented a holiday house, because it makes life so much easier with Lucy, and it makes eating a lot cheaper - knocking something up on the barbeque that you bought at the grocery store is generally cheaper than restaurants. This is where we stayed - a three bedroom house in a residential Hawaiian neighbourhood in Ewa Beach (on the south coast of Oahu west of Pearl Harbour).

We loved the feeling of not being in a resort, and we spent every evening sat on the front deck with a glass of wine watching the world go by - it was a quiet street, but there was a surprising amount of local activity.

Oahu is a very diverse island, and we did an enormous variety of things. There are lush tropical surroundings in a lot of the island - we really enjoyed visiting the Waimea Valley Audubon Center, where there was a waterfall which reminded Lucy of an episode of Little Einsteins where Rocket gets stuck in a waterfall and has to be pulled out (she talked about this for some time)

...and the Lyon Arboretum (below) was a hidden gem, an academic rather than tourist attraction, it was hidden around the back of a housing estate, not really appearing on any tourist 'attractions' lists, but was in a spectacular valley and was an excellent walk - we even got caught in some tropical rain:

Of course, there are tourist attractions and beaches, too... but I'll cover those separately.

Recycled String Vest

As Lucy found out recently, hammocks are all very well and good (especially when you're the right size to lounge across one sideways). It's just the getting out that needs practise.

Personally, I'm not sure how anyone can relax on one of those things - they silently plot to flip you onto the ground as soon as you try to reach for your drink.

Go Fly A Kite

I love living near the ocean. One of the advantages of being here is that there is a terrific variety of scenery to pick from. And a lot of it is significantly more dramatic than we might have found in Britain, so it gives an opportunity to really get to grips with what your preferences for dramatic scenary are. Even the seaside is more dramatic - it's the Pacific Ocean, not some namby-pamby puddle you can wade across to The Continent. When you look out across the water, the knowledge that it doesn't stop until you hit Asia evokes something grander than the English Channel across to France (I had the same reaction on the West coast of Ireland, for the same reason). And the beaches are quite empty in early April, too.

The other thing about beaches in early April is that they can be a little breezy. I was recently given a kite. Early teenage memories of family holidays at St. Agnes in Cornwall, flying a kite in the significant "breeze" coming onto the north Cornish coast have left me with an enduring fondness for flying kites... plus it's simply a whole lot of fun. Lucy had a go, too.

...and it turns out that she's quite skillful with the stunts

You Can't Make Old Friends

A wise man once said "You can make new friends, but you can't make old friends"... or something like that. He may not have been that wise, but he certainly made a good point. In March, A&K came to stay with us. One of the things we miss the most being out here is the easy company of long-standing friends. This is underlined quite dramatically when they come and stay. We had a fantastic time, often doing little more than standing around gawping at things... like some of the scenery around Tahoe (where there was still quite a lot of snow on the ground)

Also, a friend of Becky's Mom got us tickets on one of the paddle boats that cruise across Lake Tahoe, and we got to lounge around and sample the fanastic scenery. Lucy was spending the afternoon with her grandma, so it was an unmissable opportunity to stand around on the deck, talk nonsense, and ponder about stuff that was either irrelevant or ridiculous.

Despite the cold, I managed to get a little sunburn.

Dormant Blogosphere

Apparently a significant proportion of the Blogosphere is dormant (although, while this appears to be part of the Blogging zeitgeist, I actually had difficulty getting any kind of reference about real statistics... I'd be grateful for any comments otherwise). Rest assured that finding good TV, listening to the radio (recently superceded by a rash of rather good podcasts), potty training, and watching the ocean crash on the beach, are still significant parts of our lives. Watch this space. Ian

January on the Beach

It may have been 20th January, but we were still on the beach, in our coats, and determined to enjoy it. Santa Cruz was also quite foggy that day.

Snowy Catch-Up

We spent December up at Tahoe, and Lucy loved the snow (helped, in no small part, by her snow suit):

...and, of course, the building of uncannily realistic snowmen is an adult necessity: Inevitably, it fell over within a few hours.