Happy Birthday Jo

We started the morning with a trip to Hapuna Beach. We got their early and it was almost deserted. We played around and took a picnic lunch with us (Big Jake's pulled pork and rice bowls) and then played some more. Vivian is a beach hound and even after all that she pouted when it was time to go. Then we stopped at Waikoloa because there's a certain store there of which there aren't any others anywhere else on the Big Island. They almost turned us away when they saw a minivan full of people and kids in beachwear but happily took our money when Jo found something she liked. Then we had a nice lunch at the Three Fat Pigs (where they thought our credit cards didn't work - I tried two of them - till we determined that it was their terminals) and drove back to our Choice Mart grocery store at Captain Cook. I stocked up on wine and fresh butterfish while Carol and Jo and Vivian bought the ingredients for a gluten-free strawberry shortcake. Jen bought a dozen malasadas from Tex's in Honokaa. Carol and the kids baked while I cooked. We had a decent dinner followed by wonderful dessert.

Jo said on facebook that it was one of her best birthdays ever. We missed celebrating Jo's last round-numbered birthday with any fanfare because her friend got married that day in Falls City Nebraska and Jo was in the wedding. Five years later I'm glad we pulled it off.

In the photo above if Jo looks pinkinsh it isn't because of trickery with the lighting. Somewhere back there on Hapuna beach water and time must have rubbed her SPF50 off. We think Hapuna means lobster in Hawaiian.

Solomon the Great

You probably know not to call me when you are on Who Wants to be a Millionaire and are stuck with a question from the Old Testament and you have one  lifeline left. Good. Because I'm talking about Solomon, my dad's caretaker while we were in Hawaii. Between him and the Shah's in general and Gunaraj in particular my dad made it through the week with just one minor mishap (a fall in the bathroom that could have been serious but wasn't). I cooked his favorite dinners and froze them before I left and the Shah's sent fresh lunches for him everyday. Here's what the kitchen looked like the night before we left town.

And when we returned my dad's first question was "How was Hawaii?" He remembered us and where we'd been!

Evan's Fourth Third Birthday Party

Evan's celebrated his third birthday for the fourth time the night before we left for Hawaii. The Shah's showered him with gifts including a signed copy of "Grandma and the Great Gourd" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. And the ladies of China Cafe (sounds racy) pampered him and fed him cheesecake.

Grace Garden has an option for a birthday student to donate a book to the school library on his or her birthday. As we had bought a copy of Chitra's book from Amazon, Evan gave that to the school. One of his teachers sent Jo a photo.

Big Jake's

Ask Vivian and Evan and Travis what they ate on the Big Island and they've probably forgotten all about the grilled butterfish but they'll tell you about the bowls of pulled pork and rice at Big Jake's Island bbq. We ate so much over there we were embarrassed. Even the geckos got to know us - one jumped on Jo's arm. And the roosters and the mother hens and the gaggle of little chicks. This ain't yelp but if you like bbq and you are in that part of the world we recommend it.

One culinary disappointment this time around was Kalama's. Not the snow cones themselves but the owners when they thoughtlessly closed the place down and went away on a vacation. Last year one of their snow cones was Evan's birthday cake and we were hoping to repeat that for Jo this time. When Vivian found out she said she was ready to call up the owners and tell them that they had disappointed her mother and that they should come back.