’23 Jun: Charis And Payton Get Married In Honolulu

There was plenty of buzz around our arrival day with hearty welcomes from our Honolulu resident-families but sigh, no pictures except the one below, from our balcony,

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By the morning I had already staked out my seat which you can see in the first picture on the left, in the mirror. The second picture is the view from my seat, Lona doing her exercises. She walks 4-5,000 steps before the rest of us are up, then does exercises, and walks again in the afternoon. My much older sister is in very good shape! (I have told her repeatedly that she had better stay well because I would be a lousy matriarch.)

Lucas drove us around today explaining points of interest including “the best shave ice on the island” at Uncle Clay’s (it was very good), and according to Lona “the most gorgeous Costco in the world” (to which I can agree).

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Then we walked to one of my most favorite places, the Surfrider Beach Bar where for the price of a cocktail you can enjoy views of the sea, a gorgeous patio, sit under a massive banyan tree, and enjoy a show. In the past, for Ever, it was a trio including a hula dancer. But no dancer tonight! Oh NO. The waiter said they had stopped booking dancers since the pandemic. I was about to be disappointed although the duo we had sang and played beautifully. So what was to lose, I asked them if either could dance hula. “Yes Of Course” said the woman, and they preceded to make me Very Happy.

Back at the condo, looking down from the lanai, you can see how quiet it is. We are at the far end of Waikiki Beach, down by the zoo, where they don’t have the attractions of the main part of the beach, but it is 99% more peaceful.

It’s Friday night so we get fireworks down the beach from the Ala Moana Mall. Here’s a big telephoto from our balcony.

First we did a little prep for one of the wedding festivities and then around noon we went to enjoy The Bishop Museum. I think it’s quite wonderful especially if you’re interested in, and know a little about, Polynesian history.

We decided to see one of the Planetarium shows which cut into our time to view the exhibitions, but we enjoyed it all.

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I got it in my head I wanted to bring malasadas to Lucas and Betsy who where hosting us for dinner. So I googled around for the Best malasadas, a Portuguese puffed pastry that is often filled with custard delights, and the internet had a unanimous choice – Leonard’s.

What you do is first you wait forever in line (Lona and Windy stayed in the car since I insisted). OK, first you wait and then you stand in the parking lot and gorge on your irresistible sweet treat. We went quickly straight home saving ourselves from the gorge-fest.

We had enough time to take a little rest and it’s a good time to show you where I sleep. On the lanai. There is no a/c in the condo but the breeze has been perfect. Lona and Windy are sharing the king bed that is just inside that sliding glass door which they leave open to also catch a breeze. You wouldn’t believe how loud and perfect is the sound of the sea here in our bird’s nest at the shore.

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So many thanks for a delightful evening! Lucas, Ruth, Lona, Betsy, Xander, Windy. Lucas took this selfie of himself with his mom. Awww.

This was a commercial company putting on a fireworks show and WOW was all we could say.

HONOLULU (KHON2) — The Royal Cosmetics Co., Ltd. is celebrating four days of its 36th Anniversary in Waikiki and they’re going out with a “bang” during its last night of celebration. Royal Cosmetics Co. said it will be bringing the public one of the largest fireworks displays in Hawaii and you can watch it from the shores of Waikiki.

This was memorable fun.

Lona and 20 other family members (Payton is joining the family with Family in tow!) went to the beach where Portuguese Man-Of-War Jellyfish were everywhere but it was also the best boogie board beach and they Wanted to boogie board so they Did. Only half of them were stung bloody. Windy and I declined with thanks and took a drive around the east side.

I’ve got to make some time to fully experience the wonderful trees lining every street, anchoring every corner, filling every park.

A couple random pictures from the day.

Windy wanted this picture and she wanted it BAD.

Trevor and Beth treated us all to a luau at Paradise Cove, a delight for one and all. Yes, tourist luaus are cheezy, go with it.

Mary, Baily, Christa, Windy, me, Emily, Isaac, Charis, Peyton, Beth, Tristan, Rhoda, Dwayne, Lona, Michelle, Trevor (missing from the photo: Kaile, Bart)

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From this day, part of the list of things we’re doing to get ready for all the various activities, this is the view out the window of the condo where Christa is holding the Bachelorette Party. A full view of Diamond Head, top to bottom, side to side. That’ll set you b$ck.

I have lost track of our (multiple past (and probably future)) trips to Costco as well as going to the mall, the grocery store, the party store, picking up food, etc. When did we go? What did we get? It’s all lost in the mists of time.

I do have more pictures but at the moment I’ve gotta go…

This was good. They were set up in the pandemic delivery style where you walk up to a table at the door to order and pick up your food. They had a lively to-go business happening, and we all enjoyed our food back at the condo enjoying the view.

Looking towards the major hotels of Waikiki…

…and looking out so you can see the channel between the reefs.

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Windy and I enjoy this massage place A Lot!

People are coming in for the wedding, some of them we are picking up at the airport although most of them we are not. That’s TeeTee and Halayna.

He reminds me of all my years with Sharon in Kauai. Hey DUDE!

Check out the breeze moving the palm trees. Lucas told me some numbers about residential air conditioners and the quieting of the trade winds. I couldn’t find a source to confirm his numbers, and several sources made his numbers seem a slight exaggeration, but still there’s a point. He says 40 years ago when Betsy was living in Oahu less than 5% of homes had air conditioning and the cooling trade winds blew with predictability. Now 78% of homes have air conditioning and the trade winds are no longer reliable because of arctic warming.

The mimosa trees were going nuts as were the plumeria.

The Honolulu Museum of Art. I always enjoy a visit here.

There was a show on, up on the 2nd floor, and I almost didn’t bother to climb the stairs. Good thing I was able to overcome the lazy. I thought it was fantastic, just super-duper fun. Here’s the ad and the first picture is from their website. It was huge, walking through this forest of amazing,

Rebecca Louise Law: Awakening

The debut of renowned British artist Rebecca Louise Law in the Islands, Awakening transforms two galleries into immersive experiences celebrating Hawaiʻi’s deep connection to pua.

 

I ate in the lovely museum café under this spreading tree, facing these fine ceramic creations, a favorite of Caleb.

These are some random pictures from the last few days leading up to the wedding. I’m very thin on pictures which is why it’s been tough to put together a story. There was the huge welcome breakfast in the park for everyone in from out-of-town, mostly Peyton’s dozens of relatives who made the long trek over to Hawaii. It was lovely. We participated a little helping Christa with some preparations for the bachelorette party.

The groom’s family hosted a rehearsal dinner at another lovely park where many of the senior relatives told memories of the bridal couple, of the ‘I remember when’ variety.

Windy and I had moved over to Lucas and Betsy’s home on the 10th because they had spare rooms and Lona’s condo was now accommodating TeeTee, Halayna, and Jennifer. L&B set up one room like a bedroom of my dreams. I have some pictures of the fabulous view, where are they?!

We also did food and decorations for the bridal party getting dressed the morning of the wedding. There are seven (I think…) bridesmaids and groomsmen. It was a big wedding representative of the groom’s large family.

Here’s the BRIDE with the lacrosse shirt and balls she is giving Lilly. Charis played lacrosse for years and really loved it.

I didn’t take a single picture at the wedding or the reception or the various events because the professional was doing a great job, even attracting wildlife to her efforts. Our Disney Princess photographer! Good thing we had a professional too because obviously I didn’t focus this picture! (No time? No attention? Probably both…)

On an unrelated event, TEETEE made a FEAST! I wasn’t there to enjoy it, but wow, right?!

all Lona’s pictures:

And a few more of TeeTee and Haylayna.

So much walking, I had a bit of an ache so Betsy wrapped up my ankle again, and what a coincidence, Betsy had sprained her ankle too, and there we were, both of us feeling fine, just being cautious.

And check this out! Cynthia came to the wedding from Mexico (yes!) and since we were all together she treated me and Lona and Windy, Mom and The Great Aunts, out for a delicious meal in honor of my upcoming birthday. It was SO GREAT to have Cynthia here!

The above and following are several of Windy’s pictures from our outing at the beach with Darryl, Angela, Rome, and Lilly.

Darryl and Angela. Thanks for the pictures Win!

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The colors.

This place has a name, I forget what it is! Lucas, Darryl, and Lilly climbed down to visit the cave.

Lucas and Betsy, and Ruth too, made So Many meals and hosted the family a number of times, and we ate out too. Maybe it’s because we were so busy going from one thing to the next that I didn’t take pictures, don’t remember the names of the restaurants, ETC!

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Christa had this on her facebook so the professional pictures must be floating around. I’ll get some and put there here. This is the view from the reception site btw. We’re talking some Big Aloha here!

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