Ray Sr's 74th Birthday!

We celebrated my Dad's 74th birthday at our home. It was a great day, with plenty of BBQ, great conversation, relaxing atmosphere, and a perfect sunny day that let us sit outside and enjoy the weather!

Here's the birthday boy himself, Ray Sr., with my mom Janet and Sean.

Leeza lounging with her dad, Isaak.

Caity scooting about.

Note our mighty new gas grill in the backround. Packed inside this chrome-plated beauty are four separate burners that provide an off-the-charts bounty of BTUs, along with a side burner AND routisserie heater. It's the bomb.

Here's my dad again, doing his best Dracula impersonation. (after the grape lollipop)

Sean must be pealed from the wall after this tragic scooter incident!

My mom and Caity. Note my mom has swiped the scooter, and in the next few moments was rolling down the block like a pro ;-)

Your hosts, Leeza and Ray.

And our pile of wood.

Leeza's mom Mila and David.

Sayonara from the gang!

Our Waikiki Home and Hood

The essence of life in Hawaii can be found in Umbrella Drinks and listening to local Hawaiian music according to our close friends and generous hosts Laura and Dan.

Nestled in a center of a serene beach, overlooking the ocean, surrounded by our friends and some colorful remedies in our glasses, we realized that Life Is Good :)

Hawaiian Monarch - home of the Pimpin' Hot Pizza (also serving as a dispatch point for the ladies of the night), Cream Pot (the best breakfast place on the planet Earth), and 43 floors of sheer awesomeness which we were fortunate to experience from our friends' penthouse suite .

The views from our bedroom. Looking out at 5:30 AM and seeing the ocean just slighlty touched by the gentle pink shades of awakening sun is incredible. This is also a great way of checking whether the surf is good as Dan and Laura do daily before they trek across town with their board.

The AlaWai Canal. It was created in 1928 for the purpose of draining the rice paddies which would eventually become the tourist resorts and today also serves as a primary drainage corridor, 'outdoors hotel' for the local homeless and displaced late night revelers (you can rent a bench on a first-come first-serve basis).

We ran along this canal at 6AM almost every morning.

Say brother, can I have a burger with tomato, pickle, and pineapple?

These things are possible at the Waikiki Cheeseburger joint across the street, and on the way to the beach.

After walking by a few dozen times, we gave into temptation and gave it a whirl. Let's just say the palm trees were nice. But A+ for effort.

Ray and Dan said that they can only enter this place if they leave their manhood at the entrance. And while the guys were trying to retain their manliness, Laura and Leeza had the most incredible brunch of their lives. How manly could a seared tuna egg benedict and a dark chocolate for a drink topped with berry crepes be :)

Can you hear the opening notes - "ba-ba-ba-ba-baaa-baaa" - of the theme from "Hawaii 5-0"? This is the place - Waikiki Beach! Full of surf, sun, tiki bars, and of course palm trees. The one yours truly is leaning on here was my personal lounge chair for reading and just plain chillin' on several occasions during our stay.

Diamond Head can be seen in the background. An impressive crater which can be seen from so many points in Waikiki!














Stay tuned for more posts to follow in the next few days!