Weekend Recap

Rewind to Friday: Command Picnic

Friday afternoon we had our command picnic out at Bellows Beach. That was my first time going to Bellows. It was a pretty nice place. I had heard it was a good place to go kayaking, so my plan had been to rent a kayak to take the boys out. The boys were too busy playing with the neighbor kids and refused to go. I didn't think it would be any fun if I dragged them kicking and screaming, so I left them home and went to the picnic myself.

About ten minutes after I left the house, I was on my way driving out there and my cell phone rang. I answered it, and it was ES calling to tell me he wanted to go with me. My heart sank. I would have gone back to get him if it hadn't been for the traffic I had just battled getting over there in the first place. I told ES it was too late and I was too far away to come back and get him.

Much to my surprise when I got to Bellows, there were signs up saying the beach was CLOSED due to high concentrations of some parasite in the water. So it actually worked out for the best that I DIDN'T pay the money or go through the trouble to rent the kayak. Friday night I searched all over the internet to find out someplace I could have checked to find out the beaches were closed BEFORE I went over there, and I couldn't find any such warnings anywhere. There must be some way to find out, but I haven't figured it out yet.

Even though we couldn't go in the water, it was a beautiful day out and a very nice beach. The command picnic was a big success. I had hoped to have a photo to post, but I'm still waiting on an electronic copy of our group photo. Check back later for an update with the photo - photo added 6/17.

Mighty MSP Picnic at Bellows Beach

Saturday - Flag Day!

I already wrote about Saturday's Flag Day Ceremony on the MISSOURI. After that, we had a friend from church in VA in town for business. I took him for a tour on a submarine and we went out for a nice dinner at the Sea Breeze on Hickam AFB. We had only been to the Sea Breeze once before for our command Christmas Party, and thought it was a nice place. They have both an indoor section that has a fancier menu and an outdoor grill with a cheaper burgers and fries type of menu. We ate at the grill outside looking out over the beach and the ocean. The food and the service were good and the prices were reasonable. It's sort of a long drive out there with the slow speed limits on base (and the base police on the AFB are speed-trap-crazy), but it was a nice location.

Oh, and we didn't end up as celebrities after all. Nothing showed up in the newspaper. Oh well.

Sunday - Father's Day

The day started out well. I decided to go for a run in the morning before getting ready for church, and ES wanted to go with me on his bike. LW has been nudging me to teach ES to ride his bike without training wheels. Before we left, I raised the training wheels so they weren't touching the ground much, and I carried the socket wrench with me when we went running out on the bike path. I figured the bike path would be a better place to practice without the training wheels because there are long, flat, straight stretches of path.

So we jogged out to Best Buy (1 mile out from our house). When we turned around to head back, I stopped and took the training wheels off of ES's bike. He was a little nervous and really wobbly, but I'm proud of him for at least giving it a try. We went about half a mile back toward the house with me holding him up the whole way. That was hell on my back running while bent over at the waist and keeping ES from tipping over, so I stopped and put the training wheels back on for the rest of the jog/ride home.

After church, we tried unsuccessfully to find a Mexican restaurant in Kaneohe, then gave up and headed to our usual Zia's. I was surprised there wasn't more of a crowd at Zia's. It was a LOT busier on Mother's Day.

I've never had a problem with Zia's food before. I can usually steer clear of foods that are known for having MSG in them. Well, I missed something this time. I had the special that was sort of a margherita ravioli. It was ricotta stuffed ravioli with tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella - none of "the usual suspects" for MSG.

Before we even left the restaurant, I felt really sluggish and fatigued. It grew into a migraine headache at home. I was really pissed off because I felt like I was being robbed of my Father's Day. As much as I joke about Father's Day having the same end result as Mother's Day (i.e. Daddy gets to take the boys somewhere and give Mommy a break), I was actually really looking forward to taking the boys for a hike Sunday afternoon. Instead, I took a nap and some imitrex.

I started feeling better around dinner time and managed to walk across Kam Highway to get us some pizza for dinner. We shared the pizza with our neighbors across the street. LW said I should go do the night-time geocache I've been wanting to do, and our neighbor B said I should take ES and her daughter, M. The kids said they wanted to go, so we loaded up the kids in my car and headed out about 7:30 (fifteen minutes after sunset).

Hanauma Bay on a Moonlit Night Photo from the Geocache Listing

"Sacred Moonrise and The Case of The Twisted Kitty" is a really cool geocache, and has been called "the best geocache on Oahu" by some. You have to do it at night, because the clues are only visible with a flashlight after dark. It is recommended to do it on a full-moon. Although it was partly to mostly cloudy last night, the full moon was poking through the clouds here and there. It was a really cool night-time view down into Hanauma Bay on one side of the ridge and across the water to Diamond Head on the other side. I couldn't take any good nighttime pictures of the scenery with my camera, but the photo above of Hanauma Bay on a moonlit night from the geocache listing is similar to what it was like for us last night.

Altitude Profile for our Sunday Night Hike
X-Axis is Elapsed Mileage in 0.2 mile increments
Y-Axis is Elevation in 50 foot increments

It ended up being about a 2.5 mile hike round trip from the suggested parking location out to the geocache and back. It was a pretty steep hill though. We parked at 150 feet of elevation and maxed out at 685 feet, for a total elevation gain of 535 feet.

ES and M with the Kitty
Photo censored so it won't spoil the
hunt for anyone else seeking this cache.

The hike is mostly on a paved path and easily navigable by kids. That hill is a lot bigger than it looks from the Hanauma Bay parking lot though. By the time we got out there it was like 8 or 8:30, and we didn't get back to the car until about 10:30.

ES Wasn't Sleep-Walking Back to the Car,
His eyes just shut because of the flash from the camera.

The kids seemed to enjoy it. ES and M are two peas in a pod and were in a state of perpetual talking and giggling until we got in the car to go home. About 90 seconds after I started the car, there was dead silence from the back seat. Not long after that, ES started sawing logs the rest of the way home.

So in the end... good start to the day, lousy afternoon, but a good finish.