Entries Tagged as 'hoku'

Hanging out on the North Shore

March 9th, 2011 · No Comments

On Friday I did my gym/ABC Store/Honolulu routine again. After that Dallas and I went shopping. He was planning on wearing shorts and slippers for the wedding, so at the very least I wanted him to go buy some nice shorts and slippers. At Macy’s they had a bunch of really nice Quiksilver shorts. Dallas ended up getting a few pairs.. and a new pair of Scott Hawaii (his favorite brand) slippers with leather straps. Ohhh la la. Not to be left out of the shopping spree, I got a new pair of Quiksilver/Roxy slippers. And we randomly passed by this cell phone accessory store where we each got a new iPhone case. Mine was all cracked! And Dallas has always hated his big, bulky case.

Jen and Kristin were on a spa retreat so after shopping Dallas and I met up wtih Chad and Cousin and had lunch at the Curry House, another one of our favorite Honolulu restaurants. Check out a couple previous visits to Curry House: 2007, 2009.

After lunch we drove up to Oahu’s north shore to Waimea Valley. Dallas’s friend Hoku works at Waimea Valley. We strolled our way to the back and took a dip in the waterfall like we did last time we visited. So much fun!

Hmm.. let’s see a close up of that one….

Lulz. They look like drowned rats! Doing the Shaka!

On the stroll back out, away from the waterfall, I took all of these beautiful photos of Waimea Valley:

When Hoku was done with work we stopped at Foodland and then went back to his house for a barbecue. Jen and Kristin met us there too. We ate so much! Chicken, steak, sausage, ahi, maui chips, mac nuts and two kinds of poke – limu and shoyu. Yum!

[Read more →]

Tags:························

Luau After Party in the Dorms

June 28th, 2009 · 1 Comment

As it got later in the night of the luau and nobody wanted to leave again. Everyone was having such a good time.

luau_steps_group_photo
Back row: Garmon, Alika, Dallas, Kilo, Alan, xxx, Koa (and son), Lisa, Brandy
Middle row: BJ, Nalani, Donovan, Jacque, Roxanne, Monte, Rachelle, Jay, xxx, xxx, Hoku
Front row: Sheri, Kamu

The band Kapena was playing again. They’d played the night before at the Gordon Biersch party.

kapena
Kapena, Kamehameha Schools, Oahu

The girls danced a lot and the guys stood around with their hands in their pockets trying to look cool. Just like high school.

girls_dance_boys_drink
Back row: Alika, Jay. Front row: Haunani, Sheri, Jacque.

These guys all lived together for years when they boarded at the school.

dallas_jay_kamu_donovan_bj_alika_kilo
Dallas, Jay, Kamu, Donovan, BJ, Alika, Kilo

monte_dallas_jay_kamu_donovan_alika_bj_kilo
Monte, Dallas, Jay, Kamu, Donovan, Alika, BJ, Kilo

After the luau a bunch of people went up to the dorms where there was a big party going on. We passed by this bench where all of the boarders used to always hang out, so everyone got there photo taken there for old times sake.

boarders_bench
Back row: BJ, Dallas, Nalani, Kilo, Jay, Kamu, Monte.
Front row: Alika, Hoku, Roxanne, Donovan, Jacque, Sheri, Brandy

Nobody can remember what spurred this, but everyone was going crazy in this next photo.

boarders_bench_crazy
Back row: BJ, Dallas, Nalani, Kilo, Jay, Kamu, Monte.
Front row: Alika, Hoku, Roxanne, Donovan, Jacque, Sheri, Brandy

Dallas loves this fruit punch. Probably 0% fruit. He stole a whole bunch of it to bring back to the dorms.

dallas_fruit_punch
Dallas

Walking through campus for the first time in 15 years was quite a trip for a lot of people. When we got to the dorm there was food and drink as far as the eye could see. Many stories to be told and memories to be shared. There were at least 1 or 2 rounds of everyone singing the Kamehameha Schools fight song. Everyone stayed and hung out well into the morning hours.

dorm_in

dorm_out

It was kind of sad to finally leave. And to think the next day how far it was in between the last time Dallas saw his friends til now and how long it may be til we see them again. But if we all make an effort we will stay in touch, even if it’s just online. A hui hou!

[Read more →]

Tags:·······················

Hoku’s House

June 24th, 2009 · 1 Comment

After Hoku showed us around Waimea Valley and we took a swim in a waterfall, we headed over to his house. Hoku rode his motorcycle and we followed in our rental car.

hoku_motorcycle

We hung around Hoku’s house all night. There were many friends over. Some of them played beer pong. Dallas played with Hoku’s daughter’s toy and was absurdly happy when he got it working after I failed:
dallas_toy

At sunset we headed to the beach. Hoku lives about a 2 minute walk from Sunset Beach, so you better believe the sunset was spectacular.

sunset_beach

Hoku brought his ukulele and played some songs.

hoku_ukulele

He also told me an old Hawaiian tale about these flowers that he picked nearby, but I can’t remember it now.

slippers

I threw the ball for this dog a few times. That dog could run. FAST!

sunset_beach_dog

Then I came back and listened to Hoku play the uke a bit more. It was an idyllic setting.. the beach, the sound of the waves, the smell of the ocean and flowers, the sunset, soft music.

It looks like this setting made Dallas want to kill someone, but I think really he was just drunk already.

dallas_hoku

Hoku is in a band called Ill Valley. He does not play ukulele in the band, they’re a hip hop band and he sings. Ill Valley released an album in 2007 and in March of 2008 it was honored by being nominated for the 2008 Na Hoku Hanohano Award for “Best Rap or Hip Hop Album Released in 2007.” If you haven’t been following along, the Na Hoku Hanohano awards are like the Grammys for Hawaiian music. As I mentioned earlier, Kekoa, another of Dallas’s classmates, is in a band called Holunape that won a couple of these awards this month.

Anyway, Ill Valley had practice the night we visited so we got to hear them play. Lots of friends were over and everyone was just hanging out playing music, playing beer pong, and drinking beers.

beer_pong

I didn’t drink, though, because I had to drive from the North Shore back down to Waikiki at some point. Hoku had some business in Waikiki the following day so he came with us back down. That was an interesting drive. It’s about an hour to hour and a half drive. I had no idea where I was going and Dallas and Hoku kept falling asleep. There was a lot of arm punching and yelling “Which way!?!?” and a lot of mumbling, “Take a left by the Foodmart…zzzzzz…” Oh boy!

[Read more →]

Tags:···········

Waimea Valley

June 24th, 2009 · 5 Comments

waimea_valley_trail
Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

Remember when I said that the Waimea River empties into Waimea Bay and if you follow the rive up you get to Waimea Valley? Well, there’s a park there called.. ahem.. wait for it…. Waimea Valley. Its mission is to “preserve and perpetuate the human, cultural and natural resources of Waimea for generations through education and stewardship.” In addition to having a beautiful botanical garden, they’re all about Hawaiian culture and resources and sustainability and have many education programs.

waimea_valley_dallas
Dallas Pointing to Hibiscus :: Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

flowers
Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

peacock
Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

Dallas’s friend Hoku works at Waimea Valley as a Cultural Specialist and Field Educator. This seems like an awesome job. He’s required to spend 75% of his time outside where he teaches people, anywhere from kindergarten age up through college students, about Hawaiian culture, native plants, folklore, wildlife, sustainability, conservation, and all sorts of things. Hoku and Dallas used to be great friends in school and hadn’t seen each other for 15 years. When Hoku met us at the gate there was a lot of man hugging. We walked through the gardens a bit and then Hoku got us a golf cart and took us straight to what we came for. At the back of the park there’s a small waterfall and swimming hole.

waterfall
Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

waterfall_swimming
Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

Dallas and I didn’t need much encouragement to jump right in and wash off all of the salt water and sand that had accumulated on our skin while hanging out at the beach. So refreshing and crisp. Waimea Valley provides life vests or kickboards, but we both just swam out to the waterfall and swam back.

rachelle_dallas
Rachelle & Dallas :: Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

hoku_dallas
Hoku & Dallas :: Waimea Valley, Haleiwa, HI

[Read more →]

Tags:·······

Holunape at Aku Bone

June 20th, 2009 · No Comments

Holunape
Holunape at Aku Bone, Honolulu

Holunape
Holunape at Aku Bone, Honolulu

That night we went out to a locals bar called Aku Bone where one of Dallas’s classmates, Kekoa was playing with his band Holunape. The band plays traditional Hawaiian music and consists of a ukulele, a guitar and a stand-up bass. Kekoa plays the bass. Actually… er.. here he’s the guy in the middle playing guitar. He was mostly playing bass, though.

monte_dallas_bj
Monte, Dallas, BJ :: Aku Bone, Honolulu

monte_bj_kilo_keone_dallas
Monte, BJ, Kilo, Keone, Dallas :: Aku Bone, Honolulu

We timed our trip this year so that Dallas would be able to attend his Kamehameha Schools alumni week. The event at Aku Bone was not an official Kamehameha reunion event, but many of Dallas’s friends from Class of ’94 were there, as well as many Kamehameha alum from other years. The table next to us was full of Class of 1940-something alumni, which was kind of like drinking with your grandparents, but also very cute because the old-timers got up a lot to hula. Kilo and Monte, from Dallas’s class, did a hula. At one point, the older ladies next to us were kissing Monte and putting money in his pants! It got a little crazy.

kilo_brandy_lani_hoku_monte_dallas_nalani_bj
Kilo, Brandy, Lani, Hoku, Monte, Dallas, Nalani, BJ :: Aku Bone, Honolulu

This was the first time many of Dallas’s classmates had seen each other in 15 years. Dallas has a special bond with the students from the outer islands because they all had to board in the dorms on campus and spent every waking and sleeping minute together for many years. Dallas says he’s lived with some of his classmates longer than he lived with his own brother and sister. It was neat to see them all together again.

group2
Kamehameha Schools Class of ’94 :: Aku Bone, Honolulu

group1
Kamehameha Schools Class of ’94 :: Aku Bone, Honolulu

group3
Kamehameha Schools Class of ’94 :: Aku Bone, Honolulu

Oh, and I didn’t realize it at the time, but Kekoa’s band Holunape is quite accomplished. The following week when we were in Maui the 32nd annual Na Hoku Hanohano awards were held. These awards are given out by the Hawaii Academy of the Recording Arts and are the equivalent of the Grammys, but for Hawaiian music only. Holunape was nominated in four categories. They won the award for group of the year, and their album “Ahea? ‘Ano!” won for Hawaiian album of the year. You can listen to clips from the album at mele.com. (Mele = Song). Later when we were in Kauai at Borders we tried to buy the winning album but they were all sold out. We did see their previous album on the shelf, though.

holunape_borders
Holunape CD at Borders :: Lihue, Kauai

[Read more →]

Tags:··················