lulumama

My Momiversary Day Cards

Chris and I got married on May 12, 1990 so our anniversary always falls on or near Mother's Day, which makes it extra fun. Lately, we've been celebrating by going back to the scene of the crime—the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel where we honeymooned. We had a fantastically relaxed long weekend and discovered an amazing new burger joint. But the best part was when Chris presented me with my Mother's Day cards from the boys.

As you can see, Colin is given to extreme hyperbole as of late...

And his writing is improving. Maybe there's a chance he'll write a smashing college essay after all.

Meanwhile, you can tell that Adam is linguistically gifted...

and also feeling appreciative of my efforts as his mom.

He's also really excited about his summer service learning trip to China.

Not to be outdone, Chris gave me this LOL card. WAY too close to the truth for comfort!

I complain a lot about not having any daughters. The boys don't like to have intimate chats with me and really dislike shopping. Also, my hair braiding skills suck. Thank goodness for times like these when I can revel in being treated like a Queen by my little princes.

Posted May 16, 2012

Holoku Pageant 2012

I never thought I'd live to see the day, but we there were...sitting in the stands and watching our oldest son dance hula! This was the annual May Day celebration at Punahou called Holoku Pageant. It's a very big day throughout the state…a celebration of hula and Hawaiian culture. Only his girlfriend Brittany could have convinced this non-dancey, unartistic boy to dance in front of the entire school. He's never danced a day in his life, but dutifully attended rehearsal every Saturday for 2 months. :)

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(download)

Filed under // Brittany Holoku Hula colin

Posted May 3, 2012

Bye Bye MINI

I had to sell my MINI because it hurt my back. Old age is a BITCH. To replace it, I got the Lexus CT200h. It's basically a Prius in Lexus clothing, but with a much sportier look and feel. And it's SOOOO comfortable and fun to drive. The seats are unbelievable. And starting at $29k, it's also a bargain for a Lexus. If you're considering purchasing a Prius or other hybrid/electric vehicle, you may want to give this car a test drive. Bring your check book, because you'll be sold like I was.

Filed under // Cars

Posted March 29, 2012

TEDxYouth@Punahou

Adam was a lead organizer for TEDxYouth@Punahou which occurred on March 17th. TED stands for technology, entertainment, design but it's much more than that now. Their slogan is "Riveting talks by remarkable people." It's a big deal to speak at the national TED events but nobodies (and teenagers) can speak at the TEDx events, which are locally organized.

This one was the first TEDxYouth event in the pacific region. Organized entirely by students at Punahou, the speakers were high schoolers from all over the island (but the audience was mostly adults). It was a great way for adults to hear what kids are thinking about.

If you've never heard of TED, I suggest you check it out. They post their talks online and I've heard some amazing talks. They can be life-changing! For a funny one, click on Julia Sweeney's talk titled Julia Sweeney Has "The Talk." www.ted.com

Adam walked around barking orders into his walkie-talkie

free lunch for speakers and audience! this was my personal favorite--the poke bar. yumm

Chris displays his spankin new t-shirt

Adam looks as they prepare to begin

Adam with a clipboard. How is it he can be so organized for this event, but he can't remember to take the trash out at home?

yummy danish and my snazzy nametag

Filed under // Adam

Posted March 27, 2012

Adam Got His Permit!!

Notice he is NOT driving home from the DMV.

Image

Filed under // Adam

Posted March 21, 2012

Swimming With The Dolphins

Over Christmas break, Chris, the boys, Erica and Ted went swimming with the dolphins on the Waianae Coast. Everyone reported a fabulous experience. Highly recommend if you are ever in Honolulu!

Chris and Ted flash their underwater shakas

On the way out—notice that Adam is not seasick!

Wow

Ted was able to dive below the surface for this cool pic

enjoying the view

tons of dolphins

The whole crew

Erica and Teddy

Adam, Colin and Chris

Shaka!

Posted February 8, 2012

Karen and Ashok's Wedding!

After two consecutive nights of wedding-related events (and more late nights before that), i am exhausted. But it was REALLY fun. This is the first time I've attended a wedding in which I really felt like I was genuinely celebrating the union. So we were all dancing with abandon and love for karen. :) Every wedding should be just like this one.

The reception had THE BEST hotel food i've ever had in my life. During the cocktails after the ceremony but before dinner, they had drinks and an amazing light chocolate cake (yes, BEFORE dinner). For dinner, they went way overboard with four appetizers (all on one plate but each could have stood on its own), then two types of soup. After dinner they served a lovely apple gallette a la mode. THEN outside of the banquet room, they had a HUGE dessert buffet plus a chocolate fountain and stuff to skewer and dip in fountain like fruit. Plus Haagen Dazs ice cream. I didn't eat most of it. But i wanted to.

Really terrific Filipino wedding band and singers (six of them). They actually sang FALLEN by Lauren Wood, which is a special song for me and Chris from the soundtrack of Pretty Woman! After dinner, came a surprise REALLY funny entertainment. OMG, what an evening.

Ashok's family purchased saris for the girls and he lent the men outfits borrowed from various people in his family.

Don't they look beautiful?

Karen looked amazing. She's wearing extensions!

The dance room.

Karen and Ashok sharing their first dance at the Sangeet.

it was nuts. We were all dancing with abandon. i can't explain why but it was just a euphoric situation.

At the hair salon on the day of the wedding ceremony.

Outside the Inter-Continental (used to be the Regent)

Staircase to the wedding ceremony area

Ceremony in the lounge area outside of the ballroom

extreme zoom on my camera. my dad was unexpectedly called up to be part of the ceremony! even karen didn't expect it.

me and karen at the reception

Filed under // Family

Posted January 20, 2012

First Annual Loke Family White Elephant!

We decided to have a little fun this year and instituted a White Elephant gift exchange. Valuable lesson #1: never let Lisa be responsible for three people's gifts because you will end up with 3 silver Tiffany "Mum" necklaces.

White elephant gifts. That little green moist toilette was Gung Gung's IOU for a gift. He apparently got a gift but forgot to bring it to HK.

Gung Gung stole the "butt station" from Sophia. It's a tape dispenser/pen caddy/paper clip holder/memo pad holder made in the shape of a man sitting on a toilet bowl.

Erica's candy dispenser was very popular amongst the kids. This is Brian trying to pry it out of Sophia's arms.

More wrestling

The wrestling took a while

Randi got a book holder

Brian steals the food chopper from Erica.

Filed under // Christmas Family

Posted January 17, 2012

Adam's thank you note to popo

Now that the boys have a few years of Mandarin under their belts, I've been asking them to write their grandmother's thank you notes in Chinese. As I was walking out the door for my flight to Hong Kong, I grabbed Adam's card to Popo since it was with his other thank you notes but unfortunately didn't see Colin's. Oh well. So, anyway, I delivered Adam's note to Popo in person at our New Year's Eve dinner. Everyone was tickled to read it.

PoPo read the card out loud in Cantonese. I only understood about half of it!

Gung Gung applauds Adam's Chinese skills

Aunty lisa was pleased to see that he used the notecards she gave him

Gung Gung announced to the whole table "That deserves a reward!" and took a US$100 bill out of his wallet and handed it to me. I asked if the reward was for me because I am the one who has to put up with all the whining and complaining about how hard Chinese is. He said no, it was for Adam. Phooey. Colin didn't get a reward because he didn't make sure his note got delivered. I encouraged Adam to split the reward since Colin helped him a little with it. He says he'll think about it.

Needless to say, I was SOOOOOO proud of both boys. It's not easy for a kid growing up in the US to learn Chinese and they PERSEVERED, sometimes DESPAIRED, but never gave up. Good job!

Filed under // Family

Posted January 17, 2012

Christmas 2011

This Christmas was twice the fun because we have Chris' parents AND Erica PLUS her boyfriend Ted visiting us. It's a crazy house bursting at the seams and full of love and laughter. Just the way we like it!