New Year's Eve...or "the Day of Fireworks"

This time of year I will say with confidence that when it comes to per-capita fireworks sales Hawaii's top of the list. In our neighborhood, people about go Griswold-crazy with lights (and inflatable holiday-themed exhibits....who knew Santa flew in planes, rode merry-go-rounds and swings like at the fair? Not to mention the snow globe he skated in...). It isn't quite as much as the Griswolds, but compared to neighborhoods I've lived in before, it was quite impressive. Then there's the Elliott's. I forgot to take a picture but that is probably a good thing to save from embarrassment. On either side you have the works, then you look at our house in the middle. One night to appease Colin and Maddie, Megan and I attempted to put icicle lights on a palm tree in the yard and on our balcony. The ones on our balcony lasted about 5 hours and fell, never to be restored. Whatever, they had something to plug in outside so they were happy.

Another tradition during the month of December besides outdoor decorations, is freaking fireworks every night. Every single night at some point you would hear some neighbor setting them off. Sometimes aerials, then often the regular littler ones. This however did not prepare me for New Years Eve when fireworks and barbequing is a full day affair. All day it sounded like bombs being dropped in the Ewa by Gentry war zone. By the end of the night, there is a haze in the sky accompanied by the smell of gunpowder. 

On the morning of December 31, 2009. I woke up at 4:30am at Heather's after a few hours of sleep where their dog managed to finagle more bedspace that I. Heather, her oldest son (Braden, 6yo) and I went to join others for a sunrise hike to the top of Koko Head crater. It is on the windward (eastern) side of the island so after climbing 1000+ steps we made it to the top and saw the last sunrise over the Pacific of 2009. My final day of the year was a really really good one. Post-hike we met up with the rest of the Holliday family for an oceanfront brunch with banana-macademia nut pancakes. So Hawaiian, I know. I had a successful Target trip (where I only purchased what I went in there to purchase...this is probs the first time I've been in there and left without spending enough to cover their mortgage payment for the month). Heather basically found me some friends in my peer group so I danced the night away with a fun group of people. To top it off, every time I got into Julia (my truck) on that day, Beyonce was playing on the radio. New Year's Day was uneventful--I basically spent all but 4 hours in bed passed out/trying to give my legs (dead tired and sore from hike/dancing) a pep talk and reminding them how to put one in front of the other, etc.

Starting today, however, my 5 month Hawaiian vacation of paradise has come to its close. I started a job. I'll be doing taxes, so that's good in that it'll be me on top of things, but the idea of working in general is still something to get used to. The thing that will keep me going is that the software we use is TPS which means we print out "TPS reports." I just might have to watch that movie soon.

That's probs all I'll really have to report in the next few weeks until Carrie finally comes home with Mykah and Jackson! So in the meantime, I'm going to have to ask you if you could come in on Saturday...