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We had an unusually warm day in January so we took the opportunity to visit the beach!

We started with a visit to Gary’s Deli in Corona Del Mar. We’ve been coming here since just before Emma was born, though the time between visits has increased. It had been at least a year since we ate at Gary’s this trip but the owner behind the register still remembered us and had our usual order punched in without us even asking. That’s service!

Read more on The Beach in January…

GameSpy took a trip down to Doheny State Beach for an office outing at the end of July. In addition to a cookout and some play at the beach there was a “Fear Factor” style eating contest.

For as long as I can remember I’ve had blackeyed peas and greens on New Years Day. In Southern lore the peas are for luck and the greens for money. It seems to have worked well for us in the past so I wasn’t about to let a little thing like being 3600 miles from home stand in the way of tradition.

We had a relatively lazy New Year’s Eve today. It seems as if we’ve been going non-stop thus far so it was a nice change of pace to lounge around all morning. No early-morning boat rides or submarines, no late night lu’aus to attend.

Note to readers: You should not blaze any trails in a Trailblazer. We took a bumpy ride on a 4WD-only road to get to Makalawena Beach. The reward for our ride of terror was well worth the effort. The beach was relatively uncrowded and absolutely gorgeous.

I woke us up at the crack of dawn today for our whale watching tour only to discover once we arrived that the tour wasn’t until tomorrow. We ended up driving to Hapuna Beach and had a wonderful time playing in the sand.

Happy Holidays from Hawaii!

We spend the morning touring coffee farms and The Painted Church. The afternoon is spent frolicking at Ke’ei beach and ends with spectacular sunset. Who could ask for more?

Today we visited Pu’uhonua o Honaunau, also called “Place of Refuge.” This was a very sacred site for Hawaiians in ages past. In addition to learning a little Hawaiian history here we were also treated to our first turtle-spotting.

Our flight was delayed due to a “security breach” in Orange County and traffic from the Kona/Keahole airport was abysmal but we are here in Hawaii at last, our home for the next 12 days.