Home from Hawaii - More Pics

We are home safe and sound(???) from Hawai'i, and MAN OH MAN did we ever have a great trip!!! I took well over 1,200 photos while we were in Hawai'i, and I will post them ALL here. Just kidding!!! I've already started going through them, deleting duplicates, throwing away the bad ones, etc., and I already have the list down to about 500. I'm still going, though, but you can see the first 104 that I've settled on, by clicking here. They'll all be accessible from that same link, as I upload them. The 104 that I've posted now are just of our first two days in Oahu.

Here some more photos from the trip, though.

We got to visit my Uncle Dick and Aunt Marion Detton. They were in town visiting their sons (my cousins), Paul and Steve, living on Oahu's North Shore and near Honolulu, respectively. They we actually on their way home to CA from serving a mission in Sapporo, Japan for the last 18 months. It was great to see them!

Mark, Brianna (hiding her face), Grandma Cotter, Andrew and Justin, on the boat after our snorkeling morning. Apparently, Justin thinks we're going the wrong way, or something. :-)

Grandma Cotter with her new boyfriend, from the island of Fiji (at the Polynesian Cultural Center). :-)

Visit to Twin Falls

What? Twin Falls, Idaho? No... we're not that close to home. Twin Falls, Maui, Hawai'i. It was on the famous "Road to Hana."

On Saturday we went snorkeling at Molokini and at Turtletown USA, but I'll have to report and post pictures from that later.

We went to church yesterday here in Kikei, where it was funny to see all of the bishopric wearing leis with their suits! After church, we took the drive to Hana, a 30+ mile stretch of road with over 600 turns and 59 one-way bridges. It could have been a really fun drive if the road were clear and you were in a sports car with good handling. It was still a fun drive because it was so spectacularly beautiful!

We had dinner at the very beautiful Hana Hotel, set in an area where you think, "Ah... this is what we expected Maui to look like." Enjoy the pictures below.

Steven and Andrew playing in the jungle (no politically correct "tropical rainforest" garbage here!) on the hike from the road up to the Twin Falls waterfalls. With my broken toe and bad knee, I couldn't get all the way up to the falls, so I'll have to post pictures from the kids' cameras later.

We had dinner at the lounge at the Hana Hotel. That's an open area and patio area in the background (Steven, Brianna, Andrew and Christopher in the foreground), and they partially close the glass wall only when it starts raining - which it did while we were there. Isn't this what you'd expect Maui to look like?!

The family at Hana.

A picture from the shoreline at Hana. Isn't this beautiful?!

Krakatoa in Hawai'i

We had a GREAT time parasailing today!!! It was tons of fun, and very exhilarating floating up in the air so peacefully. And the view of the coral reefs from 800 feet was really gorgeous!!! Check out the photos below. After parasailing, we went swimming at the J.T. Fleming Beach on the west side of Maui. Just one picture posted from there. Shortly after this picture was shot, I was walking on the beach looking for our kids, and I walked in to a large rock partially buried in the sand. Hit it so hard, that I believe I've broken the fourth toe on my right foot.; it's all swollen, discolored and gross (and NO... I never dated a girl like that!). Thus, as the title of this posting implies, I've cracked a toe in Hawaii. Tomorrow we go snorkeling, and it should be interesting trying to put fins on! :-)

Christopher and Steven on their way up from the platform of the boat.

Brianna and Andrew getting dipped in the water.

Do Brianna and Andrew look happy here, or what?! :-)

Justin and Mark waving from the parasail.

Mom waving to her adoring fans.

Dad pulling up on the straps, getting some relief from the super wedgie that seemed to plague only me today!

Steven and Dad waving to Mom while she snaps a photo.

Lovely Luau

We had a great time at the luau in Wailea last night, and had a great time. Some photos below. Now we're up early and heading up to Kaanapali this morning for parasailing. 800 feet up, baby!!! I'll be sure to get some good photos.

Brianna, Michelle and Nancy. A three-generation shot, and I just love how Brianna and Nancy match.

Brianna sitting on the lava rocks on the shore.

The entire family at the shoreline, at sunset.

Pics from Hawaii

Following are more pics from Hawaii. We got to our resort in Maui late last night, and are just having a low-key day. Tonight, though, we're going on a luau, and looking forward to that! :-)

Michelle and the kids at the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.

A cute picture of the kids behind a big tree at the National Cemetery up on the Punch Bowl on Oahu.

A beautiful beach scene up on the North Shores on Oahu.

The family in front of the Hawaii Temple.

The family on the deck of the USS Missouri, the battleship where the official end of WW2 took place.

Brianna and Christopher on the back of the Hawaii SuperFerry that we took from Oahu to Maui. The seas were REALLY rough on this trip over, and at least half the passengers on board (including many in our family) spent much of the 3.5-hour passage seasick! :-(

Aloha!

Aloha! Greetings from Hawaii. We arrived in Honolulu Sunday night, and have been having a great time on Oahu. I haven't had time to do any postings, but so far have taken hundreds of pictures. To the right here is a picture of all of us, up on the "Punch Bowl" overlooking Waikiki. I'm doing this blog entry from our SuperFerry boat to Maui, on Wednesday afternoon. I don't know if this internet connection will actually stay live once we leave port, so it's a short entry, just to say ALOHA!!! We're having a great time, and wish you could all be here with us. :-)

Michelle, Ma Belle

Someone was commenting the other day that on our family blog here, there's not much about my dear wife, Michelle. Well... that's just too danged bad - she's too precious to me to share!!! :-)

I don't really have any shots of her without some or all of our kids in the picture, so here at the right is one with her and Christopher and Justin, the day we were helping at the Winter Special Olympic games in Boise earlier this year. Christopher looks contemplative and Justin looks like he's just been enlightened by something. :-)

At any rate, Friday night in Daegu, South Korea, my associates and I went to a karaoke club. John Kim, a member of the Daegu Digital Industry Promotion Agency, joined me in duet, but I'd like to dedicate the Beatles "Michelle" to my wife. Check out the video below, and please don't comment on how awful we sound. It's the thought that counts, right???

For the YouTube version (slightly larger and slightly better quality), please click here.

I love you, Michelle. You are the light of my life, and I MISS YOU!!!
Michelle, ma belle. Sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble. These are words that go together well!!!

- John, posting from Shanghai

Fun with Sparklers

Last night we had only half of our children home, so tonight we did fireworks again, with everybody home this time.

Getting creative once again, I decided to have Justin, Christopher, Brianna, Andrew and Mark spell out the word "hello" with sparklers. Justin and Christopher had the most complex letters (nothing like trying to make a backwards "h" or "e" waving your arm!), and so their letters are a little small. Oh well; you get the idea.

Again for the camera geeks: ISO 200, f29 aperture, 30 second exposure.

Happy Independence Day!!!

We hope everybody had a great Independence Day yesterday. Our great country is 232 years old - and my kids tell ME that I'm old!!! :-)

Yesterday was kind of a laid back day for some of us. Justin and Christopher were working all day down at Morrison Park, serving up delicious lemonade to the masses. Andrew was (and still is) away at Boy Scout Camp. So in the late morning, after sleeping in, Michelle and I, as well as Brianna, Mark and Steven, went shopping at the Boise Outlet Mall - I even got a bunch of stuff from one of my favorite stores, Big Dog. To give some perspective, the exit from I-84 to get to our home is exit #47 (I think - I may be off by one). The Boise Outlet Mall is at exit #54. These exit numbers are also mile markers. A lot of stores in the Boise Outlet Mall are going out of business, citing that it's just too far our of town to be successful. Just 7 miles!

Then out at exit #74, you're way out in the middle of nowhere. Just 27 miles from the exit to our home. Way out there, though, is a HUGE Fat City Fireworks (open year-round) warehouse. We went out there to buy our fireworks. That place was CROWDED yesterday!!! There must have been 300 people there. We stayed away from the stuff (bummer!!!) that you had to sign an affidavit for, the kind of artillery shells (actually illegal in Idaho - but they sell it!) you see at Angels Stadium, and stuck to the Safe 'n Sane stuff.

After getting home from that shopping, we went for a lazy swim in our pool. Having already been BBQ'd out this week, we did the next best American thing: we ordered pizza. We then enjoyed our own little private fireworks show in our front yard. The picture above is of this REALLY colorful fountain we got, and below is me doing figure-8s with a sparkler, as captured with my camera on a tripod. For pictures of all 13 posted pictures, please click here.

Have a great holiday weekend, everybody!!!

For all of you photo geeks out there, I took this photo with my Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi. It was sitting on my tripod; the aperture was set at f22, and the shutter remained opened for 13 seconds, with an ISO setting of 400.

Camping / A Roll in the Sand

Oh... sorry about this blog posting's title. You know me... I always like to make comments that have shock value. Did the title get your attention, anyway? Rest assured, though, this blog remains family friendly, and I hope you enjoy the video/pictures of, for example, Christopher rolling down the sand dunes! :-)

Upon landing back at home last week after 26 days in Asia, I immediately went camping with the family (well... most of the family, anyway; Brianna was out of town on other stuff). Idaho is home to the tallest sand dune in North America, at the Bruneau Dunes State Park. Just before the sand dunes, they have grass-covered, manicured camping spaces; this is where we camped. We had fun camping overnight, playing frisbee, football, and (baseball) catch; making s'mores and cooking over the fire. And... of course... playing in the sand dunes!!!

Herein are a couple photos from our fun campout, as well as a video of Christopher rolling down a sand dune. For all the photos from our campout, please click here.

You may have to click on the photo to enlarge it to see clearly, but I just love the look on Steven's face as his big brothers bury him in the sand!

I really love this picture of the boys! :-)

Check out the sand flying all about Christopher as he rolls down the sand dunes. This was pretty intense, and hard to capture on film!

Brianna Sings National Anthem at Hawks Game

Boise has a minor league baseball team affiliated with the Chicago Cubs, the Boise Hawks. Back on June 19th, Brianna and a friend, Dani Despres, sang the national anthem at one of their games. I was in Asia, of course, but Michelle took video, which we have now posted on YouTube. You can watch it, below, or click here.

This is an arrangement, by that way, that Brianna wrote, and she and Dani have sung this all over the place, from high school wrestling matches to baseball/softball tournaments.

Security in Tokyo

This past couple of weeks in Tokyo, I noticed all of these policemen armed to the teeth with their armbands (man those Tokyo cops are tough!!!) in the train stations. At first, I just thought they had beefed up their security because they heard that the lunatic John Goodale was in town, but then I saw this sign (pictured at right).

They're beefing up security in Tokyo for the G8 meetings coming up in Hokkaido next month. Hmmm... that's like saying, "We're holding government meetings in Portland, so we're beefing up security in Los Angeles..." (about the same distance as between Tokyo and Hokkaido). Oh well... I guess it never hurts to be too safe.

But... in spite of the extra security in Tokyo, I was able to stroll around the train stations with my thermonuclear device, my double-barreled shotgun, and my crossbow slung over my shoulders.

I'm sorry... that was just a silly joke; I don't even own a crossbow! :-)

Flicking Out in Shanghai

Tonight I flicked out. Went to a nearby mall movie theater and saw Dreamworks' and Pixar's "Kung Fu Panda." I haven't laughed that hard in a long time - what a funny movie!!! Especially in the part (I'm not giving anything away, if you haven't seen it) where the panda is being trained with food as a motivator, I thought I was going to die laughing!

Admission, by the way, cost 70 quai, or about $10. That's about the same as a movie theater in the U.S. My popcorn and soda, though, was only 28 quai, or about $4. That's a bargain in the U.S., although since the popcorn tasted very strongly of caramel, I would have gladly paid more for "normal" popcorn! :-)

I've now been to movies in the U.S. (countless states, as I like flicking out on biz trips), Japan, Korea, China, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K. In every place but the U.S., it's first-come, first-served, and you get to pick your assigned seat from whatever is available when you buy your ticket. Awesome!!!

Shanghai's Pearl Tower Disappearing

Though it was kind of a gross day with the clouds, rain and humidity, at night the cloud cover made for some interesting photo opps. Check out how the Pearl Tower disappears in to the nighttime cloud cover, and the glow in the clouds that the lights cause. I thought this looked cool.

As does the photo below, with my hotel in the foreground.

Ugly Day / Ugly Dewd in Shanghai

This afternoon, my associate and I took The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, from the Pudong side of the Huangu River, to The Bund side. It was an interesting little sub-terranean/sub-river tram ride that was like a good acid trip minus the drugs. I took video of the return trip; I may post that in a subsequent posting.

But it's been kind of a gross day out. Thick cloud cover with periods of rain all day. This picture to the right is taken from The Bund, looking toward Pearl Tower. The cloud cover is so thick that you can't even see the top of Pearl Tower. As many times as I've been to Shanghai, I've never been to the top of that; with the cloud cover today, it wouldn't be a good day for it, either.

But not only was the DAY ugly, I discovered an ugly DEWD, as well. We went past a vendor in the museum area of The Bund Sightseeing Tunnel, that for 160 quai (about $23) would make a figurine of you out of clay. I went ahead and did this, just for the fun of it. Pictures below.

Here the vendor is sculpting me from clay, blue-and-white stripes on my shirt, and everything!

The finished product. Now... why oh WHY has somebody not had the heart to tell me I'm this ugly???!!!

Me standing by the Huangu River; that's our hotel (Oriental Riverside Hotel) directly behind me, with the globe-type things on either side of it.

Jazz in Shanghai

Tonight with a customer we went to a jazz club here in Shanghai. The place is called Jz Club (click on the link; their website is kind of fun), and we had a great time there!!! Though all things are relative, for Shanghai, this place was a bit expensive. They had a cover charge of 30 kuai (about $4.35), each ginger ale I ordered (do I know how to party, or what?!) cost 40 kuai ($5.81). :-)

The place was absolutely PACKED - a full house. However, after just about ten minutes of waiting, they showed us to a table that had cleared out, right at the front of the room. How lucky was that?! Tonight was Big Band night, and on this relatively small stage that had 15 players. For three of their songs, they even featured "Jasmine" - she had a gorgeous voice.

I have posted a video on YouTube (actually three videos combined in to one), which you can click below to view. The band/singing sounded great live in person, but I was actually a little too close to the band for the digital camera to pick up the sound very well. So even though the sound quality isn't that great, I hope you get the idea, anyway. We had a great time!

Boise in Shanghai

Friday night here in Shanghai I went out to dinner with the Christensens and some friends of theirs here. Trent (doing the traditional peace sign behind me) and Tami, and their son, Aaron, are out here from Boise on a two-year assignment from Hewlett Packard.

We went to this little hole-in-the-wall dumpling place that was REALLY good. Dumplings and wanton soup (beef and pig heart). The entire restaurant was about the size of our dining room at home - I don't know how the Christensens discovered this little jewel. Very VERY yummy, and CHEAP!!! By contrast, tonight I was at a Shanghai jazz club, and one ginger ale there cost one-half of what our entire meal for five cost last night!

But better than the food was the company (no... I didn't eat the company). It was fun hanging out with friends from home. But having been gone from Boise for nearly three weeks now, I must admit that it made me a bit homesick!!!

Hachiko / "Times Square" of Tokyo

Wow... what a nice, lazy Father's Day Sunday here in Japan. Didn't do much, but this evening, I took DB (my associate, David Brame) down to Shibuya, which is called by many the "Times Square" of Tokyo. There certainly are a bazillion people walking around down there!!! And with all the neon, it does indeed remind one of Times Square in NYC.

The Shibuya train station features a statue of "Hachiko" - the beloved, loyal dog that went to Shibuya station every day to look for his master (way back in the 1920s). It's a very cute story, supposedly very well-known in Japan; we even have a children's book about Hachiko at home (in English, of course). For the story of Hachiko, you can click here.

DB being a rather simple guy like me, I also thought he would appreciate a nice, simple American PIZZA meal!!! I knew there was a Shakeys Pizza Parlor in Shibuya, so we went there. DB and I were not disappointed - it tasted quite yummy! :-)

Though the pictures do NOT do Shibuya justice, below are a couple of photos I took in Shibuya this evening. Enjoy...

Andrew Playoffs

Hey everybody! This is Justin and Andrew with the first post by somebody other than Dad. Andrew's baseball team finished with the third best record in their league this season, and last week they started the double elimination playoff tournament. They eventually advanced to the semi-final game, which was played on Wednesday. This earned them a game against Andrew's team from last year, the second place Dodgers. Andrew's team jumped out to an early 7-2 lead before the Dodgers stormed back and made it 7-6. It was a tough battle, but the Mariners ended up coasting to a 10-6 victory behind Andrew's great play on both offense and defense. He reached base on all four at-bats, including 2 RBI singles. He also played great at first base.
On Friday, they went on to play the Indians in the championship. Andrew played first base once again and was an integral part of the Mariners impressive defensive effort. He also went 2-2 with an RBI double in the Mariners 4-2 win. This isn't the end, however. While the Mariners had lost one game in the tournament, this was the Indians first loss. The playoffs are double elimination, so the Mariners must beat them again Saturday afternoon to win the championship.

Rinsed Well

Ahhhh... now this certainly sounds just fine. I've taken a picture here in my Fukuoka (Japan) hotel room of a cup wrapped in plastic, right next to my incredibly high-tech in room phone. You can be absolutely positive that I feel completely comfortable taking a sip from this cup, because it has been "RINSED WELL." :-)

On a side-note, this same model phone I have seen in Japan hotel rooms since the late 1980s. They just don't make phones like they used to! :-)

An Inconvenient Remote Control

Check this out. I discovered that my TV remote control in my apartment in Tokyo has a "speed dial" button for CNN!!! :-)

(you may need to click on the picture to enlarge it, to see the button clearly)

Eatertainment: Inakaya

Last night we went to one of my favorite restaurants here in Tokyo, a place called "Inakaya." It's a robatayaki-style restaurant, and the customers sit around a giant U-shaped bar. You have all kinds of food laid out in front of you - beef, chicken, vegetables, fish, etc. etc. etc., and there are two guys on a raised platform in the center of the U. You tell the waiters around you what you want, and they yell it out to the two guys up front. They prepare it - cook it if necessary, and serve it up to you on a long wooden "paddle." It's a very fun, loud environment - best understood by watching the video, below (or on YouTube, here). I call it EATERTAINMENT.

By the way, in the second part of this clip, they're not beating some customer who didn't pay his bill, they're pounding rice in to submission, to turn it in to rice cakes.

Executive Chef, EGT

Tonight I received a short-lived promotion to Executive Chef, Emergent Game Technologies. Cooked spaghetti in my apartment for my two Emergent associates and myself. Now we're hanging out watching "Without a Trace" on Tokyo's Super Drama TV channel. Are we party animals this Saturday night in Tokyo, or what?! Actually... after eating out and entertaining night after night, it's nice to just sit around in my cozy apartment. Never fear, though... after my associates finish off their drinks, we're going to go totally crazy and have ice cream for dessert. Look out, Tokyo!!! :-)

By the way, I call the Executive Chef promotion short-lived because I accidentally undercooked the noodles and they were a bit tough. I guess I'll have to keep my day job!

I'll be accepting recipe submissions for our next wild, crazy night in Asia. :-)

Mark - A Presidential Scholar

This year, Mark enjoyed being king of the hill at his elementary school, and next year he gets to move on to middle school. He's done a great job this year, and I'm sure we'll see many great things from him next year, as well.

On Friday, Mark was presented with the President's Education Award. To the right is his certificate, and below you'll see the letter from President Bush (click either to enlarge).

Way to go, Mark!!!