On one of those unbelievably beautiful late summer days at the end of September, Daniel got a group of us together to ride over the Santa Cruz mountains and down into Capitola. I don't have any pics of the trip over the hill, but I do have this lovely afternoon pic of the Capitola boardwalk, which we enjoyed after a leisurely lunch and stroll.
Okay, moving into the month of October, we had the blessing of more beautiful, warm weather and it turned into a wonderful day for some boat racing. In the pic above, you can see the 45' ETNZ catamaran cruising along in SF Bay with Alcatraz in the background. I can't wait for later this year (2013) to see the big brother, 72' cat flying around and, hopefully, bringing the Auld Mug back to NZ!
Fleet racing in the 45' cats past Alcatraz. A lot of enthusiastic folks came out and got to experience the racing. Quite impressive that you can enjoy a fair bit of action and excitement even from shore!
Shortly thereafter, I had the privilege of another flight home, (a bit sadly) on the plane in the foreground, rather than the one in the background, for some family time.
A trip home would not be complete with a gratuitous foodie pic! Here you see my Ahi Katsu plate from Jurison's Inn (Waikele) with a piece of bonus bbq chicken courtesy of my Aunty Karen (I think).
Nothing like a lovely rainbow pic (double actually!) while driving on the H1. Bonus points to those of you who can tell exactly where I am without reading the freeway signs.
I came home to watch my Mum (left most wearing yellow) perform some hula! The culmination of years of learning (dance & chanting), this "graduation" of sorts represents a big event in her hula career.
Here, in front of family, friends and fellow dancers, she accepts the representation of her newest level of achievement from her "kumu hula".
Gung Gung, Po Po, Mum, Kumu, Me, Aunty Karen and Dad after the awesome performance. Congrats Mum!!!
It wouldn't be a proper shindig if they didn't get some ono local food! Chicken long rice, lomi lomi salmon, pipikaula, ahi poke, haupia, kalua pig and pork lau lau. Broke da mout'! Shout out to Ryan C for dropping by, getting a plate and talking story for a bit.
They even had some great live music during lunch! Luckily for them, they had some cover from the intermittent showers that often bless the islands.
And many of the dancers who attended got together for an impromptu hula after lunch in honor of kumu.
Can't have a proper family gathering without having a proper BBQ one night. While we didn't have traditional Kiwi sausages and NZ, grass-fed beef, we did make do with Aidell's chicken, pineapple, bacon sausages and USDA Prime NY Strip steaks!
Sadly, I didn't get to spend too many days with my family before jetting back to Cali. I did get an upgrade to First class on the flight back and, in order to take full advantage, had to stay up for the midflight snack. Coupled with spending a while talking to Aunty Benita (family friend) on the flight, I didn't get very much sleep and had a pretty horrible day at work as a result of my fatigue.
Mum and my grandparents came up to spend the following weekend with me in the Bay Area and I'm glad I got to host them in my small, humble home. It just feels a little more home-like when I've got family in town!
On that note, we've finally caught up to mid-October. Stay tuned and hopefully I can get around to finishing off the 2012 pics and events in a decent amount of time! Adieu!
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