September 2014

We haven't done too much besides work and school this month. I have had to work several Saturdays and Dainan is trying to finish his contract renewal. We have been going on some walks and we found these two in the Moiliili Community Garden.

August 2014

I can't believe how fast the year is going. August 13-15th Dainan attended the Society of American Archivists annual conference in Washington D.C.

July 2014

Happy July! This month was a busy month with work, my birthday and our anniversary. For my work we had a cultural retreat on a Hawaiian canoe. It was pretty neat and a relaxing day near Waimanalo Beach Park.

Happy 4th of July! We had a dinner with our friends the Hwangs and the Moody's and watched the fireworks from the Hwangs apartment. Here is a picture of a card I made.

For my 32nd birthday we went to Hanauma bay and had boba drinks after. We love snorkeling at Hanauma but it had been several years since we had been. For our 7th year wedding anniversary we celebrated by eating all you can eat seafood buffet at Makino Chaya. My favorite!

Dainan taught a graduate course this summer term "Intro to Archives Management." He took his class on a field visit to Shangri La (Doris Duke's private home which is now a museum).  I came with since I had never been there. It was an amazing home and garden. Here is a picture of the class. 

June 2014

June has been busy with many activities! We had a BBQ at our friends deck on the 14th floor and we were pleasantly surprised with this rainbow. 

On Kamehameha day, Dainan built an oak shelf for his stand-up desk in his office. His monitors are now at the perfect height. We went to City Mill and bought the wood, then went to his co-workers house and borrowed his tools and table saw to build the shelf. 

We got together with my cousins and had shave ice from Shimazu's and went to Ward Center to eat ramen and shop around. Here is a picture of me at Ward in front of a garden path.

Every Friday night the Hilton Hawaiian Village puts on a fireworks show. We went to Magic Island with the youth from our ward for games and dinner and to watch the fireworks. It was a fun evening.

May 2014

May has come and gone so fast...now for Summer! At my work, I am on a committee that partners with other agencies to sponsor events for children in foster care. We have an annual appreciation day for Foster Parents and their families. It is a day of beach activities at Secret Island. I have never heard of this place before, but it is run by Kualoa ranch. The only way to get there is by a boat across Molii Fish Pond. 

 Once you get there, the beach has kayaks, stand up paddle, canoes, a glass bottom boat, volleyball, and hammocks to relax. Dainan came with me to the event since my co-worker was unable to attend. Unfortunately it rained all day and poured while we went across the fish pond so we helped pass out the lunch, talked to some volunteers, and went home. Despite the weather it was a nice setting and hopefully next year it won't be raining.

April 2014

Happy Easter 2014!

Some other things we've done the month are...
Ala Moana has the best walking paths close to our apartment. We have walked past these banyan trees many times, you can see how big they are!

Ice Cream Fundraiser- Dainan's work had an ice cream fundraiser at the Hamilton Library. Since I had the day off I joined in on the fun.

March 2014

Last weekend we went to the musical "The Lion King" at the Blaisdell Concert Hall. We really enjoyed the costumes, music, and performers. The performer who played Rafiki was amazing and she was from the London cast. She even spoke with the african language where there are "clicks" in between the words. This was our first time seeing the show and it was awesome.

February 2014

Happy Chinese New Year! This is Dainan's year, year of the Horse. To celebrate we ordered take-out from Asia Manoa restaurant. This was our first time ordering food from there and we loved it. We ordered honey walnut shrimp, orange chicken, and house special cake noodle.

In front of the Honolulu Museum of Arts we took pictures of the wooden horse sculptures. They were pretty neat. 

Also this month was the yearly Punahou Carnival. We went with the Hwang and Moody families and played some fun carnival games. I rode a ferrris wheel for the 1st time. It was awesome.

Lastly, this is a Valentines card that I made. Happy Valentine's Day!

January 2014

Aloha family and friends! Happy New Year 2014! This year we are planning to update you with a post about our lives once a month as opposed to last year's weekly post which we always seemed to be falling behind. So look out for our monthly post and as always we love your comments :)

We had a holiday on Martin Luther King Jr. day and we went to Waimanalo Beach Park with the Moody family. We couldn't have asked for better weather.

December 2013

Happy Birthday Dainan! I invited the Moodys and Hwangs over for some ice cream cake and treats to celebrate his birthday. 

At the end of the month, we took a trip to Idaho for Christmas and this is what we found as we flew into Salt Lake City. As you can imagine we were freezing the whole trip but it was worth it as we had a wonderful time with family.

On the way back to the airport we spent a few days with the Maws as well. 

Romney's new job...Hello Queen Lili`uokalani Children's Center (Week 42: October 13-19)

This week i started a new job at Queen Lili`uokalani Children's Center. This job is working with Native Hawaiian children who are orphans or who have lost a parent. Queen Lili`uokalani left monies to help these Native Hawaiian orphans and families who will be raising them. The services we offer are financial aid, counseling, grief support groups, and community building based on Hawaiian culture. It seems like a good variety and I am going to be learning a lot of new things, especially about the Hawaiian culture which i am excited for. My former co-worker from Easter Seals has been working at QLCC for 2 years so we are reunited once again. Here is a picture of us from my first day. Aloha...

Romney says goodbye to Easter Seals Hawaii (Week 41: October 6-12)

A month after I graduated with my master's of social work degree in 2009, I had already interviewed and was hired for a job as a social worker at Easter Seals Hawaii. I was so fortunate, but as time went on I found myself wanting to do something a little different and with some opportunity for advancement. After 4 ½ years, I am ready to move on to another opportunity as I have a job offer at Queen Lili`uokalani Children's Center.

My co-workers took me out for a goodbye lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory.

Canstruction at Pearlridge mall (Week 40: September 29-October 5)

Each year businesses compete and construct sculptures out of can food that are displayed at the Pearlridge mall.  I always enjoy going to see the creative displays, there were some interesting ones this year.

Sunset at Ala Moana (Week 39: September 22-28)

We went to Ala Moana beach park this week to relax and watch the sunset. It was a beautiful night.

Butterfly Museum and Insectarium (Week 38: September 15-21)

This is the last post with pictures from our New Orleans trip. We went to the Butterfly Museum and Insectarium. It was neat to see all the different kinds of insects and butterflies.

Can you see which ones are the leaves and which ones are the insects?

Pink, orange, and yellow

I wouldn't want to come in contact with these, they are almost as big as my hand!!!

The last room was of a live butterfly atrium where you could go up close to the butterflies and they fly around you, it was so neat.

These last two pictures are the inside and outside of this particular butterfly. The inside is brown and the outside is blue. So pretty.