Visit to Pakala

Friday night we went to visit Jon's friend and former coworker, Mike, in his hometown of Pakala on the West shore.  He and his wife Miki invited us over and it was perfect timing because we were hoping to see them again before we left.  If you recall, they were the ones whose wedding we went to a few months back.  As always, it was so fun hanging out with them.  They are two of the most friendly, laid back people I know.  Uncle David (a.k.a. Tamayo) came with us and we all had a great time.  

Right away when we got there, Everett took off running faster than his feet would go and got a mouth full of red dirt!  Here is our sweet, muddy boy trying not to cry.

But he's a tough kid so he shook it off pretty quickly.  And as soon as he saw the dogs, all trauma was forgotten.

 

Mike and Miki just moved to a new house down the street and this is their front yard!  The views were absolutely amazing and best of all, we got there just before sunset.  Their neighborhood is positioned just right so that the sun sets right over the island of Ni'ihau.  

Here are the boys hanging out, checking out the view and eating various delicious grilled meats.

Lots of laughter when these ones get together.

I love listening to Mike "talk story".  He speaks Pidgin, a Hawaiian slang dialect of English, and it's so cool to listen to - really fast, smooth and almost rhythmic.  Although he tones it down for us I'm sure, I really only understand about 50% of what he says.  The guys can follow most of it because they're around it a lot.  A bunch of the local guys they've worked with speak Pidgin (*I attached an example of Hawaiian Pidgin at the bottom of this entry).  

That's Mike on the right in the picture below.

Miki and another friend of theirs were fishing off the shore.  I love this picture because it totally reflects the local lifestyle - the guy on the right is casually fishing while playing the ukelele :)

And finally, the glorious sunset we were awaiting.  It's hard to see the island below the sun in these shots, but I assure you, it's there and clearly visible in person :)

 Got a couple of great family shots.  Thanks Uncle David!

Before we left, Miki gave us a going away present - a book about the Hawaiian singer Iz (Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - good call going by "Iz"), whom we have come to love!  For those of you who don't know, he is quite famous for his traditional Hawaiian version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.  It was such a sweet gift to top off a beautiful night with friends.  We are so glad we got to spend some time with this fun couple before we leave the island - you guys will be missed!

*Below: Passage from the Bible in Pidgin, courtesy of Wikipedia.  Click on the picture for a closer view.