Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Lauren & Luau

(Bryon and Julie enjoying the sunset at the Paradise Cove Luau.)

Lauren had an exciting week and got to explore the entire island.  She literally saw every major part of the island in one week!  She got to explore and shop on the North Shore, go to the weekly swap meet, snorkel at Hanuma bay, explore Waikiki, Honolulu, and Kailua.  She also got plenty of beach time on all sides of the island.  One of the big events for the week was the Luau at Paradise Cove in Koalina.  She also got to experience all our local friends in their full bowling glory.

Besides the great times with Lauren over this past week their really isn't a whole lot to report.  I'm still fighting of some sort of illness, but its getting better.  I'm also still dealing with my foot injury, as it doesn't seem to be healing properly.  Hopefully the antibiotics the doctor put me on yesterday will do the trick.  Sales have been really slow at Land Rover, but I'm hanging in there.  I've been out kiteboarding a bit, but the winds have been on the low side of good, and gusty.

You should also check out this cool website (www.riversindemand.com) from my old paddling buddy Andy Maser.  I only dream of adventures on this magnitude.  Maybe someday... I'm just happy to hear that he made it safely through Tibet during the recent political uprising in the region.
(Lauren and Julie get into the hula under a Hawaiian sunset.)
(Lauren gets a Hawaiian "tattoo" from a local hottie.)
(Julie enjoys the local "culture".)
(Lauren and Julie looking cute with the local flowers.)
(The fire dancing at Paradise Cove was spectacular.)

Julie and I are both missing our friends and family back in Baltimore.  Lauren brought a little bit of home with her when she came out for a visit.  Please be sure to keep in touch.

PS- Everytime someone comes for a visit they bring lots of wind with them.  What I'm saying is that you all need to come visit so that I can get out kiteboarding more:)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Visitors Bring Wind!!!

(Julie and Lauren enjoying a hearty breakfast under the Hawaiian sun.)

Once again when visitors come to see Julie and I they bring with them strong winds.  Cheers to that:)  I got four days of kiteboarding over this past week!  I'm now able to ride way up wind, keep in relative control in gusty conditions, and jump a bit.  I had a few sessions where I was out on the water for over 1 1/2 hrs.

(Bryon body dragging off the beach while trying to dodge the kayak, windsurf, and kite traffic in Kailua Bay.)

Julie and I also were able to get out Yacht racing on Friday evening in some heavy winds.  It was quite fun, but the boat didn't do to well in the race.  We were actually 4 min late to the start due to a torn jib sail while hoisting.

(Friday night yachting in Honolulu)

Lauren came to visit us for the week, getting in late Saturday evening.  She has been busy exploring the island, relaxing on the beach, and trying to fight off the jet lag.  Lauren also got to experience St. Patrick's Day Hawaiian style, a drunken block party in China town!  It was a bit crazy, even by my standards, so after I had the obligatory Guinness we headed home.  Luckily Julie and I will have some time off later in the week to spend with her.

The exciting news for the week is that Julie is now the official boat painter for the only outrigger canoe manufacturer left in Hawaii.  She started her training tonight.  Stay tuned for updates on this exciting new project.

Sadly I'm still feeling really sick, even though I've been trying to ignore it for some time now.  I also got REALLY sun burned on my face while kiting Sunday.  On top of it all I was helping out a kiter on Sunday, that had no clue what he was doing, and ended up putting a big hole in my foot.  It's healing up well, but hurts like hell and is keeping me off the water, even though the wind is still blowing!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Offroading, Sailing, and Sickness


(Julie enjoying her birthday in a Land Rover with her new hat on.)

It has been a really long week here in HI.  Julie and I both worked this past Thursday, our usual day off.  Julie had to put in some extra hours so that she could take some time off next week while Lauren Honeycut comes for a visit.  I worked 12+ hr days Thur.-Sat. at the dealership and the Honolulu Car Show.  The dealership has been a ghost town this month and I'm hoping that all my time at the show will result in some sales.
(16 Rovers cruising around Kualoa Ranch)

(A Range Rover having some fun on the obstacle course)

(My loaner LR3 in the valley at Kualoa Ranch)

Sunday was the action packed day of the week.  It was Julie's 28th birthday!  I can now call her my old lady:)  We first attended the Land Rover Wheels event at Kualoa Ranch, the set location for movies like Jurasic Park, 50 First Dates, Windtalkers, Mighty Joe Young, and many others.  This is a quarterly off road owners event put on by the dealership.  It was a beautiful day and it was great fun thrashing a Land Rover in its natural environment.  After the Wheels event Julie got a call to go for a practice sail aboard the boat she has started sailing on Friday evenings out of Waikiki.  I tagged along and had a great time out on the water for a few hours.  I might have to join the crew for a few Friday night races:)  After the sailing we headed over to Hawaii Kai for a birthday dinner at Kona Brewing Company.  We had a group of about 11 people for a big dinner and some quality micro brew.  We were exhausted after the long day and went home to pass out, at about 10pm.  I know, sad isn't it.  Oh, I forgot, Julie was asleep within 5 min. of leaving the restaurant:)

The last few days I've been really sick actually.  My throat is all messed up.  I passed out on the couch last night and didn't wake up to go to bed until about 2:30am, hence the reason this blog entry is a day late.  Hopefully everyone else is doing better than I.  Keep in touch. Peace...

(Julie out on the 40ft Benetoau 1 toner sailboat)

(This is the Mercedes, the yacht that we took out whale watching a few weeks ago.)

-(Just realized that I didn't put up a post last week!  Sorry about that.  I've been in a bit of a funk here lately.  Besides a drive around the North Shore looking for surf, not finding any, and taking Julie shopping on Thursday the 28th there wasn't much to report.)-