Part of the Memorial Day weekend crew

While you don’t get to pick your family, you do get to pick your in-laws. I got lucky there, too.

These are really great people. No fighting. No dysfunctional stuff. Just a lot of teasing and laughter. And at family reunion time, a lot of embellishing stories around the campfire, not to mention enough food to feed an army for an extended period of time.

Mom-in-law and two of my four sisters-in-law

A brother-in-law reminded us once of something he heard on a Jeff Foxworthy video: “You know you’re a redneck if you met your wife at your family reunion.”

Our daughter shot back with, “You know you’re a redneck if you watch Jeff Foxworthy videos!”

(I’m thinking she gets her feisty-ness from her father.)

This 2nd cousin and niece trading in “Johnson” for a different last name. What were they thinking?!

With her $100 gift certificate, our daughter visited Bag, Borrow or Steal and came away with $760 worth of prestige in the form of a Moschino bag – on loan for a month.

The catch is, if your co-workers or neighbors or those other people in the aisles of your local grocery store have no idea you’re sporting a designer bag, it’s a total waste of rented self-esteem.

$760 Moschino bag from their

“Cheap and Chic” line on loan to our daughter

I wasn’t the only passenger returning from balmy Hawaii who hadn’t calculated the end destination weather correctly!

Hawaii is a world away from the mainland in more ways than one.

Where else would you find colorful parrots on the main street along Waikiki Beach?

Parrots - oblivious to the paparazzi

After-school sports never looked like this on the mainland

And where else are there so many street signs with so many fun names to pronounce? (Our granddaughter’s name is Lilly so my personal favorite is Lili’uokalani.)

And speaking of streets, it was perfectly natural to see bikini-clad surfer girls carrying their boards and walking down the city streets amongst the traffic and tourists and shops.

Fun street names

Amber sunset off Waikiki

And then there are the amber sunsets as surfers linger on the water, and boats of all sizes and shapes head out for an evening excursion.

We were sitting on a retaining wall along Waikiki Beach when Gary snapped this photo.

Besides spending time with Shihoko and Yoshi, this was my favorite thing about being in Hawaii – these simple, totally stress-free moments

Japanese-Hawaiian wedding

Shihoko’s wedding was a lovely blend of Japanese and Hawaiian – vows spoken in Japanese and English, a traditional American wedding dress with veil and, instead of throwing rice, the guests threw flowers in a Hawaiian flower shower.

Hawaiian flower shower

Shihoko was radiant and enjoying every minute of the festivities, just as a bride ought to ... and Yoshi was handsome in white tails.

Shihoko’s Japanese father and American father (that would be Gary) walked the bride down the aisle – one on each arm and both wearing aloha shirts, as directed by the bride.

Shihoko - beautiful and having fun!

We asked how Shihoko’s father got started in the restaurant business (at the time, it was one of the few jobs in Japan where he could be the owner of his own business) … and how her mother got interested in climbing mountains (she joined a hiking club and has climbed Mt. Fuji twice and Kilimanjaro in Africa) … and if Shihoko’s dad has ever climbed a mountain with his wife (no, no, no, only golf!).

Shihoko and Yoshi at wedding dinner

Somehow Shihoko talks us, her fiancé, her brother and her parents into getting up early to catch the sunrise from Diamond Head.

Gary and I are picked up at the entrance to our hotel in a van. At 5:30am. While we’re on vacation. There’s something wrong with this picture.

Diamond Head

Halfway to the top of Diamond Head... and still having fun

We all have breakfast together afterward, Shihoko serving as chief translator.

I ask how she and Yoshi met and how long he waited to propose. Shihoko’s mother, who understands some English, answers my question in Japanese.

American style breakfast

Despite the difficult-to-pronounce street names, Honolulu has great public transportation and helpful bus drivers, and today we ventured out to find the trailhead to Manoa Falls.

Let me tell you, there’s a world of difference between hiking uphill for a mile and a half in rainforest … and the uphill climbs into the dry coolness of the Oregon Cascades back home.

On the jungle trail to Manoa Falls

When we reached the top of the trail with tall, green mountains hemming us into the jungle and not a breeze stirring, we were drenched (probably more info than you wanted).

The beauty and adventure, however, were well worth the drenching.

We’re camped out this week on the 12^th floor of a hotel about a block and a half from the Pacific. From our balcony we can see the surfers and sailboats and cruise ships just off Waikiki Beach. Diamond Head is to our left.

150-foot Manoa Falls

Tomorrow we’ll meet Shihoko’s family and fiancé. Back when Shihoko was a junior in high school, we took her with us to a wedding in Sonoma, California. We made a quick stop in San Francisco to have dinner at Fisherman’s Wharf and ride the cable cars.

Coming back down the steep hills, Shihoko leaned off the front of the cable car, our camcorder in hand, capturing the city by the bay and exclaiming, “Fun, oh fun!”

When it comes to being in Hawaii ... this is our sentiment exactly!

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      Bird of Paradise growing

      profusely along the trail

Shihoko

Last December, we get a letter from Shihoko, one of our exchange students from the late 90s:

Guess what?! Here is news to you. Finally, I am getting married in May. Do you remember that what you said? If Shihoko gets married it is suppose to be in Hawaii. Because Hawaii is between Japan and America. I remember that words. So we decided to get married in Hawaii. I want you to be there as American dad and mom.

And so we put the May wedding date on our calendar ... and now May is here and we leave for Hawaii this Sunday, courtesy of Shihoko’s parents.

But between now and then, life is extra busy with work and evening and Saturday commitments, so I’ve begun gathering things to pack.

A quick e-mail to Shihoko: “Should Gary wear a dress shirt and tie to the wedding?”

She answers: “My family is going to wear Aloha shirts. So it means really casual.” I dig deep in the back of our closet and dust off my flip-flops and Gary’s Aloha shirts.

The wedding will take place on a beautiful bay about 45 minutes from Honolulu.

E-mail from Shihoko: Will Gary drive her family in their rental car to the chapel site because “we are not good at driving right side”?

She also made plans for us all to hike to the top of Diamond Head to catch the sunrise the day before the wedding, and then have breakfast together.

Starting to gather things for a week in Hawaii  

The Scout Camp Trail is one of Central Oregon’s best kept secrets – the only hikers we encountered were the 3 at the trailhead who pulled up as we were leaving.

It’s 700 feet from the canyon rim down to the river. The Oregon National Desert Association gives the trail a rating of very difficult.

We descended on a narrow path, gravel sliding under our hiking boots on the steeper grades. 

Mother's Weekend bouquet - better than

store-bought flowers any day of the week

There’s a place at river level where the path ends at a rock wall. We tried to go around the wall that juts into the river, but we weren’t exactly dressed for swimming. We retraced our steps to see if we had gotten off the beaten track, but no.

And so we clambered up the rock wall, looking for handholds and footholds as we went. In blind faith. Hoping the trail would pick back up on the other side.

Gary and I have faced our share of rock walls. Instead of turning around, with God’s help we pushed forward. Our climbing technique may not have been pretty, but we somehow managed to find the path on the other side.

Life lessons from a pile of rocks.

Clambering up over obstacles

The Deschutes River runs 700' below

the canyon rim  

And so, a great Mother’s Day weekend – a new adventure with my sweetheart; breakfast out; a postage-stamp-size computer bag for my postage-stamp-size laptop as a gift from Gary ... and the weekend isn’t even over.

(I’m going to try to talk him into watching a chick flick with me this evening – wish me luck!)

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Tod returned from the war with a silver star, a bronze star, and a purple heart. They came at a high price, though. He weighed a mere 145 lbs stretched across his tall frame, and needed a good deal of physical and emotional healing. Jean stayed the course with him.

Fast forward several years. Jean heard from someone that if you could paint a nude, then you could paint anything. So she set about painting a nude, and Tod showed her work to an artist who had studied in Europe.

The artist said he would give Jean art lessons for free. Tod signed up for classes, as well, and through the years, they have filled their home with some incredible artwork.

Jean with one of Tod's oil paintings (John Wayne)

and one of hers (young girl)

L to R: Peggy Carey, Cancer Center Dir; Becky from the mountain; Lizzi Katz, my partner in crime; and Peggy Lukens, Nurse Navigator.

Oversized check

Becky from the mountain stopped by the cancer center today with money. I love it when people do that.

For those not in the know, the mountain is Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort. (If you’re a New Yorker, it’s the city. If you’re from Central Oregon, it’s the mountain.)

I blogged a couple weeks ago about this fun ski/snowboard event hosted at the mountain to benefit Sara’s Project.

Today was the check-delivery day, which meant a fun photo op. I quite cleverly got out of being in the photo by showing up with my camera and bossing people around. (Gary says I’m quite good at that.)

Extraordinary ordinary life

We’re in the middle of what promises to be another extraordinary ordinary weekend, defined as one of those weekends in which all the ordinary things we do—Friday night date, experimenting with new recipes, hiking, laundry, reading, attending church, connecting with family—makes for an extraordinary life.

 Jackson’s Corner pizza guy in action

Gary and I caught a Nicholas Sparks movie and had Oven-Baked Chicken Pesto sandwiches at Jackson’s Corner on Friday night. Jackson’s Corner is this fun, community-friendly restaurant/deli with its mismatched tables and chairs housed in one of Bend’s historic buildings. They’re known for their house made pastas, pizza, soups, sandwiches and salads.

Yesterday we hiked above the Deschutes River, capturing osprey on film. We cooked elk steaks for dinner, and attended church last evening.

And in between it all, housework and laundry beckon us ... and I’m in the middle of an interesting book ... and there’s email to answer and family to phone ... and always a knitting project waiting to be completed.

Jackson's Corner Oven-Baked Chicken Pesto sandwiches

Osprey (upper right) and its nest

own two legs yesterday; our eyes are working well enough to catch high-soaring osprey, watch a movie, read a book; we attended church without fear of someone reporting us to the authorities; we have family across the country who love us.

This is our extraordinary ordinary life … and I will not take any of it for granted.

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