The February & March Madness (in pictures)

 I have to say, with each passing March, life becomes more normal. 

March 2020 was shocking- the world shut down, and I was fully engaged in trying to assist hundreds of employees file for unemployment and other assistance.

March 2021 was hopeful, as we had gotten vaccinated. Workwise, I was busy...as we recently reopened two restaurants at the end of 2020, and were scrambling to reopen a third in April, and a brand new, fourth restaurant was opening the month after that. But travel was still not on the agenda, and things were still far from normal.

March 2022 the State of Hawaii finally allowed us to unmask indoors, and allowed us to have gatherings of more then ten people.  Ryan is back in school full time, and will resume the final piece of life (taiko) this next month (school and karate are basically back to normal).

I want SO badly to feel hope, but with other so many highly transmissible variants seemingly on the horizon (original COVID, Delta, Omicron BA.1), it's hard not to think we'll be masked up again, unable to travel in the near future. I hold onto the fact that more than half of the population has been vaxxed, and a good portion of the unvaccinated have *some* immunity from having gotten COVID. I have to hope/assume this counts for more than just 'something.' I do realize the world has decided 'We must move on' and has resumed concerts, indoor mall shopping and dining...but I have to say, I'm not quite "there" yet. I'll continue to mask up in crowds, and avoid large crowds. I will keep living life, though...as having a nice bubble of friends/family who are considerate, and being outdoors, makes it pretty easy to do so. Living in the sticks doesn't put me in crowds much anyway, so really, I could safely say, my life is nearly completely normal again (except for no longer planning travel in advance anymore).

In fact, our February and March was pretty damned normal/fun. I have no complaints:

Well...except for the news that both Rich and I found out we both need dental crowns...

We held a small farewell party for our dear friend Rose, who lived with us from the day we all moved in (8 years ago)...and who recently moved to CA to be closer to family.

I am no cook, as EVERYONE well knows, but I feel like we delivered on this night. We made dry rub ribs, teriyaki chicken, lemon chicken, asparagus and shrimp cocktail (hooray for Costco), and my SIL made karaage, and my mom made banana cream pie.

Ryan and his friends went on a hike to a farm and picked citrus we squeezed/drank for days.

Treated myself to an exterior detail/ceramic coating of my favorite car...since I work by the ocean five days a week, this will give my car some added protection against the sun/surf.

We took a trip to Hilo to hit the mall for the first time in a year or two...

One of our restaurants held a beer festival and a few member of the family got to partake and indulge. One was seriously inebriated. 

We also made a Spring Break trek over to the island of Kauai. It was the first time Rich and Ryan came with me for work. I worked Thu/Fri (they chilled), then chilled with them on Sat/Sun.

We took Ryan to the Grand Canyon of the Pacific (his first trip to this one, and just saw the actual Grand Canyon a few years ago). I told him I call Kauai's version 'the greener, smaller Grand Canyon.'

There's a 10-mile bike/pedestrian trail along the water that I was on all four days of our trip. We walked it on Thu and Fri, biked it on Sat, and I ran it on Sun. It's possibly one of my favorite things about Kauai!

I call this my favorite spot on Kauai...scenic Hanalei with it's valley below of taro, rice and other crops. Unbelievable beauty.

We took the road (there is only one!) all the way to the end in both directions. Here's where you end up (Ha'ena), a taro lo'i (taro patch). The stuff that makes poi. Heavenly stuff. The 'staff of life', as the Hawaiians called it. I would love to have my own someday.

We had a little get together with some of Ryan's friends, and a kind friend came over to help me cook them lunch...she's from Japan, so she brought her culinary skills to help this hopeless cook!

I was on my own for dinner, so I prepared a very...shall we say...simple dinner of creating a ramen bar for the kids. I invited my nieces over for the dinner part so they could hang with the big kids they so admire.

Not the stuff of say, a Gordon Ramsay-kitchen, but it comes with a main ingredient of love, and zero of the arse-holery that his meals come with. ;-) 

The kids seemed to have fun making their own bowls of custom ramen...and there is a competition of creativity/presentation. I am not proud to say my son took last place, as voted by the judge (his own cousin). Next time I will introduce the concept of bribery to her. Lesson learned.

And last but not least, my nephew went to his second or third military ball. I think the first one he went as a guest, and then became enamored with the program...and went the latter two times as someone in the ROTC program (although I think one might have been COVID cancelled). He graduates this year, after a busy year of cross country, soccer and baseball. I hope and pray we can celebrate a little bigger than we could for his older brother, who was also a COVID graduate, and had a drive-through graduation.

Although I have no pics since I was the head cook and dishwasher that night...we also had a 49th birthday party for Rich on Friday night with family AND friends (a first comingling the two)! We had four of his improv friends over and had a full Mexican spread- a beef taco bar, quesadillas, chip with salsa/guacamole, Spanish rice, etc. 

So you can see why it's hard to complain over here....life is almost normal! We had a beer festival! Riki went to a dance! We took a mini trip! We hosted a few parties! All good stuff...

Even cooler other stuff on the horizon...

• MAR - A friend/investment advisor agreed to help us manage Ryan's college monies. It's modest, but we needed help for 13 years and no one wanted to touch it since it's a minor account...now someone is doing it and we feel a sense of relief.
• APR - Rich is hoping to audition for an improv troupe. He lives for that stuff. 
• APR - We will be hosting an Easter event for a few of Ryan's friends on a Sat, and then going to an Easter brunch at another friend's house on a Sunday.
• MAY - It's Boys Day on the 5th!
• MAY - Ryan turns 14!
• MAY - We celebrate #25...celebrations are being planned, but we are unsure how much we will be able to do...in the event COVID derailed our plans (we've had too many trips curtailed by COVID over the last few years).
• JUN - Ryan will attend a summer program to both get some high school credits out of the way, and will also study Japanese/piano/math in preparation for his freshman year with a few tutors we were lucky to find.
• AUG - Ryan decided to enroll in the challenging STEM program at a high school next year, as he is back to considering commercial airline piloting again, as a career (he's also considered data analytics, law and pediatrics). 
• AUG - If all goes well, I begin training for a long race I am hoping to compete in in Dec! May require cortisone shots for relief, as my PF is 2.5 years in and shows no signs of ending. I'm tired of waiting to train/run races!

So lots more to look forward to, for each of us. I won't like- I'm always excited AND nervous/fearful as more than a few of those things could go wonky. I would prefer a very safe and predictable existence, but it doesn't always work that way!