Nip Family Reunion Redux

Location: Honolulu, HI

Attendees: legion

Weather: hot and humid

Thursday:
Flight delayed. We arrive at our hotel at 3am PST in an enormous white SUV, the Buick Enclave. Yes, it's a housing unit on wheels.

Friday:
Breakfast on the terrace at the New Otani hotel. It's warm and there are brief rain showers on us, but no one seems to mind. Ah, Hawaii! Dad heads off to
meetings about Popo. I wrestle with a nasty migraine, K and I stroll on the
promenade towards Wakiki. We meet up with Aunt P., Aunt S., Uncle R., Dad, and Popo for lunch.

Evening: Tsukiji Fish Market buffet. The games begin! Cousin S (or rather, her husband M) has made blueberry butter mochi for Dad and Uncle W (the hosts of dinner and both turning 70 this year)...evil evil stuff.

Saturday:
Breakfast: malasadas. YUM.

9:30am ceremony at the graves of Ah-Po and Ah-Gung, my great-grandparents (the parents of Popo). There are mosquitoes, cockroaches, broken pavement...and lots of food and fire to appease our ancestors. We burn paper money (fake), kowtow in generational order, and stand around in the humid Manoa Valley air eating the food - pork, chicken, red bean buns, jai, and some weird gelatinous rice stuff I've never had before and didn't like. Dad shows us the graves of Gung Gung's parents (the Young side), which have "superior" feng shui, i.e. a better view of the ocean. He tells us of the time when he was a boy running through the graveyard and fell about four feet into one of the grave plots. Spooky! Before leaving Manoa we drive up to Gung Gung's memorial garden and spend some time there. It looks well-tended and the lilies are in bloom. We leave a lei on the plaque and take lots of pictures.

We visit Popo again and tell her about the morning's ceremonies, then head off to the Diamond Head Memorial Park where we put some flowers on Gung Gung and Doreen's spot. We drive by the house on Hakaka as well. It looks pretty good, though the driveway and roof are aging, and the garbage cans no longer fit into the nice concrete cubby where they used to live, back in the day. I guess we just have more garbage now!

We drive out to Kaneohe and, after missing the two main turns, make it out to Uncle G and Auntie H's place there to celebrate Uncle G's 80th birthday. (He's not techically my uncle but my Dad's uncle; he is Popo's brother.) Dad heads to the harbor to join the glass-botom boat tour, and K and I alternate helping to set up the tables and napping. I join a flat-bottom boat ride out to Coconut Island, the same one featured in the opening scenes of Gilligan's Island. After I get back to the house, K and I take a brief kayak paddle around the nearby bay. I learn how to husk a coconut (WORK!!!) while others fish without results. The party is great fun. Tons of friends and relatives, a great catered poi supper (rice, tuna poke, lomi salmon, Korean short ribs, kim chee, chicken long rice, lau lau, pineapple, baked taro, and of course poi!), and even some ukelele and hula entertainment from the relatives. There's a cake, more butter mochi (cherry this time) and fruits - long an, lychee, and incredibly delicious mango. We are all seriously stuffed.

Sunday
Breafast: More malasadas. More yum.
The Tinman Triathlon threatens to block our ability to get anywhere on Sunday morning, but thankfully it's mostly over by the time we head out for family photos at the Hawaii State Library. More mosquitoes, and more photos. We take a walking detour to "the Westminster Abbey of the Pacific", Kawaiahao Church and browse around the graveyard. Lots of old Hawaii families and missionaries.

Lunch is at the Mandalay Restaurant, where we have some great dim sum and are treated to a lion dance. This brunch is in honor of my cousin R and his new wife, N. N has been a trooper throughout the weekend with all the relatives and everyone offering their congratulations. After brunch we get chocolate-covered fortune cookies, more cake, and a slideshow from their wedding.

We visit Popo one last time, and while we are there more cousins show up to chat as well. Popo is very bright and active, and even jokes and smiles a bit. It probably helps that she's benefitting from all the good food leftovers!

We make it back to the hotel for some brief beach time (in fact, my only time on the beach - K stays near the air condtioner inside). Dad and I enjoy the sun and splash about, before getting ready for that night's banquet dinner in honor of Auntie T's 80th birthday. More food! More feasting! We all keep our eyes open for the noodle course - usually the last one before dessert. Kyle and I sneak out unobtrusively to catch a cab to the airport, and secretly aren't all that heartbroken to miss dessert - we really don't need the calories!