Pikake & Pearls: Helen & Randy’s Website

Hello all… We have lots to catch you up on!  And we realized this just when Jan 1st (2010) rolled by, and now we’re in March.  This past year has been interesting and has plenty of ups and downs, but this post will mostly be about how we celebrated on first year anniversary.

As most of you know, we haven’t had the time or chance to go on our honeymoon.  It’s kind of sad, but seriously, we have been too busy!  So when our wedding date started coming around to our minds, I think we had several ideas floating around in our heads that would qualify as a mini-moon.  We made our final decision around the time we left to spend Christmas and New Year’s in Hawaii with family and friends.  I wanted to visit any other island and Randy missed his childhood fun days at a hotel water resort called Waikoloa Hilton in Kona on the Big Island.  I guess what convinced me to go along with Randy’s wish was his overly dramatic descriptions of the water slides (he used words like “HUGE” and “FUN”), but when we actually saw them when we got there, they were …hehe…. um… far from what he said, but they were “CUTE” slides!  Our getaway was only three days and two nights, but we made sure to make it worthwhile.  While driving around, I was amazed to see the vast stretches of lava rock that is heavily punctuated with white rocks in various designs and words made by tourists.  We also tried to find Captain Cook’s Monument by using our iPhones, but it turned out we needed to hike for miles and snorkle to the destination (thanks alot, Google Maps!)  Anyways, check out some pictures below!

On our way to Kona….

Pictures of our eatings and sightseeing…

Overall, downtown Kona was too touristy for me, which reminded me of a low-scale Waikiki.  Even Randy was surprised at the number of tourists wandering around.  For those interested in visiting Kona, stay away from the Scandinavian shave ice!

We hope you are enjoying good food and good times with close friends and loved ones as you celebrate the start of another year full of happiness, luck and good fortune.  Randy and I have been enjoying homemade traditional hotpot—or “shabu”.  Ever since we returned from HI, we’ve immersed our taste buds every night in warm, soothing broth (miso, spicy garlic and ginger, chicken broth, etc.) to get away from the bitter cold and snow.  Hopefully we won’t get too tired of hotpot too soon…

Last week we spent the Inaugural celebration with our DC friends, Joe and Kyung. They kindly hosted us  in their spacious Capitol Hill apartment and treated us with good food and laughs.  Check out some pics below!