My father once owned a couple of Kamaka Ukuleles which were absolutely beautiful. For the uninitiated, a Kamaka is the best kind of uke you can buy.
Unfortunately, one of my sisters obsconded with most of them, but there was this nice uke which was sitting under my parent's piano. It had no strings, no bridge, and no pegs -- but with a whole bunch of visits to Music Mac's and little work on my part, it's sounding pretty good...
It's actually a baritone uke (that's why it's so big), but I only know how to play a tenor. A baritone uses the first four strings of a guitar. A tenor is the traditional ukulele which uses a completely different set of strings and chords. So I restrung my new uke as a tenor but because of the baritone body, it has a very nice full sound.
Anyway, this is exciting for me since I'm taking the uke home! I have two others already, but neither is as nice as this one.
This is one of those lay around days, so Alyssa was showing her younger brothers and sisters pictures of themselves from our various days of vacation...
They were loving it immensely. And as we were searching for a few nice pictures to post for today, we noticed a distinct pattern of poses on the part of the three youngest kids -- Kekoa, Nalani & Malia. It seems the older kids will do whatever we ask them to when posing for a picture, but the younger three have to be who they are no matter what!
Consider, Kekoa.
If you look back through all the posts, Kekoa always is striking a goofy pose. Whether it be a kung-fu move, a power rangers super battle move, or jumping on his pretend surf board...
Kekoa always strikes a pose! He'd make Madonna very proud.
Nalani, on the other hand, absolutely loves having her picture taken and is ready to pose at a moment's notice.
Upon looking through all the countless pictures we never posted on this log from our trip, you can find lots of them like this...
Or with Nalani smiling away...
Or showing off her flower jewelry...
Or otherwise feeling really happy in front of the camera...
Just like Nalani in real life, her pictures always show her smiling!
Malia's pictures, on the other hand, run either hot or cold -- just like her.
This little girl likes things to be the way she likes them. She is, to put it politely, the quintessential Bicoy.
She can be giddy and happy at one moment...
Then be completely annoyed when you ask her to pose and she's not in the mood...
Okay, maybe we've seen that particular pose once or twice before...
The best part, though, is when you put Nalani and Malia in a picture together when they're in differing moods...
Nalani is posing and grinning away while Malia just looks at her like she's completely nuts.
Anyway, as the sun was setting in the sky above Pearl Harbor as seen from our parent's deck...
My brother James came over to start up a fire and set up a fine little meal. Of course, Jimmy is as meticulous and particular a cook as you'll ever meet so it's no mechanical tasting gas grill for him.
Jimmy brought out the old Weber and even cut up some Keawe wood to help give the meat a nice flavor...
Between Jimmy, our father, and a friend Richard Arakaki, the steaks and teriyaki were grilled to perfection...
Although the kids were ecstatic that Uncle Jimmy thought to cook up a few corn dogs as well...
And as has become a very bad habit over these last few weeks...
Yet another really unhealthy (but really, really good) meal under the stars.
It's going to be awfully hard to go back to salads next week -- but after this trip to Hawaii, I need it more than ever!
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