Of course, not all of our children were quite so excited about the quitessential Bicoy breakfast...
Portuguese sausage, fried spam, eggs, rice, pancakes, and fried vienna sausage.
Mmmm good!
After breakast while Cari and the kids marched the twenty-five paces to the beach, my sister Renee began the Cousins Meeting...
Renee, center in the picture above, is the first grandchild of Petronilo and Paula Bicoy -- our grandparents. Our generation -- the "cousins" -- have since taken responsibility for managing the family reunion and finances. So each year the Cousins Meeting gathers the grandchildren of Petronilo & Paula to talk about what is working and what is not with the Bicoy Ohana Reunion.
Of course, it being a meeting of Bicoys, mostly you can expect a lot of loud voices and even louder laughter...
While the Cousins Meeting was going on, our kids played on the beach as David constructed his very first sand castle...
Grandpa Bernie christened it "Fort David"...
After the Cousins Meeting was over, my cousin Perry decided to take a swim and Bretty joined him by holding on to Perry's back...
Meanwhile, back in the Batcave, Nalani was doing girly things, of course. She was helping Grandma Betty make woven leis for the evening's festivities to come...
While Alyssa and her cousin Zach mostly just hung out a talked story...
Each year at the Bicoy Ohana Reunion, Saturday night is the biggest meal of all. And to help the family that is responsible for making the meal, another family is designated to make the lechon -- a Filipino dish that basically consists of a pig stuffed with tunglad or lemon grass.
Jonathan, and Bucky James were doing their part to prepare the freshly slaughtered pig...
While cousin Danny was having way too much fun carving up the pig's head...
Since Friday was so tiring, and Saturday would be a late night, we decided to head back to Wavecrest to take a nap. After the big meal would be the annual Bicoy Ohana Talent Show so we needed to rest up so we could enjoy the fun well into the night.
So here are the kids taking their "nap"...
While my lovely wife Cari busily readies herself for the evening...
We returned to the pavillion at the perfect time. The pig was done and already being carved up shortly after our arrival.
Here's Perry, Jonathan, Danny and Byron cutting three pieces for the family for every one they eat for themselves (notice Perry on the left sneaking a piece)...
The tradition is that the knuckle and foot of the pig is given to the oldest living Bicoy who then has the first bite.
Kekoa was overjoyed that Grandpa decided to share it with him...
After dinner but before the big show, everyone gathers in and around the pavillion for the family introductions. This began sharply at 7 p.m...
Basically, this is just an opportunity for everyone to reintroduce their family members to the larger Bicoy Ohana every year. As I said before, my father is the oldest of 12 children so each of the 12 families were called up one at a time.
This year my father asked that I introduce the people descended from Bernie Bicoy...
And so this continued for 1 hour and 52 minutes as each of the twelve families introduced their members.
Clearly, Cari and I haven't been the only Bicoys breeding like rabbits over the last few years!
Finally, the show began with my cousin Perry as the master of ceremonies as he has been for some two decades of the 34 years of family reunions. As you can imagine, a family as large as the Bicoys has more than a few talented people...
And then also some hams who just insist on getting up in front of everyone to demonstrate how idiotic they can be in the hopes of getting even the smallest laugh...
My sister Dawn's middle son Shawn pulled out his guitar to sing a song...
Then back to more hula, this time by my cousin Lindy's daughter Monique who is a very, very talented hula dancer...
And since this is Hawaii, even more hula by my cousin Dart's daughter Danielle...
This is the same Danielle who when she was five years old once said, "Uncle Bret, how many brother and sisters do you have?"
"I have two brothers and two sisters," I replied, "So there are five of us."
As one of nine children, Danielle responded, "Is that all?"
Alyssa was having so much fun that she camped out with her cousins rather than head back to the Wavecrest condo with us to get some rest that night...
Well, with as long as the evening was, the rest of the kids didn't bother waiting to get back to Wavecrest for some rest either...
Another long and fun day in Paradise!
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