Take A Hike, Boys!

Grandma from New Jersey sent Johno a big, fat birthday cheque this week, and it was all spent in a day! About a fifth of it went to the comfy hiking backpack carrier for bringing him on nature hikes and island hopping, and the rest of it went to the awesome new Sony T100 camera used to take this beautiful shot with. Thank you, Grandma!

Before anyone starts accusing us of using our baby's money to indulge in our own ostentatious shopping, we'll like to assert that just last week, Johno smashed our camera and single-handed sent it to techno junkyard. Being the responsible parents that we are, we decided that there is no better way to educate our son on the meaning of liability, consequences and the harsh realities of life, than to let him pay for the resulting damages of his reckless actions. Even though it hurts us so much to see our son learn though the school of hard knocks, I guess if we truly want the best for him, we'll just have to keep enduring the pain of spending his money on his behalf. No wonder they say parenting is such sacrificial hard work!

That aside, we went hiking up Diamond Head Crater this weekend to warm up for our Big Island tour later this month. The hike up Diamond Head is the most popular and most civilised trail on Oahu, and from literature and the huffing, panting people we met on the trail, we expected the journey to be a long and tough one. But to our disappointment, it was nothing more than a pretty short and easy stroll up to an amazing view at the top. What tickled us most was the many people we passed who were complaining of nausea, shaky hands and shortness of breath from the strenuous hike.

But who are we to laugh at others when we are the jokers who decided to reward our hiking efforts with a large cold mango smoothie even before we started the hike? Slurp!