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We spent New Year's Eve at Cousin Dennis' house.  Dennis is Grandpa's cousin but we just call him Cousin.  He really knows how to have a blast, literally!  He bought lots of little and lots of BIG firecrackers.  The little ones were great for lighting and blasting in the street.  The big ones were strung up high and set on fire.  Those went on forever!

We started off with eating a big dinner.  There was so much food and we just ate and ate.  After that, the kids wanted to play with some firecrackers.  They allow real firecrackers in Hawaii unlike back home where there's too much that can catch on fire.

Cousin Dennis started us off with a big firecracker string.  It had about 20,000 firecrackers with two really big ones at the top.  The string pops for about a minute or so and then sets the big boxes off at the top.  The cool thing is that they make them so there's no paper to clean up afterwards. 

I wasn't really sure if I liked it because it was SOOOO loud.  Cousin Dennis had things to cover our little ears.  I'm glad because it was so loud for me.

After the first big popper was done, the rest of us continued with little sparklers.   Mommy wouldn't let me hold any of the sparklers because she was afraid Id stick my hands into the spark.  Then again, I wasn't really interested in holding the things because they kind of scared me.

Even though I didn't want to hold any of the sparklers, I liked looking at them.  They were colorful and bright.

After we got the see the sparklers for a little while, they went onto the next level. There were these paint can looking things.  I think they called them Fountains.  The sparkles would shoot out of the top and then followed up with some sound.

Like I said, Cousin Dennis had lots of fireworks.   Later after we playing with the other fireworks for a little while, he lit another big string of poppers.  I was outside again and put on the ear covers.  It was so bright when the things popped that it was like the sun came back up.  Then at the very top with the big boxes exploding, it was as if the sun was right on top of us with its light!

We ended the night by sitting in front of the big windows in Cousin Dennis' house.  Their windows overlook the entire valley.  You can see Waikiki and alm,ost out the Pearl Harbor.  There were so many fireworks shows with BIG fireworks and you could see all of them.  It was a really nice way to end.  They even broadcast a song station on the TV that everyone was supposed to be playing at the same time at the big fireworks shows.  It was as if the whole island was watching and listening to the same fireworks show.  They did a very nice job.  Somehow when the fireworks are really far away it's a not as spectacular as the somewhat little ones blasting in front of your own eyes...

New Years Day was not very exciting.  We didn't do much during the day but at night we went to dinner with the Higas.  We had our own family dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant.  They had a big buffet.  BUT my favorite part - and Mommy's - was a chocolate fountain!  We got to play with that just a little bit before the night was over.  More importantly than all that was this dinner was our last big event before flying back home.  This meant it was our last chance to get family pictures, particularly with Great Grandma Shizuko.  Dinner was great, but it's the pictures that Mommy was most interested in.  So that's what you're going to see.  Well, that and my chocolate face.  They all thought it was so funny that they just had to take a bunch of pictures.

Great-Grandma Shizuko surrounded by Grandma Aurora, Grandpa Tom, Grandpa Tom's sister,  (Auntie) Marion and Grandpa Tom's brother, (Uncle) Calvin.

Great-Grandma Shizuko surrounded by her grandkids - Uncle Chris and Mommy - and her first great-grandchild-ME!

How often do you get to see 4 generations in one family in one picture?  In my family...never.  Great-Grandma Shizuko is my only living great-grandparent...

Uncle Chris with Cousin Braxton.  They are just 6 months apart in age.

As promised, my chocolate face picture.  That chocolate fountain was SOOOO yummy.  Mommy liked trying to catch the chocolate on the fruit.

The chocolate fountain.  I don't need to say anymore.

We ended our evening stuffed with food and happy with plenty of pictures.  It was a good night and I got to see lots of people. 

The next day was Mommy's saddest day. We had to finish packing and leave the hotel.  We had to drive to the airport and get ready for a LOOOOONG flight back home.  Mommy didn't want to leave.  If not for the fact that she doesn't have a place to live in Hawaii or a place to work and that all her friends are still on the mainland, she would have jumped right off the plan and brought me and Daddy with her to live on the islands.

It was a very long day and it was even longer because we had to take an airport shuttle back home.  It took more than a hour to get home.  I was so tired that I fell asleep in the shuttle van.  But in a way it's always nice to come back home.  It's home and that's where we belong.