While Cheryl stayed at her family home in Kaneohe, Mark (except for the nights before Christmas and New Year's Day) stayed at an apartment we had rented for him a stone's throw from the beach in Lanikai (a neighborhood in the town of Kailua), several miles down the road. Here are some photos we took throughout our visit, over in this area.
Our landlady had, allegedly, three cats and a dog who sometimes visited the apartment; however, we only ever saw two of the cats. This is Schmooky, who found Mark's laptop computer to be a wonderful warm place to sit down and groom himself when we let him into the apartment to keep us company.
The very relaxed feline being petted by Cheryl is Cosmo; he was described as "fierce" in a note left for apartment tenants (the focus of which was "don't feed the animals--they're getting fat!"), but apart from his tendency to knead the rug with his front claws, we found him to be a big softy.
There were also a number of other animals around; there were at least several geckos living out in the yard, including this one, who made a habit of perching on the head of this rabbit statue! We presume this was in order to keep a better lookout for predators (like the cats!)--after all, that's why rabbits "post" like this as well. Convergent evolution...?
This is a photo from the road heading over from Lanikai to Kaneohe, showing a local Christmas custom that we enjoyed. Some years ago, somebody decorated a small evergreen near the highway with tinsel and Christmas ornaments, and since then a dozen or so small trees have been planted in this clearing and, each year, they get decorated as well.
This photo is from just a little way down the road and across the street from Mark's apartment; there are several paths between private residences that lead down to the public beach. You can see how close the apartment was to the shore, as the street was just a few yards behind the camera from where this photo was shot.
And here is the beachfront! Not at all crowded on the Wednesday morning when Mark took this photo, nor on the previous Friday when Cheryl and Mark were there with Judy and a friend. We had hoped to come back one more time to enjoy the water again before we left (the Pacific Ocean is a lot colder off the California coast!), but we didn't find time. Well, we think Mark may stay in this apartment again when we come back in November before the wedding, so maybe we'll have a chance then! In the meantime, we have many pleasant memories of a wonderful visit to Cheryl's family home, which we hope will be the first of many.
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