Most of Cheryl's extended family lives on Oahu, so they have a tradition every year of gathering on the evening of New Year's Day. Three years ago, this gathering was where Mark was first introduced to Cheryl's relatives as her fiancee; this time we got to introduce Lura! This photo shows maybe half of the aunties, uncles, and cousins present.
Here's Lura on her "one-third birthday" (3 January 2004) with her grandfather.
Cheryl's family has a tradition of doing a jigsaw puzzle together over the holidays; this year we did a "Mountain Chapel" scene by Thomas Kinkade, one of Cheryl's mother's favorite painters. Lura got to put in the last piece, with a little help from Grandfather!
We had our wedding reception at the Halekulani, and while we haven't stayed there since then (we may splurge for our tenth anniversary or something!), we always try to go back there for brunch one time whenever we're in Hawaii. Mark flew back home on 5 January 2004, so the previous day we went there to dine at the famous "House Without A Key." We think we had the same waitress who had served us on our last visit! Lura slept through most of the meal, but we'll look forward to introducing her to some really good food here when she's a bit older.
Then that evening we took the family to dinner at The Willows, the Hawaiian buffet where we had held our rehearsal dinner.
Lura and Cheryl stayed in Hawaii for another week and a half after Mark went home. Here's Grandma with Lura, who's wearing one of her cuter hats!
Here Lura is having an animated conversation with Piggy, a gift from her aunties.
And here Cheryl is, for the first time, attempting to tame Lura's usually rather wild hair with a clip.
Lura certainly enjoyed her first visit to her Hawaii family, as did Cheryl and Mark; and, as the bib (a gift from Grandma's co-workers) says, the visit was a pretty nice Christmas present for her grandparents and aunties!
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