People in Hawaii sure know how to celebrate a baby's first birthday! Cheryl described it to Mark as "a party second only to your wedding reception." We held Lura's celebration at the Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu the day after her birthday, on 4 September 2004; here we are setting out the decorations.
These are the favors and centerpieces, which Mom, Judy, Gail, and Cheryl had made.
The hotel supplied this cake with a picture of Lura's good friend Elmo. We thought her first birthday was a good occasion to give her her first taste of cake, so she was able to have her cake and eat it too.
Lura had a great time, especially with the other kids present! Here she is laughing it up with her cousin Daryn.
The Hale Koa hotel is actually owned by the military; we were able to use it through the sponsorship of Cheryl's Uncle George, who is retired from the Air Force Reserve. By a truly amazing coincidence, Mark's old college friend Frank was there at the same time, with his wife Barbara and their daughter Celeste! They now live in Australia, but they were in town so Frank could perform his Air Force Reserve duty, and they happened to notice the sign saying "1st Birthday Party for Lura Looper." They figured there couldn't be that many one-year-old Lura Loopers around, so they came up to see if it was us, and they joined in our celebration! We'll take that as a good omen for Lura. Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for hosting the party, to Lura's aunties for helping, and to Uncle George for getting us access to the hotel.
The day after Lura had her first taste of cake, Grandma and Auntie Gail took us downtown so she could get her first taste of shave ice. Mark is particularly happy to have been introduced to this confection by Cheryl when he first visited her family, and Lura enjoyed it too.
The next day Mom, Dad and Judy took us out to the beach at Lanikai, where Mark stayed during visits before we were married. Cheryl remembers such picnics fondly from when she was a child, and makes many of the same dishes as Mom when we have one in California!
Lura was not too pleased with the texture of sand, but she enjoyed bobbing on the waves when we took her out for her first swim in the ocean! The Pacific is awfully cold in California; Seaside Lagoon, where we went with Mark's relatives a few days earlier, is a shallow artificial lagoon, and significantly warmer. Lura enjoyed splashing on the edge of that too, but the waves in the open ocean off Lanikai were something new!
Mark had to go back to California after a week, but Cheryl and Lura stayed for two more. Here Lura is learning the alphabet with Grandpa on the computer.
During this visit Lura learned to pull herself up to a standing position! Shortly after she came home, she added the ability to let go of the object she'd pulled up on; she'll be walking soon...
On 19 September 2004, everybody went to the Honolulu Zoo, parts of whose design Grandpa had worked on. Of course, a trip to the zoo wouldn't be complete without a picnic lunch...
...or a funny-animal photo!
Lura had a great time on this visit, and so did her Mommy and Daddy!
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