21

Since it was Ryan's 21st birthday on March 4, I decided to do a "countdown to 21" beginning the day before... posting 21 photos of Ryan until his big day.  I had meant to start 21 days before and post one photo a day, but umm, you know how that goes.  Luckily I had scanned a lot of pre-digital camera days photos for his graduation party slide show three years ago.  WHAT?  He graduated high school THREE years ago?  Where did the time go?

These are all pretty random, but some of my favorites or of milestones, like graduations.  Wish there were digital photos and  blogs and social media like Facebook back then.

This was taken in our living room on Kauai, before we bought furniture for our new house.  I propped him up on the cushions to take the pic.

Crawling around on our pink carpet!  Grandma flew from Oahu every Sunday to babysit him during the week and flew home on Thursday nights.  He was so lucky to have Grandma during this time.















He loved bath time, even when Dad played with his hair.

















This balloon thing was from a party we went to.

We found a babysitter from when he was one and Aunty Maddy in Anahola watched him until he went to preschool.

















Future chef in the making!











Halloween on Kauai.  He wanted to be Zorro after seeing the movie (with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones).  That cape got a lot of use (it was once his Batman cape).  (Aww, I didn't scan a Batman photo; he loved Batman.)

Because he was a little chubby then, a neighbor asked if he was the Walmart mascot (yellow happy face with mask) that slashed prices!  Luckily he didn't catch on then (how insulting!).

Halloween was a big thing in our old neighborhood of Waialeale Estates in Kapa'a.  Darrell decorated our driveway and gave out candy and 200-300 kids came by to trick-or-treat.






I didn't post a pic but Ryan went to preschool at KIDS School from when he was three until starting kindergarten.  He loved it there and we did too.  He had the best teachers.

This photo is from his first day of kindergarten at Kilauea School.  Loved the old buildings.  He went there until the beginning of fourth grade, when I got a job on Oahu and we moved to Kaneohe.

Ryan still says he is "from Kauai."  I guess he really was a Kauai boy...when we visited Oahu and stayed in a hotel, he would look outside the lanai from the high floor in wonder; I never realized that he never got to see that on Kauai.  He also loved escalators and elevators, again very rare on Kauai unless you stayed in a hotel.





Summer before fourth grade, I think, when he went to Hongwanji (2003).  He had to spend the summer with Grandma and Grandpa on Oahu because his mom and dad had to work.  This is what made me start looking for a job on Oahu.  After flying back and forth all summer, I picked up the want ads on Sunday and saw three jobs to apply for.  I got one of them and moved to Oahu in time for him to start fourth grade (again).  Oahu schools were on the traditional schedule and Kauai schools were on the newer year-round schedule which started in July.  Darrell stayed on Kauai to fix up and sell the house and finally moved to Oahu the following June.







Kapunahala Elementary was a great school and within walking distance on our house (but Grandpa usually drove him).  My mom taught at that school when we first moved to Kaneohe when I was two.

Here he was a kahili bearer for the island of Niihau in sixth grade.  Coincidentally he was in the May Day Court in first grade at Kilauea School and also represented Niihau (photo date was wrong).











Sixth grade graduation!  He insisted on wearing a suit and tie and looked so grown-up.

















This was Ryan with his first guitar.  He got interested in music when Grandma had him take ukulele lessons from Roy Sakuma (studio in Kaneohe above Kin Wah).  He could pick out the Star Wars theme on his ukulele after his very first lesson.  Then we bought him his first iPod and that triggered his love of rock and roll.  He took formal lessons in guitar and drums but he learned a lot of it on his own.  He also joined band in seventh grade at Kamehameha, and was assigned the tuba.

Eighth grade promotion ceremony at Kekuhaupi'o.  We are so grateful for the opportunities provided by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop for students of Hawaiian ancestry.












He asked me to take photos of him with his new guitar.  Such a handsome boy!

He eventually started playing in a rock band with friends from school, and they are still together now as The Instigators.











Tournament of Roses Parade!  After two years of band in middle school, he wasn't sure if he wanted to continue in high school but I made him take band because I wanted us to go to the Rose Parade!  It was so exciting to see the band come up over the hill; still get goosebumps thinking about it.  And Band was such a huge part of his (and our) lives for four years.







Our family was very fortunate to have three students at Kamehameha at one time.  In this year, all three classes won so it was a good night!  Pono graduated in 2009, Kamalani in 2010, and Ryan in 2011.












This was Ryan's final Band Camp.  The Band did "Seasons of Love" and Ryan conducted the beginning of the show.

















This was the final Pops Concert with the them "iPops" that Ryan and his friends came up with.  It was a great theme with terrific decorations that the kids all did themselves.  Here are Ryan, Joel and Ka'ala as the "Jonas Brothers. " Love this photo so much because of their faces.

High school graduation.














Now studying culinary arts at KCC and doing great.














Just 21 snapshots out of thousands, but just wanted to commemorate my baby turning 21.

Love you, my son-shine!