We love love the Likelike Highway - Part # 3

The Likelike (pronounced LEE-keh-LEE-keh) Highway is one of the few passages that connect the North and South sides of Oahu. More importantly, it is fun to say. Likelike Likelike Likelike. Try it. Now I know it is the name of one the island princesses, and I mean no disrespect but for some reason repeating Hawaiian words brings me joy. For instance, our hotel was next to Ala Moana (pronounced ah-la moe-AH-nah) Park. Ala Moana Ala Moana Ala Moana. Ask ET#2 her favorite word and it would probably be Kahaaa (ka-HA-ah-ah-ah) for its abundance of A's.

The Bride, born and raised on the island, told us a joke about it. How do you know when you are speaking to someone who just moved to the island? They try to call the Pipeline, PEE-peh-LEE-neh.

The wedding
Saturday-
I know this sounds strange from a man-hating anti-romantic scientific-minded cynic, but I love weddings. Each one I've attended, has a special place in my memories. I know that every bride has slaved over the minutiae, has thrown a hissy fit or two, and embedded part of her personality into the event.

Saturday was all about the wedding. ET#2 and I woke up at 6:45 to shower and go on a coffee run for the Bride. Considering the wedding was at 11am, it really was not that early. When we arrived to the Bride's hotel room, everything was already abuzz with makeup artists and wedding party attendants.

[It is probably to important to make note that the Bride, much like Molly Ringwald in "Pretty in Pink" reconstructed a dress to her specifications. Unlike Molly Ringwald's frock, the dress was pretty and perfect for the Bride.]

After we all got made up, three of the bridesmaids got in the Bride's gray Toyota Corolla and headed for the Haiku Gardens: down Ala Moana Blvd., to Kalihi St., up the Likelike Hwy, then onto the Kahekili Hwy and turned on Haiku Rd.. We were on island time, a little late but not horribly.

Everything ran smoothly. The priest greeted the guests with a hypnotizing Hawaiian chant in his gentle baritone. A few funny moments. Lots of tears. And then the Bride and Groom were married.

The reception was in an open air restaurant overlooking the gardens. There was entertainment. A Hawaiian styled folk singer (a white dude in a floral print shirt), Filipino dancers (donated by the Bride's Godmother), and Tahitian dancers (the teens that live across the street from the Bride and Groom). Multiple toasts, including one by ET#2, the Maid of Honor, invoking memories of our college days.

There are more stories, I am sure, but I think I will end our Hawaiian adventure there.

Aloha a hui hou kakou. Try saying that three times fast.