A Happy Valentine’s Update!

To our friends in Japan, I know you’ve already had Valentine’s day, but here in Hawai’i it’s the day of love! Hopefully, you are spending it with the people you love! Happy anniversary to Mom & Dad also, who celebrate their 32nd anniversary today!

Our good friends, the Taguchis, sent Mom & Dad a Valentine's bouquet for their anniversary.
Our good friends, the Taguchis, sent Mom & Dad a Valentine’s bouquet for their anniversary.

Alright, so the story of the week goes like this. Last Saturday morning, Alex & I got up at 3:30am and headed down to Ala Moana Beach Park to help “The Sand Guys” make sand sculptures. “The Sand Guys” are a professional team of three artists who travel around the world and make sand sculptures for various companies and events. Saturday’s event was to promote the new “Fish McBites” from McDonalds, and since my friend works for McDonald’s advertising company, she asked us to help. Little did I know it would be the coolest thing I’ve done in the sand! Here’s the before picture, showing all the sand that we had to dig by hand and pile for their sculptures.

At Ala Moana Beach Park, Alex & Nick prepare to make sand sculptures with the Sand Guys!
At Ala Moana Beach Park, Alex & Nick prepare to make sand sculptures with the Sand Guys!

After 10 hours, “The Sand Guys” created beautiful sculptures out of the sand. Using handmade tools to sculpt, they created a huge Ronald McDonald eating the Fish McBites. The best thing though, was that they were so helpful and friendly (they even ended up coming down to Kani Ka Pila that night), that they let us use their tools to make our own sand sculptures. If you can imagine as a kid, using your plastic shovel and bucket, this is like that on steroids! Check out the turtle Alx & I created using their tools and expertise! We’re sand sculpting naturals!

To celebrate the launch of a new product, "The Sand Guys" created awesome sand sculptures at Ala Moana Beach Park!
To celebrate the launch of a new product, “The Sand Guys” created awesome sand sculptures at Ala Moana Beach Park!

The next day, still a little exhausted from the day before, we got on stage for the 2013 Ukulele Picnic at Kaka’ako Waterfront Park. It was a super windy day, but there was a great turnout and a couple hardcore ManoaDNA fans in the audience! Luckily, my friend Mark Rau stopped by to snap a photo from the afternoon.

On stage during the 2013 Ukulele Picnic at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.  Photo courtesty of Mark Rau.
On stage during the 2013 Ukulele Picnic at Kaka’ako Waterfront Park. Photo courtesty of Mark Rau.

Finally, a great thing happened last night at Hyatt SWIM Bar! We were finishing up our first set, when our good friend Reiko walked in with a group of Japanese people. It turned out to be Hirokazu Ogura, one of the best guitar players in Japan, and his entourage! That in itself is a blessing, since he came down specifically to hear us! But it got better when he wanted to jam with us too! So he plugged in, did a couple solo songs, then performed with us to close out our second set. I’m so sad there’s no video of the night, because it was special and I wish I could share how awesome he was with you too!

One of Japan's top guitar players, Hirokazu Ogura, came down to the Hyatt SWIM bar and jammed with ManoaDNA!
One of Japan’s top guitar players, Hirokazu Ogura, came down to the Hyatt SWIM bar and jammed with ManoaDNA!

Have a good Valentine’s Day today everyone! If you get a chance and are friends with Mom & Dad on Facebook, be sure to send them a Happy Anniversary wish!

ALOHA!
Nick