Leif the Young Photographer - North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii - January 5, 1985 - Almost 10 years old

Leif began to be interested in photography when he was quite small, even back in Japan before he was 8 years old. By the time we lived in Hawaii, he had a Pentax pocket camera of his own, as I recall, but liked to borrow my Minolta SLR to try fancier lenses and shots.

It's on Oahu's North Shore that some winters the giant waves up to forty feet high come rolling in, those incredible waves you see in surfing films that no one else in their right mind would try to go out in. One winter when we lived there, the waves were up, in January 1985. I've already written about Leif scaring the daylights out of my when he skipped out into the bay on the coral rocks after one of the huge waves receded. He could have been washed away when the next one came in.

But he was also having a great time taking pictures, and I caught this photo of him when he positioned himself in an alcove and was snapping away. He loved those immense forces of nature.

Leif & Jerri - Honolulu, Hawaii - July 1983 - Age 8

We arrived in Hawaii from Japan in July 1983, exhausted from the overnight flight. We were met by people from Peter W's new office at Camp Smith with traditional plumeria leis. I think I posted an earlier photo of Leif and me with leis that really wasn't from that morning arrival but another occasion. This one was the first morning. It was the beginning of three good years for us, though they were exhausting ones for me as I went back to school to finally complete my master's degree.

Until we got quarters at Red Hill, we stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village on the 11th floor and enjoyed the environs of Waikiki. It was fun except for the lack of electricity during the great "Oahu Blackout" on "Black Wednesday," July 13, 1983. As I recall, it was caused by a fire in some sugar cane field. The entire island with without electricity for up to three days.

We found out that life on the eleventh floor wasn't nearly so pleasant without electricity! No elevator. No lights. No water (it has to be pumped up to that height), no flushing toilets (same thing). Since the blackout was island-wide, that also meant that most places couldn't prepare food, cash registers and gas pumps didn't work, and it was hard to even get something to eat. Grocery stores were closed and food that wasn't protected by emergency generators was a loss. People were out in the streets because there wasn't much to do. No TV. No video games. No video game parlors.

It didn't take the entrepreneurs long to capitalize on the situation and begin selling t-shirts saying "I survived the great July 13th Blackout" and other such things.

There was a talking parrot at the hotel that fascinated the boys, and we enjoyed the beach. Soon enough we got our quarters and had to settle in to real life instead of living at a resort.

Leif & His Dad - Turtle Bay Resort, Oahu, Hawaii - May 29, 1986

I think it was Memorial Day weekend that Peter W. took Leif and me to lunch at the Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore of Oahu. It is a beautiful place. We enjoyed our meal and then the two guys had fun at the beach, renting a paddle boat and swimming. Leif was comfortable with adults and we enjoyed taking him places. He was eleven years old in these photos.

Peter A. & Leif - FRAVs - Bellows Beach, Hawaii - 1984 - Leif age 9

Our favorite beach in Hawaii, and probably our favorite of all the places we've been, is Bellows Beach, a strip of land on the leeward side of Oahu that is officially an air force base, and actually still has a weed covered airfield on it, which has cottages and camping spaces, but most of all, a glorious beach with a view of the mountains.

It was one of our favorite excursions to go to the beach and then afterward for quesadillas at Bueno Nalo, a great little Mexican restaurant just down the beach (which last I knew had moved to the town of Waimanalo after we moved away), and then to Dave's Ice Cream for the most terrific coconut ice cream. A wonderful afternoon!

This photo was taken sometime in 1984. Peter A. and Leif were drawing FRAVs on the beach. FRAVs were invented by Peter A. and Darren, his best friend in Japan. They were a bit like the tiny beings in the movie "Batteries Not Included" (though they came up with the FRAVs before the movie came out) and a bit like Transformers, in that they could fold themselves into a variety of shapes with a variety of uses. They each had a special one, and Peter A. designed FRAVs for me and for Leif as well. He and Darren filled notebooks with FRAV designs. Their two "personal" FRAVs were Ace and Fran.

Leif was caught up in the ideas and designs, too. They all had a lot of fun with them, but they were more than fun. They were truly imaginative and wonderful.