Richard’s grandson Kapono Pa writes:

On Sunday, my family (my mom Tracy, dad Kimo, and sister Kimberly and I) went up to Mauna Kea to play in the snow.

photo by Kapono Pa

Kimo, Kimberly, Tracy    (photo by Kapono Pa)

It was a nice and warm 34 degrees at the summit, with a wind chill of a face-stinging 10-15 degrees, with some winds blowing at 30 mph or more. The snow was set on thick—in some spots there was two to three feet of snow, most of which was almost ice because it has been up on the mountain for a couple weeks now. There was snow down to about 11,000 feet.

photo by Kapono Pa

There were tons of people snowboarding and skiing. Each group of people took turns picking each other up at the bottom of the hill and driving them up to the top to drop them off and start all over again. My dad (Kimo) had fun running down the small hills on his boogie-board that he just bought from Wal-Mart that morning. He wiped-out big time and ate some massive snow (but I think we shall keep that picture to ourselves).

Kimo    (photo by Kapono Pa)

Sunglasses were a must because it was bright and sunny and the snow was pure white. We came back with some sunburn even though we only spent about two hours up on the mountain (I guess time seems to move slower in thin air). I personally had tons of fun, and I think we all did seeing as we all “boarded” on the snow for the first time ever.

Kapono

At the end, we spent about 15 minutes shoveling snow into the back of Dad’s truck to bring back and show everyone.

Kapono, Kimberly, Tracy and Kimo Pa    (Snowman photos by Richard Ha)

The pictures of us making snow “things” were taken in the driveway of my great-grandparents (Joseph and Florinda Perreira—June’s parents).

Kimberly and June made a snowman, for which Florinda provided the hat, and I made a bear and a fish. We all used rocks for eyes.

(Editor’s note: The following email exchange took place:

Leslie to Richard: “Richard. Are you shirtless in that picture with the snowmen?”
Richard to Leslie: “Yes. This is Hawai’i.”)

All the leftover snow in Dad’s truck melted overnight and was gone by the next morning. It was a great experience and I got the awesome pictures that I wanted. Had a blast.