We celebrated Kai’s birthday last Tuesday.  He laughed and couldn’t really believe he’s 17 either!  He says, “Thanks for all the birthday wishes, cards, emails, and shout outs.”   A “family cake and ice cream night”  morphed into a fun drop-in party: 3 Moores, 5 Connellys, 1 Sam (that’s enough), 1 Kane, and 1 Brittany.  I missed a photo op of 6 teens in Kai’s tiny 8 x 9 ft. room!

Kai and Des are frequent Thursday and sometimes Sunday regulars at the Mangamahoe Mountain Bike Park and still haven’t ridden all the trails. Even in the drizzle and cool weather the riding is top tier and ridiculously picturesque.  Last week Sam Bae joined in. Here are clips of the main road to the trails and a lookout point along a scenic ravine.

Bike clean up back home. Kai was already in the shower!

 

There was big surf a couple of weeks ago at the Fitzroy Super 8 Surf Contest.  The waves were breaking hard really far out.  With difficulty, I captured a few shots of a classmate of Kai’s.  Tommy who won the U18 division. He’s apparently fearless and a nice guy who’s quite vocal in class according to Kai.  Tommy said, “I like Kai, he’s good at physics.”  Looks like Tommy has a solid intuitive understanding of the essential laws of surfing: gravity, hydrodynamics, and acceleration! 

School uniform shots and casual stroll downtown.

The 2nd Ultimate Frisbee mini league is over.  The nights are slowly warming up and it stays light til 6:30ish. They won’t have to play in the rain, mud, wind, cold and dark  for the next league series.  ” But that’s what makes it so fun!” A “Who’s Who in Rap” book is in the works.  Kai is speed sketching lately as the number of artists is exploding and his book might never get finished.  Below is a quickie illustration of a rapper named Future. Per the author, Kai, when you think Trap, think Future… Whatever that means.