I know it's 2 days late but I've been really busy with my son and squeezing as much fun out of these last few days of his winter break as possible.

It's illegal to pop fireworks in Hawai'i now unless you have a permit which only allows for those little lame poppers you throw on the ground.  Because of the large mix of Asians in Hawaii culture, fireworks are kind of a big deal during New Years celebrations.  My son loved lighting sparklers and small fountains that shined beautiful light and colors when you lit them on fire.  It was never legal to have huge aerial fireworks but just the same, the government kind of killed the fun and excitement of New Years and future 4th of Julys for my son and so many other children like him.

That is why we journeyed to Waikiki and braved the huge crowds of people so he could see some fireworks.  It's really lovely and magical to watch a light show in the sky as the new year rings in.  There were only a few places doing it and we thought that because it's Waikiki, this show would be the greatest.  It was pretty but very much lacking, in my opinion.  It wasn't as good as previous shows I've seen there and it went by in about 5 minutes and it was done.  Next year I think I'm going to go to Ko Olina on the other side of the island because they had an amazing show.

Despite my disappointment, I managed to get a few pretty shots of the fireworks as they lit the night sky.  Thankfully I was fully prepared with my camera all set and ready to shoot.  I enjoyed the modest firework show in Waikiki, especially the color of the black ocean at night reflecting the sparkling lights from the fireworks above.  All of the displays were lit from a barge out in the sea so it looked like the fireworks were jumping out from the ocean which was pretty neat.

I feel so lucky to see such beautiful things in my life.  There are people who don't ever get that opportunity. My son was using my small Panasonic point and shoot and got some pretty good shots considering it was handheld by a 10 year old.  He is really proud of them so I thought I'd share.  Here are his shots.  The last is one he did after he realized he could make shapes by moving the camera as he took the shot.

What are your New Years resolutions?  I usually have a hard time keeping mine so I made them simple for this year.  Spend more quality time with my son/be a better mom, be a better Christian, be more forgiving and kind and get healthy in 2012.  All of these are doable if I refuse to give up on them.  That's my goal and my mission for this new year.  

Share with me your resolutions or goals for this coming year.  Do you have any that are really difficult to achieve? 

Happy 2012 everyone!!