Today we celebrated 25 years of Hope Chapel in Hawaii! Last year we had an all-church picnic/celebration at Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park and it was such a success that this year we decided to repeat the celebration but because it was our 25th anniversary we decided to also invite all of the other Hope Chapels in Hawaii. Needless to say, it was a big party that we called Splashdown ’08, the Reunion.

It was a wonderful day full of wonderful people. I got to ride all the fun rides with some of my friends (Keao hadn’t arrived yet, more on that later) including the newly built Tornado and the other favorites like the Shaka and the Cliffhanger. Keao’s sister Cassandra was also coming along with us as well as our niece Lauren so I dropped Keao off at her sister’s house so they could go together because she wanted to drive separately in case Lauren (who was trying to get over a cold) had to leave early.

So I met up with some friends and we rode some rides for a while and just as the park was about 15 minutes away from closing Mikey came up to me and told me that Keao was looking for me. So like a good husband I went to go look for her. Well, sort of. I decided that since the Flyin’ Hawaiian was along the way and since the park was closing soon, I might as well get one last ride in. Well, that was a mistake.

Doesn’t look dangerous, does it?

So as we’re going up the stairs to go on the Flyin’ Hawaiian Mark Matsumoto challenges us to do some sort of free style as we exit the slide and launch into the water. Of course, I had to accept the challenge because I couldn’t let him think that he was tougher than me. So as I get ready to get on the ride, I decide that as I fly through the air I’m going to do some sort of twisting motion.

So I go down the slide and as I fly through the air I do some sort of acrobatic twist. The problem is that when I hit the water, I hit the water still twisting. That means that while I was underwater I was still twisted up. No problem right? All I have to do is return to the surface. Ahh, that part was a little harder than I anticipated. You see because I was still twisting under the water I apparently got a little disoriented. Basically I didn’t know which way was up. In scuba class they tell you that when you’re disoriented all you need to do is look for your bubbles because the bubbles always go up. But what do you do if you’re holding your breath?

After being underwater for a few seconds I decided to surface by kicking my way up. Unfortunately for me I wasn’t pointed up! In fact I was pointed sideways. And to make matters worse, I was very close to a wall. So I kicked hard to get to the surface and all I ended up doing was kicking my way very solidly into a wall. Ouch. By then I was really disoriented and I really had difficulty finding the surface. Luckily for me, I didn’t panic and I made it safely to the top before a lifeguard had to jump in. Unluckily it left a nasty looking bump on my head.

I’m not going to lie…it was really painful

For the rest of the night I had everyone asking me what happened. I got pretty tired of telling people that I swam into a wall so finally I just started telling people that Keao hit me. Pastor Ralph had another theory. He told people that since Keao and I are still newlyweds she gave me a big hickey. Hee hee.

Of course Keao couldn’t let me have all the attention. She had to get in on the action as well. So while we were under the tent getting ready to eat she decided to change in to a dry t-shirt. Well even though it was a huge church picnic my wife got a little racy. Even though we were on dry land and there wasn’t any outside influence she still managed to somewhat lose her top. Hee hee. She was calling out for help and the only one near enough was her kind sister. That’s what family is all about…helping each other.

Here’s Cassan lending a hand

The rest of the night went without incident. We had a great dinner surrounded by great friends and finished the night with great worship. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us during the next 25 years!