Punahou Carnival

The Zipper is the craziest ride at Punahou Carnival...not just because it whips you around in free-rotating wire cages at breakneck speeds, but because the ride was already an antique 11 years ago when I was still at Punahou. The fact that your rusty cage could fly off the ride at any moment just adds to the excitement. But alas, I couldn't ride any rides this year due to being pregnant. Matt, being the sensitive husband that he is, chose not to ride any rides either in an act of solidarity. We still managed to enjoy ourselves, though. Our $20 carnival budget was instead spent on ono grinds such as teriburgers, corn on the cob, gyros, icees, portuguese bean soup, and of course, the famous Punahou Carnival malasadas. I made up for missing the Zipper this year by enjoying not one, but TWO malasadas. I am, after all, eating for two, and I wouldn't want to deprive baby of the calories he needs. :o)

We ran into a couple of people we knew, including Mr. Georgi and the big surprise of the afternoon, a giant Blake Gammel. Don't get this guy mad, he could just step on you and be done. He's the same old fun guy, though, and we enjoyed briefly catching up with him and meeting his girlfriend, Allie, who graduated from Punahou with Blake back in 2001.

It will be interesting to see if carnival breaks records this year. When meteorologists know Punahou carnival is approaching, they always predict rain for the weekend. This year was a big surprise as we enjoyed the first dry carnival in years. Couple that with the bad economy, and it will be interesting to see how the profits work out.