Dallas went golfing at Kiahuna with his parents. Makai and I started off our day at Espresso n Paradise in Waimea.
After fuelling up, Makai and I headed to Lydgate Park. I’d never been there, but read that it has a great kid’s beach and also an awesome playground. The swimming area was SUPER calm. Like a lake. Which made it easy for me to watch Makai while he swam. He was practicing his moves from swimming lessons there. There was also a lot of snorkelling. We didn’t participate, but I held Makai and went out about chest deep and we were able to see a needlefish and a group of parrotfish swim by. After a while I asked Makai to get out to check out the playground, but he opted to stay in the ocean longer and skip the playground.
For lunch I looked up something that looked quick, casual and close. I came up with Coconut’s Fish Cafe in the Safeway Marketplace in Kapa’a. Makai was hilarious here. He really engaged with the cashier at the counter. There were some kids books behind the counter that were for sale and right off the bat he let the guy know “I have all those books. Except the shave ice one. We sent that one to my cousin.” Makai also asked him if they had POG (they didn’t). The guy was really patient and told us that the restaurant was named after the owner’s cat, whose name is Coconut. Makai loved that. Makai also told the cashier that his favorite number is 5 because there are 5 letters in his name or else maybe 4 because there are 4 lines in the letter M. Then he told him “I’m Makai.” This guy must not have lived in Hawaii long because he didn’t know what makai meant, but you can be sure Makai told him. They totally bonded. We ate on the patio outside but before we left, Makai made sure to go back inside and tiell the guys “Mahalo!”
For lunch at Coconut’s I had some tacos made with a mix of ono and mahi, which were huge, but Makai just had mac n cheese. He was still hungry, so I went back in and got an order of fries, which was huge. We took into into the truck with us and hit the road. Speaking of the truck, Makai LOVED driving around in his grandpa’s truck. There’s no backseat, so he was using his booster on the bench seat. He loved being able to see the road and was constantly on “rooster/chicken patrol”. He was also amazed by the side mirrors. I don’t think he ever realized you can see behind you in them. I asked Makai if he liked driving around with me and he said “I love to see the earth!”. Then he nudged me to show me he’d polished off all of the french fries!
Makai was very interested in seeing Maniniholo Dry Cave, and was not that interested in seeing the Kilauea Lighthouse. Since we were going right past it, I made him stop at the lighthouse anyway. I think he was more interested in the sign that showed all the birds you could see on Kilauea Point.
We continued on our drive and somewhere in Hanalei I realized that the roads were still closed because of the flooding LAST YEAR!
We turned around to head back but I had to use the bathroom, so we stopped at the Princeville Shopping Center. And got iced coffee and ice cream at Lappert’s because when it’s there YOU MUST.
We also stopped at the Anahola Marketplace on the way home. I don’t know what I was expecting here. We got a few great photos, but I didn’t find it that interesting otherwise. We used the bathroom and walked through a thrift store and left. Makai did love the sign with his name on it!
It was a long ride back. There was a lot of traffic in Hanapepe because it was Friday night and they have the art walk. The Bon Dance was also going on. When we got home, we grilled steaks and pork chops for dinner.