Makai woke up and came by our bed to tell us he couldn’t open his eye. A mosquito had bit him in the night and it was all puffed up! We gave him some children’s Claritin and that seemed to help a lot.
This was our last day in Waimanalo. I was sad to leave our friends, but also excited for what we had planned. Makai played with Damien and Hoku and Ka’eo in the morning.
We met Dallas’s cousin Vivian and her daughter Maile at Gyotaku (not Gyukaku- there was some confusion.) in Pearl City (Also confusion about the day we were meeting!). We had a good lunch. I had sushi and salad. The menu was huge and confusing and that’s when I realized that I’d been to Gyotaku before with Aunty Kitty and Aunty Myrtle!
We then drove over to Vivian’s house in Moanalua. I’d never been to this area before. Makai was to stay overnight at their house while Dallas and I attended a Kamehameha alumni event. He was excited to see that they had a big trampoline in their backyard that was littered with used water balloons! And also they had two cats – Jessie and Makana (gift). Maile also has an older brother, Seth, and a younger brother, David, so Makai was PSYCHED. (The photos above are photos that Vivian sent us from their overnight together. Makai also loved that Jessie slept with him and meowed right in his ear to wake him up!)
Dallas and I then went and checked into the Alohilani Resort in Waikiki. Because the rest of our time on Oahu was going to be spent in Honolulu, it was easier to get a hotel down there for 2 nights. It was a shame that most of our time was spent outside the hotel and we didn’t get to take advantage of all it had to offer!
I wanted to make sure I had enough energy for the night so I went and got myself some iced coffee and Dallas some iced tea at Kai Coffee, which was connected to our hotel. This was a cool place. The coffee was great. In the back they had a roasting room and the person working in there let me sample some 100% kona coffee while I waited for my order.
Back in the room we got ready for the night. It was Kamehameha Alumni Class Night. Dallas’s class graduated in 1994 and we were all going out that night. At 4:15 we went down to the hotel bar for a drink. I had a super fancy and way delicious mai tai. Some friends were meeting us, but not there yet, so I went over to check out the aquarium wall. The lights changed with the music, and I’m SURE the fish really appreciated that!
Talbert and Debbie met us at the hotel bar. Malia and Chris JUST flew in from the Big Island and eventually they met us as well. When it was time for us to get an Uber to the party, it was nearly impossible! Kalakaua Ave was closed for a Pan Pacific Festival and preparations for the Kamehameha Day parade! So we had more drinks. And more drinks. It took the Uber almost an hour to arrive!
Finally we arrived at the Waiwai Collective, a kind of modern Hawaiian space that is part cowork space, part cafe, part event space, from what I could tell. The party was in full swing. Everyone was required to take their shoes off and the floor was covered in a kind of astroturf! Funny thing, I feel like Dallas and I split off immediately and I just started talking to all the people that I knew. The Kamehameha community has always been so welcoming and open to me that over 15 years I’ve made a lot of friends of my own there!
When I saw Alika and Ty and Jayson, they were serving a beverage that I didn’t know of. They had me try some and it was cold and not bad. It was made of kalo (taro). I guess some people hate it, but I didn’t mind.
I entered the raffle that night and I won TWO TIMES! The first time I won a KS insulated bag and a round of golf for 4 at Makaha! We kept the bag but gave the golf away to BJ. The second time I won another KS insulated bag, a Pauahi hat and a tunic top with leggings! We kept the bag and the cap, but later on I gave the tunic and leggings to Liz (it was comfy for her and her growing belly).
At 9 or 10pm, everyone was good and drunk and there was a shuttle to take everyone to the Kamehameha dorms to party some more. I’d had enough so I snuck out and got a Lyft back to our hotel to crash!