Hawaii Day 3: Swimming at Salt Pond and Walking Around Waimea

img_3423-1.jpgOn our second morning, Makai woke up at 4:30 a.m., which was one hour later than the previous morning. Ahhhhh.. but we’re getting somewhere, if we can add an hour each morning! Dallas made macademia nut French toast for breakfast for everyone. If you look close you can see the grilled SPAM too.

Dallas’s dad, who has been renovating their house for years, was currently working on a project to replace all of the bathroom and kitchen cabinets. Dallas helped him move all of the heavy cabinetry from the driveway where the delivery drivers dumped it off to the front porch.

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After that, Dallas, Makai and I headed to Salt Pond Beach Park. We decided on Salt Pond 1) because it’s close, 2) it’s calmer than Kekaha, which is also close, 3) it’s not crowded and is more of a locals beach. We went early in the morning and no one was there! Makai LOVED the sand and the water and running around like crazy and chasing chickens and digging holes. He was up in the sand playing next to me at one point and goes “Mom! I burped in Hawaii!” I didn’t realize this was going to be a theme on vacation. Him telling me every time he burped somewhere new- Mom! I burped in the swimming pool! Mom! I burped at the restaurant! etc etc.

There’s a sheltered area of Salt Pond, but we were not in that spot. I was trying to hold on to Makai at one point and got knocked down and my knees totally skinned. Dallas laughed. Makai was pretty good in the water. He’d go under and come up and want to get out of the water and then immediately want to go back in. At one point, I was on the beach and Dallas had him in the water. Makai was crying to get out of the water and Dallas called him a baby. Makai got out and stood on the beach and yelled to Dallas and anyone within a half mile earshot that he IS NOT a baby, he is A BIG BOY!

img_3447.jpgWe went home for lunch and had manapua! YUM!

img_3450.jpgMakai took a nap and Kathy and I took a walk down the driveway to Waimea town.

img_3460-2.jpg img_3454.jpgimg_3451.jpg img_3453.jpg img_3481.jpgOur first stop was Kauai Granola. Kathy had never been there, even though she goes past it on her daily walks. I was interested, so we went in. It’s a very small building and in the front are a few tables with granola and cookies for sale. There are also samples available of everything they sell. We tried a few things and decided to get two packs of cookies. We talked for a minute with one of the employees. In the back is where they make everything, right in the building there. Kathy said she’d seen their products in the stores on Kauai, and sure enough. After that I saw the cookies everywhere!

img_3461-1.jpg Next we crossed the street to go to the West Kauai Craft Fair, which is held from 9am – 4pm Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on the grounds of the old sugar mill. It’s small and I think the stands vary by day. I saw food trucks parked there too, so you could go and eat and browse the wares. Kathy told me this is where she got Makai’s honu quilt that she gave him for his first birthday. Grace’s first birthday is coming up so she custom ordered a quilt for her too, with a plumeria pattern.

img_3473.jpg img_3462.jpg This guy was carving wood by hand. Amazing work.

img_3455.jpg Kathy bought me a necklace from this woman, she signed “Designs by Lea”. It’s a silver honu hung in front of blue sea glass.

img_3468.jpg img_3466.jpg img_3469.jpgThe most impressive booth was the one run by a 12-year-old artist named Pua, which means “flower” in Hawaiian. Interesting since all of her artwork is made with flower petals and leaves and whatever natural material she comes across in nature or even in the supermarket! Kathy and I talked to her for a long time. (The girl on the left in the photo was the daughter of another crafter from a different booth.) Pua told us about how she makes everything by hand. She even makes the paper by hand. It takes six hours to press the leaves and flowers. Kathy asked her how she got the idea to do these and she said she learned about it from a Chinese history book! Really talented girl, very well spoken, very humble. I bought the fish notecard she is holding in the bottom photo. I plan to matte and frame it. I also threw in a few extra bucks, since she told us she hadn’t had any customers all day!

img_3477.jpgimg_3482.jpgOur last stop was Coconut Corner. I got a fresh coconut there and they chopped off the top so you could drink the coconut water. There was a price set for a regular coconut and a price for a large. We asked for the smaller size and Kathy yelled for them to make sure they picked a good one. She was talking to them and they knew she lived up the street, so I think they upgraded us. Our coconut was pretty large! It was a hot day, sunny, in the middle of the afternoon and we had an uphill walk ahead of us. The coconut was chilled and it was SO refreshing. I had to make myself stop drinking it so there would be some left for Makai when he woke from his nap! (Pay no attention to the mosquito bites on his poor face!)

Maybe I never paid attention before, or maybe there are some new things in town, but Waimea has quite a few shops now that it’s worth it to get out and walk around. In the past it was just a town you drove through to go to Polihale or the canyon. Maybe a shop here or there to stop. But now, you could totally get out at the strip by Big Save and walk up and down stopping here and there.

At this point, when we got home, I think I took a nap too. We had plans that evening!

img_3483.jpg Left side: Mr. Hee, George, Mr. Ragasa, Eleanor, Janet, Makai, Kathy. Right side: Uncle George, Owen, Uncle Bob, Xavier, Linko, Aunty Nancy, Aunty Linda. 

For dinner we went to Aunty Nancy and Uncle Bob’s house. They live just over in Waimea. Kathy and George drove the car there and Dallas, Makai and I walked, taking an overgrown path that they used to use when they were kids. Makai was freaked out when we turned the corner and there were like 20 people sitting there. He mostly hung out in the house where they have a ton of toys because Nancy and Bob babysit for their grandkids, Safina and Swede, every day. Too bad the kids were sick and couldn’t make the party! Dallas and I were inside with Marissa a lot. Marissa gave Makai a cool Monsters University toy and some Japanese candy. And some coffee for us.

img_3484.jpg We ate so much that night! The one thing I remember is Janet seeing me take seconds on the fish balls and asking “oh, you like those?” I told her I’d eaten about six of them and to my surprise she told me she had made them the night before with fish that Xavier had caught! They were so good. I thought someone brought them from a restaurant or something.

img_3485.jpgI was just thinking recently how not many of our friends or family have cats and how I couldn’t even remember Makai petting a cat. Well, he pet Aunty Nancy’s old cat, and that was just the first of several on the trip!

Superbowl Musubi

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Liz: Ew! I’d never eat SPAM!
Dallas: Wanna bet?

And the challenge was on! For Liz and Josh’s Superbowl party Dallas made Spam Musubi and everyone, including Liz, loved it. What a fun party. There were lots of kids for Makai to run around and play with – Isla, Everett, James, Reid, and Konrad. I took Makai home in the fourth quarter (Denver won!) and there were only one or two musubi left!

Hawaii Day 2: Kauai’s North Shore

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On our second day in Hawaii, Dallas and his dad started to get to work on the deck they were going to rebuild on the house. We were staying in the house that his dad built and that Dallas grew up in. So, the deck was really old and needed repair.

After starting to tear off some boards, they needed to get going. Dallas and his parents were going golfing with Larry, so that left Makai and I do do what we wanted. The golfing was at The Prince in Princeville and I hadn’t been up to the North Shore for years, so I decided to go up with Makai too and then meet up after golf.

Makai was still a bit off from the travel and time change and he actually slept for the entire hour car ride. I was so so so thirsty and didn’t want to wake him so I went through the McDonald’s drive thru in Lihue just to get a soda. And I couldn’t resist a haupia pie! Note the other local favorites on the menu: Local breakfast sections with Portuguese sausage and spam, McTeri burger, Saimin.

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My first stop on the North Shore was in Anahola at Ono-Char Burger. I was hungry for lunch and had been wanting to try this place out, since it was one of our recommended North Shore restaurants when we got married, even though I’d never even been there!

Since it was my first visit to Ono-Char, I kept it simple and got a cheeseburger, a half order of fries and a soda. It sounds stupid, since it’s in the name, but the char was great. I thought it was interesting that the cheese was shredded cheese, but whatever, it tastes the same. It was great! I want to go back now and try some of the other kinds of burgers!

Ono-Char has outdoor seating next to the building and Makai and I found a shady picnic table to sit and eat. Me, the burger, and him, a bottle. While I finished eating, he sat back and watched some chickens and roosters run around. I also was talking with a local haole lady who was married to a local Chinese guy and was going on about how cute Makai is and how cute hapa babies are in general! She also thought Ono-Char Burger was the best burger on the island and since she’s so right about hapa babies, then I’ll have to agree with her about the burger too :).

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After lunch I wanted something sweet so I drove to Princeville to visit Lappert’s and get my favorite ice cream ever. We don’t really give Makai sweets at all, but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for his first ice cream to be Lappert’s, so I gave him just a tiny taste. I think there was more on his face than in his mouth! I love the Kauai Pie ice cream, but I didn’t want to give Makai coffee ice cream, so I got the Heavenly Hana, which is dark chocolate ice cream with a marshmallow swirl and chocolate covered roasted almonds and white chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Yumyumyum. As we were enjoying our sweet treat, a little local girl was sitting with her mom nearby. She came over to say hi, looked at Makai and said “Your baby has a big head!” to me! No kidding, really, kid? 🙂

We walked around Princeville Shopping Center a bit and people kept saying Makai was so cute and commenting on his big cheeks! I couldn’t believe how much attention he was getting. Everyone was so friendly and open (and it was just the beginning, which I didn’t know at the time. Later on, people were literally stopping their car to tell us our baby is cute!).

We tried to stop by Ching Young Shopping Center, just to walk around and take a look, but it was so so so busy that we couldn’t even park anywhere. I remembered when I went with Cousin and Rob and Sarah, but it definitely was not that busy.

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So, finally, we went to Hanalei Bay where Makai got his first real, close up glimpse of the ocean. Well, he probably saw it from the house in Waimea, but it’s a bit distant. I couldn’t deal with the stroller and his stuff and the sand and water just then, so we just picked a grassy spot in the shade in the park and relaxed for a while. Then a funny thing happened. Some Japanese tourists walked right up to our blanket and were speaking to each other in Japanese and pointing to Makai. One of them knew English and asked me basic questions like how old he is and what is his name. And then they all spoke to each other some more. I have no idea what was going on. It was probably about six people crowded around our blanket. Mostly women. I think maybe a couple men. And then some of them started taking photos of Makai! One wanted to hug him, but I kept him close! It was time to go anyway. Dallas and everyone were done playing golf.

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We drove over to The Prince golf course and I didn’t know where exactly everyone was so I got out with Makai and went to the club house area. Just inside this was the amazing view (above). Wow! Makai and I sat outside and the host (? I don’t know what they’re called at a golf club) came over and played with and talked to Makai. Nice local guy. The breeze was awesome and it was such a nice day. I didn’t care if Dallas and everyone turned up any time soon!

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… but eventually they did. And they were hungry, so we went to the golf club’s restaurant, which was The Tavern by Roy Yamaguchi, who is a super famous and well respected Japanese chef in Hawaii. (You might know him from his famous chain of restaurants called Roy’s.) Anyway, it was happy hour so we had some pupus that were on special and a few drinks. Dallas’s parents had some errands to run in Lihue, so we took Larry home, since it was on our way anyway. When we got to his house Larry’s wife Eleanor rushed out to meet Makai!

L&L Drive-Inn

After our half day deep-sea fishing trip, we went to L&L for lunch. Caroline was really excited to try a loco moco for the first time. I think the rest of us all got plate lunches. I got a kalua pig and lau lau plate lunch. Actually, Cory got saimin, I think. We were all laughing at Caroline and Danny who ordered like half the menu. Hahha. Caroline also got Spam musubi to try for the first time. And some kind of fried shrimp that was really tasty.

We Got Our Marriage License at Pono Market

Bright and early (and still dark!) Monday morning we headed to drop off the Jetta rental car and to the Honolulu airport. We had to take an alternate route because of the Great Aloha Run beginning early that day.

On Kauai we got our new rental, a Dodge Nitro SUV that we were sharing with Dallas’s brother Jordan and his girlfriend Liz.

From there we went right to our appointment to get our marriage license. Since it was a goverment holiday, Presidents’ Day, we went to a marriage license agent instead of the government office in Lihue. At first I was leary about this, and you’ll see why, but in hindsight I realize it’s a much better story than if we’d gone to a plain, old, boring government office!


Pono Market is in this strip of stores in Kapa’a


Pono Market

Our appointment was in Kapa’a at Pono Market. When you put the address into Google Maps, it’s off.. so we drove past it a few times before we spotted the small store. It’s located in a quaint strip of small stores and sort of just blends in if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Once we found it, though, we were able to get a parking spot on the street right outside the store.

We walked inside and Pono Market is like a fish market. One side of the store had a long counter where you can order plate lunches and local food. On the other side had a cooler with beverages and a small counter to order coffee or ice cream. Then there was a table and a few chairs and a bunch of older local guys talking story. Um. Ok.

So, I walk up to the counter, thinking I must be a fool to think this is right, and stammer out that we’re there for our marriage license. The guy at the counter immediately says “Yes, you are in the right place!” and points us over to the smaller counter to his brother Ken. The old guys get up, we’re seated at a small table covered in a blue cloth right next to the front windows (see this photo I found online of Ken and another couple getting their marriage license).


Ken

Dallas and I filled out a PDF form at home and printed it, so I got it out and Ken reviewed it. He had us double, triple check everything and we had to make a few edits. Also, under “Race” there was no doubt that I should put “Caucasian” but for Dallas, it could be a few things. He chose to put in “Hawaiian” but Ken made him change it to “Hawaiian-Korean,” since his mom was born in South Korea, as stated on the paperwork. He could have put “Hawaiian-Japanese-Korean” if he wanted to since his grandma is Japanese, but we left it at “Hawaiian-Korean.”

Ken took our corrections up to his office, which is on the second floor of Pono Market and accessed by a spiral staircase in the front corner of the market. Who ever heard of a spiral staircase in a small fish market!? Ha. He needed to retype the whole application with all of the updated information.

While he was away we ordered plate lunches, but the guys at the counter said we couldn’t have them until we finished our business with Ken. Something about getting the forms messy or something. Since we had time, I snuck out to use the restroom, which was located down the street near Ono Family Restaurant.


We asked Ken to take a photo with my iPhone too. This is what will be on the “wedding wall.”

When he came back, he told us “Everyone on the East Side already knows you’re getting married because this is where people sit to get marriage licenses and now people have been passing by the window looking at you this whole time,” or something along those lines. Ahh.. the coconut wireless! He had us double and triple check everything again and then we had to sign the form. After that we were done. Ken gave us a bumper sticker that said “I got my marriage license at Pono Market” and took our photo for their “wedding wall.” If you stop in, look for us!

We got our plate lunches (lau lau for me and kalua pig for Dallas) and went outside to a small table they had on the sidewalk. We also got Spam musubi. Believe it or not, this was my first Spam musubi, but not the last on this trip! The plate lunches were delicious and I liked the Spam musubi, too. I can see how they are a kind of grab-and-go snack or light lunch on the islands.


Lau Lau Plate Lunch with white rice, poke and mac salad.

SO, Pono Market. One stop shopping. Marriage license, plate lunch and Spam musubi, all in one place!

Sidenote: Check out this article about Pono Market that was in The Garden Island newspaper.

– – –

A while later we went to meet with Marlene Mira, our wedding planner, and Julie Wirtz, our officiant at our venue, Joe’s on the Green. I’d corresponded with everyone over email and phone, but this was our first time meeting in person. Everything went great. We reviewed the plan, where things would happen, when, etc. Dallas and I passed off supplies to Marlene and that was about it. These ladies had it down. My biggest concern was 1) a box I shipped weeks before that never showed up and 2) the weather and 3) all the welts on my legs.

It was pouring when we all met. And had been raining on Kauai for days while we were on Oahu. Both Marlene and Julie swore that the rain was stopping and the weather would be fine. They were so positive about it, we never even talked about a Plan B, a Rain Plan. Turns out they were right. The rest of the week the weather was awesome. It rained sometimes, but mostly at night. The days were gorgeous. And the box that the USPS lost? It miraculously showed up 2 days before the wedding! As for my legs, the sores did diminish, but you could still see them. We did a quick coating of makeup and honestly? I didn’t really care that much. I had one short minute-long cry about my legs and then I just let it go. As Julie said, it could be worse. They could be on my face! And there was nothing I could do about it. So.. let it go.

I’m going to write a bit more on Julie and Marlene in separate posts, but for now we were just happy to have all of our wedding-related meetings done on our first day on Kauai. So for the rest of the week, up until the wedding, we could just enjoy or vacation.

A Short Walk in Waikiki

After lunch, Dallas headed back to the Moana Surfrider to do more of this. I took a quick walk around Waikiki before joining him.


Kuhio Beach Park was packed!


I stopped by to pay my respects to Duke.


The wall. Haven’t hung out there for a long time.


At ABC Store I saw this monstrosity for sale: SPAM-flavored macadamia nuts. Actually, I kind of regret not buying them just to taste. Might have to do an online order!


At a crazy t-shirt shop, Threadless ripoff.

After a short walk, it was back to the beach for more sunbathing and relaxation!