Waimanalo 7.29 – 8.2

We usually spend part of our trip with Dallas’s classmate, Billy and Ging. We’ve stayed with them in California and Hawaii, even before Makai was even born. Makai has known them since he was a baby and LOVES staying at their house with Damien, Hoku and Ka’eo. On this trip, unfortunately, Ging and Damien were in Seattle for the week, but we were able to hang out with them for a few days when they returned to Hawaii.

The kids have grown up on the beach. It’s just a couple blocks from their house. I think Makai was there every day!! This time he loved learning to body board with Uncle Billy and Dallas. Last time we visited there were a bunch of portuguese man o wars. This time there were far less, but Dallas did get stung once!

We drove to Honolulu to go to a barbecue at Nalani and BJ’s house. Makai mostly hung out with Kanehoa and Kula’ilua, watching TV and playing games! Dallas’s classmates Shannon and Keoni.

Won the best aunty award by taking Hoku, Ka’eo and Makai to McDonald’s for lunch (20 pc nuggets!) and then later taking them to Dave’s Ice Cream in Waimanalo.

We were on Oahu, but I seemed to have a Maui theme going on!

Shima’s is the local Waimanalo grocery store that I like to stop into. Their poke selection is insane!!!

Billy and Ging have a great backyard and we spent a lot of time relaxing, playing, eating, shooting basketball and doing archery out there.

Ging and Billy and especially Hoku, really enjoy gardening. In their yard there are so many tropical fruits growing! Banana, taro/kalo, breadfruit, coconut, pineapple, dragon fruit, mango, papaya!!!

The family dog is a pharaoh hound mix named Sandy.

Billy and Ging are not coffee drinkers, but there is a cute cafe a few blocks from their house. Each morning I took a relaxing walk to the Kalapawai Cafe to get iced coffee and then took a relaxing stroll back home.

Ging and I had a nice dinner out at Roy’s Goen. It is nice to connect away from the kids and husbands!

Ka’eo’s birthday was on our last day of vacation. We all went to Fishing Farms Hawaii to fish for tilapia. It was so much fun. The kids loved it! When we got 4 larger sized fish, we gave them to the employees to cook for us! Damien, Hoku and Ka’eo were so into it. I think Makai was a bit grossed out!

After lunch we went to another area to catch prawns. There were a ton of animals over there just hanging out!

After all the birthday fun, we went home and showered and headed off to the airport! Crazy thing was that we saw Steve and Amy and their kids at the airport headed back to O’Hare! They were visiting family on Oahu. Crazy.

Wildlife World Aquarium, Zoo & Safari Park

Makai loves going to the Brookfield Zoo, so one day we took him to the Wildlife World Aquarium, Zoo & Safari Park, which was conveniently located 15 minutes away from Caroline and Jose’s house in Arizona. Three things stood out as our favorites:

1. The petting zoo. This made me realize why at Brookfield Zoo you can only feed the goats from outside the fence. The llamas, deer, goats got very aggressive when you had food in your hand here! One bit my shirt and others jumped up on me! Makai pet just about every animal that he could, except for the tortoises who were making and making too much loud grunting noise and scared Makai off!

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2. The train ride. I thought Makai would love to ride on the train but the rest of us would think it was lame. Makai did love it, but the rest of us agreed it was decent too. There was a conductor who narrated the ride and the train went through some areas to see some animals that you couldn’t really get to on the footpaths. Some of the birds were SO close that if my arm was sticking out at all I would have hit them while passing by.

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3. Feeding the giraffes. Makai loves giraffes so we made sure to visit them. One cool thing about the giraffes here was that you could feed them. You had to walk up some stairs to a platform where you then were eye level with the giraffes. Some food pellets were available for purchase. When the giraffes stuck their tongues out you’d put the food pellets on their tongues. I never knew a giraffe tongue was SO long! I had never been this close to the giraffes, so it was pretty cool.

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A few other random photos:

IMG_0051.jpg Makai always loves the camel.

IMG_0050.jpgMakai and grandma looking at a baby cub in the nursery area.

Waikiki & Alewa Heights, Oahu


Sheraton Moana Surfrider


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Statue of the Father of Surfing, Duke Kahanamoku


Banyan Tree


Rachelle & Banyan Tree


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Makua & Kila statue


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


Diamond Head


Kuhio Beach/Waikiki


ABC Store


Jack in the Box


Jack in the Box


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


Honolulu Zoo


View from Alewa Heights


Dinner in Alewa Heights


Kala


Dallas & Grandma


Rachelle, Caroline, Kathy, Dallas, Grandma


Dallas, Kala, Caroline, Grandma


View from Alewa Heights

One day Dallas and I spent an entire day just hanging around Waikiki.. at the beach, walking around, shopping.

The beach that was across from our hotel was Kuhio Beach, named after Prince Jonah Kuhio, who was prince of the reigning House of Kalakaua when the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown in 1893. There were a ton of tourists, for sure, but on the pier there were a lot of local kids hanging out and boarding and jumping off the pier.

For lunch, even though we both prefer In-N-Out Burger as our favorite West Coast burger joint, we had Jack in the Box Sourdough Jacks and it hit the spot. Reminded me a lot of when I lived in San Diego. The first account I worked on when I moved was Jack in the Box. Coming from Wisconsin, I didn’t even know what it was.

Later we walked up and down Kalakaua Ave. and did some shopping. I got some shirts at the Quicksilver store in the International Marketplace and a few other things at Lush.

In the afternoon we walked through the Honolulu Zoo. It’s an alright zoo, not great, but only like $6 (only $4 Kama’aina rate) to get into and worth a stroll around to see the animals and flowers. There was a lot of construction going on at the zoo which might have distracted from the overall ambiance, but probably guarantees that it will be getting better soon!

The thing about Waikiki.. it’s gorgeous and so well manicured and all that but it’s totally created for tourists. And is swarming with tourists. Which sort of drives me a little crazy. There is an ABC souvineer store on EVERY BLOCK. For a relaxing vacation I much prefer Kaua’i. Kaua’i has all of the touristy things that Waikiki and Oahu has, but it’s not so “in your face”. You can hike, you can go on tours, you can rent a bike.. but it’s not there every where you turn. And the beaches and countryside are much more natural, the towns are much smaller, there are way fewer people. Nice and relaxing .. although I think if I had to live there I’d go batty.

For dinner we went to Alewa Heights, where Dallas’ Uncle Bob and Auntie Helen live. Their daughter Kala, Grandma, Uncle Mel and Aunt Wendie were also there. We had local food – lau lau, kalua pig, rice, lomi lomi, poke, purple sweet potatoes, haupia, and lemon cake. It was nice to meet everyone, they’re all really nice, and Grandma said she remembered me from last year.