Month: May 2017

Honolulu: 4. Beach, Pool, Lagoon, and Colby’s

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We got up early to move a couple of floors to our new unit, check out our new view, and enjoy a waffle for breakfast! 🙂  

We found some nice inflatables at the ABC market to use in the pool, so we tried them out in the pool and the ocean, and the lagoon…and the ocean and the lagoon…and back to the ocean and then the lagoon.  It was a nice way to spend the day. 🙂   

That evening, Colby invited us to his place for a BBQ.  It was excellent — pork tenderloin, a fabulous salad, cheesy potatoes, grilled asparagus, champagne with strawberries, and chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies for dessert!  Before we went down to the BBQ area, we enjoyed another sunset view!  

Here’s me enjoying my champagne.  Also for those who saw the post from St. Patrick’s Day in Australia, you’ll notice that I made my shamrock into a flower and added “Aloha”! 🙂

  

Honolulu: 3. Museum and Planetarium, Dinner and Dancing!

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We had one rainy and overcast day while we were in Honolulu.  We found out later that it was a record low for the day at 61 degrees.  We thought it was a little cool, but the locals thought it was COLD! 🙂  

As it wasn’t much of a beach day, we decided to spend some time at the Bishop Museum, which focuses on the cultural and natural heritage of Hawaii. We also stopped by the planetarium for the daily show that recreates the night sky.  It was a great presentation!  During the presentation, we learned that the “Southern Cross” and “Leo” would be in the night sky! While we were able to see the “Southern Cross” while we were in Australia (in the southern hemisphere), Hawaii is one of the only places you can see it from the northern hemisphere.  

In the science building, there were all kinds of great displays and information about tsunamis, volcanoes, native bugs, etc., including a giant photo of Duke Kahanamoku, known as the “father of modern surfing.”    

 

Looking at the variety of sands in Hawaii — white, black, green — and learning about where Hawaii is in relation to other islands and continents…far away!!

 

While Mike and the kids went to see the lava demonstration, I roamed around in the hall looking at all kinds of Hawaiian history and even getting a chance to make a Hawaiian quilt pattern using an interactive display. 🙂

 

We met back in the great hall and roamed around a bit more before heading back to the condo to get ready for dinner.

That evening, we met Mike’s friend Colby who he’s know since 1981, his son, and Colby’s girlfriend for dinner at The Chart House, which was just around the corner.  Before dinner, we shared a couple pupus (Hawaiian word for appetizer) — poke (a popular Hawaiian dish that is basically a raw fish salad) and black and blue tuna (which is raw tuna rubbed with a spice rub and served with wasabi dipping sauce).  We all gave it a try and were pleasantly surprised. 🙂  For dinner, Mike and I had swordfish served with asparagus and mashed potatoes/brown rice that was excellent!  L had the kids fish sticks that were fresh, not frozen, and very good.  G had mac and cheese! For dessert, G had a chocolate sundae, L had a strawberry sundae, I had key lime pie, and Mike had pineapple sorbet.

While we finished visiting, the kids all went down to the ground floor and played several rounds of foosball and then we headed over to the Iliaka courtyard to listen to some music and do a little (very little) dancing. 🙂

Honolulu: 2. Beach Time, Spam Jam, and Fireworks!

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A little overcast, but still a great day for the beach!  The kids wanted to do some boogie boarding, but the waves weren’t cooperating.  They improvised and did some skimboarding instead! 🙂  

Both kids had MUCH more success than shown, but these were the only videos Mike got.

The rain started to move in, but it didn’t stop the surfers.  See all those black dots in the water?  They’re all surfers waiting to catch a wave!!

The rain ended and made for beautiful shades of blue over the ocean.

We could look down from our balcony and see the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Starlight Luau getting started. 

We decided to take a walk to the other end of Waikiki beach.  As we were walking, we spotted a beautiful rainbow over the city.

This building reminded me of the outside of a pineapple!

We wondered into the courtyard of The Royal Hawaiian hotel, celebrating its 90th anniversary!  So pretty in pink!  And these branches look like lace!

From there, we headed back out onto the street toward Spam Jam!  Yes, it was the 15th Annual Spam Jam Festival! For those of you not familiar with Spam, it’s a canned meat product introduced in 1937 and made in Austin, Minnesota!

There were tents full of every kind of dish you could think of created by top Honolulu restaurants with Spam as the main ingredient!  In addition, there were several bands playing along Kalakaua Avenue.  It felt a bit like Grand Ol’ Day! 🙂

We decided to go with the Spam Reuben and potato salad.  Despite being from Minnesota, I’d never had Spam before, so I gave it a go, and I have to say, both the sandwich and the salad were quite tasty!

We rushed back to watch the fabulous fireworks display right from our lanai!

 

Honolulu: 1. Old Friends and a Room with a View!

With some inside info from Mike’s high school buddy we were able to stay in a great building in Waikiki.  Our first unit had a fabulous view of the ocean, lagoon, pool, and FIREWORKS for a few nights.  Then the second unit (in the same building) had a view of the ocean, marina, and courtyard.  It was a perfect spot for us!

So, after getting settled into our space, we visited another old friend (of the non-human variety) the Old Navy store. Yes, we were in need of swimwear for Mike, G, and L, after Mike left them drying on a clothesline in Rotorua. :/  I ended up with a pair of flip flops (called slippers in Hawaii) and a cover-up…because…um…well they went perfectly with my suit! 🙂  We got our beach gear on and headed out to the beach and pool to check things out.

I fell asleep on the bed after dinner and woke up to fireworks from our balcony at 7:45!! Leo had fallen asleep, too, and thought we were at the airport and was trying to figure out what was banging! 🙂  The fireworks were super cool!!  Lights out at 9 pm for all of us as we were tired! 🙂

Postcard picture morning in Honolulu with bacon, fresh pineapple, and Kona coffee for breakfast on the lanai!! 🙂  

The kids and I got our suits on and headed down to the pool while Mike got caught up on emails, etc.