What day is it?

So, yesterday, Thursday, we didn't do a whole lot. I took Evan to the park in the morning, where he met two little girls. One was a cute little half-Japanese girl, who was about 20 months old and for some reason reminded me of Evan's friend Gracie.

After the park, we went back to the condo, and Evan, Jon and I went swimming at the pool. the boys took a nap, and I went on the Atlantis Submarine ride at Waikiki Beach. I had to take a boat ride out to the site where you get onto the submarine. I tend to get seasick when doing things like snorkeling, so I took some Bonine (similar to Dramamine) before going. Once out on the boat, we had to walk across a ramp over to the sub. The sub took us down to about 120 feet below. It was very cool. I was able to see some things I didn't see snorkeling, like two sea turtles, two reef sharks, and quite a few blowfish. Unlike snorkeling however, the colors aren't as vibrant, because at a certain depth the colors begin to look different as natural sunlight is filtered through the water. At the deepest part, the red buttons on my camera looked completely black. Also, I enjoyed snorkeling because I was able to take pictures that I hope will turn out better than the ones on the submarine. But, it was far less work than snorkeling, and there are things I wouldn't have seen snorkeling, so both have their benefits.

I came back and Jon got a phone call from the IT department telling him that there are technical issues that prevented him from working that night. So, Jon, Evan and I went to dinner at Duke's Canoe Club. Jon isn't such a big fan of taking Evan anywhere out to eat, not that I am either, but he actually hates doing so. We spent the majority of our dinner trying to get Evan not to break anything or run off, or we were taking turns eating alone while the other walked him out to the beach. Anyhow, the food was great regardless, and at least there was the beach to walk him out to! I got to take him out to the beach and watch the sunset, so I'm not complaining too much!

I'll write more about today itself later. We're going to try to catch the Polynesian show and fireworks across the street at the Hilton now that Evan's up from his very late nap. The technical issues haven't yet been corrected, so Jon gets another night off to spend with us.

Later.

Pearl Harbor + Halona Blowhole

This morning Evan and I had our daily trip to Starbucks, the playground and Eggs N Things to pick up breakfast. Then we came back to the condo to get Jon, and we all drove out to Pearl Harbor.

Unfortunately, the wait for the presentation and ferry ride over to the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor was almost 3 hours, so we just walked around the harbor taking pictures and looking at some of the other displays of guns, the USS Bowfin Submarine, torpedoes, etc. and skipped the ferry ride over to the USS Arizona Memorial.

Evan enjoyed the guns and the old submarine tower, which he was convinced was a "tunnel".

Lana'i Lookout:

On the drive back to the condo on the H1, Evan fell asleep, so we decided to keep driving east past the condo and find something interesting. We stopped at the Lana'i Lookout (another Lost filming location, and very beautiful), and the Halona Blowhole. From the lookout for the Halona Blowhole, you can look down and see Halona Beach, the location of the famous roll-in-the-beach scene from the movie "From Here to Eternity". You can actually hike down some rocks quite easily and get to this secluded cove, but Evan was sleeping in the car, so Jon and I had to take turns getting out to check out the scenery.

We're going to look for some more hiking locations for tomorrow. It looks like there's an abandoned road you can hike a few miles further down 72 East (the H1 turns into 72 East) called Makapuu Lighthouse Road.

Lunch was from Cheeseburger Waikiki today, just around the corner from the condo. The cheeseburgers were quite tasty.

Halona Blowhole Photos:

Swimming

Today was pretty low-key. Evan and I walked over to the playground at the Hale Koa, Evan followed around the gardener who had a leaf blower while I talked to Sam, my friend from work, on the phone. After I called Eggs N Things and once again after getting tired of being put on hold for five minutes and hanging up, Evan and I went back to the condo.

Jon, Evan and I decided to all go hang out at Waikiki Beach, so we wouldn't have to drive anywhere today. Evan is still scared of walking on the sand, however he will sit directly in the sand and dig in it with his sand shovel. So strange. Once we got tired of playing in the sand, we came back to the condo and went swimming in the pool here. Evan loves swimming in the pool. He gets very excited. He loves going underwater with us, and loves being tossed into the air and caught in the water. We had a great time. Unfortunately, the deck where the pool is located is in the shade, so Evan gets cold after swimming for about 15 minutes, however you can tell he wants to stay in and play longer. He'd probably play in there all day if he could!

I sat out on the Lanai for a bit and worked on my tan while reading a book called Hawaii Travelers Tales. It's a really neat book, today I read about someone who hiked through the 8 mile wide crater at Haleakala in Maui. After our nap, we all walked along the beachwalk at Waikiki Beach, picked up dinner at the Aloha Broiler in the International Marketplace food court, and now Evan and I are in the condo and Jon is at work.

I'm realizing that it's such a good thing we don't have cable at home in Cleveland. In the past week I've watched too much Bravo and E! channel, including Snoop Dogg's Father Hood, Girls Next Door (about Hugh Hefner and the Playboy bunnies) and the same episode of Project Runway about 3 different times. I can't believe how much addictive garbage is on cable tv. Unfortunately, I haven't found the Food Network yet, so I can watch Michael Symon on Iron Chef.

Enjoy the photos, including Evan helping Jon out at work!

MLK Day

I've added a couple more photos to the blog from Saturday and our hike through Manoa Falls.

This morning we woke up to the sound of a marching band, as there was the MLK parade going down the street in front of our condo. We spent some time watching the parade, Evan really enjoyed the drums. Once it was over, we went to the Honolulu Zoo. I think it is smaller than the zoo in Cleveland, though we didn't stay long enough to walk around the entire zoo, however, it did have some very neat animals that I've never seen in other zoos, and lots of them. They had several different types of turtles, crocodiles, reptiles and monkeys, all in exhibits where you could see them very well. Their Keiki Zoo (children's zoo) was nice as well. Evan also spent some time at the playground at the zoo, watching the kids and hanging out in the "tunnel". He is currently obsessed with tunnels.

After the zoo, we all napped at the condo, then walked along Waikiki Beach, watched the sunset, and picked up dinner at Giovanni Pastrami on Lewer's Street. They have some great sandwiches.

Evan and I came home, hung out, and now Evan's in bed.

This past weekend...

We were so busy and tired this weekend, that I didn't get to write more about Saturday. Jon and I had a wonderful time at dinner. It was the 8 year anniversary of when Jon proposed to me. There was a woman (the Honolulu Flower Lady) walking around the restaurant selling flowers, and she had a small bouquet of Hawaiian lavender colored roses that Jon bought for me. They are known for their unique lavender color and their beautiful scent. They are similar to the color of roses we had for our wedding.

After dinner, we walked next door to the Ocean House restaurant, to an art gallery called Kuloko Arts of Hawaii. I really enjoyed the artwork there, and bought a print of a mermaid painting by an artist named Holly Kitaura (see below). As the woman working there was talking to us, she noticed the lavender roses and we were talking about them. She then told us a beautiful story of how her husband used to buy her a live flower lei every Friday, and that now she is a widow. But that some people would ask her why he would bother buying her a live lei every Friday, since they typically die after a day or two. She said they missed the point, that it was to enjoy the beauty of the moment. After having heard she was a widow, it made her saying this even more poignant, as it seemed she meant it both in reference to the lei's as well as the time spent with her husband. Or at least that's how I interpreted it. She had a look about her that the pain I'm sure she felt over losing her husband had been worth it for the memories she has of him, she looked so happy telling the story. Anyhow, my eyes started to well-up with tears, and Jon told her I was about to cry. After she finished packing the print for us, she came around the counter and told me I have a sweet spirit and that she wanted to get some of that to rub off on her, and gave me a big hug. It was all just very sweet.

Hanauma Bay

This morning, Loribeth offered to watch Evan for us, so Jon and I went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. I don't have any of the photos we took to post because we took them with a waterproof disposable camera. The "highlight" of the snorkeling for me was probably seeing a moral eel, as in the photo above, screaming underwater and swimming away very quickly. I do wish I would have gotten a photo of the not-so-little guy, but, I was a little freaked out by the eel looking back at me out of a hole in the rocks. Other than that, it was fun playing fish paparazzi. It's amazing how far you can drift when you are trying to chase down a brightly colored fish for a good photo.

I wish I at least had pictures of the bay to post, the view was pretty amazing even from the top of the crater. The bay is actually an old volcanic crater that has since filled with ocean water. We saw a majority of the fish in the slideshow on Hanauma Bay's website, minus the squid, octopus and turtle, plus a few other neat looking ones that aren't on there.

We swam around so much looking at the fish that we lost track of time and returned back to the condo just in time for Evan to have laid down for a nap. While we were gone, Loribeth took Evan to the Koi pond, and also, apparently helped him to get over his fear of sand.

Jon stayed back at the condo, while Loribeth and I walked down Kalakaua to Duke's Canoe Club for lunch. Kalakaua is comparable to Fifth Avenue or the Magnificent Mile. There's a Tiffany's, Cartier, Coach, Louis Viutton, etc. There is also a Lucky Brand Jeans store, that was having a 50% off sale, so we shopped on our way to the restaurant. Dukes was great, but the strange part was, they have a sit down restaurant, and the "barefoot bar", which is also mostly sit down, and looks out onto the beach. The sit down restaurant had people waiting to be seated. The bar area you went in and seated yourself, and the menus were exactly the same. So we sat ourselves, we about 5 feet from the beach where we could people watch and drink frosty adult beverages as Loribeth called them.

After lunch, we hung out back at the condo until I took Loribeth back to the airport. Then Jon, Evan and I walked along Waikiki Beach and realized that the boardwalk reaches all the way down to the Ocean House restaurant where Jon and I had dinner last night. Also, it takes you about a block away from Lewers, where there are several shops and restaurants, another well-lit street nearby Jon's work. So, we've discovered an alternate route for our evening strolls with Jon as he walks to work each night.

Other than that, we all came back to the condo and Jon went downstairs and picked up a ton of sushi from the sushi buffet, Todai. It was pretty good, and a ton of sushi for $25.

And now, it's time for bed.

Tired

This morning, Evan and I woke up with Loribeth, and we all went out walking at Waikiki Beach, stopped at the playground at the Hale Koa to play, and grabbed breakfast at Eggs N Things.

By the time we got back to the condo, Jon was awake. After eating breakfast, Loribeth, Evan and I all walked over to Ala Moana Center, so Loribeth could get some shopping done. They apparently don't have an Aveda or Sephora on Maui.

Afterwards, we came home so that Evan could take a nap, and Jon and I grabbed a quick lunch for all of us at the Hale Koa's beachfront barefoot bar/concession stand. Burgers, nachos, chili dogs, etc.

After Evan's nap, we decided to go hike Manoa Falls, a site where many Lost scenes have apparently been shot. It certainly looks like it. Anyhow, it's about a mile hike up to the falls, and a mile back down. Midway through it rained, which is somewhat to be expected in the mountains in a tropical forest. It was a really neat hike regardless and totally worthwhile. Evan seemed to enjoy it alot.

Once we returned to the condo, Jon and I dressed up and went out to dinner beachside at the Ocean House restaurant. It was a very nice dinner, great food, nice people and service, open air with torches on the beach.

Now we're back and I am exhausted. Jon and I are going to get up early and go snorkeling while Loribeth hangs out with Evan for us.

I'll post pics from Kailua Beach, Manoa Falls and our snorkeling trip tomorrow.

Good night.

The Beautiful Beach

This morning, Evan and I walked over to Starbucks and had a muffin. I was impatient after being put on hold for five minutes by the Eggs N Things folks. Anyhow, Evan ate the muffin and we walked around on Waikiki Beach chasing birds. There's also a small playground there, at the Hale Koa military hotel area, that Evan played at with two cute little girls. We went "home", I finished up Jon's portuguese sausage and potatoes (from Eggs N Things the other day, so at least I haven't broken my daily routine of eating food from there) and we all drove across the island to Kailua Beach. The beach was beautiful.

For the first time ever, Evan actually let me take him into the ocean. Once he got used to it, he loved it and was splashing around in the salt water. Evan and Jon also took a nice long walk on the beach, and made friends with a local family from the other side of the island. Apparently they drive across the island to go to Kailua Beach, because it is such a nice beach.

The water is gorgeous shades of blue, the sand nice and firm and smooth, and the beach is about 2 miles long. It's on the windward coast, so, it's, well, windy. But, once the sun was shining it was perfect. And it was a very easy drive across th Pali Highway to get there. We stopped at a strip mall, at a place called Peppers for philly cheesesteak sandwiches and chili cheese fries. The sandwiches were great, but it was here that Evan had his daily meltdown. I unfortunately feel as though Evan is not going to have any little brothers or sisters anytime soon.

We came back, Jon took a nap and Evan and I made more friends at the playground. After Jon left for work, Evan and I took the car and picked up Lori Beth from the airport. It was a pretty easy drive. It certainly helps that Jon and I have taken several different routes now getting to or from the H1 freeway, so that now I can get their easily and navigate myself home. Dinner was Macaroni Grill from Ala Moana Center. It's apparently a big deal when you live on Maui (where Lori Beth currently lives), to get to eat Macaroni Grill.

Evan's sound asleep, I'm sitting out on the Lanai, and Lori Beth and I are about ready to go to bed.

Good night.