Becoming Hawaiians

Living in Las Vegas we know what it is like to be known as locals. This is a term only given to those that live in a place of tourists. Locals get a lot of perks because they aren't trying to bank in on you as a tourist. During our time in Hawaii we became locals... locals that did a lot of tourist things! I'll let our photos explain where all we went!

There are a few things I want to remember about this special little place.

Nick's aunt and uncle welcomed us with open arms. They were so kind and we enjoyed just hanging out with them.

I thought Texans were nice. These people are so cool and so nice. Everyone is laid back and just friendly. We met so many people at the coffee shop and at the beach by their home.

People bike and walk everywhere. We didn't need a gym. We walk a lot at home, but we doubled that! When we went to church we noticed people walking and biking there.

I could look homeless and not care. No one cares at all there. Everyone is in their surfing attire. People at Target in tank tops and swim shorts ready to hit the beach is very normal.

I would go poor if we lived there. Everything is expensive. We went to "Happy Hour" and spent over $100 on four drinks and food. My gosh. I guess YOLO, but not YOLO every day for my poor wallet.

Everyone drives a Tacoma. We don't know why.

The fruit is just amazing. So fresh. 

There are roosters everywhere. On walks we saw roosters in front yards. Parking lots filled with roosters.

Here are some fun pictures of daily activities... And I notice it seems Nick is always holding Walker. This is so not true! I hold him just as much, but I take all the pictures so it's usually when Nick is holding him!

Every day this kid would chill outside on his blanket playing in the mornings. The weather was never cold so he would roll around and just enjoy every minute! Often the huge Great Danes would join us! They LOVED Dubby and were so protective. I wanted to pack them in my suitcase, but they did not fit.

 

The neighborhood has a private beach so this is where we spent a lot of our time. We even got to see a sunrise... part of a sunset, but that is better seen on the other side of the island. It was so peaceful. We would sit Dubby in his carrier or on a towel to play. He absolutely loved the sand and waves. 

Walker has a lot of toys, but we found his favorites include a wooden and a bowl! I believe we have that. No more toys for you...

Makapu'u Lighthouse Trail - This was such a gorgeous hike. At the top you could see the historic lighthouse then you see forever. Some see whales, but we did not see any during this hike. 

W started eating fun foods this trip. We gave him peas, carrots and all kinds of fruit. His favorite was plain shaved ice! He is having a lot of fun with two new teeth and new food adventures.

Nick worked at a local coffee shop called Muddy Waters when he spent summers in Kailua. We walked down daily for coffee or shaved ice. The resident turtle, Chuckie was so fun to feed hibiscus flowers. One night they even had live music. Everyone there was so kind! It was right next to Safeway so we made our way there for poi bread!

We got up early on Easter to watch the sunrise on the beach. It was so very peaceful. Easter church was really neat. It was very open air in the church with bright, fresh flowers everywhere! For lunch Nick's cousin was being trained by a former college quarterback and NFL quarterback, Colt Brennan. Colt joined us for lunch and it was such a treat for Nick. They talked a lot of football and I got to tell my stepbrother and make him envious because he knows of all of his feats. He was a very nice guy. The food was amazing and the Easter baskets Nick's aunt gave us were out of control with candy!!! What a lovely day!!!

Before Dubs was born Nick bought him one outfit... Nick, his uncle and cousin went golfing!

DiamondHead has beautiful views at the top. It sure was hot and a long hike, but the views might be worth it!

We enjoyed hanging out with the crazies at Waikiki the last full day.

We were so sad to leave, but ready to get to Texas to see everyone!!! We could live there in the sanity of everything. Peace and serenity. "This is how you know God is real." - Says Nick after a view from the top of our hike. Truly a blessing to be able to enjoy such a time.

Crashing Waves

I remembered Hawaii is cold. Oh, it looks like sunshine all day, but it can get cold! Today was one of those days!

We headed out to the Dole Plantation this morning. It was rainy and cold so we huddled close together! We took the cute little train around to learn about the history of the plantation. It was really neat! Of course we got some Dole whip!

We drove up to the North Shore stopping along the way. The huge waves crashed into the beach. Walker laughed and just loved the crashing waves! At one point one of those waves got up to my waist. I wasn't too thrilled about that one with the wind and clouds! We ate at a little food truck by Pipeline then walked across to look at the coral reefs.

 

We drove slowly pulling over when we saw a neat beach. We found Turtle Bay Resort where they filmed "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" and sat on the beach for a bit there. It was still very cloudy and cold for me so we just relaxed instead of soaking up any sun rays. The beauty is just insane! We found our way to a ranch where you can take all sorts of tours. It was closing time as the tours were over, and surprisingly the perfect time to visit. All of the horses were back in the stable and the workers were out there. We talked to a few of them for a while. There are mostly male horses with only a few females! Walker absolutely loved petting the horses! He laughed the entire time. There were and are lots of movies/shows filmed out on this ranch (Jurassic Park, 50 First Dates, Hawaii 5-0) so I bet the tours are just perfect.

 

We were pretty beat by this time so we made our way home! One cool thing I saw throughout the day was the presence of ROOSTERS. They just roam around!!! I actually saw a man carrying a rooster through the street. At one point little chickies were following the rooster and a little girl picked it up to show it to Walker. I also saw lots of cats. Only one of them was friendly to me. One hissed and clawed me.

Hopefully the sun will make its way out to play with us! We have taken a lot of photos. I know people get tired of seeing me on their Facebook feed, but truthfully I really don't care! My memories are backed up electronically! I enjoy it so that is what matters. I text the photos to Nick's parents since they don't do Facebook and make sure my Dad and Brenda get to see all of them online. I want them to all feel as if they are here with us! Walker is enjoying his time at the house playing in the grass on a blanket and staring at the huge great danes. He is still afraid of Nick's uncle (he let him hold him for a few minutes this time before screaming), but loves Nick's aunt! I can also feel his tooth coming in! That thing has been coming in forever and I can finally feel it! He bites everything so he sure has done work for that thing! We may have to leave him in Hawaii because he is enjoying it so much.

Day Two... Let's Find Poi Bread

 

I've been in Hawaii for over a day and I have not seen poi bread. I found the browning lotion you can only find here and pounced on a small bottle. I even saw the chocolate macadamia nuts we inhaled back in '04. But, where oh where is my POI BREAD?!!

So I'm going to try to blog and remember our days of this lifetime adventure. Nick's company gives him a month long sabbatical after five years. eBay also gives paternity leave for three months. So we are taking five weeks of this to go to Hawaii 13 days then head to Texas. We are doing this with a 7.5 month old. We know we may have lost our mind and we pray we aren't totally screwing up our son's schedule forever. We also know it's a once in a lifetime thing. Our cat and dog are in the amazing hands of our neighbors. We know we will miss them so much. We also know we may get sad away from our bed so long. But, it might all just be worth it!

Chilling on the plane

We got here to Hawaii yesterday to the town of Kailua. We are staying with Nick's aunt and uncle. Their oldest son is a pilot here and is living back with them, the daughter is in college and the youngest is in boarding school. Well, they are all here right now for Spring Break so it's been fun! Today we set out to just sightsee. We headed over to Waikiki Beach and ate at Duke's. We came in 2004 so it was neat to point out places to Nick that I remembered in that area. We were even here at St. Patricks Day just like this time! We are still pretty exhausted so after that we hit the grocery store and just came home. Aunt Charlotte had cooked a big meal for everyone so we all hung out. Walker passed out pretty early... he did great on the plane! He slept most of the way and then it was all about entertaining him. It's hard to entertain at the house without his normal toys. We actually gave him a pot and pan today and he had a pretty good time! He absolutely loves the ocean air. We went walking last night down to the beach by their house and he passed out in the Ergo carrier.

The beach behind the family home

Drinks at Duke's

Walk on the beach

Things are quite interesting in Hawaii. It's very peaceful and the people are just so kind. The food is very fresh. People ride beach cruisers everywhere. Lots of people jogging and walking. We've already walked so much! We are active folks, but today even I was a little tired of walking! It's so beautiful everywhere you go. Everything is just pure green.

Waikiki

I like this cool bird.

 

Tomorrow we plan to hit the Dole Plantation, the North Shore and some hike where you can see whales. We are doing all of the tourist attractions at first then we will chill out next week on the beach. For me it's cold! It's so warm in the sunshine, but once I am out of the sun I want my sweatshirt! We sat on the beach today for a few minutes and just enjoyed the rays. Dubs has a big floppy hat that he tries to rip off so it's hard to keep him entertained on the actual beach without an umbrella.

My search for poi bread continues tomorrow. I hear there is a bakery near where I can get it. I saw guava bread at Safeway so I'm mad at them for not stocking up my poi.