Wednesday
We are in Kona, Hawaii! I decided to go ahead and post several updates throughout our trip, because knowing me, I will forget most of the stuff we do if I wait until the end to post it all at once. We met Roy and Mary here, and we are staying at the Wyndham Kona Resort.
Tuesday night, Daddy Pat came over to stay with us so that he could take us to the airport early on Wednesday morning. Our flight left at 8:20, so we needed to leave the house at 6:00. With two kids, carry-ons, a car seat and a booster seat, it took a while to get us through security. The girls' Sesame Street juice boxes tested positive for explosives, so I got patted down. That was fun. The TSA agent also had to search my purse, because I guess the explosive juice boxes meant I had explosive Cheerios, too.
The first leg of our trip was to Phoenix, and the girls were amazing in the plane! No tears, no fussing, nothing! They were excited and talked and giggled. The only thing was they kept asking for snacks. As Macey says, "I nuh nack, mommy!" There was some turbulence, but no sickness! We arrived in Phoenix early, but the gate was blocked, so we had to wait on the plane over 30 minutes on the tarmac. The girls got restless while we were waiting.
The 30 minutes we were waiting made the one and a half hour layover window that much smaller. We had to get both girls, three carry-on bags, both girls' backpacks, Adam's backpack, my purse, the car seat and Mikayla's booster all the way across the airport to a different terminal. When we got to the gate, Adam took Mikayla to the bathroom, I changed Macey's diaper and then it was time to board. At least we didn't have to run through the airport!
The flight to Kona was good as well. It was long, and the girls got restless, but they were watching movies and coloring. We had lots of snacks, and traded seats. There wasn't a changing table in the plane, so I had to take Macey (with a poopie diaper) to the airplane bathroom to change her. I had to sit on the shut toilet seat and put my feet up on the door. I balanced Macey on my legs and had to change her that way. It was a memory!
When we got to Hawaii, we landed and had to go down stairs to the tarmac. I hadn't ever done that before! There were no Hawaiian ladies with their leis like in the movies. :(
Grandfather and Grandma Mary met us at the airport and we went to get our rental car. We got to the condo, The Wyndam Kona Resort. Roy and Mary have a time share that they can use in various cities, and this was one of them. We arrived to a two bedroom condo with a full kitchen complete with a washer and dryer. It has a spacious lanai with a lounge chair and table with six chairs. The pool is right across from our room.
We went to eat at Bubba Gump restaurant, and it was right on the water. We arrived on the 4th of July, so there was a parade right down the main road in Kona. The girls sat on the curb to watch it. There were fireworks, but with the five hour time difference, the girls just couldn't make it until it was dark. They fell asleep around 7:30.
Thursday
So with the time difference, the girls both woke up at 2:42 a.m. on Thursday. I tried everything I could to get them to fall back asleep, but to no avail. We had to be at the Honokahau Harbor to get on the "Vixen" to go deep sea fishing. We got on the boat, and it was not exactly was Mikayla was expecting. We went out 12 miles to the fishing grounds, and on the way there, Adam got a blue marlin on the hook. He reeled it in for about 10 minutes before it shook the hook off. Adam was sweating and a little tired from having to reel it such a big fish right handed!
I caught two yellow fin tunas, known as ahi in Hawaii, and so did everyone else. It was my first two fish ever! Adam, Mary and Roy each caught several as well. Our captain was Kenny Llanas, and I learned the meaning of the phrase, "cussing like a sailor"! He was telling us all kinds of stories, like how he has homes in Idaho, makes $1000 a day, has to pay 7% of his earnings to the state and how he named his boat charter after his daughter, who was named after a volcano.
The ocean was the bluest blue I have ever seen. Mikayla kept saying that the water was blue because it was clean! As we came back to dock, we pulled into the harbor and the water was a crystal green, and you could see straight to the bottom. When we got back to the dock, Kenny filleted our fish for us right there on the dock. He threw the rest back into the harbor and put the fillets in our ice chest.
After our fishing trip, Adam and I took the girls for lunch at Humpy's. It overlooked the water, and we ate outside on the balcony. The view was amazing! After lunch, we went back to the condo, and Roy and Mary took the girls to the pool. Adam and I wanted to go to the beach, so we went to a spot right off the main road here. The sand was rough and spotted with black volcano sand. We couldn't walk too far out because there were too many volcanic rocks on the ground. Adam tried to go out, but he slipped and fell. I sat on the shore and let the waves hit me, but it was so powerful, it swept me up and down, scratching my backside! A couple large volcanic rocks also landed on me. Adam and I decided that at least we experienced it, even if it wasn't that enjoyable. There were outdoor showers across the street, so we quickly realized that sand was everywhere! We showered off then headed to the condo. We went straight to the pool with Roy, Mary and the girls. I was still trying to get all the sand out!
We swam for a while, and the girls played in the beach-entry hot tub. It has a sand pool before it opens up to stairs leading down to the hot tub. After the pool, it was time to grill our catch of the day. Adam and Roy took the tuna (and some chicken, too!) to the grill, and while they were gone, Macey was so tuckered out, she took herself into the bedroom and fell asleep. She didn't even tell any of us good night! Mikayla came in and told us that she was the one who put Macey to bed! The tuna was indeed fresh, but it didn't taste that great. Adam wanted to eat it raw, like sushi-style. I couldn't handle that! Mikayla was so tired, she barely ate any dinner at all.
Friday
Friday morning, the girls slept a little bit later, thanks to a new sleeping arrangement. Mikayla slept on the sofa bed with Daddy and Macey slept in the bedroom with me. Macey still woke up at 2:43 this morning, but at least she didn't wake Mikayla up. I was also able to actually get her to go back to sleep after about an hour.
We headed out early this morning to Mauna Kea beach. It was the most gorgeous place I had ever seen! It is about 30 miles north of Kona, and we had to drive through volcano rock to get there. Because the island is made of volcanic rock, the roadside is solid black lava rock with dried-up brush growing out of it. All across the roadside, people have brought white volcanic rock and spelled words, names and memorials to contrast the black rock.
Then coming out of that, we made a left and entered the beautiful Mauna Kea beach. It's a white sand cove flanked with reefs of volcanic rock. The waters were calm and crystal clear. It took both Mikayla and Macey a little bit to get used to it, but they fell in love with the sand and water. The girls and I buried Adam in the sand, and the girls loved digging. It was pretty windy, so the girls didn't like the sand blowing in their eyes. They also didn't like the taste of the water, but they both wanted to be in the ocean.
Macey bobbed up and down with her water wings, and Mikayla only wanted to stay where she could touch, but neither wanted to get out! Adam and I went to the northern reef and snorkeled. Being under the water like that was probably the most amazing experience of my life! At one point, though, I got water in my mask, and I was trying to get it out. My ankle scraped up against some coral, and it hurt so badly! It throbbed for several hours.
After the beach, we headed back, and we stopped at some of the white rock writings, and there was one that said Mikaila, so I changed the “i” to a “y” and added Macey’s name. I took some pictures of Mikayla next to it, but Macey was out like a light in the car, and I wasn’t about to wake her up!
We came back and cleaned up, noticing that sand was everywhere. Mikayla took a nap, and Adam and I went souvenir shopping, which was neat. We went to a chain store, Hilo Hattie’s and then came back to the main street. There is a boardwalk in town with little souvenir shops, and we bought a lot!
When we returned to the condo, we had dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs. I taught Mikayla how to play Slap Jack, and she was loving it! Well, not at first. She had tears in her eyes when I beat her the first time, but then when she got the hang of it and started slapping the Jacks, she was laughing and getting competitive.
Saturday
My dad works for the company UMED Holdings. We also hold stock in the company, and UMED is currently in negotiations to buy a Mamaki tea farm on the big island in Hawaii. Dad gave me the name and numbers of the farmhand and the two ladies who run the farmhouse. I called them, and we drove out there today. The farm was not at all what I thought it was going to be.
The drive there was a winding road that took us more than two hours to get there. It was beautiful scenery, and we could see the ocean most of the way. Most people were driving below the speed limit of 35 or 45 the entire way, and needless to say, it drove me crazy (pun intended).
I called both Terry and Dutchy on Friday to schedule a visit. Terry called me back immediately and told me that we were more than welcomed to stay the night at the farm house. She gave us directions, and we were excited to get out there. The drive there was beautiful, and the plantation is five miles outside of town, right around the corner from a Buddhist Temple.
When we arrived, we were welcomed, and Terry and her son and daughter were making beds up and setting up the “Dalai Lama Suite” for us. The suite had two sleeping areas, one was an actual bedroom, and the other was a studio-type area with a bed. They set up a futon for our daughters, as well. There was a kitchenette with a full-sized (but small) refrigerator. The farmhouse is a little run-down, but it is beautiful. There are four separate suites. Some are equipped with a full service kitchen and some with a kitchenette. There is an outdoor covered living area with a large dining table, pool table, tiki bar and sitting area.
There is a sauna and hot tub, office space and a small work-out area. The farmhouse has great potential for a bed and breakfast, a healing spa or a recovery center. It would take probably about $75,000 to renovate, update and clean the place to make it nice. I’m also thinking about how much things cost in Hawaii, which is much higher than in the contiguous US.
There are several buildings on the property, including the farmhouse. There is a tea house (about 500 square feet) where they package the tea. There is nothing in this building except a scale, dried tea leaves and packaging materials (boxes, plastic bags, packing tape). There are curtains covering all the windows and the doors, and it’s kept locked because evidently people have stolen picked and dried tea leaves before.
The tea processing area was not sterile at ALL. The drying room was about the size of a train car and opened on the end similarly. It actually looked like a train car that had a building built around it. The racks were 15 high and about 15 deep on each side. There were no tea leaves in the drying racks.
The tea leaf crusher was right next to the drying room in a small room with spider webs covering the machinery, as well as the glass on the door leading into it. The door was broken, and the room looked like it had not been used in a long time. I didn’t even want to step foot in the room.
The tea-bagging machine was in a room next to the crusher room. Dutchy told me that the room had just been fumigated, but there was still a roll of tea bags on the machine in open air, as well as other parts of the machinery that I (as someone who knows little about tea or packaging) would think would need to remain sterile. The machine looked like it had not be used in a long time, and it looked dirty. The floor was wooden and bowed under my feet every step I took. The rest of the room was in ill repair, and I would not eat or drink anything prepared in that room.
To the back of the machinery is a greenhouse. There is no glass enclosure, but only screen walls. There were several square plastic pots in flats of tea plants that had been planted from seeds. There were a couple rows of plants, but the greenhouse was at less than a quarter capacity.
The farm – or plantation – itself was beautiful and full of potential. There is a small garden with vegetables and sugar cane. It is tended by Terry and her daughter Ivory. Past the garden are the tea plants. There are many rows of tea plants at all stages of growth. The tea plants are overgrown, and there are weeds interspersed throughout the plantation. The irrigation system in place is not working, or at least that’s what Dutchy told me. Terry tends to believe that it is working, but that Dutchy is choosing to let the whole farm overgrow and that he is purposely letting the plants die.
There is one row of beautifully manicured tea leaves that Terry has been tending herself. She has not been able to harvest it because Dutchy has told her not to. The farm did not look like a luxury farm, or that high-end tea is grown or processed there. It looks ramshackle and a low-end operation. Dutchy showed us pictures of what the farm used to look like, and it looks absolutely nothing like the pictures. There were no workers there, and none have been there for a long time.
They all spoke of “a big loan” that was coming, and that when the big loan comes, they will be able to do this and do that. I don’t understand why they can’t do more than they have done. Terry told me that no one has really worked the farm, tended the tea, fed, irrigated, pruned or harvested the tea in more than two years. In February, Terry and Ivory picked the tea themselves to dry it and get it ready for packaging.
Dutchy is a schmoozer. I don’t know how else to describe him. He looks like a Hawaiian Gary Busey, and he talks a lot. It seemed like he was trying to sell something. I don’t trust him, and it bothered me that he would not speak directly to me (a woman), but he would only speak to my husband. I don’t trust him, and I felt uneasy around him. I didn’t believe some of what he was saying, and he told us the same lines repeatedly – such as “I have Hawaiian blood in my veins,” “I was chosen out of three people to learn about the tea,” etc. Everything about him just seemed disingenuous.
Dutchy has his own tea company, including several different types of tea. He has them in stores across Hawaii, and he gave us some samples. He was promoting his teas to us and not speaking very much of the plantation that we were at. I found it odd that he had his own company, yet he is the farmhand at Wood Valley. He is living there with his wife and step-son, but yet he is apparently not working there, as there has been so little work done on the farm.
Terry is so sweet, and she was so accommodating. She wanted to make sure our stay was comfortable, and bent over backwards for us. I thoroughly enjoyed talking to her and learning from her. She loves the island, and she loves the farm. She has been working at the farm for about 6 months for virtually no money, and she wants to stay and make the farm what it once was. She has a green thumb, and she truly believes in the healing power of Mamaki tea. I tend to believe Terry, because she loves this farm. She spoke highly of Curt and Joe, and that they have been helpful, but that Dutchy has repeatedly told her to not plant, not water, not feed and not tend to the tea plants.
Ivory was hard working, and she loves the farm as well. She doesn’t necessarily want to stay at the farm forever like her mother does, but she wants to see if flourish and grow just the same.
There is much confusion as to who is the owner of the farm. They all knew that Bob was the previous owner, but they believe that he sold it in November. They know that Curt Borman is the CEO now, but Dutchy has told them that he is the owner, or at least that he is leasing the farm with an option to buy it.
From what I gather is that Bob, the previous owner, had Dutchy as his farmhand. Dutchy made the farm beautiful, but he evidently is not a very nice man, and he allegedly stole from Bob. He also allegedly did drugs and was given a restraining order to stay away from the farm. When he was brought back to the farm, many people who live in the valley were upset to see him back. I have no proof of this, but this is only what we were told second-hand.
If I had the means, I would buy this farm in a heartbeat! I would fix up the farmhouse to make it a bed and breakfast. I would buy the farm equipment necessary to clean up the farm and make it flourish. Clean the whole place top to bottom, and enclose the farm equipment. I would find a distributor for the tea and get the farm up and running to proper standards.
There needs to be someone on site who is trusted to run the farm correctly. There also needs to be someone who regularly travels out to the farm to make sure everything is being run correctly. Marketed and managed correctly, the tea and the farmhouse could make so much money. I just don’t think the right people are in place right now to make it happen. I would keep Terry and Ivory to manage the B&B, fire Dutchy, get a new head farmhand, hire locals to pick and process the tea, to send to the distributor.
We were there for several hours, and then we headed to the black sand beach. It was super windy, but it was absolutely gorgeous! The girls got to see turtles, and Macey kept saying, “tu-tah!” The sand was rough, but it got finer the closer we got to the water.
We were thirsty, so we decided to find something to drink. Once we got on the highway, we decided to go east past the tea farm to explore where we were to find something to drink. We drove and drove and drove. We were so thirsty, and there was nothing…at all.
Finally, we came to the Volcanoes National Park, so we took a left and found a gas station in the Volcano Mountains. It was sprinkling rain on us, so we had to run in quickly. The aisles in the store were way too close together, and it was so hard to walk through the store. I needed to change Macey, so I asked where the restroom was, and she pointed and said, “Through the kitchen.” Um…ok. So I walked back there, and signs guided me through the kitchen, then I had to go outside again, so I decided just to change her in the car. I wasn’t going to walk through the rain just to have to change Macey’s diaper in an outside toilet.
We found a little café around the corner, so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat. It was a little hometown-type café with mediocre food. The girls were antsy, and it wasn’t the most pleasant meal. Adam took the girls to the car early, then we headed back to the farm.
I didn’t have cell service at the farm, so that was kind of weird. We walked around a little more, and I took some pictures. I walked out to the field with Terry, and Roy and Mary showed up soon after that.
Adam and I started feeling a little weird about staying at the farm, and so did Adam. Roy and Mary liked the farm, but they got the same strange vibe that Adam and I did. Roy and Mary decided to drive back to Kona for the night, but Adam and I wanted to still go to Hilo in the morning, and this was halfway to Hilo. On top of that, Terry and Ivory had bent over backwards to get our suite ready. Terry brought up gumbo and rice; she made us Mamaki tea and cupcakes, too. The girls love it there, and they had a princess pallet to sleep on. We felt bad, so we decided to stay.
The girls had been playing in the dirt and with the dogs all day, so they had to take showers. I hopped in there with them, and we quickly learned there was barely any water pressure and even less hot water.
Adam and I slept in the full size bed, and we left the fan running. I was a little warm, because there was no air conditioning. In the middle of the night, I woke up freezing cold! I got under the covers and slept until about 6:00 a.m.
Sunday
Adam and I wanted to get out of there quickly, but I still wanted to take some more pictures while the sun wasn’t quite up yet. Adam fed the girls, and we were in the car headed to Volcanoes National Park by 7:00 a.m. When we go there, it actually wasn’t open yet, so we just drove right through. We stopped at the visitor’s center to get a map, and we drove north to see the Caldera. There were steam vents on the way up there, and you could see steam coming out of the ground. We came up on the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and saw the Halema’uma’u Crater. It was so cold and windy up there, I had to pull out Macey’s jacket and wrap Mikayla in a towel.
We didn’t stay long, and then we headed south to see Nahuku or the Thurston Lava Tubes. Lava tubes are the tubes that molten lava flows through at eruption. These lava tubes are from an extinct volcano, and they are now a tourist attraction. The hike down to the tube was through a rain forest. There was a big pedestrian bridge leading into the tube. It was a little creepy being down there. It was still and quiet, and no one else was there. We didn’t stay long.
We got back in the car and headed to Hilo. While we were in the car, Dutchy called my phone. Of course he didn’t want to talk to me. He talked to Adam, and he asked where the notebook that he let Adam look at last night was. Adam had taken it with him to bring back, and Dutchy wanted it back. Dutchy told Adam where to drop it off, and he would pick it up later. We dropped it off and went on our way. Shortly after that, Dutchy called again to let us know that we had left our suitcase there. Great. We were only 9 miles outside of Hilo, and we had to turn around.
We stopped at a grocery store to get something to eat for breakfast, since we wouldn’t be making it to Hilo any time soon. We turned around, and actually made it back in good time. We’re able to laugh about it now, but neither Adam nor I were laughing at the time.
When we finally got to Hilo for real this time, the ocean was so calm. There were hardly any waves at all coming in. We drove the beach line and went straight to Rainbow Falls. It’s right in town, and I thought for some reason that it was the type of falls that we would be able to swim in. It was way too powerful for that. We drove around town for a little bit, but a lot of the stores were closed because it was Sunday. We found a little grill and bar restaurant facing the beach called Cronie’s. The food was mediocre, and it didn’t have air conditioning. I eventually cooled off, though.
We decided to walk down the street and peek in the storefronts. We bought a few souvenirs, and then we got some shaved ice. Mikayla got a keiki size, which means “child.” The shaved ices were huge! They had little cones and a huge top. Mikayla and Macey loved it!
After our half day in Hilo, we decided that we most definitely liked the Kona side of the island better. We started the drive back to Kona, but we decided to drive the north side of the island. While we were on the way, Mary texted me to see where we were, and she asked if we stopped at Akaka Falls. We were already on the way back, so we thought we would just have to miss it. Then Adam looked at the map, and we realized that we hadn’t come to it yet. We took the road to the falls, and there was a cute little tourist row of restaurants and stores on the way out there. We went to the falls, but we were too tired to hike down to the bottom. We saw it, at least!
We got back in the car and headed back to Kona for real. There were several gulches on the right side of the road that were beautiful and lush with rain forest density. Most had waterfalls, and they led to the ocean on the right. As we came out of the rain forest, we entered farm land, and after that, it was volcanic rock desert.
Adam and I kept looking at the map to see about where we were. Mikayla asked to see it, so Adam gave it to her. She opened it up and studied it intently. Then she says, “The way I figure it, if we go left, then go right, then go up, then go down, then go squiggly, we’ll make it.” Adam and I thought it was the cutest thing ever! We smiled and told her that sounded about right. We did have to go squiggly.
Finally back to the condo, we were so tired, but the girls wanted to swim, so we did! We went to the upper pool instead of the one outside our door, because the close one was full of people. We splashed and swam, and Macey kept saying, “Sim’in Sim’in!” while doing her swimming dance! It is too cute!
We were planning on going out to eat tonight, but Mikayla saw Manwich in the kitchen, so she wanted Sloppy Joes. Mary and I ran up to Target to buy a couple more things for dinner, and I found some really cute Hello Kitty t-shirts for the girls. It was hard to choose between all the shirts!
Monday
We are starting to get a little bit more used to the time change, and we are sleeping in a little bit more. The condo we stayed in has activities all week long. There were a lot of activities that I wanted to do, but time got away from me, or we went to do other things. This morning, we went to the pool area for “Family Time.” We were going to learn our Hawaiian names and do other activities. When we got there, no one was there. Mikayla and Macey were already at the pool, so very little could prevent them from getting in! So it was swimming for the morning.
At noon, Adam and I went jet skiing, while Roy and Mary took the girls to a little inlet beach right in town. The jet skiing place was off the shore, and we had to take a little boat to get out there. We learned that in Hawaii, jet skis cannot be seen or heard from the shore, so therefore, Jet Ski Island. It was a little floating dock out about half a mile from the coast. The jet-ski guy said that they have to lease 100 acres of riding area from the state even to operate. The rules on the paperwork we had to sign had 10 rules. #1, #3, #5, #7 and #10 were all to stay inside the orange buoys.
Adam and I were a little upset we couldn’t just take the jet skis where we wanted, but the area was actually really big, and we were able to go really fast and twist and turn. Neither of us threw ourselves off, though!
Originally, we wanted to do an entire hour of jet skiing, but after 30 minutes, we were pretty worn out. Thirty minutes in the ocean is different than 30 minutes on a lake, for sure! When we got back to the dock, we saw the girls on the beach, and I immediately heard Macey crying for me. We walked over, and we got in the water. It was so clear, and calm.
We left a little bit later to get ready for the Luau. We rested back at the condo. Mikayla evidently wanted to talk to Grandma Mary all by herself, so she told Grandfather to go away because, “We’re talking lady business,” she said!
At about 4:45, we headed to the Royal Kona Resort for our Luau. The line was long, and it was a little hot, but the view was great, and there were free Mai Tais! These were the best Mai Tais I have ever had! We found our seats, and the girls immediately were restless. Luckily, there were some Hawaiian girls with traditional Hawaiian musical instruments for the girls to play with. They had an ipu, which is a gourd that has been hollowed out, dried and lacquered. They had a ka’eke’eke, which is a bamboo tube that has been cut horizontally and is hit against grass mats. They also had an uli’uli, which is like a maraca; it is a gourd rattle with feathers on the top.
The MC of the night talked about the tradition of luaus in Hawaii, and what they are traditionally used for. Most of the time, he said, luaus are for one-year-old birthday parties. He said they would begin on Friday night and last until Monday morning, when people had to go back to work. He said that Hawaiian beliefs hold that if a baby makes it to his 1st birthday, the child will most likely live a long time. 1st birthdays are sacred and to be celebrated. We even saw a TV commercial targeted to parents to get them to celebrate their child’s 1st birthday at Chuck E. Cheese!
Finally, it was time to unearth the pig from the Imu, or Hawaiian Earth Oven. A girl danced a hula, and then we all walked over to the imu. The men dug the pig out, and it was covered in cheesecloth and banana leaves. Mikayla had a front row view for the unearthing, but she did not want to eat that pig. When Adam brought Mikayla her plate, he told her she had chicken on her plate. She ate it and loved it! Adam eventually told her he tricked her, and that it was actually the Kailua pork, and she took it quite well. She loved it!
The food was an all-you-can-eat buffet, and there was a chicken and spinach dish that was creamy and delicious! The poi was gross, and there was a cucumber salad that was delish! Macey wanted more “yeh-yo!” or jell-o, and Mikayla wanted more bread. The show started right after we were done eating, and Mikayla stood on her chair to watch. She loved it, and she was shaking her hips to the music. Macey danced some too, but when the men got on the stage, she got scared, and she had to hide her head either in Adam’s or my shoulder. She was so tired, too, it was hard for her to hold on. She fell asleep in the car on the five minute drive on way back to the condo.
Tuesday
This morning, I woke up and went to the pool area for Hawaiian album making. I was the only one there, so I got to talk to Ali’i, the activities director for a little bit while we covered an album with Hawaiian-designed fabric. Adam and I had been marveling at how expensive everything was on the island. $5 for a gallon of milk, $4.35 for a gallon of gas, etc. I asked Ali’i how anyone affords to live in Hawaii, and he said the main way that natives do it is to pass the land down from generation to generation. He said that he and his family live on 76 acres with 8 separate houses on it. He said his entire family lives on the 76 acres, and so no one has a mortgage. I still don’t know how some people afford to live here!
After the album making, I went to the lobby to learn how to tie my sarong. Ali’i was there to teach me! I learned a couple styles, but I have already forgotten them. When I got back to the condo, Adam had gotten the beach cruiser bicycles for us to take into town. We rode them to town and stopped at the farmer’s market. I got a couple things for the girls, and Adam got a kukui nut necklace. We also stopped at a couple stores to shop. We went almost to the end of the beach road, then we stopped at Poncho and Lefty’s for a little early lunch. We were just a little hungry, so we shared some nachos. They were decent, and the salsa was not hot enough for this Texan!
We headed back to the condo, and the uphill was killer on the thighs! We probably rode a total of two and a half miles. For someone who hasn’t ridden a bike in years, I was sweating! While we were gone, Roy and Mary took the girls swimming.
That evening, Adam and I went to Huggo’s on the Rocks for dinner. It was so cool because it was right on the coast, and the pier was built out on the rocks. The floor of where the tables were was covered in sand, so it felt like we were actually on the beach. I had some frozen fruity drink that was delicious, served in a cute little coconut cup. We watched the sun set, and enjoyed our time together.
When we got back to the condo, the girls were still up! They are getting way too used to the time change!
Wednesday
We woke up and started packing! We have to check out by 10 a.m., but our flight doesn’t leave until 10:45 p.m. Roy and Mary’s flight leaves around 8:00 p.m., so we won’t have a home-base or have a place to clean up all day long. Roy and Mary decided to get us a day pass at the Sheraton, which was amazing! The view was gorgeous, and the hotel was very nice. We dropped off our luggage, then we headed back to town. Adam and I took the girls to eat at a deli next to the tattoo shop that Adam and Mary are getting their tattoos.
After we ate, we went to K-Town Tattoo, and Adam went back to the room with the artist. I took the girls to go get some Kona coffee, which was about 15 minutes away. Macey fell asleep on the way back, so I didn’t get a chance to buy any Donkey Balls. Donkey Balls are a macadamia nut covered in more than 30 layers of chocolate. Mikayla loves them, and I promised her we would get more to take back to Texas. We went back to the tattoo shop, and Mary and Roy were there talking to her tattoo artist, and he was coming up with the design for her ankle/foot tattoo. Adam was in his room, and his artist was trying to come up with a design for him. There were several fails, then finally she came up with something pretty cool for him.
In the meantime, I took the girls back to the Sheraton, and we went to the pool. The pool was huge! It overlooked the ocean, and there were two separate pool areas, connected by an eight foot slide. There was a kiddie pool about 1 foot deep with a sandy bottom and beach area. The sand was more of a gravel texture, and it didn’t hurt. There was a splash pad next to the kiddie pool that the kids could stand on and let the water spray them. There was a big slide, as well.
I took both girls up to the top of the slide, and the lifeguard wouldn’t let me take Macey down the slide. She said that everyone had to go down alone. Single riders also had to be at least 4 years old. Macey was not happy! I took Macey back down the stairs, then Mikayla came down the slide. She went down it at least 10 times!
I took the girls back to the room, and we all took showers. I tried to lay the girls down, but to no avail. I was heading out to the car to get her “Duppie” when Roy and freshly tattooed Mary and Adam were all walking back up the hall to the room. Then the girls for sure were not going to take a nap! We all went back down to the pool, and the girls wanted to get back in the water, but they were clean, and I was not going to shower them again.
We ordered some Mai Tais and nachos, and we ate them poolside. When we were done, we went back to the room to say goodbye. Roy and Mary had to leave because their flight was earlier than ours. Roy and Mary both tickled and hugged the girls, then we all hugged. After the door clicked shut, Mikayla and Macey cried, and Adam and I teared up. No one wanted to say goodbye. We sat on the bed and had a group hug as we cried. We laid down for a little bit and watched TV, then we left to go get those Donkey Balls.
We ate at Wendy’s before heading out, only because it was fast and easy. We filled up the tank on our Nissan Altima, then headed for the airport. We dropped off the car at the Alamo rental car, then we hopped on the shuttle to the airport. We were the only ones on the shuttle, so we thought the airport wouldn’t be too busy, but there were quite a few people there.
When we arrived, we had to put our checked luggage through the agriculture check. We then proceeded to the check-in counter, and our big bag weighed 61 pounds. Ack! That was 11 pounds over! I was so tired and stressed out, I wanted to just pay the difference. I asked her how much the overweight charge was, and when she replied, “$90,” I was shocked and said, “Um, NO!” Adam pulled the suitcase off the scale and onto the ground. I started moving stuff and got it down to 51.5. When I asked Adam to pull it off, the lady said, “That’s ok, I’ll let it go this time.” I thanked her, but then she wanted to remind me that the weight limit is 50 pounds. Thanks, lady. Where does she expect me to weigh my luggage when I’m on vacation?
With the bags checked, we headed through security. With two small children, a car seat, backpacks, etc. it’s so stressful to get through. We made it through without a hitch this time, though! We headed to our gate, and had to pass all of our bags through the agriculture check. So here goes all of our stuff again! We finally got there, and the girls were so tired, they were antsy. Finally, they call for passengers who need special assistance to board. I made a beeline. We were the third or fourth family to board, so we had plenty of time to get situated. Macey was asleep before we even took off. Both girls slept the entire way to Phoenix.
I didn’t sleep barely at all. I fell asleep once, and was awoken by the flight attendant shaking me saying, “Put on your seatbelt!” No, excuse me, no pardon me. Just rudeness.
When we got to Phoenix, we saw Marte – one of Adam’s best friend’s wife – and their two kids. They had been visiting Marte’s sister in Honolulu. They also just happened to be on our flight from Phoenix to DFW. We had figured it out in May that we were on the same flight!
The flight from Phoenix to DFW was easy, too. The girls slept most of the way and did great. SuSu was there when we landed, and she took us home. We were exhausted and tan, and we were so ready to be home!
We had the time of our life, and this was bar-none the best vacation we have ever had!
