After a year living away from home in Hawaii, my parents came to visit right before the Christmas holiday. I was so glad to have them visit even if it was only for a week. We had a busy agenda and a lot of fun to squeeze into seven days. After their flight landed we headed home to settle in. We went on a short walk around the neighborhood with Emma and then we all took a short nap. By the time Matt was home from work we were ready to eat some delicious hawaiian style pizza so we got Big Kahuna Pizza and Stuffs on the phone ASAP. Dinner was yummy!
Thursday was the first full day of our vacation and probably the busiest! We started bright and early and we headed over the H-3 freeway to Kailua to check out Crepes No Ka Oi. I had a delicious crepe filled with bananas, strawberries, and nutella. It was the perfect start to the day!
Then we headed over to the famous Kailua Beach Park for our first beach visit of the day. This one was my mom's favorite. She decided to do get her toes wet and my dad prefered to take in the sights from the sand.
Following our visit to Kailua we headed on a full day drive up the Windward coast and around the Northshore. We stopped at Kualoa Beach Park to check out Chinaman Hat Island and to snap a few pictures
Our next stop of the day was Waimea Bay Beach. The famous Quiksilver Big Wave Invitational in Memory of Eddie Aikau at Waimea Bay competition was held here earlier in the week and the beach was boasting 50 foot waves. While we visited Waimea Bay the waves weren't quite as big, but only experienced surfers and bodyboarders were allowed in the water. We really enjoyed watching all the action that was out on the water.
While we were in the Waimea Bay area we decided to also visit Waimea Valley and check out one of Hawaii's many beautiful waterfalls. This was a new experience for me too, as Matt and I hadn't visited this park yet.
We were starting to get pretty hungry by this time so we thought we best head over to Haleiwa Town for dinner, but we had to stop at Laniakea beach to see the sea turtles. We were in luck and a 225 lb. female turtle was out sun bathing!
Finally we made it to Haleiwa Town. We were craving some hawaiian shave ice from the famous Matsumoto Grocery so we had dessert first. After the shave ice we decided to do a little shopping around the town and then we headed to one of my favorite places. To get fresh Kahuku shrimp from a shrimp truck, kinda like the taco trucks some of you are used to seeing in Washington. After a long, long day seeing the island we headed home and slept well that night
One of our families favorite things about the holiday season is Christmas Lights! The Navy's MWR program arranges a tour of the Honolulu City Lights that the city puts on every year for Christmas. The best part about the tour is that it is in an open air trolley! So much fun.
We were pretty busy most of the week and Emma wasn't getting as much attentioned as she likes, so we decided to go to the neighborhood dog park one day and let her play off leash. She had a fantastic time making friends with some of the other dogs and lying around in the soft grass. She decided to pose for a photo shoot here.
Yes, we did spend plenty of time playing in the water. We spent two days playing in the beautiful white sands of Waimanalo Beach. This one is my favorite. This isn't a popular beach for tourists, because it isn't very close to anything else touristy and would be difficult to reach by bus, so there is always plenty of beach and never crowded.
After our visit at Waimanalo Beach we drove home along the south coast of the island and stopped at some scenic vistas. This is Sandy beach below.
Don't think we didn't spend some time in Waikiki. Of course we did. We had a wonderful evening eating at Duke's Canoe Club and then walking the beach after sunset on friday night. We came back to Waikiki saturday morning to watch Santa arrive via outrigger canoe but unfortunately we missed it. That was alright because we enjoyed people watching and a cup of coffee
Finally the end of the week arrived and we had enough time for one more activity before we had to head to the airport. We drove to the top of tantalus mountain to take in the scenic views of Diamond Head, Waikiki, Honolulu, and Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately when we got to the top we realized it was a pretty voggy day and the visibility wasn't spectacular. (Vog is similar to fog, but it is caused by southern winds blowing volcanic ash from the Big Island towards the other islands)
Well, all good things must come to an end and I am looking forward to our next visitors here in paradise. Will you be our next guests? The guest room is always ready!
