Mele Kalikimaka

We met S and his family in Kauai at the airport. They had already been there a few hours. We put my name on their rental car so that I could drive them around. We drove the 30 minutes to the house we were staying in and it was beautiful! We had an ocean view over to our favorite beach in Poipu. The parents each had their own bedroom suites upstairs, plus the kitchen, a tv room, and an extra bathroom. Downstairs, S, D (S’s brother), Nae and I had a bathroom, two bedrooms, a tv area, an outdoor shower, and an air hockey table. S, D, Nae, and I all got in to our bathing suits and wanted to body surf. I told D to bring his fins as it was a pretty rough spot to get out at and there were tons of submerged rocks. He said, “Nah, I’ll be right” As soon as he got in to the water, he decided to run back and get his fins. That night we cooked fish tacos ( a first for S’s family) at home and it was so nice to see my parents get along and get along well with S’s. The next morning we got up and went for a snorkel. Nae told us to dive under water and stay there and listen. We could hear humpbacks singing to each other, Magic! We then went back home and got dressed and headed out to see the “Grand Canyon of Hawaii” Waimea. Over the week we drove over the whole island. We did lots of snorkeling and saw tons of whales, though not while we were in the water. S and his family took a helicopter trip around the island. We went to a luau where I got very drunk on mai tais, though I’m a light weight and no one else did. When we got back to the house, D, dressed up in a hula girl costume his girlfriend had gotten him. We saw Spouting Horn, went to Hanalei, and to Ke’e beach. My mom and S’s Mom saw Pierce Brosnan riding by on a bike near Princeville, I guess he has a house there. The boys and Nae went for a surf. S and I managed to get a date night in by just ourselves one night and that was special and nice to be alone for a bit just to dissect how it was all going. On our last night together, my parents took us all to the Beach House restaurant (http://www.the-beach-house.com/). It was a great meal and the perfect ending to being in Kauai together. The next day Mom and Dad took off to go back home and S’s family, Nae and I headed over to Oahu. While there we did touristy stuff like go to Cheeseburger in Paradise, the outdoor markets, and just hang out along Waikiki Beach. We also hit up the zoo, which was pretty cool and pretty big for being right in the city, and then ran in to a parade for the U of H football team who had just won some championship or something. A guy from my high school class was the quarterback which would’ve been funny to see him, but he wasn’t there. The next day we rented a car and I drove us all to the North Shore. The waves were huge! It was so cool to be there and see waves like that. We even saw Bun’s Mom’s house which overlooks Sunset Beach. S, Nae and I got Mexican for lunch and S’s family decided they weren’t that adventurous (remember, Mexican is like nonexistent in Oz, which sucks for me because I was raised by a Mexican nanny, my Mom #2, and Mexican food was like the staple of my diet) so they got burgers or pizza. Nae was coming down with bronchitis or pneumonia or something at this point and was not feeling well/in a good mood for our last night in Hawaii. She kicked S out of our room fairly early so she could get some sleep. The next morning we were up and out by like 5 to drop S’s family at the airport. Nae and I then hit up Denny’s til it was time to return the car and catch a flight back to Kauai then back to Orange County.
I had a garage sale when I got home and made bank. The house was looking really good, I thought, after my friend Chiara, from grade school had helped me with some new bedding and stuff to freshen up the inside.