09.25.08: After going to be around 2-3am, there was some effort to wake-up that morning in Honolulu. We didn’t have much time to spend at the hotel but to eat the free and unfulfilling continental breakfast and go back to the airport. Somehow, we underestimated and Kailani was down to her last pull-up. So, we were really testing her potty-training skills. I pulled out the cheap Channel knock-off sunglasses that I picked up on a beach in Bali to find that the arm had broken off and it was not repairable. :-( While waiting for our plane at the airport, we grabbed lunch. I got the Kalua pork sandwich and Sean got some chicken teriyaki skewers. Even though it was airport food, it was still nice to have Hawaiian food once again.
Luckily, the flight to Kona was on-time and there were no other hassles, unless you count the Hawaiian Air $25 oversized luggage fee for the surfboard (as opposed to it being free on Air New Zealand). As we got off the plane, memories of spending the night there last Christmas due to a cancelled flight home came back to me. Boy, wasn’t that a fun night! Tutu, aka Grandma Karen, was there to greet us with lei’s and all. She just moved into her recently-built new home just two days before, so we were grateful that she was able to find time to pick us (and the board) up. She even had Kailani’s new car seat that I ordered and had shipped there. First order of business was to hit a store for more Pull-Ups as well as some essential groceries since the new house had an empty fridge.
At Tutu’s new home in Waimea, we were honored to be her first house guests. Even though I was expecting to unpack it myself, she somehow pulled off setting up a room for us to stay in. The last time we saw the house was last Christmas during the framing process and came together beautifully, even with the dust still settling. Waimea is quite higher in elevation that most would think it gets in Hawaii, so the weather can get rather cool at times. But, the view of the valley below from Tutu’s house is spectacular when there’s no bog (this sulfuric fog from the volcanoes) and it’s clear.
The rest of the week was not your typical tourist agenda. We were there to help Tutu and her move, acclimate and get settled back into the US, as well as get ourselves looking decent for the wedding next week. Although there was only a three hour difference from New Zealand, that night, I ended up with a serious case of jetlag, worse than anything I’ve experience so far. I just couldn’t sleep all night! By morning, I couldn’t pull my head up off the pillow and was moving pretty slow. Fortunately, we didn’t have any early plans.
Tutu still had yet to pick-up her second car, the convertible PT Cruiser, from her old condo in Waikoloa Beach. So we headed there. We also stopped by The Sunglass Hut in the Queen’s Marketplace nearby. I tried on about five of their less expensive sunglasses before the sales guy suggested a pair of D&G’s. They worked pretty well, but I still tried on another twenty pairs before giving-in and getting them. I can’t believe I went from a cheap ole pair of Channel knock-offs to an actual designer pair. Sean ended up getting a pair of Arnette’s as well. It was great not to feel so “naked” anymore and we were both feeling a bit more “civilized” again with some decent shades that weren’t all banged up and scratched. Back at the condo, we packed-up more of Tutu’s odds and ends in the two cars. Now that the condo’s vacant, is also up for rent. It’s very tempting to think of moving there, especially when the owner is tempting us with weekly “Date/Kailani and Tutu” nights. It’s fully furnished, so all we’d have to do is roll our suitcases in and jump across the parking lot to the pool with our new shades. :-) With two cars full, we went back up the hill to the new house in Waimea and spent the rest of the day digging through boxes looking for essentials like a spatula.
Saturday morning, I went to my first yoga class since we left California. I was excited that there was an Anusara class (that I also attended last Christmas) at the studio, No Place Like Om, right in Waimea. After the class, I had a nice chat with instructor Katherine, also the owner of the studio and found that No Place Like Om had recently converted to an Anusara-only studio. Isn’t Waimea lucky?!? She also told me that Santa Cruz just finally got an Anusara instructor that just recently moved into town since we left CA. So, at least I won’t have to commute to the valley for Anusara classes.
After, Sean, Kailani and I headed to the Waimea Farmer’s Market. Although it was fun to see the different booths with produce and crafts, I didn’t shop much. The thought of trying to eat up all the leftovers during our last three days in Auckland stuck with me. There were a number of booths selling ready-made food as well. Sean got the typical Hawaiian pork lau lau and pork teriyaki lunch plate. I had a few bites and worked hard not to devour the rest of it. It was good!
Later, we headed to the Kona airport to pick up a small moving van and then back to Tutu’s condo to move a few more pieces of furniture. After going back to Kona to return the van, we headed to the Kona Brewing Company for an early dinner where I had a beer sampler with: the Fire Rock Pale Ale, a good ole’ standby; the Macadamia Nut Brown Ale, a seasonal beer and one of our new favorites; the Pipeline Porter, made with Kona coffee and our favorite last time; and Seasonal Stout (don’t remember the name exactly) which I’d have to say was even better than the Pipeline Porter. Before jumping in the car and heading home, we stopped by their “Growler Shack” in the parking lot and refilled the “growler” (gallon jug) that we had purchased last Christmas. This time, we got the Macadamia Nut Brown Ale. Yummmm!
Sunday was our beach day. We went back to a beach that we really liked during our last visit, Pine Tree (aka O’oma or Kohanaiki, not exactly sure) for some surfing. It’s right near the Kona airport and it takes about 20 minutes to go down a ½ mile road in 4-wheel drive. You can actually camp there too. We were blessed with waves again at this spot, so Sean and I took turns with our New Zealand board. Even Kailani caught some waves. There’s this part of the beach that’s protected by a reef area and forms a perfect “baby pool”. While Sean was out, Kailani spotted a couple of 4-5 year old boys playing there with boogie boards. We grabbed one of Tutu’s boogie boards and I was pulling Kailani around on it and pushing her into some waves. She started watching how the boys were doing it, and pretty soon, she was jumping on the board from the shoreline, paddling out, and Sean (who ended his session) would turn her around and push her into the waves. I got some pretty good footage of it and hopefully will be able to post it up. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc68qhR5miI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkttdSYZdnk)
After Pine Tree, we went into Kona to the Verizon store. I was feeling even more “normal” again when they were able to re-activate my phone. Unfortunately, I had to get a Hawaii phone number that will have to be changed to a CA number when we get there. But, it’s sure nice to have a phone again that you don’t have to worry if you have enough pre-pay minutes left! I also picked up a couple other goodies. First, a Bluetooth headset since hearing that there’s a new California law prohibiting anyone from talking on a phone while driving. Second, an internet USB card for my laptop. So, we won’t have to search for wifi hot spots anymore and worrying about purchased time running out. Ah, technology!
Later that night, we ordered pizza for dinner. I do have to mention that I could barely stop eating the Zesty Fiesta pizza, which had chorizo, sausage, tomato and jalapeno peppers (which I picked off, but still had “essence” on it). It was reminiscent of the Golden Greek from Jake’s in Sunnyvale that we used to get.
On Monday morning, I accompanied Tutu to her Pilates class, my first time ever. I felt like I was fumbling a bit and sweat a lot. But, it felt good to stretch out the soreness from the yoga class two days before and was fun to listen to the ladies chit-chat.
After class, the four of us headed to Mountain Thunder, an organic coffee farm up in the hills of Kona. They do free tours every hour, where we learned everything you think you could possibly know about coffee: the four processes it goes through to make it; the different colors, sizes and roasts available; what good coffee should be like; etc. I know this place must be really good with their marketing because they have appeared on several television shows, apparent by the TV playing a DVD of all their appearances at the farm, but I do have to say that I’m impressed with the quality of their stuff. And, although I actually don’t normally drink coffee anymore, I still will never look at a coffee bean the same again. After the tour, I was also able to take Kailani down to check out their pig, baby goose and chicken. She always gets a kick out of seeing animals.
The rest of the afternoon, we spent getting lunch, doing some errands and shopping for outfits to wear to Rory and Lisa’s wedding in Kauai next week. For what seemed like a small selection of shops to choose from, we did quite well. However, we did have remorse in spending that money when we went back home to watch CNN and find out how bad the stock market did that day! Watching what they have to say about the Presidential and especially the Vice Presidential candidates was a little more entertaining, but still depressing.
On Tuesday morning, the contractor, cable guy, window covering guy, AV guy and Concrete Pete were all at the house finishing up loose ends. It was also our last full day on the island, so we left to take care of stuff: dump run (there’s no garbage pick-up in Waimea), post office, market and lunch. We then decided to go back to the beach for a quick afternoon surf session. We cruised by Hapuna beach, hoping for some variety, but it was flat. So, we ended up back at Pine Tree. It was also pretty small there, but at least there were waves. Kailani was so excited to go “surfing” on the boogie board again that she pulled her clothes off and got dressed into her bathing suit herself. Sean went out and I took Kai into the water right after we had a couple of mongoose sightings. She did so well that I didn’t even have to retrieve her after pushing her to shore on a wave. She’d jump off the board, turn it around, jump back on it, and paddle back to me (with the slight help of a mini-current). I have a feeling that if she spent enough time in warm water, I’m SURE she’d be surfing in no time!
Later that night, Tutu treated us to very-easy-to-go-down lilikoi margaritas and dinner at the Kawaihae Harbor Grill Seafood Bar, down the hill and near the shipping port from Waimea. It had been drizzly all day in Waimea, so it was nice to escape that, sit outside on their lanai and enjoy the fresh sea air for the night. The geckos were out and Kailani had fun watching them, if not watching the PSP. The food was great and it was especially nice to have such a nice going-away dinner and spent with Tutu!
Luckily, the flight to Kona was on-time and there were no other hassles, unless you count the Hawaiian Air $25 oversized luggage fee for the surfboard (as opposed to it being free on Air New Zealand). As we got off the plane, memories of spending the night there last Christmas due to a cancelled flight home came back to me. Boy, wasn’t that a fun night! Tutu, aka Grandma Karen, was there to greet us with lei’s and all. She just moved into her recently-built new home just two days before, so we were grateful that she was able to find time to pick us (and the board) up. She even had Kailani’s new car seat that I ordered and had shipped there. First order of business was to hit a store for more Pull-Ups as well as some essential groceries since the new house had an empty fridge.
At Tutu’s new home in Waimea, we were honored to be her first house guests. Even though I was expecting to unpack it myself, she somehow pulled off setting up a room for us to stay in. The last time we saw the house was last Christmas during the framing process and came together beautifully, even with the dust still settling. Waimea is quite higher in elevation that most would think it gets in Hawaii, so the weather can get rather cool at times. But, the view of the valley below from Tutu’s house is spectacular when there’s no bog (this sulfuric fog from the volcanoes) and it’s clear.
The rest of the week was not your typical tourist agenda. We were there to help Tutu and her move, acclimate and get settled back into the US, as well as get ourselves looking decent for the wedding next week. Although there was only a three hour difference from New Zealand, that night, I ended up with a serious case of jetlag, worse than anything I’ve experience so far. I just couldn’t sleep all night! By morning, I couldn’t pull my head up off the pillow and was moving pretty slow. Fortunately, we didn’t have any early plans.
Tutu still had yet to pick-up her second car, the convertible PT Cruiser, from her old condo in Waikoloa Beach. So we headed there. We also stopped by The Sunglass Hut in the Queen’s Marketplace nearby. I tried on about five of their less expensive sunglasses before the sales guy suggested a pair of D&G’s. They worked pretty well, but I still tried on another twenty pairs before giving-in and getting them. I can’t believe I went from a cheap ole pair of Channel knock-offs to an actual designer pair. Sean ended up getting a pair of Arnette’s as well. It was great not to feel so “naked” anymore and we were both feeling a bit more “civilized” again with some decent shades that weren’t all banged up and scratched. Back at the condo, we packed-up more of Tutu’s odds and ends in the two cars. Now that the condo’s vacant, is also up for rent. It’s very tempting to think of moving there, especially when the owner is tempting us with weekly “Date/Kailani and Tutu” nights. It’s fully furnished, so all we’d have to do is roll our suitcases in and jump across the parking lot to the pool with our new shades. :-) With two cars full, we went back up the hill to the new house in Waimea and spent the rest of the day digging through boxes looking for essentials like a spatula.
Saturday morning, I went to my first yoga class since we left California. I was excited that there was an Anusara class (that I also attended last Christmas) at the studio, No Place Like Om, right in Waimea. After the class, I had a nice chat with instructor Katherine, also the owner of the studio and found that No Place Like Om had recently converted to an Anusara-only studio. Isn’t Waimea lucky?!? She also told me that Santa Cruz just finally got an Anusara instructor that just recently moved into town since we left CA. So, at least I won’t have to commute to the valley for Anusara classes.
After, Sean, Kailani and I headed to the Waimea Farmer’s Market. Although it was fun to see the different booths with produce and crafts, I didn’t shop much. The thought of trying to eat up all the leftovers during our last three days in Auckland stuck with me. There were a number of booths selling ready-made food as well. Sean got the typical Hawaiian pork lau lau and pork teriyaki lunch plate. I had a few bites and worked hard not to devour the rest of it. It was good!
Later, we headed to the Kona airport to pick up a small moving van and then back to Tutu’s condo to move a few more pieces of furniture. After going back to Kona to return the van, we headed to the Kona Brewing Company for an early dinner where I had a beer sampler with: the Fire Rock Pale Ale, a good ole’ standby; the Macadamia Nut Brown Ale, a seasonal beer and one of our new favorites; the Pipeline Porter, made with Kona coffee and our favorite last time; and Seasonal Stout (don’t remember the name exactly) which I’d have to say was even better than the Pipeline Porter. Before jumping in the car and heading home, we stopped by their “Growler Shack” in the parking lot and refilled the “growler” (gallon jug) that we had purchased last Christmas. This time, we got the Macadamia Nut Brown Ale. Yummmm!
Sunday was our beach day. We went back to a beach that we really liked during our last visit, Pine Tree (aka O’oma or Kohanaiki, not exactly sure) for some surfing. It’s right near the Kona airport and it takes about 20 minutes to go down a ½ mile road in 4-wheel drive. You can actually camp there too. We were blessed with waves again at this spot, so Sean and I took turns with our New Zealand board. Even Kailani caught some waves. There’s this part of the beach that’s protected by a reef area and forms a perfect “baby pool”. While Sean was out, Kailani spotted a couple of 4-5 year old boys playing there with boogie boards. We grabbed one of Tutu’s boogie boards and I was pulling Kailani around on it and pushing her into some waves. She started watching how the boys were doing it, and pretty soon, she was jumping on the board from the shoreline, paddling out, and Sean (who ended his session) would turn her around and push her into the waves. I got some pretty good footage of it and hopefully will be able to post it up. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc68qhR5miI and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkttdSYZdnk)
After Pine Tree, we went into Kona to the Verizon store. I was feeling even more “normal” again when they were able to re-activate my phone. Unfortunately, I had to get a Hawaii phone number that will have to be changed to a CA number when we get there. But, it’s sure nice to have a phone again that you don’t have to worry if you have enough pre-pay minutes left! I also picked up a couple other goodies. First, a Bluetooth headset since hearing that there’s a new California law prohibiting anyone from talking on a phone while driving. Second, an internet USB card for my laptop. So, we won’t have to search for wifi hot spots anymore and worrying about purchased time running out. Ah, technology!
Later that night, we ordered pizza for dinner. I do have to mention that I could barely stop eating the Zesty Fiesta pizza, which had chorizo, sausage, tomato and jalapeno peppers (which I picked off, but still had “essence” on it). It was reminiscent of the Golden Greek from Jake’s in Sunnyvale that we used to get.
On Monday morning, I accompanied Tutu to her Pilates class, my first time ever. I felt like I was fumbling a bit and sweat a lot. But, it felt good to stretch out the soreness from the yoga class two days before and was fun to listen to the ladies chit-chat.
After class, the four of us headed to Mountain Thunder, an organic coffee farm up in the hills of Kona. They do free tours every hour, where we learned everything you think you could possibly know about coffee: the four processes it goes through to make it; the different colors, sizes and roasts available; what good coffee should be like; etc. I know this place must be really good with their marketing because they have appeared on several television shows, apparent by the TV playing a DVD of all their appearances at the farm, but I do have to say that I’m impressed with the quality of their stuff. And, although I actually don’t normally drink coffee anymore, I still will never look at a coffee bean the same again. After the tour, I was also able to take Kailani down to check out their pig, baby goose and chicken. She always gets a kick out of seeing animals.
The rest of the afternoon, we spent getting lunch, doing some errands and shopping for outfits to wear to Rory and Lisa’s wedding in Kauai next week. For what seemed like a small selection of shops to choose from, we did quite well. However, we did have remorse in spending that money when we went back home to watch CNN and find out how bad the stock market did that day! Watching what they have to say about the Presidential and especially the Vice Presidential candidates was a little more entertaining, but still depressing.
On Tuesday morning, the contractor, cable guy, window covering guy, AV guy and Concrete Pete were all at the house finishing up loose ends. It was also our last full day on the island, so we left to take care of stuff: dump run (there’s no garbage pick-up in Waimea), post office, market and lunch. We then decided to go back to the beach for a quick afternoon surf session. We cruised by Hapuna beach, hoping for some variety, but it was flat. So, we ended up back at Pine Tree. It was also pretty small there, but at least there were waves. Kailani was so excited to go “surfing” on the boogie board again that she pulled her clothes off and got dressed into her bathing suit herself. Sean went out and I took Kai into the water right after we had a couple of mongoose sightings. She did so well that I didn’t even have to retrieve her after pushing her to shore on a wave. She’d jump off the board, turn it around, jump back on it, and paddle back to me (with the slight help of a mini-current). I have a feeling that if she spent enough time in warm water, I’m SURE she’d be surfing in no time!
Later that night, Tutu treated us to very-easy-to-go-down lilikoi margaritas and dinner at the Kawaihae Harbor Grill Seafood Bar, down the hill and near the shipping port from Waimea. It had been drizzly all day in Waimea, so it was nice to escape that, sit outside on their lanai and enjoy the fresh sea air for the night. The geckos were out and Kailani had fun watching them, if not watching the PSP. The food was great and it was especially nice to have such a nice going-away dinner and spent with Tutu!
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