Island time

I guess we're finally catching up to Island time. Blog posts are slower and farther between. Not much new to report, not many new pictures or stories.

We've been spending the last two days away from the beach, taking care of apartment furniture. We found a local guy who specializes in oriental furniture. He offered to buy all the oriental furniture in the condo, along with the art work. We have then been in search of replacing the most critical items. We bought a new dining room table and set of chairs, a desk and a nightstand. It's been hard to find furniture that meets the three categories we're looking for. 1.) Available before we leave, either for delivery or our pick up. 2.) design that fits into our future view of the apartment, even though we haven't done any of the major remodeling (More on that in a few). 3.) it has to be something that we can afford, but not look cheap. We're hesitant to buy something if we think we'll be replacing it again in a year after the remodel.

As for the remodel, we got two different bids, both were between $62 and $65K and estimate they would take 4-6 weeks to complete the work. It's a full blown remodel, stripping all the 40 year old wall paper, removing tile, tincturing walls, installing laminate flooring, gutting 2 bathrooms and replacing with new fixtures, new showers, new sinks and finally updating the kitchen. We talked to one guy who said this place still has the original stove in it.
For beach time, it's more of the same. Sitting in the water in front of the Royal Hawaiian hotel. Seems to be our favorite spot this time. Our "underwater" camera got water and sand in it, so it's not working. That means these may be the last of the pictures, except on facebook. We have our big camera, but don't usually take it. I haven't been downloading the photos from the iphone, so they only go to facebook.

PCC

Saturday we decided that we'd finally make the trek to the north shore and go to the Polynesean Cultural Center. I've been to Oahu probably 8 or 9 times and have never made it there. I've been to just about every other Luau on the island, Paradise Cove, Germaine's and even the Hilton across the street. It's not that I'm a fan of Laua's, but Nate does love to watch the dancers shake their butts and the fire dancer juggle the fire. It was a very lasting memeory for him last time we were here.

I've alway's heard great things about the PCC. It gets great reviews and has been around for a long time, nearly 50 years. It's run by Mormon's so there's no alcohol onsite. The place is huge, has so much to see. We bought the ambassador ticket package, which allowed us to have a guided tour and premium seating for the luau and show portions. The park is divided up into various villages that represent the different tribes (islands) of the south pacific. Each area has a small show to demonstrate local things from those islands. They have tattoo's for the kids (And adults) as well as games and demonstrations for how the islanders live. I know Maria and I have seen the cocunut shucking so many times we could probably do it ourselves.

The shows introduced a lot of humor into the demonstrations and made it quite fun for everyone. I can definately see why it's rated so high. We got there around 1:30pm and stayed till 9pm, and didn't get to see more than 50% of the place. What we did see, was a bit rushed. The tickets allowed us to come back within 3 days, but I don't think we'll make it back this trip.

Golf at Ko 'Olau

Looking up at Pali lookout

On Sunday, I took a day for myself and drove over to Kaneohe, to play some golf. The course was at the base of the Pali lookout. It was a great course, carved right out of the jungle. If you missed your shot left or right, the jungle was so thick, you weren't going to find your ball. From the tips, the course is listed as the most challenging in the world. I didn't play the tips, but I can see where it's very difficult. There are a lot of holes where you have a forced carry over a ravine. In other cases, a driver would put you too far, into a ravine, so you had to lay up then hit over.

The views were outstanding. Lot's of great golf. I played pretty well on the front 9, only 11 over, but fell apart on the back. Wound up shooting a 101, with 6 lost balls.

I was paired up with 2 guys who were in the military. Nice guy's, they play there a lot, so it helped me on what to hit, or not to hit on a lot of holes. We aw lot's of wildlife, mostly birds, but did see some mongoose. They were crafty little suckers running all over the place. Too fast to get any pictures. The guys called them Velociraptors. They'd pray on any food you left in the cart. At the turn, they warned me to not leave anything int he cart, as they'd run up and grab it out of the cart and run into the woods with it. Sure enough, I saw them attack the cart, but I had already eaten the sandwich.

No Fear

We've joked before, but today it was clearly evident. Our son has no fear and should be the spokesperson for that clothing line. We spent the afternoon at Waikiki beach, in front of the Royal Hawaiian, and all he wanted to do was get pummeled by the waves. Whether body surfing, riding the inner tube or boogey boarding, wanted to be right where the waves were pushing him into the sand. I can't believe the looks we got from the crowds of people in and around the beach area. That being said, it was a pretty amazing site. He loves the ocean.

Afterwards, we had dinner at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant. Not bad, had some really potent drinks. Really liked a shot we did call "Tourist covered in oil". Coconut rum, creme of coco & pineapple juice. Nate got a blow up sword from the guy on stilts and had fun playing with a family of kids running around and screaming up a storm. All this while the live band played in the background.


We spent yesterday at Hanuama Bay, no pictures as we had forgotten to bring the memory stick. Nate liked looking at the fishy's, but still loves the waves more. I think overall his favoirte so far is Waikiki beach, plus he gets the added bonus of riding the bus.

North Shore

Took the day today and headed out towards the north shore of Hawaii. We stopped along the way at the Dole plantation. Did the pineapple maze. Did it a little short of the record breaking time 8 min, we finished in about an hour. It's the world's largest maze according to the guiness book of records in 2001.

After we left there, we headed up north to Breaker's for lunch, had some amazing fish and chips. Then we tried to go to Waimaia beach, but as usual couldn't find any parking. Then to Sunset beach, where the waves were too much and they had a no swim warning out. So we decided to head over to Turtle Bay, where we found a great public beach, well protected and swam for more than an hour before warming up in the sun. Finally back to Waikiki for some pizza and a little Wrath of Kahn.

Lobby Board

In the afternoons we've been taking Nate down to the beach. We take the bus down to the International Marketplace and head out in front of the Royal Hawaiian. They have a very nice sand bar about 100 yards from shore, that's shallow enough Nate can stand up in it. It took a little convincing to get him out there the first time, but after that he loves it. Sometimes he rides on my shoulders and loves to shout shark shark, at which time I start thrashing about and jumping up and down in the water with him on my shoulders. He has a giggle and can't get enough.

Other times when we're there, he really likes to be playing right where the waves crash. They toss him about and throw him around and he can't get enough, keeps wanting to do it again. Loves to get the big waves that really throw him. Then he comes up laughing and saying he saw fishes. It's quite funny.

But the best so far has been his "Lobby Board". What you, me and the rest of the world call a boogey board, he is stuck on calling it his Lobby Board. We bought a new one this time, we saw this one last time we were here on the beach, but never saw one we could buy. It has a clear round plastic area in the front where he can look through and see the fishes under the water. We're looking forward to taking him out to Hanuama Bay to get some really good fish views. Until then it's a combo boogey board and flotation device, even though he can't really balance on it.
Nate and I showing the famous "Hang Loose" sign as we get ready to head out on the boat.

We're trying to decide what to do today, either the Dole Pineapple plantation or the Sea Life Park. The latter he gets to swim with Dolphins, but he seems excited about the pineapple maze. We'll see what wins out, I'm thinking pineapples then north shore.

Aloha

Been Busy

It's been a busy week for us as we get settled into our island life. Spent the first several days taking care of chores in the morning and getting to the beach in the afternoon. The first day here was focused on Costco and Safeway to buy all those supplies necessary to keep us happy for the next 3 weeks. Also needed to start doing some of our upgrades for this trip. While we were going to focus on furniture and drapes, it looks like we'll be a little less than we originally thought. We replaced some of the TV's with some of the new ones that can also be used as computer monitors. I've been trying to make it more friendly to have an office type area here, where people can hook up their laptops and get some good use out of the place. We still can't find a desk we like, but we'll keep looking.

We're thinking of coming back in Jan/Feb, depending on how the rental property in Orinda goes, so we can do some of the more major remodel here, need to peel off this wallpaper from the 70's and get it updated with new paint and stuff. Also need new drapes and possibly even change out the tile for some laminate flooring. Then on to updating the bathrooms and kitchen, which also haven't been touched in nearly 30 years. It's no wonder we can't get a lot of renters in here. While everything works, it's clearly dated and not full of modern amenities that people are looking for.

We wanted to get a new dining room table as this one is pretty wobbly, but again can't decide on one we like that blends the old decor with where we want to take this place. Our last adventure was to get a new TV stand. We looked at several, and finally decided on one from Wal Mart. Problem was that when we got the 150lb package home and started to assemble it, two of the pieces were smashed on the corners. So after taking it back to swap out the broken pieces, they couldn't find any of their packages that weren't similarly damaged. We finally had to go back and get all the pieces and get them returned. Back to looking for a new TV stand.

Now time for some beach activities.

Aloha

Well, we made it. Long flight, hard to keep Nate contained. Surprisingly, he didn't want to watch his itouch much, which made it that much more difficult.

A few points I want to bring up before I forget. The first was how cool the United pilot was, who saw Nate standing in line ready to board the plane and let him not only go up and see the cockpit, but to also sit in the pilot seat. We got a few photos, but their on my iPhone so it'll be awhile before I post them, although you can see one on my facebook page. The captain also gave him some captains wings and let him talk on the microphone giving an announcement to the plane. Unfortunately it was one of Nate's few shy times so he didn't do much with the opportunity. I would have loved to hear him shout something like "This is your captain speaking, pat pat pat blast off!!!" That was truly an amazing moment for me, I didn't think people did that stuff anymore after 9/11.

Arriving in Hawaii was uneventfull, we quickly gathered our luggage and headed to the car rental. I had reserved a Mazda 6, what I'm used to driving at home, but being a Hertz gold member, I frequently get upgraded. This time, they had a Mustang convertable for us. I told Nate the car goes super fast and he got really excited. Problem is we couldn' even drive with the windows down he was saying it was too windy. Not to mention we barely got our stuff into the car. I was oping to get an upgrade into something like a ford escape. Might need to take it back in a few days. Nate didn't even last 5 minutes in the car before he passed out. He woke up when I parked and walked with me over to the elevator.

As we entered the elevator, there was another couple sharing the ride with us. Nate looked up and proudly told them we're going to Hawaii. They smiled and told him he was already there.

Well, while it's only 9pm here, I'm still on CA time, feels like midnight, Maria and Nate are asleep and I think I'm going to join them.

Swim Lesson Videos

Here's a few videos from the swim lessons.

Stress and swim lessons

Things have been pretty quiet around our house. The weekend rain, kept us indoors most of the weekend and prevented us from doing much. We did visit Lorraine, and bought some supplies for our upcoming trip. We got a new dive bag and some goggles for Nate. Maria is getting some new swimsuits and sandals for Hawaii. She's getting very excited about a change in scenery.
M also joined a gym, the same one our neighbor goes to, so Nate has friends at the gym and makes him much more excited to go. M really likes the gym classes, and the tanning salon, so she won't burn while we're in Hawaii.
Nate moved up a level in swim lessons, he's now an alligator. While the pictures are from Monday's class, the Tuesday lesson really made us stressed. Nate doesn't seem to be ready to use his arms to swim and likes to kick to splash, but isn't putting it together. The instructors have 3-4 kids and while the 2 teachers are working with the kids to have them swim across the pool, the remaining kids are supposed to hang onto the wall. Instead, Nate likes to let go of the wall and sink to the bottom. He keeps trying to put his head under water and doesn't always come back up on his own. He's not listening to the instructors and making Maria and I very stressed. He's not scared away from the water yet and needs to have a little fear to be safe.