Hau 'oli Kamali'i!
Happy Children!
Well, today I slept in until 6:00 am and mind you that is noon on Michigan time. I have been up at 4:30, 5:15 and 5:30...so when I noticed the sun was up and I was still in bed I panicked because every sleeping moment is almost like wasted moments here. Today is the day the kids have been waiting for ALL week...the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet...or swat meet,or swamp meet as it has been called. It is Hawaii's largest open-air flea market. They have been waiting to spend all hard earned kala (dollars) on souvenirs and we have been told this is the place to go. Well, it did not disappoint! The entire meet wraps around the outside of stadium and it is packed with vendor after vendor selling tshirts, key chains, hawaiian clothing, fruit, chocolates and so much more! Really good deals too. We snatched up t-shirts that were 7 for $20 and 12 key chains for $5. Got our fill of more delicious fresh mango too. We made it around the entire swap meet in just over three hours and couldn't wait to hit the cool waters of Wakiki
beach.This famous beach did not disappoint either. Wakiki, the playground of the Pacific, was quite a mixture of all sorts of things. First, and most important, is the mile long white sandy beach and many places were you could take surfing lessons. We didn't do this because the waves were not huge and Brett and Maggie had plenty of fun just catching their own waves on the boogie boards. In fact, Brett completely overcame his fear of the water (and sharks) and ventured quite far out into the ocean. He and Maggie paddled out and around a break-wall into an area we found out was called the "graveyard". Don't know why and probably don't want to find out. What I do know is at one point the waves were pushing Maggie further away and close to the break wall. She started to panic, fell off once and we realized she wasn't tethered to her board. Aaron handed me his wallet, keys, phone and took off his shoes ready to jump off the huge wall to rescue her and suddenly the waves stopped and all was okay. Someone was watching out for her...or Aaron! The next thing about
Wakiki is the downtown...you can see it all here...super expensive stores like Coach, Rolex, The Ferrari Store and right out front a hobo in a sleeping bag. Lots of crazy street shows. The best was some dumb dude in a spiderman costume standing on a wall begging people to take his picture. We begged Brett to jump up there with him and pose for a picture, but that got a HUGE no! We ate at Teddy's Bigger Burgers and had Coldstone for dessert. Awesome ending to an another awesome day!Wildlife Report: crazy show animals on the Wakiki strip like...Bobo the guinea pig who could sit and rides in a toy car and the parrots that pose for pictures.
Funny of the day: Aaron hitting the speed bumps at full speed coming into the Ko Olina resort because he was experiencing a "jalapeƱo emergency." Need I say more?!? He blew right past the guy at the gate giving him the hang loose sign and as Aaron drove past he yelled, "El Poo Poo!" His Hawaiian isn't very good yet.
Not-so-funny-of-the-day: Hanna dripping her shave ice on t-shirts at the swap meet and me having
to buy them. Thankfully it was only two shirts and they were 7 for $20 and...the juice washed out.