Vacation, Part III--Hawaii -OR- We weren't supposed to LEAVE, Kate!

The next day, we met up with Ben’s parents and went to visit the Honolulu Zoo (where Ashley used to work). It was fun for us to visit and fun for the African Wild Dogs who chased Maia back and forth across their enclosure. Later, we went to Makino Chaya. The best all you can eat sushi, crab, and fruit buffet in Hawaii.





We decided to spend much—or should I say all—of Thursday driving and stopping at some of our favorite tourist attractions. First, snorkeling at Three Tables, near Shark’s Cove where we saw a hooked and dying 3-foot Moray Eel. It was sad, but very cool to see out in the open. Ben found and dived for a nearly complete urchin shell. Second, Dole Pineapple Plantation. We had huge dole whips and rode the train with a very sleepy Maia.

Third, Turtle Bay resort for Ben’s parents viewing enjoyment. Fourth, Romy's, the shrimp shack where Kenny got sprayed in the face with hot shrimp oil—hehe. Fifth, Macadamia Nut Farm. Here we sampled nuts and coconut and watched the feral cats and chickens. Below, you can see Maia attempting to crack open one of the nuts.


Sixth, Blow Hole.

Seventh, Hawaii Kai and the great Korean BBQ restaurant as well as Kokonuts and Bubbi’s for shaved ice and mochi ice cream. It was nighttime when we finally headed back to the hotel.

Friday, we spent the morning at the hotel beach. Maia got to do blast-offs with Daddy and feed the fish waiting on the shore for their breakfast.


We then went to Ala Moana for some shopping. Shopping there is like a completely rare experience. They have everything from Old Navy to Prada. We stopped by at the Deisel store where it was concluded by the workers there that Maia had the BEST outfit in the store—Deisel of course. She was pretty disappointed that they did not have a kids section as she would have loved to try on shoes with her dad. We concluded the day with a lovely and memorable dinner at Roy’s in Ko Olina (the mahi and chocolate soufflé were incredible) and hurried off to see the sunset over the water. The sunsets here are some of the most spectacular and we thoroughly enjoyed taking a few peaceful moments. After the sun went down, Ashley and Maia played hide and seek in the palm trees. Ben found a few geckos, a cane toad, and several cockroaches. It was the perfect end to a wonderful vacation.






The next morning, Ben and Ashley awoke early for one last frog hunting expedition—unfortunately, unsuccessful. Then, we went back to pack. We flew back to Seattle in the afternoon and stayed overnight until our plane ride back to Utah the next morning.

Ben was the most depressed with our departure from Hawaii. However, Maia and Ashley were quite happy to be home again. Maia visited all of her toys and told Kona how much she loved and missed her. The chickens, who had not laid one egg while we were gone, took one look at Ben and laid one egg each.