Another amazing day at Kailua beach and also at the Dole Pineapple Plantation!

Another very early morning we left and headed to spend the day at Hanauma Bay (a very cool snorkeling spot) we bought lunch along the way. It was around 8am-9am-ish and I honestly thought no way would we find a sandwich place open that early, but Subway was, go figure. We all got sandwiches, chips, we brought some of our juice pouches and vitamin waters from the hotel fridge that we had (these vitamin waters were $1 each at Target so we bought a lot the day we arrived that's how we ended up with so many) and the box of individual juice was so cheap, we bought 2 big boxes which had many juice pouches inside. We also had granola bars and other power packed type snacks. : ) For a fun day at the beach. We were set. Noboru was against me bringing the camera and our family camcorder which helps us capture all the family movies on there because of the sand issue, I mentioned in an earlier post and to be fair, though we tried to keep them safe over the 4th, we could see a few grains of sand rolling near the camcorder and knowing how we had to replace years prior because of this very issue we were both a little worried. I had however had to insist though this time. I wanted to capture some family memories. : ( So picture this...we're all happy in the car we're all set and ready for fun! And then.....
Dundundun!!!! Parking lot full! No entry absolutely no way no how!!!! What the...@_@ But we've come from so far away! So we drive forward and then make a u-turn. The sign said no stopping! However we stopped and talked to the ranger real quick. Are you certain it's full?, I asked. LOL. Hey can't blame a girl for trying! He smiled and said, yes it is full. Well when do you think it will reopen? Or become less full? @_@.... He said....try in about a few hours. Keep in mind this is a road and no stopping so we quickly thanked him and left. Well we can't wait and hold our breath for hours...the sandwiches will be soggy by then. Also what if it's still full...then what. Noboru said...time for an alternative plan. Kids are silent in the car, knowing trusting we'll think of something and sure we did. I said yes I agree plan B!!! So...we both said why not go back to Kailua. It should be dead since it's not a gigantic holiday or anything right now. : ) True...true. yes let's do that instead. So....when push came to shove...we were thrown a curve ball that morning but we came out just fine. No need to ruin a whole day over it. Go with plan B and that's just what we did. No worries. No worries at all. ; )
Deader then a door nail and that's perfect just the way we like it. No parking down the road. We parked right in the closest parking. Only a small handful of people at the beach.
This is one of my most favorite pictures...little boy carrying the whole family's bags of sandwiches. Thanks for always being so helpful Noah cutie pie. : )
Noah had the one marked meatball, 6 inch. I had the 6 inch marked veggie and cheese. Branden had a 6 inch Italian BMT and Noboru had a foot long meatball. And drinks and chips a plenty, Plus other snacks and drinks in a Safeway bag not pictured.
Before he even got in the water. Noboru said...it smells too good, I've got to eat it. LOL.
Pretty empty. We actually sat next to a family of 5. A woman around 42 years old-ish maybe. She had 3 kids, 2 boys 1 girl but they were all way older then Branden and Noah.... her youngest looked around Branden's age. And her hubby was also there. She was slightly chubby which nothing wrong with that at all, I've been there before too, I know (in fact I'm still struggling trying to lose these last 10 pounds (4.5kg or so). Just trying to give you a visual, is all. : ) We chatted with her...her and I throughout the morning and afternoon off and on. And when the man walked by our two family's. And he was wearing a speedo type swimwear and his suit was actually all pushed into his butt cheeks like he was wearing a pseudo g-string type swimwear. The lady next to us gasps as did her husband...her kids were left with mouths hanging wide open. Noboru just laughed he couldn't help it and he's not shy. I gasped and meanwhile covered Noah's eyes! Branden was like @_@ Poor kid! When I uncovered Noah's eyes...he said what's going on...Branden said giving him a full rundown....that guy way over there had his swim trunks in his butt. The lady next to us laughed, well because he was spot on...with what just happened. And then she told me..."can you believe that?!!!" I said...."I know...right?" : ) All of us were laughing our butts off for about a good 5 minutes after that. And you could see the other few families make faces as he passed. I think that guy just wore it like that for attention and shock value. It must have worked! LOL!
Noah boogie boarding. Branden chilling out. Noboru just having fun playing with both the boys.
Hi Branden kiddo!
You have a good life Branden kiddo. : )



Very last day of being age 5!!!



Noboru had eaten his lunch earlier as you know. And I was so worried about the sand. I took only a few pics that day. What you do not see, is on the other side of the inner tube next to Noboru...was the other nice family. They were eating sandwiches and drinks and chips too. We were chatting. And I started in on my lunch as soon as I took this quick pic. And in about 5 minutes after this pic was taken was when...weird speedo up the butt cheeks guy decided to walk in front of us all. What a show during lunch, right? Ha ha ha!
After a full day of swimming. We showered at the showers at the beach. And popped on some clothes that we brought with us that morning and kept in the trunk, just 1 outfit each. And headed directly to the Dole Plantation. A few families you could see they were wearing swimsuits under their clothes. I saw a lady's pink swimwear under her white top at Dole...so I know we weren't the only ones who had just come from a fun day of swimming. : ) It was around 3pm when we got there.
Dole!
Branden carrying Noah. No, he's not asleep. They're just really superly close. Branden and Noah have had a connection with one another since forever and always. They're protective of one another. They really honestly get along so well, just always have. Even Branden tells me..."don't worry about Noah next year at school, I'll watch and keep an eye on him and all my friends will too. " I tell him...thank you baby. So....I don't have to worry so much. Yet I still worry. But...I know how much they look out for one another. : )
You see that family behind our family? You know Dole's popular. It's a good tourist spot. And everyone wants that 1 picture of them and their family in front! The problem is...so do the rest of the people also there. So..just take it with a grain of salt and know full well. More then likely you'll have a few unknown families behind your pic in the background someplace. : ) And that's okay. And believe me, if you wait for no one to be behind you...you'll be waiting all day. The... in and out never ends. : ) Noboru and I traded places and I took a pic with the boysnext...and even our pic had a different random family in the background. : )
So many good looking omiyage...snacks things to bring back as gifts.
Chili pineapple chunks. Yumm! : ) Remember when we were in California and had that mango with chili too? Yumm
Branden getting a penny souvenir from Dole...Noah got one afterwards! : )

We bought many omiyage and then we had to get some pineapple icecream to enjoy. So expensive though that ice cream...curses on this being an expensive tourist trap. ;P But still fun though! : )
Given those prices...I told Noboru let's buy 2. Versus buying 4, you know what I mean. The kids shared one and we shared one. That fresh cut pineapple was so sweet and the icecream, omg! So good.
So the boys are just relaxing. Just eating and then all of a sudden.....
Do you see it? Look again one more time...near Noah's knee cap. See it? Do you see the peacocks crown of feathers? Peacocks roam around on the Dole Plantation, so don't be alarmed. Just go with the flow and they're really quite pretty. Even the girl peacocks. : ) She was nibbling a piece of dropped pineapple...yes they love pineapple! Or at least these peacocks do! : ) Just be really still...don't make any sudden movements as to not scare the peacocks.
Branden's gobsmacked look! This is the..."mommy there's a really wild bird under our table" look. : ) It's okay Branden...just relax be calm don't move...she's just visiting! : ) Ummm okay. And continues to eat his ice cream. While sneaking peeks here and there. Noah going...oh how cute! He loved those peacocks. : )
The really pretty peacocks are the males, right? Figures, that's the case ; )... these were the girls. : ) Nobody bothers them. They just walk nicely all over.
After eating our ice-cream. We went and saw again how pineapple grow. Branden pointing at a pineapple.
Noah pointing at a different variety of pineapple. I asked Noah..."do pineapples grow on trees?" He said...no! : ) I said very good! And right before we left we asked...do peacocks like pineapple? They both said...yes we think so! Very good we said. : )
Branden holding a light keychain that says Dole on it. : ) Noah got one too. With siblings we're always making sure every things exactly evens stevens. You know what I mean. Totally fair and equal...if one gets such and such. Unless it's a birthday...we try to get them equal amounts.
Brotherly love..and hugs! ; )

So here I was thinking the boys were giving me the "shaka"/hang loose sign. It wasn't until I looked more clealry at the pic did I realize they gave me the peace sign! Ha ha ha!
Another full day. Kailua beach and the Dole plantation. It was about 5:30pm. We were starved! Hadn't eaten a thing since lunch (minus the ice cream). Noboru had his lunch so much earlier then the rest of us, so he was super hungry. : ) We went for shrimp from the shrimp truck. The bous let out a sigh..shrimp? You know if we were at home, I'd have them eat shrimp regardless. Yep, I'm a bit tough when it comes with what I'l let them avoid eating. I want them to be able to eat many things. Anyway we were on vacation...my guard was down. I was on a vacation high, if you will. So, since a McD's was right near I was like alright. Meanwhile, this particular truck is a steak truck and next to this truck was our shrimp truck. Many tourists from Japan eating here. Us too. : )
This place we've been going to for years. They used to put your food in a styrofoam box lunch type container (not very good for the enviroment granted but the food was amazing). The food quality was high. But they were not fancy by any means. The taste was yummm...we personally care about quality of food versus quality of plates it's served on. But then that's just us. ; ) I read on yelp.com food reviews many people said the quality went down here. I ignored the advice and we came anyway. So we waited expecting disposable plates and delicious food..and this came out instead. It was still good but honestly we thought it wasn't as good as last time either. And Noboru said...they got too fancy and he didn't care for it. I had to agree. I preferred the older way. Know your customer. People eating from a truck obviously don't care if the plate is fancy or if it is decorated with a flower, which we trashed anyway after we ate (flower not the plate). The shrimp # also decreased... I hope they go back to their roots and start making food the way they used to. Noboru said he'll never go back. I'm a softer touch, I guess.....because I'll give them another shot....next time one last time. The food was good though just not like it used to be.
Cheeseburgers and chicken and other things the boys ate. They ate happily and we ate happily. Camcorder on the left. We were inspecting for sand particles while we waited for our shrimp meal to be done. Ha ha ha. The one we make our silly home movies with. : )
We then went back to the Dole Canary movie theater. There's a big huge massive play area for kids. The boys had asked to go and play there for a an hour or two and they already swam for the day, so why not. Noboru said he'd take the boys there. He got to sit and enjoy watching the boys. And I went in and caught a movie in the same complex by myself. I had wanted to see it anyway. Bad Teacher. With Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. So freakin' hilarious! Btw. After the movie...I went into the play zone and met Noboru and the boys. They wanted a few hot dogs we got them from 7-11 and 2 big Mountain Dew slurpees. They ate already this was a snack. And Noboru and I decided to have some more shrimp. Shrimp twice in 1 day. : ) Hmm. This place used to be a shrimp truck in the North Shore. And Andy was a parrot...a talking parrot. We used to go there way back when we lived here. She actually remembers us from that long ago and we come here every time we come back. We went in, it was a little after 8pm or so. And got it to go.
The hot spicy garlic shrimp like the sign says. It's so holy cow...hot! But is so delicious.
The amount of food was the same and the flavor every bit as good as 9 plus years ago. So good! We'll always come back here. It came with rice and sides. No wonder when we got back to Japan after coming back from Hawaii, we've been eating grilled meats...and plenty of salads. Have to make up for all that holiday bad for you type food we ate. Ha ha ha. : ) Nearly done with the Honolulu posts now. I'm getting there. : )

Swimming at Waikiki beach and going to see Cars 2 in Honolulu and other fun things like going to the Red Lobster and Zippy's!

Ahh, I know I'm behind with posting. I've yet to get all the Honolulu posts up and/or Noah's birthdya post yet either (sorry). And on top of all that...Noah's very last day of school was yesterday/Friday. And we have Noah's Summer festival at the yochien this coming Monday and I must go and prepare for that tomorrow morning. So considering all the Summer festival last minute bits going on...no wonder I am having one heck of a time with getting these posts up. : ) But again...I am giving this my best shot and working on it. : ) Ahhh what else...I've also still been working out. And on top of that.... I had 3 loads of laundry this morning (one load towels, 1 load clothes and 1 load sheets and pillow cases all beds) all hung and the last bits (sheets and pillow cases are still drying outside as we speak/or I type. ; ) So where was I? : ) Ahh yes. Did I stop on the 4th? Okay well, after spending the whole day on the 4th at the beach. We walked back to the rental car. This is a pic from that evening. Our rental car was the white one and we parked at a park-ish type area next to a school and the sign said...parking was okay on weekends, holidays etc so that's why we parked there and few also parked there so we were fine. We got ourselves in the car and quickly got ourselves to the hotel and showered like I said. Ohh also the 4th, the fireworks were to be hosted by the actual Ala Moana mall. But they were to be set off somewhere directly in front....so we assumed fireworks would be happening but we had zero idea it would #1 be hosted by the mall/hotel we were staying at. That was pure luck. : ) So, all the cars in droves were basically heading directly for our area. Like by the hundreds or thousands, gridlock traffic was starting and they were looking for spaces. As we went into the car garage the person at the gate told us...knowing we were actually guests of the hotel. He said...if I were you...I wouldn't leave the hotel for the rest of the night because of the traffic. We figured he'd know best! And by the looks of the 4th of July crowds and traffic we agreed. So we parked our car in the lot. They were turning away non guests before us. But we had a card...so we got to park there. We went into the room showered like I said. And we decided since us driving to a restaurant was out. We would walk across the bridge...and have dinner at the mall. Perfect!
Neiman Marcus at the Ala Moana mall. Nordies is also there. The Body Shop. The Bath and Body Works. Aveda, Sephora. Mac. Croc shop. Huge food court...with Sbarro pizza, Panda Express, Subway, Coco Ichi curry, Many Japanese fast food. A Mexican take out. Tons of choices so we each got something. The boys had Mexican food for dinner. I had the baked ziti (which reminds me, I should make this at home soon, haven't made this in a few months.) from Sbarro, Noboru had Japanese. And we got 3 slices of pizza to go, 1 for the boys each and 1 for me. Noboru got something on the way out as well. We did that because we did not want to starve in the hotel room and we knew we'd not be able to leave later.
The very high up and scary view from our balcony. The pool but we never went to the pool, we went to the ocean and beach every day instead. And you can see the gray bridge that safely goes over the bustling street and traffic. So, you don't have to play frogger going from hotel to mall. I liked how we could just cross the bridge and in an instant be there anytime.
This is not a pic of the Macy's, but this is instead a pic of the people sitting on lawn chairs trying to wait until dark to view the fireworks. You can double click this pic and see them...1 family is near the big flower planter. They all wanted to be as close to the mall as possible and hundreds actually in the parking lot of the mall. We could see these people from our room. So...when I said on the video people are down below and also at the mall. I wasn't kidding. They were really all there in folding chairs and lunch. They all had food and drinks. one family had a whole California Pizza Kitchen pizza, I thought good idea!!!! Since the mall sells that too.
More people when we turned this corner there were honestly about 40 families all in lawn chairs at the actual mall outside watching and waiting for it to grow dark. Plus about another 50 all parked at the mall parking lot near their cars in lawn chairs too. Meanwhile us on the 31st floor and could use the bathroom anytime since we were in our room. It was just like I said pure luck.
That sale was on most of the stores. They had massive 4th of July and after 4th sales. Again all decorated.
Huge flags all hanging throughout the mall.
The boys wore these tees to the mall. The pizza we saved for later and put in the fridge for after the fireworks.
I had taken a movie of the finale. I can't seem to upload it because it's just too big about twice the file size of my other movies. My movies 1 minute or less do fine. But this one is a 3 minute movie. But it showed the finale, the whole crowd went wild screaming..all the crowds down below and at the mall. All the cars honking wildly. And Noboru telling me...they're singing "God bless America" do you hear them??? It was crazy!!!! So wild and so fun! And glad we got to watch it from the safety of our room. This was a wonderful experience for Branden and Noah to be able to be in. To see with their own eyes and know...wow...just wow! I loved it!!! All the cars hundreds of them for as long as the eye could see honking. It was very VERY cool! Anyway moving on....; ) And no, those aren't ants down there.... there's just 1 of the many many crowds of people from below.
The boys telling me...wow mommy this is amazing! And yes to be honest...it really really was. : )
Well we showered before dinner so didn't shower again. So, we came back into the room after all the hoopla from the fireworks and stuff died down. : ) Noboru still walked on the balcony periodically to see if the traffic had lightened, but it didn't it went on for hours. Good thing the garage guy gave us the heads up because we would have been stuck for dinner or getting back to the hotel. His heads up made sure we had enough to eat and we did not leave for the rest of the night. : ) Noboru was checking his email in the pic. I do not check mine while I'm on vacation. And we watched the documentary on A&E called Hoarders. The boys munched their pizza when they got hungry, as did I and Noboru also ate and munched as well. They boys brushed their teeth before bed and they zonked out. I watched TV a bit longer.
Tuesday we went to swim at Waikiki pretty early because we had a movie plan afterwards. Also, Noboru had been worried if I was getting sand in the video camera by us keep bringing it to the beach. Which he was right to worry because one of our video cameras did die that way a few years back. So, I only brought the digital camera and also camcorder with us on beach days about twice, sorry. : ) We swam from 7:30am to 10am (wake up at 7am we all brush teeth sunscreen and leave,,we can literally leave in minutes : ). We went back to the hotel and showered and left to breakfast. Also I was going to say, Waikiki beach, the sand isn't nearly as fine or as white as Kailua beach. Noboru loves Zippy's. It's a chain restaurant, mostly locals. It was truly brunch time, so since he'd been wanting to eat there we went. ; ) I had breakfast...the veggie omlette, hashbrowns and Noah and I split and order of bacon.
Noah also ordered breakfast. He had the french toast made from Hawaiian sweet bread...he loved it! And he had shared/split the bacon with me. Noboru ordered saimin (noodles) his favorite Hawaiian dish! : ) So Noboru must have been thinking lunch and Branden was also thinking lunch...
Zippy's is famous for their pies and also famous for their chili. ; ) So Branden wanted chili cheese fries. Boy was he stuffed afterwards. : ) We all were. : )
After brunch, we went to see a movie. Cars 2! It just came out...hasn't gotten to Japan yet...July 30th? I think. And trying to find a movie theater in English in Japan can be tough especially where we live. So....it was just easier for us to see it here. So we did. : ) It was a Tuesday and they had specials Tuesday. $1 hot dogs... 2 dollar popcorn Tuesdays and the cheapest tickets this movie theater at the Dole Canary. Again we just went to the movies...Noboru checked the time schedule on his lap top. But wow again just happened by pure luck. We had no idea we were going on the cheapest day possible. Lucky. They loved the movie!!! I was surprised Noboru liked itso much. I knew Branden and Noah would love it, which they totally did!
After the movie it was wow, barely 2-3pm. So we strolled up and down Waikiki afterwards. Felt all touristy and everything. : )
The International Marketplace.
And around 4:30pm for an early dinner we headed to the Red Lobster. Those yummy cheesy garlic biscuits. Noboru ordered mozzarella cheesesticks. We also had salads.
I had the shrimp...I picked shrimp scampi and breaded shrimp.... baked potato. It was early enough we beat the crowds. Plus we were hungry around that time. Our waitress was lovely. She brought drinks for the 4 of us so often the other ones hadn't even been finished yet. The garlic cheesy bread is free with meals and she kept bringing us basket after basket of it : ) She made our eating there even more enjoyable so we left her a nice tip! : )
The boys both wanted chicken fingers. We said...why not have some shrimp or.... Nope they prefer chicken any day to shrimp. @_@ Hmm, I prefer shrimp. : ) Salad with thousand island dressing in the pic, Noboru had the cesar salad.
After dinner it again was still early. How could we pack THAT much into one day? Swimming Waikiki, movie, strolling Waikiki and now Red Lobster and still we headed to the mall in Pearlridge shopping. This is the 2nd largest mall in Honolulu, the first being Ala Moana.
We had wanted a game from Game Stop and this was the location that had it. They have a monorail since the mall is in 2 parts, that goes to both sides. And it's 50 cents to ride and Noah was free. Definitely sorta cool riding a monorail through a mall.
Branden and Noah in the monorail and we went through and over the parking area on our way to the other side of the mall. The Game Stop was holding the game for us..we gave them our last name and we got the game and left.
They had an Ice Age type exhibition going on....Noah loved it. he said...hey there's Manny!!!! LOL! I said...yep! : )
We also stopped off at Target on the way to the hotel. Wow it was a full day, yes. But plenty of fun and lots of restful down time like sitting in the nice cool movie theater for 2 hours. Or like floating around aimlessly in an ocean and frolicking along a beach with kids and hubby. : ) Or like eating a delicious dinner and being spoiled by a wonderful server. : )Again....was a busy day granted... but the most relaxing amazing fun busy type day nonetheless. And this pic here..is of on that night.... we were walking through the lobby and heading up to our room. With Target bags and Game Stop bag in hand. : ) I'll do my best to get the last posts up tomorrow after I help set up at the yochien tomorrow/Sunday morning for Monday's Summer festival. : )