The Fourth of July! We all got a great nights sleep the night before and woke up ready for a full day at the beach. Noboru first needed to get himself a new pair of swim trunks though first thing. He dislikes shopping for himself very much, so it's no wonder his last pair of swim trunks he'd had for a very very long time. So he said if he packed his old ones, He'd end up putting off buying a new pair again. So he purposely left his old pair in Japan, that way he'd be forced to get a new pair. We walked right across the bridge from the hotel to the mall. Right when they opened, they opened pretty early, could have been because of the July 4th sale or I'm not sure why....anyway we went to Old Navy and with all the Summer sales, he got a $19.95 US pair of swim trunks for $10 US. And given the exchange rate Noboru said he paid about 750 yen-800 yen or so. So he was thrilled.
A quick run into Longs drugstore for some beach mats and right back over the bridge to the hotel for a quick change into our swimwear and we left.
Victoria's Secret. Didn't shop in there or even walk around, but it's nice it's there now. : ) I did however spend some quality time at the new Bath and Body Works another day though. : )
We got the boys each an American flag tee for the Fourth of July and given the price we were happy. : ) They wore those out to dinner later that night. : )
Noboru's preppy pair of swimwear. And his wood looking flippies that are really comfy and plastic. And those 2 American tees the boys got, that's it. We quickly changed clothes like I said and we left. It was still morning.
On our way to the beach!
Always on our way to Kailua beach we see this restaurant. It always makes my husband smile seeing this restaurant! So I always take a picture of it for him! : )
By now, it was now around 10:45am-11am at the latest. We went and had lunch and we also brought snacks and a whole bunch of juice boxes for the kids and plenty of vitamin water for us to have at the beach.
With it being the fourth of July, and perhaps everyone thought the same thing...what an awesome way to ring in the fourth at the beach. Because so many other people were also eating lunch in swimsuits in Kailua. : )
Many cars had American flags on them! Everything you can imagine had an American flag on it!We ran into a store to buy a boogie board. And, as we were checking out the lady tells me...Happy 4th to you! And I smiled and said...and a happy fourth to you too!!!! : )
So many American families walking in droves to the beach. So many Japanese tourists getting off the bus and also heading to the beach. Come one, come all! The more the merrier. The whole mood was awesome!
An American dad and his backpack had a hook for holding those 2 big inflatable innertubes. : ) And his 2 little kiddos walking behind him. : ) We let him walk across/in front of our car. He said...thank ya! : )
Again like I said, American flags all over!
Definitely double click this pic of the market. The windows had nice American decorations on them, they also had about 5 flags on the front of the market as well. So pretty!
And this restaurant sign said simply... Happy 4th!!!! Awww I tell ya, the best time for us to go back to the US for vacation.
Kailua beach!
As Americans we are just as proud of our country, as other people are of their own country too. So, yeah it's very understandable how important of a day this is for us! Here is one very nice house with a very nice flag!
We parked the car down the road at a safe spot. And walked to the beach.
A strolling down the street Branden meanwhile another house proudly hanging the flag!
And another!
And yet another! 90% of the houses had flags out! And the mailbox was decorated in a nice turtle theme, very cool too. ; )
And even a red golf cart type vehicle and it had words on the front window that said...America. : )
Kailua is such a breath taking beach.
A very nice boogie board! And Branden sitting on the mats while we sat under a tree while getting all unpacked and stuff.
Waters so crystally blue and sand so fine and nice!
Noboru getting Noah in the inflatable tube.
Branden looking for a wave to ride!
And riding the wave all the way to the sandy beach. : ) And going right back out again!
Branden, Noah and Noboru! : )
And Noah's been in swimming school since age 3, so it's no big surprise he loves the water! He's also a good little boogie boarder as well.
Noah riding that wave all the way in! ; )
Branden having the time of his life and all smiles!
Noboru helping Noah.
Noah doing a fantastic job!!! Seriously for being 5 (at the time this was taken) he rocks!!!
Yay Noah sweetheart!
Look at all the family bbq's at the beach for the 4th of July! Everyone was very friendly to everyone else. Again the whole mood was awesome. We spent the whole entire day there, we left around 4;30pm. Went home quickly showered and then we went and had dinner! We had 10 vitamin waters in our mini fridge in the room a whole box of juice box for Branden and Noah. Snacks and so around 7:45pm we were at the hotel for the rest of the night and waited until 8:30pm for when the fireworks started on the 4th of July!Branden boogie boarding!
Noah also rockin' the boogie board as well. And enjoying the waves!
And enjoying the 4th of July festivities from our balcony. We were on the 31st floor and it only goes up to the 35th floor, so we were fairly high up. We lucked out getting to see them from the balcony!: )
The rest of the Honolulu vacation posts and Noah's birthday post, I'll try to get up tomorrow if I can. : )
July 3rd at around 7am Honolulu time our family arrived in Honolulu. Yep we had July 3rd twice. ; ) The day we left Japan was also July 3rd. We picked up our rental car and headed to the hotel, check in time is usually around 1-3pm, but luckily they checked us in that morning. We had emailed them in advance telling them we'd be early and if it was okay, they said yes. : )
We stayed at the crew hotel. So all of our flight crew was also there checking in. They know we're also Delta folks, so we all waved at each other and smiled at check in. They know my husband.
A very nice marble sink area. This was totally redone this hotel a few short years ago. We stayed at the Ala Moana hotel this time. So convenient for shopping at the Ala Moana mall, there's a bridge from the hotel to the shopping mall.
Super clean. And tropical themed bedding which was perfect since we were in Honolulu. : )
Hi Noah kiddo! : ) Our flat screen TV hanging that could bend/move towards either bed or both. : ). I think these rooms were updated in 2005 or 2007... So not too long ago.
Newer type microwave and cute newer little silver room fridge. Frosted sliding glass closet where we stored the suitcases after we got ourselves settled. yep you can see the Jack in the Box cup we had breakfast before checking into the hotel.
Very nice clean shower area.
Kohler sink, we have that brand of kitchen sink in our home in Japan. We were really happy with our hotel choice. And the price we paid (getting a good deal) was what we liked the most about this hotel. : )
After everyone went to the restroom. And if anyone wanted to change clothes. The kids didn't want to, which was fine, besides they were in shorts already. I switched clothes though, from a dress which I wore for my flight, and switched to a comfy pair of khaki tan shorts, top and flip flops. Put my hair in a pony tail and we left the hotel. First thing we did was went and ordered Noah's birthday cake. Safeway makes great birthday cakes. As you can see from the glass it says gourmet cupcakes. They make really delicious cakes and cool character cakes to boot and are fair in price! We had a choice of butter cream frosting, whipped cream type frosting, all sorts of frosting flavors, cake flavors, chocolate, carrot, red velvet, white. We picked the cake Noah wanted and got all the flavors sorted as well. Said see you...July 7th and we left Safeway. We also bought a small cart of things we needed while there so we killed 2 birds with 1 stone being there. : )
We went to Costco, this took us about 10 minutes we had only 2 or 3 items to get from there and quickly paid and checked out. We also were a bit tired from the flight and knew the following day would be a full day swim day so we kept the arrival day, just knocking off a few places to shop, the birthday cake for Noah and we wanted to eat dinner some place and go back to the hotel. So no huge plans, we didn't want to over activity ourselves to death the first day or stress ourselves the first day at all. Which we didn't stress the whole trip...the whole trip was relax, relax and enjoy... everyday.
After Costco we headed to Target (one of my favorite American stores). I had my list printed already and Noboru and I had planned to get a new living room area rug at Target. We took measurements the week beforehand and everything. We needed/wanted a new area rug for the living room. We tried getting one from Nissen but didn't care for it. And so for us it was just cheaper buying at Target and bringing it back. We needed navy blue, found navy blue, the size we wanted as well and at the price we liked. So we threw it in the cart. We also got a few other things. And also some toiletries for our stay, you know like toothbrushes, toothpaste and shampoo and conditioner. Because those teeny tiny sizes of toothpaste and shampoos the hotels give are never large enough for a family of 4. : ) Between Safeway, Costco and Target we seemed to spend the most time at Target the first day. There's just too many things to look at in there.
It was still daylight out, but around dinner time actually the sun set while we were eating. This is not a fancy shmancy place at all. But then we're not really fancy shmancy people to begin with. ;P It's a simple plate lunch/plate dinner type place. They have meat, rice and macaroni salad type meals. The price is cheap and the quality is yumm-o! We used to come here all the time when we lived here.
Both Branden and Noah remembered this place from 2 years ago. : )
Just some things we used for the trip.
There was a huge banner saying there would be a pre 4th of July firework show July 3rd at 8:30pm. We saw the sign that morning, and we knew we wanted to watch it. So, we found a great place and parked along with a bunch of other American families trying to enjoy the pre 4th fireworks display. All the cars on the right of the pic were parked and the people were in lawn chairs. Cheering...ohhing and ahhing and clapping! It was fun! : )
I want the boys to know how fun the fourth of July is for us! A time for celebration!!! And great fireworks. : )
People sitting on the grassy area. There were about a thousand people there, if not more. You'll see a pic down below of the crowds of people crossing the street. Just crowds and bunches and bunches of people.
Branden and Noah watching on....
Pretty!
Look at those crowds of people! Such an excellent time to be in America! : )
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