North Shore is for Relaxing

Staying on the North Shore was heavenly!

Because we are sharing a condo, Garrett is able to visit with everyone without having to go to another hotel room. Furthermore, we are about 30 feet from the beginning of the beach and maybe 100 from the water. Garrett can play in the sand, swim, go in the pool, play in the grass, all within a few steps in each direction.

We had a fantastic dinner at a local Thai restaurant. Everything was delicious, but the Curry Chicken was off the charts. Andrea bought some fresh pineapple and coconut on our drive in directly from the farmers that grew it, so much better than store bought.

Also, we've played a bunch of tennis here, which is a blast! Overall it has been an incredible vacation.

Hawaiian Adventures

We left LAX at 9:30 Thursday morning for Honolulu. The flight was rather uneventful, although Garrett wanted to spend most of the flight with Mormor and Papa! We got upgraded to a mini-van to pile 5 of us plus luggage into. Garrett fell asleep almost immediately after no nap on the plane. He slept for an hour and the whole family went to tea at the Moana Surfrider hotel, overlooking the water. Once Garrett woke up we headed to the pool, where he swam with floatees (and no help from me). Then we headed out to the beach where Garrett enjoyed building a sandcastle and splashing his feet in the ocean. We watched a beautiful sunset! We had dinner in the Morparents' suite.

Friday we had breakfast with Danielle and Justin, then headed to the Honolulu Zoo. As we entered, we saw Flamingos, which Garrett picked as his favorite of the zoo. We also saw monkeys, lizards, alligators, hippopotomus, antellope, zebras, giraffes, rhinosorus, cheetas (who walked right past the glass as we were watching), sleeping lions, black rhinosorus (another favorite), chimpanzees (who threw things and ran @ the glass), sleeping tiger, climbed to the center of a Koi pond, miniture horse, and a Komodo Dragon.

Garrett was getting tired, so we took a rest as Mormor and Papa walked to the zoo, then we all continued on to the Aquarium. The Aquarium is not especially large, but it had some beautiful coral, some interesting jellyfish, and Sea Dragons which are so unusual looking. Garrett saw some sea urchins up close, but did not want t touch them. Then we headed back for Pizza lunch and naptime. After nap we went to Nobu for sushi dinner with Danielle and Justin. I really enjoyed their sashimi tacos and rock shrimp tempura, although the sushi and rolls were rather traditional (code for boring). Still, a good time had by all.

On our walk back from dinner, Justin asked if i'd like to go surfing Sat morning with him. I had never tried it and Andrea had suggested earlier Friday that I might enjoy trying it on the trip, so I took him up on his offer. I had a really hard time trying to "catch" the waves, but had fun trying. Justin knows how to surf and caught a few long rides. I stood up a few times, but with the wave passing me by it did not last for long.



Meanwhile, Garrett and Andrea went to play with Mormor and Papa. Mormor took Garrett to the park, while Andrea and I had breakfast of Acai frozen puree with granola and bananas, with a latte. Then we bought a few gifts to take home (no peeking). Finally, we packed the car to head to the North Shore, which gave me an opportunity to summarize for posting! We've just arrived at Turtle Bay after some roadside Chicken and pineapple!

Aloha