Favorite Dance: The Fire Dance. We saw it twice, once at our hotel and once at the Polynesian Cultural Center. The dancers have nerves of steel twirling fire around their bodies. Pictured: me and the two dancers who entertained us by the hotel pool.
Favorite Visit: Actually we only visited with one friend in Hawaii but it was a blast. Don's friend from college, Karl. He made us a fabulous BBQ lunch which we ate on the beach after boogie boarding. Pictured: Don and Karl showing off their 50+ year-old bods! Not bad guys! Mahalo, Karl, for a fun day!
Favorite food: Giovanni's Shrimp Scampi (pictured) served right out the roadside food truck. I ate shrimp three times in five days. Yum! We also LOVED the pineapple whip from the Dole Plantation. If you ever visit there, get it. It is a perfect combination of sour and sweet.
Favorite tree: Who doesn't love the tall palm/coconut trees? But we also fell in love with the Cook Pine which is used as a wind break around the coffee plantations. Cook Pine is a cousin to the Norfolk Island Pine. Cool, huh? Another gorgeous tree we saw at the Dole Plantation was the Painted Eucalyptus. Check out the bark.
Favorite fruit: We were introduced to the Apple Banana, which is more flavorful than a regular banana. In fact we tried to bring a bunch home but they were confiscated at the airport. The bananas certainly don't look very yummy in the picture, but they were. We also loved all the fresh pineapple and papaya. One day Don had fresh pineapple with every meal.
Favorite place to read: A toss up between the beach or poolside. It rained quite often while we were there so we had to be under umbrellas to protect our books, but otherwise both locales were ideal for restful reading. I read Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, Divergent by Veronica Roth and half of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
Favorite wake-up call or most annoying, depending on how tired we were: The Hawaiian Myna bird sat on our lanai every morning and sang us a wake-up song. We slept with the lanai door open to catch the breeze and to hear the ocean, so we would jolt awake when our Myna friend burst into song. That bird can sing LOUD!
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| Photo Source: Ki'i O'Kapa |
Sunsets: Our hotel was on the North Shore of Oahu and we had a perfect location to view the gorgeous Hawaiian sunsets every night.
Now that we're back, I'm again listening to: Flip by Martin Bedford. This is my last Mock Printz book on the list of 15.
I'm currently reading: Habibi by Craig Thompson, his new graphic novel.
Scripture: Romans 6:1-4 "...Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
This week I'm praying for: The woman we helped in Hawaii after we witnessed her husband shoving her down and kicking her. Domestic abuse is never OK and I pray that she has the strength to get the help she needs, so that she "may live a new life."
Around the house: Today I must run out and rake a few leaves onto the compost pile. It is definitely Fall here in the Northwest.
From the kitchen: My daughter made Lasagna Cups, little personal size portions of lasagna in cupcake cups. They were good and perfect for dieters.
Sounds like a terrific vacation! I think I've been to that beach on the north shore, I remember the little island! And I remember being in awe of the eucalyptus trees, which are so beautiful.
ReplyDeleteKudos to you for helping the woman when she was in need. Not enough people do that
Your vacation photos are lovely! We liked the apple bananas too. I wish we could get them around here.
ReplyDeleteWow! Awesome photos. It looks like you had a blast.
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