Oahu, Hawaii 2013 - Day 3

Our new good luck charm!

The most amazing thing happened this morning!  While visiting a construction site, Chad and I stumbled upon this idol.  I was sure it was real old, and decided I would wear it around my neck so that it would be my good luck charm.  Eventually I let Chad wear it and later, when we were in our hotel room, he was poking fun at me for not being able to surf, so I threw a pillow at him and knocked the picture off the wall, which narrowly missed his head.  It’s a good thing he had my good luck charm with him!

What are the chances I would catch this incredible action shot?

Okay, here’s what really happened today:

This morning, Chad and I got up early and watched the sunrise from our balcony.  It was our last morning in Waikiki, and we had to check out at 11:00.  We roused the kids and took an hour-and-a-half walk up and down the beach, collecting sea glass (and other goodies) along the way.  When we reached the Royal Hawaiian, we turned around because we had an important mission to accomplish back at the Hilton Village.  The goal: to have Ashley meet a penguin.

The morning view from our balcony

The Hilton has 5 African Black Footed penguins in an exhibit, and we have stopped by every day to let Ashley spend some quality time drooling over them.  Today, we were going to meet one.

The penguin handler brought out an adorable penguin named Icarus.  After a brief talk, in which we learned that Icarus is 26 years old, and has been at the Hilton Hawaiian Village for 25 years (this particular breed has a life span of 25-30 years), guests were able to pet her (the penguin, not the handler).  Now, Ashley has two dreams in life.  And this was dream number one.  The second dream is to work at Disneyland when she grows up.  We aim high in our family.  It was a notable moment for the Niemeyer family.  At one point the poor little penguin fell off the ledge and landed on the ground and flopped around in a panic, but I’m not going to focus on that heartbreaking image.  Instead:  Yay!  Ashley got to pet a pengee (her word for them since she was little).

Seconds before Icarus nearly tumbled to her death

You are watching an actual dream come true

The kids spent their final hour in Waikiki at the pool, while Chad and I packed up the room and prepared to check out.  The Hilton Hawaiian Village is a remarkable resort, and truly, you would never have to leave—everything is right there on the property—but we rented a house on the beach for the rest of our stay.  We want to travel around the rest of the island and experience everything we can.

We drove to Costco and bought food for the next 5 days.  That was the coolest Costco I have ever been to.  They had all kinds of Hawaiian treats that we had never heard of, let alone, tasted.  So we bought mochi and haupia pie. 

Our house is in Kailua, which is on the Windward Coast.  We rented a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom on the beach.  The beach is a thin strip of sand and the rest is lava rock that contains the BEST tide pools.  We spent the first hour investigating each pool, and searching for sea glass (man, this little hobby is addicting).  Our garage is stocked with snorkel gear, boogie boards, beach chairs, bikes, etc.  And because our beach isn’t great for swimming, we loaded up the car and drove to Kailua Beach Park. 

Kailua Beach Park

This beach was breathtaking, and a lot less crowded than Waikiki.  Chad, Ashley, and Jackson started snorkeling immediately.  I hung back and swam in the clear turquoise water with Ali.  There we were, swimming in 80 degree water, enjoying our conversation, when suddenly Ali jerked back and gasped.  She said, “Something touched me!” and then she cried, “My hand!  OUCH!”  And I knew right away it was a jellyfish.  I had gone through the exact same thing once in Mazatlan, and I knew the pain she was feeling.  I got her out of the water, and we washed her hands.  They used to recommend peeing on jellyfish stings, but my 14 year old was really anti-mom-urine, and I don’t know why.  Chad spoke to a lifeguard and got all the information we needed.  She was in a lot of pain for about 30 or 40 minutes, and soon we were laughing about it.  

Can you see the mark?

Ali has a lot of stuff like this happen to her.  If a bird poops on someone in a huge crowd, it poops on Ali.  If 10 kids are jumping on a trampoline, it’s Ali’s ankle that gets broken.  That’s just been her lot in life.  And we actually had a good talk about how when she is a famous author, this will all just be fodder for her magnificent stories.   

Finally, when she said, “I wanna get stung again.  Can I stay home from school when we get back because I got stung?” I knew she was fine.

Chad and Ashley could not stop snorkeling.  It was almost like watching a couple of meth-addicts.  They would come out of the ocean, hang out for a minute, but I could see them start twitching and focusing on the water, and eventually they were running away from us to snorkel some more.  They make a cute pair, those two.

After we had our fill of the beach, I had an errand to run:  a few weeks ago, I discovered that the house we are renting is about a mile away from the house that the Obamas stayed in when they vacationed here.  Of course, it was imperative that I see this $5,000/night house.  As we approached the house, it was just as I thought: The entire street was gated with a security guard shack.  The gate was open, and I thought, “we should just go for it,” but, dang it, I'm a rule follower and was unable to bring myself to break the law.  It’s a terrible affliction I suffer.  Alas, we were unable to see the Obama’s vacation home.   

I may just build up the courage to go through that gate before I leave

Back at the house, Chad made spaghetti with turkey sausage.  The kids started watching The Master of Disguise with Dana Carvey, and I started reliving this amazing day.  Today was a wonderful one for this family (minus the Portuguese Man O-War incident).   Oahu is a spectacular island, and I am so excited to see what happens over the next 5 days.

Mele Kalikimaka, (as you can see, I am nearly fluent in the Hawaiian language.  I believe what I just said was, "Goodnight, and have a pleasant tomorrow.")

-The Niemeyers