This morning, after a breakfast of fresh pineapple and blueberry scones, we decided to spend the day at Ala Moana beach. It turned out to be a 45 minute downhill walk from the guest house. As soon as we arrived, Schäfer wanted to be buried.

Hubs now puts Schäfer in such a tight hole, he can hardly get out. Once Schäfer is stuck, Hubs offers to get some water to help the situation.

Sianna enjoyed playing with beach toys. She likes putting them in and pulling them out of the stroller.

Schäfer loves the sand and spent quite a bit of time playing with his digger.

After Hubs went for a swim, Schäfer asked if he could carry Sianna down to the water so she could swim with Hubs. Schäfer loves to carry Sianna. Sianna likes to be carried by Schäfer, but he doesn’t always have the best timing. Normally, he picks her up when she is in the middle of something so she’s not really looking to be transferred elsewhere.

Shortly after we arrived at the beach, we met up with my friend, Michelle, from high school. I haven’t seen Michelle in probably 15 years, but thanks to the miracle of Facebook we’ve reconnected.

Just a few days ago, Michelle and her daughter, Bianca, moved to Honolulu because her husband was transferred to the base here.  I wish I had some photos to show how great Schäfer and Bianca played together, but alas Michelle and I had 15 years of life to catch up on.

Thank you Hubs for hunting and gathering our picnic lunch.

Thanks Michelle and Bianca for coming to Ala Moana Beach today! I can’t wait to see you guys again soon.

This afternoon, we set up a tent on the beach and hoped the kids would take an afternoon nap inside. They would not. So we loaded up and started the 45 minute trek uphill.

Since both kids had missed their afternoon nap, we knew they would crash on the way home. So we loaded up the stroller.

Yes, I mean loaded up the stroller.

Within 5 minutes of walking, the kids were sound asleep.

Hubs took it for the team and pushed the stroller home.

This evening, the kids were pretty tired from playing so hard at the beach all morning. The parents were pretty tired too!

Apparently I was in a rush to get out the door this morning and forgot to put sunscreen on my legs. Well, thankfully there is lots of aloe in the guest flat because my legs are bright pink!

Mostly, I’m thankful that the kids were well lathered and they’ve had no pink skin whatsoever.

This evening, I took a nap while Hubs took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood. Blame it on the sunburn. Blame it on the pregnancy. Blame it on whatever. We’re on vacation. I’m taking a nap.

We woke up at 8:00am. Alas, with children, we made it out the door at 9:30am on our way to climb Diamond Head Crater.

“No problem!” we said, “The bus will be quick!”

Unlike China, it seems that the buses do not run as often in Honolulu. We waited for 15 minutes before a bus came to take us down to the Ala Moana Center. Once there, we waited another twenty minutes before the next bus came.

Two hours after we stepped out our door, during the peak heat of the day, we made it to Diamond Head State Monument. Thank goodness we lathered on the sunscreen before we left the house.

Diamond Head’s is essentially a crater formed during a volcanic eruption a while back. It’s renowned silhouette is as synonymous with Waikiki as the Eiffel Tower is to Paris.

Originally named Lē`ahi meaning “forehead of the ahi tuna”…because the crater looks like the forehead of an ahi tuna.

The name Diamond Head comes form the late 1700s when explorers mistook crystals for diamonds.

In more recent history, the crater and its summit were used as a fire control center to direct artillery for several military batteries. With the advent of radar, it was no longer used an an observation point.

Now, hundreds of tourists and locals alike make the 0.8 mile one way climb (just 560 feet from the crater floor). The trail is a series of switchbacks that lead eventually to many steps and then a tunnel. (No big spider, though. )

A view of O`ahu from along the trail.

Schäfer walked all the way to the top.

Hubs insisted on carrying Sianna and our day bag.

Sianna was awake, but we kept the Ergo hood on to keep her scalp out of the sun. The girl will not wear a hat.

We enjoyed the view along the way.

Not even stairs slowed Schäfer down.

After this staircase, we walked through a tunnel, then climbed up some spiral stairs which lead to climbing out the observation post windows to a platform overlooking Honolulu and the southern coast of O`ahu.

The view from the top was great!

Schäfer was so proud to make it to the top. His cheeks are rosy from the exercise. Thanks to sunscreen both kids stayed sunburn free.

Schäfer chose to wear his blue shirt this morning because “it’s the same color as Thomas”.

Sianna was happy to be at the top.

Our family at the top!

Schäfer’s favorite part was seeing a lighthouse.

Schäfer and I with Waikiki in the background.

Hubs and Sianna enjoy the view.

Diamond Head Crater

Our walk back down was uneventful. Schäfer enjoyed seeing this map and pointing out what we saw along the way.

At the bottom, we stopped for a snack picnic.

Schäfer couldn’t wait to take his shoes off and climb a tree.

This was his first time to climb a tree.

Unfortunately, right after this photo he fell out of the tree. He was fine, but a little surprised.

Meanwhile, Sianna shook this box of goldfish like it was a musical instrument

Of course, we put Schäfer right back in the tree.

Hubs said he was going to carry both the kids back to the bus stop.

He absolutely insisted on carrying the kids and the day bag. Sometimes, he’s such a Yak. Eventually, he let me carry Sianna.

We made it back to the house at 3:30, got the kids fed and down for a nap.

At 6pm our new friend Lance picked us up to take us to a special dinner at Like Like (pronounced ‘leekay leekay’) Drive Inn. The food was incredible! We loved the “food dive” atmosphere. This was definitely a restaurant full of locals – no tourist here!

We were joined by Lance’s wife, Natalie, and his daughters Megan and Noel. It was so fun to learn about Hawaii from a local family.

Like Like Drive Inn serves breakfast all day. Schäfer was so happy with their massive pancakes.

Hubs was surprised with how flavorful this sizzling teriyaki steak was! Sure beats the water buffalo we eat in JiuJiang!

Late that evening, long after Schäfer should have been in bed, our old friends stopped by. They are just in town for a few more days so we were thankful for our short time together. I got to hold sweet baby C. Unfortunately, Sianna was already sleep so we were not able to get a photo together. Schäfer thinks Baby C is Sianna’s best friend.

First thing this morning, we checked out of the hotel room and moved into the guest house.

So long hotel.

Living in a hotel has some pros and cons.

PROS

• fresh towels and sheets each day
• shampoo with “Noni Papaya and Pineapple extracts” that makes my hair feel like it’s on vacation
• a free paper each morning

CONS

• putting the kids down for a nap and basically having to creep around the room or sit in the bathroom until they fall asleep
• turning off all the lights at bedtime and sitting in the dark until the kids fall asleep
• not being able to talk or watch tv after the kids fall asleep

(Of course, this would be solved if we got two hotel rooms, but the budget can only be stretched so far.)

Aloha guest house.

Oh my.

I think we should call this The Penthouse – except that we’re now living in a renovated basement. We cannot get over how wonderful this house is! There is so much space.

The living room.

The living room.

The bathroom.

Master bed.

This kitchen is three times as large as our kitchen in China!

Schäfer loves this big boy bed.

Please brace yourself for the biggest news: we have a backyard with a water hose!

Hubs set off for the grocery store while I unpacked our bags and got the kids settled in our new digs.

Hubs returned from Safeway with quite a few supplies. Fresh pineapple smells amazing! Schäfer asked if we could eat it immediately.

Yes, that would be 4.5 gallons of milk to keep the kids satisfied for a week or so.
My pregnancy request: pickles and Gatorade.

We had sandwiches for lunch & it felt so good to be sitting together around a quiet dinner table – not that we were that quiet!

Sianna easily went down for a much needed 3 hour sleep. Schäfer had a hard time getting down. He was so excited about “sleeping in the kitchen”. Eventually, he fell asleep for 1.5 hours. Hubs and I talked about going to Diamond Head, but by the time Schäfer woke up, we knew we couldn’t get to the peak and back before the park closed. We decided to have a nice dinner at Roy’s in Waikiki.

It’s safe to say that on this vacation, I’m planning the recreation and Hubs is planning the meals. My man is on a mission to eat.

We haven’t eaten at a nice restaurant since we were at SALT in Beijing in 2008. It was time for some fine dining… with kids.

There’s a reason we took our kids. I’ll let Hubs tell you about it:

One of my favorite memories as a child is when my parents took me to a “fancy” restaurant to eat with them. I remember putting on my favorite leather jacket and going to the Edgewater Resort restaurant to eat. The Edgewater was the fanciest restaurant in Sandpoint and a big deal. It was a buffet style restaurant. It was the first time I had raw oysters. I think I threw up afterwards. Nevertheless, it was a special time!

For our special supper, we had Schäfer select his “best outfit”. Of course, he chose his Thomas the Train overalls.

Our guest house is in the Menoa Valley just up from Waikiki. It only took one hour to walk to the restaurant. It was a breezy, sunny, enjoyable walk.

When we were walking, a retailer was outside her shop and said, “Thomas.” Schäfer said, “Next time, I’ll tell her I’m the conductor!”

The food at Roy’s was delicious.

If only I could make this photo scratch and sniff.

The kids did great during the meal. Schäfer and Sianna ate everything we offered. I love that they’re so willing to eat salad, portobello mushrooms, fish, etc.

Two very satisfied faces.

We had reservations for 6pm and were out of the restaurant by 7pm when the evening crowd started to show.

When I was changing Sianna’s diaper, we received the nicest compliment. A lady stopped and said that she and her husband watched our kids during dinner. She said, “Your daughter was so calm and your son was so animated.”

After supper, Schäfer requested an ice cream since he had eaten everything on his plate. We stopped in the international market for Dole Whip. We’ve heard they were so good. We just couldn’t wait until we made it to the plantation.

A Dole Whip is like a pineapple sorbet. It’s incredible. How have we managed live this long without one?

Schäfer was so excited to have his own Dole whip.

Sianna couldn’t wait to try the Dole whip.

She’s not a fan of things that taste cold.

But that doesn’t stop her from wanting more!

We took the bus home. It only took 25 minutes from the time we got on the bus to the time we entered the front door. So convenient!

This morning, we woke up about 7:30am. Not bad. I think the jet lag + late nights are starting to wear off.

We asked Schäfer if he wanted to go to Jamba Juice for breakfast. He said, “No. Cook.” We explained that we’re in a hotel so we can’t cook.

We have had quite a few simple

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