Hawaii : We Wanna Wailana

My fingers have been tinglin', ready to show you photos of our adventures in Hawaii... now that we're back home, we can!!

JD had more days off from work this year to play than he did last year. We wanted this trip to be more organic and spontaneous than last year's trip of a

luau, hula dancing

, and

swimming with dolphins

and

sharks

.

First Stop: Wailana Coffee House

These coconut pancakes are the bomb diggity. What's the white syrup? More coconut, of course!!

If you ever go to Oahu, please stop by Wailana Coffee House for these pancakes. The eggs were gross, but the pancakes and bacon were phenomenal.

Here is the view from our first hotel, the Doubletree Hilton. Rain, rainbows and murals of flipping whales.

Oh yes. The wonderful employees of the Doubletree greeted us with hot chocolate chip cookies and we were pumped. 

Originally, because of our late reservations, we had to break up our stay into several different hotels. But, being the awesome and persistent husband he is, JD called the Hilton Hawaiian Village at least five times the week before we arrived and he finally got us a room there for a consistent three weeks. We did have to stay at the Doubletree two nights when we arrived but it was much better than our previous plans of having to switch hotel rooms several times a week. Everyone was super nice at the Doubletree and the rooms were nicer than the Village... but the Village has way more activities so I was happy there while JD was working. If you're going to vacation in Waikiki, we would recommend the Hilton Hawaiian Village. 

Here is our map from Honolulu to the North Shore, our favorite area on Oahu! More to come about that  next post...

September 25: The North Shore Waves will take you Down.

JD and I ate breakfast at the Wailana Coffee House, per usual. Lindsay had invited me to hang out with her, Kent and Luke for the day on the North Shore since JD had to work. Lindsay picked me up and we made a stop at their house (which was beautifully decorated) to pick up Kent and Luke. We stopped at Turtle Bay first.

Can you see the turtle??

We saw a few turtles coming up through the surf but no monk seals lying on the shore like Luke and Lindsay had seen a few days prior to that. We also went to a small Farmers Market where I bought coconut pineapple jam, guava jelly and biscotti bites. This was also the location where I had found my childhood favorite, sugar cane. I’ve been on a great search for it since my dad and I cut it up and enjoyed it when I was a kid. There are fields and fields of both sugar cane and pineapple in Hawaii; thus, you must entertain your tastebuds with both during your stay. JD never tried it but maybe he will next time.

Next Stop: Waimena Bay. I’ve never witnessed such massive waves! The brave swimmers looked like periwinkles; buried by the waves, then grasping for air as the waves retreat from the shoreline. Here is raw video footage of the waves...

And finally, the stop I’ve been anticipating all day, the infamous Hawaiian shaved ice. Oh. My. Goodness.

Matsumoto’s

serves shaved ice for $3.50. This includes three flavors, ice cream at the bottom, a holder for the cone and shaven ice stacked at least eight inches high. I knew I had to take JD there.

As wonderful as everything was, it just wasn’t as special without JD there to enjoy it with me. I couldn’t wait to take him there. It was an early morning and late night for him at work. I went ahead and scheduled our dolphin encounter for the next day, thinking JD had the day off but he called me right after

Sea Life Park

closed to tell me that he did have to go into work the next day.

I called the next morning and the staff was very helpful. After explaining the situation to them, they rescheduled our swim for September 29th, and they waived the rescheduling fee because of the work predicament. Wahoo!