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Happy Father’s Day!

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Happy Father’s day to all the fathers and father figures out there. I’m lucky to have two really great ones.

We have started attending St. Anthony’s church in Kailua. Sundays are the only days I don’t go for my sunrise walk because we go to 6:30am Mass. We like the mass so far and one of the Deacon’s is a submarine spouse’s dad. He has really great sermons and gave today’s. It definitely has a Hawaiian vibe to it, but still formal Catholic.

Then we go to Morning Brew for breakfast. Brian gets a caramel latte, and we both get breakfast sandwiches. They are REALLY good.

We texted both our families, and my dad is in Pennsylvania picking up a second engine for his F1… so much for getting to talk to him today! Brian’s dad and family were going to lunch, but we Alexa called them for a quick catch up. They are planning a trip to visit us in October around Brian’s sister’s birthday.

We unpacked a lot, moved more furniture, continuing to put the pieces of our house together bit by bit. We have a guest bed frame and mattress ready! During this we heard a really loud whirring noise and discovered a helicopter making a rescue at the really famous hike right outside our condo.

It rained earlier today and we’ve been told a lot not to try this hike after it rains, so that could be it. It may be just a broken ankle, or may be something serious. As far as I know, Hawaii doesn’t charge for these rescues… what a favor! Needless to say Brian and I are waiting for the perfect time for our first trip up, both when I feeling good and it’s been dry. Brian brought up how my ambulance ride in Cambridge was $800, but a helicopter ride over beautiful Kailua is free. What a steal.

Speaking of rain, I FINALLY saw my first rainbow today! Brian didn’t drive slow enough for me to get a picture of it, and it was pretty faint, but FINALLY!

We’re off to go visit a woodworking place in Hawaii that make BEAUTIFUL pieces. We’re hoping to get a table top to replace one we have that is warped from winter damage. You can view some of their pieces here.

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View from ” Weps’ “

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Brian is one of three department heads on a boat, he is the Nav (navigator). There is also the Weps (weapons officer) and Eng (Engineer). I will be known as Mrs. Nav. Mrs. Weps is from Vermont, so we clicked really easily. She’s very down to Earth, and Mr. and Mrs. Weps met playing hockey, so we all get along really well. We went to their place to watch a Bruins game on May 23rd, 2021… our 1 year anniversary. This is the view from outside their apartment, inland from Honolulu.

I am convinced that building on the left is the Prudential Center, and unless I see both in the same place I won’t be convinced otherwise.

Four more boxes unpacked and the Peloton was put together today, progress!

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Hooky and Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden

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I’ll tack on the sunrise pictures from the morning of the adventures of the day of blog post topic moving forward.

Brian’s friend Ty from when he served on the USS San Fransisco is in the Navy Reserves and had orders for a couple weeks in Hawaii. He and his girlfriend, Megan, arrived on Sunday and we gave them a proper hello by decorating their necks with a Lei and ate dinner at Waikiki brewing in Waikiki. Megan came to us before Ty, they came on separate flights, and I admired her self confidence enough to come meet people she’s never met before.

With all things Navy, she’s winging her scheduled according to what Ty can accomodate (which has changed… and changed… and changed again in the short time they’ve been here) On Monday she headed our way for the afternoon, and I didn’t have a lot of work going on so I played hooky. In the morning I had a stress test appointment for my heart. I haven’t been quite the same since having COVID, so it’s more reassurance that nothing is wrong organ wise. I passed with flying colors.

After, we met for lunch at Kapalawai market, a pretty famous local Hawaiian deli/convenience store. The food is really good beach food. We took our sandwiches and made our way to Lanikai so she could see the beach. We went for a quick swim, walk, and then went to the Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden. It is a beautiful hidden gem, and free! Although I intend to donate.

It’s a very big park so it’s organized such that you drive to different parking locations and walk to explore a section of the park. We started at the first section to visit the lake. It’s a huge coy pond with tons of coy.

I’ll jump forward to our third spot, which was the “seasonings” path, we think. It had a really great view of the lake, and the only “Seasoning” we recognized was a tree that smelt like popcorn. As we were walking toward it, Megan was wondering if someone was eating popcorn.

We went to another section (this was our second stop) that has a great view of the mountains and the ocean. Here, there’s a plaque explaining you’re in the center (Caldera) of what once was a volcano. The volcano geography is what gives Hawaii the unique ridges on the mountain sides. We could see the view of the bay. The walk up to the viewpoint is awkwardly steep, so the lady told us to walk backwards, also so we could see the view. The mountains make up the Ko’olau Range. koʻolau means “windward” in Hawaiian

The park closes relatively early, at 4pm, so we left and explored the Marine Corps Base (I wanted to show her more private, quieter beach options). I’ll make a post about how in love I am with that base later. We tried to go to the commissary, the military grocery store, but it’s closed on Mondays… so went to Target instead. Then she went back to Waikiki.

That was my hooky half day. Definitely going back to the gardens with Brian and to see other parts.

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“Spring” in Hawaii

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Here are most of the flora I see on my walk to the beach every day. They smell beautiful, and I will sometimes pick up a fallen plumeria and put it in my ear; instant perfume!

We’ve heard that the bloom is in peak now, but I’m pretty convinced there are flowers year round and will believe this until proven otherwise.

Few flowers hold the allure of Hawai’i more than the plumeria. The huge varieties found throughout the islands make it seem as though they originated here, but in truth they are an introduced species. First discovered in the southern forest regions of Mexico in the mid 1800’s, the plant is also known to indigenous to Central America, India, the Caribbean and Brazil. The first plants were brought to Hawai’i in 1860 by Wilhelm Hillebrand, a German physician and botanist. In Hawai’i the plant usually grows as a small tree that mostly blooms from April to November. Flowers do not last long but the bloom pod can produce flowers throughout the year depending on climate and location. The flower colors are diverse in Maui and include white, orange, yellow, pink, salmon, and purple with hybrids containing combinations of all these colors. Plumeria have an amazing fragrance that is most intense at night as they lure moths needed to pollinate them. Interestingly enough they produce no nectar, effectively duping the pollinators to move from flower to flower in a fruitless search for nectar.
The flowers are well known for their use in making flower lei. These beautiful and fragrant flowers can also be worn in the hair by women to indicate their relationship status – over the right ear if single and over the left ear if taken.
Cordia
Bougainvillea Bush
More pink plumeria
Red Hibiscus
White Hibiscus
Pinky Plumeria
White Plumeria
In 1959, Hawaii became a state, yet it was not until 1988 that the yellow hibiscus became the state flower. Some of the traditional meanings of the hibiscus include delicate beauty, unity and peace, a perfect representation of what Hawaii is today.
Heliconia (Heliconiaceae family) is another favorite among florist and floral designers. Commonly known as bird-of-paradise, lobster claws, or parrot beak flowers, Heliconia is easy to grow in Hawaii. However, it may become a pest by spreading uncontrollably and taking over the entire garden! Some Heliconia species can grow up to 15-20 feet tall! Birds, bats, and insects are attracted to the juicy nectar stored inside the brightly colored inflorescence.

There are more that maybe I’ll add as time goes by, but this is a snapshot of what I see on my daily walks! So colorful.

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Found an Eng in the wild

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Engineers on Submarines are known for their really intense schedules. We were able to get one of Brian’s friends from SOAC who is now an Eng to come get drinks with us since we were on the other side of the island. Here he is on the phone talking to one of his guys about a critique they’ll be having on Monday. I sent it to another mutual friend with the caption “We found an eng out in the wild, doing his eng’ing”. It’s very hard for Eng’s to get time off or enjoy things without being bothered.

We were over there because a friend of Brian’s from the USS San Fran, Ty, was visiting Hawaii from Colorado with his gf Megan and we met them in Honolulu at Waikiki brewing for drinks. This was the start of a fun adventure of them being in Hawaii!

This second picture was taken using my very nice camera. I have this really awesome feature on my camera called “live view”, which basically gets the picture to show up on the screen before you take it, almost exactly like using a phone. So it makes for an easy hand off to a waitress or willing budding photographer. I turn that mode on and we show up on the screen, then they just have to click on any of our faces to focus and then click the shutter (big, round button) then voila! Picture on a really nice camera. I make sure the exposure settings are correct before handing it off, but they still have to fix the focus. It took me a while to discover this, but I figured it out so that Brian could start taking pictures with my camera of me in it.

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Walk back from a Sunrise

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I am in love with this picture. It was a breathtaking view of the golf course by us, mid pacific golf course, the one Obama plays. Membership is $200/mth. We’re passing for now, but it’s tempting!

This particular sunrise wasn’t entirely exciting, but I loved the light on the clouds and the mountains on the walk back. Reminded me that reflecting on what’s behind you can be beautiful, too.

On a whim I entered this photo into a competition. It stretched my comfort zone. It wasn’t picked to be apart of the final gallery, but that’s ok. My dream competition to win is the comedy wildlife award. I bought the books as coffee table books and for inspiration. They are soo funny.

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Honolulu Foodie Part 1

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Leonard’s is famous in Honolulu for their Malasadas. They are portuguese donuts, basically sugar dough balls that can be stuffed. I did not get an actual picture of the donuts, whoops. I will say they were more filling than donut. The line was long but moved fast. 6/10 on my scale of foodie experiences. I like my donut with a side of filling. They also have a ton of other goodies. I’d compare this experience to going to Mike’s Pastries in the North End, except the cannolis are way more worth it.

Tiki’s on the other hand, totally worth it. We were able to get reservations, that is a huge plus these days. They had really sweet souvenir Mai Tai glasses. Brian’s (red volcano) is named Aloha Bob. Mine is King Kalani Paiʻea Wohi o Kaleikini Kealiʻikui Kamehameha o ʻIolani i Kaiwikapu kauʻi Ka Liholiho Kūnuiākea. Or, alternatively, Tiki Man.

The views were pretty incredible and we already booked reservations for sunset for when my family visits in April.

The food was great, drinks were great. 10/10 recommend this place. Some places we’ve visited but don’t have pictures:

  • Waikiki Brewing 8/10 Decent food, relatively easy to get a table, cocktails available
  • Maui Brewing 5/10 I had a symptom flare here… I was feeling overwhelmed by their ordering process (walk up to a window and it gets brought to your seat which you have to fine), it was really loud, decently long wait
  • The signature Prime Steakhouse (top of ala moana hotel) 8/10 Really delicious food but you pay the price, piano music, have to have luck getting a table near the windows, service was great
  • Beach place that I mentioned previously that’s not worth remembering

We tried to go to Duke’s, which seems famous, but it was a THREE HOUR wait. Pass. Stay tuned for more food adventures.

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First Ever New Car

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Brian was an eager beaver to get a car immediately when we arrived. I am not kidding… we were at the dealer the afternoon we arrived. There was a rental car shortage because we’re coming out of COVID and the rentals were all sold to keep companies afloat. People were renting UHauls to get around. Brian was very adamant he have a car and the Venza was still on its way.

This was the first car either of us bought brand new from the dealer. I think it had 46 miles on it. It’s basically the hybrid version of the Civic. We both really like it, although I still feel Toyota does a lot of the little things better. I was not a fan of the prius, though. We went with new because we are in a great financial position, but it took a lot for me to be persuaded. There were a lot of costs tacked on that I now understand why people sell cars used for a higher price than MSRP. I also think Honda is worse about that than Toyota. (We would have to pay extra for parking sensors.) Brian is using it as a commuter car and he loves not having to gas up often. I convinced him to buy the highest trim because my Venza has the highest trim and it still feels like it’s a new car even though it’s a 2012. And also I can’t live without heated seats should we live somewhere cold again. He then decided to take a loan on it. I am personally VERY anti debt. It’s a low interest rate, we can invest the money, yeah I understand that financially a loan probably makes sense. But when we go to ship it again, we need to get special permission from our bank. Also it’s one more payment to keep track of. What’s funny is Honda keeps messing up the paperwork for all this, and I have to bear the brunt and I kindly remind Brian all the time this would be a non issue if we had just paid the dang thing off. But, such is marriage and such is compromise. I think we’ll end up paying it off before we leave the island anyway.

We had the option of Navy Blue or Fire Red. We both agreed the fire red looked nicer. It’s getting a nice addition of a rainbow license plate sometime. I am choosing to get the volcano one for the Venza. How many states am I going to live in that I can get a VOLCANO on my license plate??

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Honolulu Part 1

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Brian’s new Captain is trying to turn the morale of the boat around, and I think we were early benefactors. When we arrived at the airport we had a greeting party of four men in uniform and two leis for each of us. We were also given a welcome bag with some sunscreen, Hawaiian treats, water, etc. We felt very welcomed. The flowers smell beautiful. And of course we had to wear our matching outfit.

We stayed in a hotel for a few days when we first arrived in Honolulu, otherwise we would’ve had to sleep on the floor in our new apartment. We chose the Ala Moana, which wasn’t the most optimal choice… we should’ve picked the Hale Koa which is apparently a really nice Navy hotel in downtown. The Navy will help pay for your hotel, but TBD whether they will pay for ours or not because we already had an apartment available. Yes, you’re expected to land and get into your apartment with furniture on the same day. Whoever manages those logistics is a superhero. Nonetheless, Ala Moana was in a great location in Honolulu. I took a walk to go see the beach. Here’s looking the direction of Diamond Head.

Then in the opposite direction toward Pearl Harbor. I am not totally convinced I was in the same spot for both those, but you get the point. Beaches and high rises everywhere.

This whole thing was pretty much a blur, so who knows when we did what, but one afternoon we went to Barefoot Beach Cafe. It was the epitome of touristy tourist place, and I would 10/10 not recommend going there unless you want that. You have to fight for a table and the food was typical beach quality. There was live music which was kinda nice. We had this pineapple smoothie? Thing? In a pineapple. But it was like orange juice with pulp except thicker and pineapple. Anyway, just take my word for it and don’t go here. However, the busser was really nice.

At one point we went to a huge mall, called the Ala Moana mall. It really is huge and there are no directories… like what? I would get lost without phone GPS. But of course I went to the Disney store and proceeded to buy Hawaiian Disney Dress, shorts, and a beach blanket which has come in very handy. This my best hoola dance stance. Room for improvement.

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