“Weeding” out invasive Species

Backtracking to the weekend again, I volunteered with “weed warriors” on Saturday. Let me tell you, “weed” was certainly an understatement. This was a gigantic bush/tree we were pulling out! Three no less. I didn’t get great pictures, but in this first one you can see a pile separated of cut up branches. Behind it is the rest of the bush we still need to do! Behind the bush in the beach.

In this second picture, you can just make out a truck we’ve filled for branches to be hauled away in, and a better perspective of the pile. A lot of the invasive species come from from South America. The idea is to cut them out so native ones grow in their place. This particular one we were working on is commonly known as Sea Grapes. Less commonly known as Coccoloba uvifera.

This was at Pyramid rock beach. The guy leading it likes to talk about some history, and told us that Pan Am airlines owners used to own the land and had housing on it. I forget if the military kicked them off or if they had to sell it… I also overheard others I was working with talking about watching “the game”. I asked which, and they answered “Patriots!” And I said “raise your hand if you’re a Patriots fan!” And three or four people raised their hands. The family that was my point of contact for the group spent 12 years in Worcester as part of the Marines… go figure!

I don’t feel like I contributed much to be honest… Toward the end they decided it more efficient to use a wood chipper and come back later with one. There were axes and chopping and my cheeks got rosy from the sun. Glad I went, will probably go again!

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Golf Game

That is the face of determination! For our last session of golf, we played four holes. I had one spectacular drive, and the rest were terrible. Really I’m here to post the view from hole 13.

OK just kidding. I mean that is really a view from hole 13, but this is what you’re looking for:

Extraordinary.

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Marine Corps Wife Kickball

Thought Sunday was over? Think again! After the airport, I came home, answered some TED emails, then got myself back out to go watch the friend I picked up from the airport play kickball with other Marine Corps wives. Apparently, this is a thing they do as team building with fellow wives in the same command. Let me tell you, it’s so intense and so crazy!

In the second inning, they have to play the whole offense holding a cup of water, yes, even while kicking. They have to reach home base with water left in the cup, or their run doesn’t count. See that girl sitting in the lawn chair? If the ball lands and hits inside the white box, it’s extra points.

They are very, very intense about this, and I don’t think I was even allowed to talk to my friend… but we texted. Ha. The ref yelled at the side lines not to coach. What fun it was to watch!

They won 15-8. Ok, now Sunday is over… well I went home and edited all the photos first, of course.

I’m really trying to stay *purposefully* busy and make time go by fast for Brian to come home. What I mean is, I’m trying to pick activities with purpose. Things that’ll fill my cup (social, adventure, good will, creativity, learning a new skill). I’m really working on figuring out what I want to do instead of doing things just to do them. I think there was a period of my life I was filling my time without really asking why, and I’m trying to be better at that. I don’t want to fill time as an excuse to make it go faster to get Brian home, I want to enjoy it. I think I’m doing pretty well so far. I don’t know if any of this made sense, I’m getting pretty tired (I think this is my sixth post today), but I kinda wanted to reflect on all the activities I’m doing.

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Sand Island

Church, the market, and chocolate all happened already…tired yet? I crammed a lot into this day! After stopping home for a quick change of clothing, I brought some frozen meals to my CO’s wife to give to our Ombudsman. An ombudsman is a point of contact for boat information. She has a lot of work with communicating with all of us. Anyway, Sept. 15th is Ombudsman appreciation day. She has an almost 6 month old she’s handling herself as well, so I hope the meals help.

Anyway, then I went off to sand island after dropping off the food (I’m on the other side of the island now). Sand Island is an industrial of all industrial areas… except there’s this huge state park at the end of it.

I figured for a Sunday it would be busy, but no, it was so quiet. A hidden gem, kind of? The waves were really big, there’s a break but it didn’t help much. The real reason I came was to check out the sea glass, which my friend clued me in on. It is a seaglass gold mine! In this picture I see at least six pieces (can you?)

I had my camera with me, though, and the waves were huge, so I had to weigh risk of grabbing sea glass and getting soaked. I didn’t have much time to spend here, though, because in short order I went and picked up a friend from the airport. I will certainly be back! Next time with a bathing suit and/or at low tide.

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Manoa Chocolate Factory

I’ve been desperately trying to find a substitution to my Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Lover’s Chocolate bar, and I might’ve found it… at quite the price. The Manoa Chocolate factory is near the market I went to and happened to open at 10am. I had some time to spare and have very little willpower against chocolate, so I stopped in quickly. I met a very nice woman who happens to be from Connecticut originally, because of course. They give tastings on a walk in basis, and tours every day at 3pm.

This is made from cacao grown in Hawaii. I couldn’t walk out without buying a couple bars… for $12 a pop. Woof! It is ABSOLUTELY delicious, though. I’ll have to continue to ration my Trader Joe’s stash and keep this in the rotation as a special treat. I also bought a chocolate macadamia nut spread, think Nutella but macadamia nut, and honestly wasn’t as much of a fan as I thought.

With low capacity and staffing shortages, tours are capped at 8 and Saturdays are booked through November. I am thinking of trying to coordinate with one of my officer spouse groups, but it’s getting complicated. Anyway, I’ll find a time to get there for an official tour and tasting.

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Lokahi Kailua Market

Lokahi Kailua Market is a Sunday market I’ve been itching to go to. Lōkahi is the Hawaiian term denoting harmony, unity, and balance. The market hosts mostly niche arts and crafts with food options sprinkled here and there.

My favorite shop was this woodworking shop that reuses wood to create something new. As the sign says, none of it is painted! It’s all salvaged wood from neighbors. I definitely want to buy something, but want Brian’s input first.

Just a couple more pictures of various vendors, including a flower market and some art.

There’s also a group collecting cans to fundraise for college, so I dropped them off some. I don’t see myself coming back to this weekly, but I’d definitely take Brian or even visitors for some authentic, fun Hawaiian souvenirs.

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Protea Zero Waste Store

I’ve been trending toward reducing waste for a while now, I’m not sure what really inspired me to get started… but I’ve been re-invigorated because of all the micro plastics I see on the beach, truly it’s really sad. No sense in dwelling on it, though, and I took another step in reducing my plastic waste by finally visiting Protea, a zero waste store right in Kailua!

Basically it sells earth friendly products and sells soaps by refilling re-usable containers. Instead of buying more plastic containers at the store, you bring your empty containers (like ones I have from my cousin’s pottery) and fill them at the store and pay by weight.

They have everything from conditioner, shampoo, body soap, all-purpose cleaners, toner…

I bought shampoo, conditioner, body soap, and a couple sponges. It’s definitely pricier than buying from the cheap supermarket brands… but if you add up all the money you spend on other disposable items you could be re-using easily I feel you’d come out even.

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9SEP21 Sunrise

I have been neglecting sunrise posts on here, sorry! You can always find them on my instagram account, @lanikai_Sunrise_96734, or visit this web page on this blog. This lady was trying to get her dog more comfortable in the water and was carrying him in only for him to swim straight back to shore.

I also found a new washed up creature. Squid Ink pasta anyone?

There was a lot of commotion around the pillbox, turns out 100s of army soldiers were dropped off and did an exercise up it. God bless them doing that in that heat with those packs on. Phew! I just missed the tail end of them, so I’m bummed I didn’t get better framing or pictures. But these turned out ok.

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Bowfin Sub Museum

I dropped off my friend at the airport at 3:45pm, and in the name of killing time and going on adventures I decided to go to the USS Bowfin submarine museum. It was AWESOME. It was recently re-done and re-opened in February, it looks like. I decided to make us members there… Brian doesn’t get in for free. You’ll find that military rates are weird… Anyway, I only had an hour, so I went into the submarine first.

It was HOT inside. Thankfully there were fans. Here are the infamous beds on top of the torpedo tubes.

Old school submerge check list and CPR instructions.

Here’s a dump of fun gauges and rooms. Can’t forget the old school mixer!

The great thing about Hawaii is that tourists with real cameras aren’t usually very far. I snagged one to take a picture of me to show the size of the holes. So small!

Coming back outside, from the bow you can see the USS Missouri and Arizona Memorial

The other side.

I was running out of time, so when I got to the actual museum part the exhibit guide told me to go right to the WWII stuff. It was amazing, and I learned a lot.

They used to have flags indicating how many targets they hit

They had a thing to look through that mimic’d a periscope. You were supposed to identify what ship you see. The mini models are there to show you the differences. There’s a running joke about submariners and how they can pick out what type of war ship is in front of them from a blurry profile through a periscope but can’t find the ketchup in the fridge. And if that isn’t true about Brian I don’t know what is. I guess he’s skilled where it counts.

Please, God, let there be no WWIII.

There was lots to see outside as well! I was running out of time, though.

I thought they did an AMAZING job on this display. The one problem was there was a display exhibit in front of it… so you can’t really get a good dead on picture.

I think this is the size of the biggest submarine hull in operation. As I was walking out I caught another tourist with a big camera and she took this. She thanked me and Brian for our service. I said honestly it feels like I serve sometimes. Also, people, help a girl out and tell me I’m not in the middle.

I emailed Brian to tell him it kinda felt like I was at work with him. He said he has it a little roomier and cooler, but similar 😉

Will have to go back to really absorb the museum part fully.

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Restaurant review- Nico’s Kailua

This is on Brian and I’s bucket list, but they don’t take reservations and we’re a bit snobby when it comes to that, and also just generally against eating indoors if we can help it. They do have some picnic tables off to the left hand side you can bring takeout… but for a place this nice it seems a bit odd. Anyway, one of the families I took pictures for recommended specifically the furikake ahi tuna dish. I was hesitant based on the description, but in the vein of trying new things I went for it and got take out. It was PHENOMENAL. The flavoring on the fish was great and the dipping sauce that went with it, SO GOOD.

Of course the problem with this is now it’s the only thing I’ll order there. I think this is my first report of truly delicious food here. There you have it, found some!

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