On Saturday, after the Thanksgiving festivities had waned, we decided to head out for some sightseeing to the North Shore. I was very interested in seeing sea turtles in their native habitat, and had read so many great stories of sea turtle viewing in Hawaii. The best place on Oahu was Laniakea beach along the north shore, since a lot of turtles come onto that beach to sun themselves. There are volunteers that staff the beach to rope off space around each turtle to protect them from spectators.
Laniakea Beach: This was the first Hawaiian beach I'd seen since we arrived...it did not disappoint. (Do you notice the odd "rock" in the foreground?)
There were already two turtles on the beach when we arrived, and there were several others just off shore in the water. Spotting them in the water wasn't easy, since through the moving water they looked similar to rocks. However, when they came close to the surface it made it much easier to see their shape and even their heads poke out occasionally.
Elly and all her kiddos...oh yeah, and a sea turtle.
Our little family...and sea turtle.
(left) Evan enjoyed playing in the sand, for a few seconds, but at least long enough to snap his pic with the sea turtle.
(right) I love this picture of my boys and the beautiful coastline.
I was really excited that we found this spot, however this was one place that Evan decided he wasn't as pleased. The beach was fairly sloped, and rocky, and with the sand it was hard for him to keep his balance while standing. However, he didn't want to be held, so we ended up only staying maybe 10-15 minutes tops. The whole time John spent trying to keep Evan contained, safe, and happy...at least he succeeded at the first two. At least we got some pictures of all of us with the turtles. While I watched a few turtles out in the water and got a few last photos, my sister spent some time chatting with the volunteers so we learned some new facts about sea turtles from the outing as well, such as that they leave for up to 10 years out to sea after first entering the water as babies. This time is often called "the lost years", thus, the turtles we were seeing were already pretty old.
After the short visit with the turtles, we headed into the popular surf town of Haleiwa and got shave ice at Matsumoto's (supposedly the best due to a special ice shaver). I had never had shave ice (I know some readers may be shocked to hear this, but I was more an ice cream and chocolates kind of kid). Either way, I had to try it since it was so famous here. I got a rainbow one, since I didn't know what flavor I'd even like. I can't say it was anything special to me. It just tasted like flavored syrups--not my thing. Each of the kids enjoyed theirs though, and John ate most of mine.
The kids are so excited about their shave ice!
The McDonalds in Haleiwa...disguised to fit in better. :)
Day 4Sunday morning to me means a nice breakfast, so we headed into Wahiawa (closest town to the Army post) to the Koa Pancake House, a local favorite of my sister and her kids. It was indeed quite a meal, and for a bargain price (not easy to find in Hawaii). My "Eggs and Bacon" breakfast included a plate half full of scrambled eggs, with the other half of the plate loaded with bacon (pretty sure there were at least six strips!). Then a second plate with three fluffy pancakes. This is my kind of breakfast! There was plenty for me and to share with Evan, who ate a little bit of everyone's breakfast and probably had at least half a pancake to himself, not to mention a lot of everyone's scrambled eggs. He loves breakfast food, what can I say?
After a filling breakfast we went to the Aloha stadium for the morning swap meet. This is the place my sister said we should go to get the best deals on souvenirs. John bought a Hawaiian shirt, and we got some fresh pineapple chunks with li hing powder (another recommendation from my sister). It was good, but I'm still not sure what the powder was doing (making is sweeter or a little sour?). According to wikipedia, it's said to do a bit of both and maybe even add a salty taste.
While the swap meet goes all the way around the outside of the stadium, we probably only made it 1/3 of the way around before Evan was getting stroller-fever and so we let him out to run around in an open lot and then headed back to the car to go home. After we got back to Elly's, we decided we should check out the Dole Plantation quickly yet that afternoon, as it was really close to her house and thus worth a quick visit.
At the plantation, we fed the fish, watched the train arrive (though we didn't think Evan would sit still on our laps long enough to actually take a ride on it), took some photos in the pineapple cut outs, and then enjoyed the famous "Dole Whip" pineapple soft serve ice cream and also some loco moco. Loco moco is a Hawaiian concoction with rice, grown gravy, a hamburger patty, and a fried egg on top. The ice cream was fabulous, even Evan enjoyed it! John really liked the loco moco, and I would have liked it more if the hamburger patty wouldn't have tasted so processed. Evan surprised us by eating the rice in the loco moco though since he'd been spitting out rice most of the last few times we'd given it to him, but I can gladly say that so far he's been eating rice since.
(left) Checking out the fishes
(right) I have never thought a pineapple looked cute, until I saw this one.
(left) So excited that the train is arriving!
(right) Not sure why, but this was the spot Evan thought looked good to sit down for a rest. At least it's among the pineapples!
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