shave ice, noodles, rice and tofu

All Little Wickie favorites -- and in our favor, all mainstays on a vast majority of menus in Hawaii.

Okay, I've been to Hawaii at least a half a dozen times and have to ask:  Did they always offer ice cream under your shave ice?!  How could I have missed that before?

No one cared for my green tea and lychee shave ice, which I personally thought was delicious.  More for me.

Papa Wickie was most happy at the Kaliua Farmers Market which I have to say was outstanding.  A great mix of prepared food, baked and locally packaged foods and fresh produce.  

He is STILL talking about the Ahi appetizer and Ahi entree he had that night.

In fact, later in the week the draw of food was the only reason he agreed to go to the flea market.

Mo loved the plethora of frog instruments to play with at the flea market.

We let Papa Wickie do a bit of shopping as well.  He keeps talking about getting a SUP now.  I'm not entirely sure where it would fit in our garage with the current bevy surfboards and bikes that already claim residence in there, but we'll see.

And, of course there was plenty more water play.  We checked out the lagoons at Ko'Olina.  The whole place was eerily man made and perfect (the Disney resort is one of the resorts adjacent to the lagoons).

But, there were fish to see and the kids really did like the lagoons.

On the North Shore we saw a ton of fish at Shark's Cove by just wading in the water.

And, after a good hike, we took a dip in the falls at Maunawili.

At the airport on the way home we had a celebrity sighting that went something like this.

The guy checking in our luggage:  Hey, you see that haole over there with the yellow hat?
Me:  Yes.
Guy:  You watch the cooking channel?
Me:  Not anymore, it makes me too hungry.
Guy: He's some famous guy from that channel.

Not to leave you in suspense, it was Guy Fieri.  I, in fact, had no idea who he was (my culinary-trained sommelier brother did of course).

The plane home while less exciting for the girls went very smoothly.

Man, I can't believe our vacation is over already...

loving lanikai

Papa is a terrible traveller when it comes to time changes -- even when it's a mere 3 hour time difference. 

Katie is her father's daughter.

Hence, we watched the sunrise the first morning (above).

It's been less than two weeks but it already feels like our vacation was eons ago.

Pre-warning:  vacation pics will be coming in multiple posts.

This one is about the little town we stayed in.

Lanikai and the adjacent town Kaliua are a dream.  While a little windy, we loved that there were fewer people, perfectly fluffy sand and a tame ocean thanks to a reef that encircles the area. 

I was determined to find us a place that had a pool which I did -- which we used exactly once.

One block away, the Little Wickies preferred the beach.

As did Papa Wickie.

Right above the little neighborhood we stayed in was the beautiful Pill Box hike, recently made famous when President Obama hiked it during his Christmas vacation.

Just stunning panoramic views.

I can't imagine what a media zoo little Kaliua must have been when the President stayed there.  We kept seeing pictures of him around in town like at the shave ice place near us.

Finally, I looked up where he stayed and according a New York Times article it was super close to where we were so we checked it out.

Papa:  There is a guard box.
Me:  No one is there, drive through.
Papa:  I don't think it's a good idea.
Me:  They're not going to sniper us down, they'll just ask us to leave!  Pull over!  Katie get out of the car!
Katie:  Why?
Me:  Just hop out!  Stand right here and smile.
Katie:  Why?
Me:  Just smile!

The last morning, Katie and I went down for a morning swim before we had to head to the airport.  7:30 a.m., wading waist-deep in the water a sea turtle surfaced about 15 feet from us.  

It was a pretty cool ending to a fantastic (if short) trip.

More to come later about other adventures we had later...

aloha

Just got back from heaven. More to report about adventures in shave ice, hiking and stalking the President's haunts to come.

hardy har har

For the last couple of years, Katie has delighted in April Fool's Day pranks (see here and here). She was super excited to see what I had planned for the Little Wickies this year (apparently I have built up her expectations).

They woke to find string attached to their door which subsequently ran throughout the house.

The string had a series of notes on it. A sampling...

And, finally...

Where they found this sign.

I pinned their underwear together which got a good laugh.

I froze their milk (again) and also dyed their liquid soap green which they thought was funny.

And, for the grand finale, I asked the girls to crack some eggs for me, which had brownies baked inside of them (see how to here).

Shocking they liked that as well...

What pranks did you play? I'll need some ideas for next year!