Our big summer vacation was a week in Hawai'i. In 2006 we had a great time in Oahu: We stayed on the North Shore on a quiet beach. This time we stayed on the western end of Waikiki beach and in the thick of all the hustle & bustle.
The vacation started on an 'oops!' when Lesli & Charlotte missed their flight. Delta told Lesli they were too late to check bags. Lesli, strongly disagrees with Delta. Anyway, Savannah & I flew American and did all the first-day stuff (car rental, check-in to the condo, grocery shop...). Before we picked up Lesli & Charlotte, we had just enough time to take this picture of Savannah at the Duke Kahanamoku lagoon, with lovely Diamond Head in the background...
Our condo was plenty big, modern and nice. It is in Waikiki's oldest high-rise, the Ilikai Hotel (as seen in the opening credits of Hawai'i 5-0)... 
Here are the girls in front of a sculpture of humpback whales in the lobby...
The first day was just pure relaxation. We played in the lagoon...
I surfed a break called Rockpile, and the girls rented a paddleboat...
Well rested, the next day we headed to the Manoa Valley in search of an elusive waterfall. Oahu is amazing - on Waikiki you can be in a cacauphony of urban noise and traffic and 5 miles away you can be in a Jurassic Park setting like this...
On our quest for the waterfall we swung on vines...
...climbed stair-steps made of tree roots...
...threaded our way thru inpenetrable bamboo forests...
...munched on wild fruit. These are Mountain Apples (Syzygium malaccense)
at last we made it to Manoa Falls...
We worked up an appetite during the hike. We found Kalakaua Plate Lunch: a hole-in-the-wall Hawaiian local-cuisine place that has really good food. However, it was, without a doubt, the dirtiest restaurant I've ever visited.
check out all the dead bugs in the overhead flourescent light...
The food was really good. I just kept telling myself that they kept the kitchen cleaner than the dining room. yeah, right!
Re-energized, our adventure quest continued with snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. It is a beautiful, if well-publicized spot for oogling fish, sea turtles, eels and more. Here are the girls afterwards...
We also saw a mongoose - the weasel-like import that was brought to the islands to kill rats, but instead has killed millions of indigenous birds...
Here is Lesli with another weasel-like import...
Lesli was smitten with the streetlamps at the park - they were powered by solar and wind devices...
That night at the hotel a Hawaiian quartet performed local music...
Sunset at the marina just a few steps from the hotel...
A day of hiking and snorkeling can take it's toll on some people...
Day 4 and what better way to buy souvenirs than the state's largest swap meet? Held every week at the stadium (Aloha Bowl), hundreds of merchants offered tons of merchandise. The girls enjoyed it!
As it got warmer we decided to try the shave ice (it sucked, but we ate it anyway!)...
For lunch we drove to downtown Honolulu and what many believe is the oldest Chinatown in the U.S. Lunch was great at Chin's...
The real fun of going to Chinatown is the open-air markets where all the exotic 'food' is displayed. Here is Savannah with a tank filled with 90% fish and 10% water...
this is a tub of live catfish writhing & squirming in a teaspoon of water...
Savannah and I submitted this picture to www.engrish.com
I guess if you catch pink-eye and it gets really bad, it could turn into a case of...
Speaking of discolored eyes, that afternoon I got a black eye! The long-winded version: Savannah & I went to Waikiki central for her first ever surfing experience. The session was fantastic - we rented a big, tandem surfboard (12-feet long, 6 inches thick & 75 lbs) and I paddled us into waves - she even stood up! The thrill of seeing my daughter surfing, with Diamond Head in the background is a lifetime experience! Anyway, when we returned the board, the rental guy said "I got it" when, in reality, he didn't. Some shorebreak tossed it into the air and the fin came down on my cheek (the sound was similar to biting into celery). A couple hours later a medical clinic used Crazy Glue (seriously!) to put me back together...
The next day we headed to Kailua for ocean kayaking to offshore islets. Here is Savannah getting our tandem kayaks ready...
We paddled to Flat Island and saw green sea turtles along the way. Lesli made a great picnic lunch which we brought along in a dry-bag. Here are the girls on Flat Island...
The islet is a bird sanctuary (or just a safe-haven for athiest birds). With no predators, they nest right on the ground, in the open...
Cooling lava made for some fun rock formations. The girls found their own jacuzzi...
Savannah discovered the footprint of an ancient giant...
Further offshore are the Mokulua Islands...
After kayaking we took local advice and got Shave Ice at Hawaiian Snow - a famous place that was visited by Barack Obama the day before. The servers were kind of a cross between Stepford wives and Seinfeld's The Soup Nazi. I wasn't crazy about the place. We finally got great shave ice at Aoki's in Haleiwa. Here is a neat shot of the windward mountains...
No visit to Oahu would be complete for us without a trip to The Pali. Today it is a scenic overlook, but years ago it was the site of King Kamahameha's final victory over the Oahu peoples. We love it because the trade winds are funneled into this gap resulting in winds that can knock you off your feet. The girls made capes out of beachtowels and became superheroines!
The next morning and here is Savannah on our lanai. The view was sorta good...
For many meals on the lanai we had a visitor. This little guy seemed to enjoy our company (and our bread crumbs)...
If you position the camera just right, the view from our lanai looks heavenly
But that is only 25% of the view from the lanai. Unfortunately the rest was obscured by a 30-story construction site 50-yards away. From 7am to 5pm the noise was overwhelming. Here is 'the other' view from our lanai...
That's it! Construction, facial scars and airlines notwithstanding, Hawai'i is paradise, family vacations are worth more their weight in gold and we can't wait to go back to the islands of Aloha...
