Aloha and Holo Holo: King Kamehameha Day, Etc.

Yesterday was King Kamehameha Day, and we were so fortunate to get to witness the parade in Kona before catching our flight to Honolulu, where we were able to visit to the famous monarch's lei encrusted statue.

Before seeing the statue, though, we picked up our rental car and loaded everything up, except for one teeny tiny bag that we overlooked and left sitting in the parking garage at the airport. It contained everything of any importance. We hadn't gone far when we realized our mistake, so we turned the car around and headed right back to the airport. Where we found absolutely nothing and neither had the security office, though they promised to call if the bag magically turned up. I didn't cry, and I didn't throw up, though I felt like doing both. Thankfully, a few hours later, the security office did call to tell us the bag (still bearing all its contents) had been found. And, luckily, we had had a somewhat difficult time canceling credit cards, so we had only canceled one by the time the bag was found. The relief we felt when we got that call was physical, like a huge lead weight had been lifted. When Jeff went to retrieve the bag this morning, he also picked up malasadas (Portuguese donuts that are very popular in Hawaii) and manapuas (Cantonese steamed buns, also popular in Hawaii) to celebrate.

Today we enjoyed the awesome pool at our lovely resort here on Waikiki. We spent about 8 hours down there, and then everyone came back to the room and crashed for a while before we headed out for dinner at Shorebird, a cook-your-own restaurant on the water that Jeff had visited a couple of times as a kid. He had shared his fond memories of the place and our kids couldn't wait to try it. It was a fun experience, and we all had a great time.