Sun & Surf & Sea Turtles

Friday was the moms' last day on Oahu and so they loaded up into the car early for another loop-around-the-island of sightseeing ...

... which included a drive through the green, green, GREEN rain forest district just west of Waikiki off the Pali Highway.

Continuing on around the west coast of Oahu they revisited the great Land of Shrimp Trucks ... this time stopping for Giovanni's ORIGNIAL shrimp, served from this great old truck on the side of the highway. (If you happen by and look just over the left headlight you'll see where they signed the truck ... how touristy is THAT????)

So after a fabulous lunch of fresh-from-the-ocean shrimp ... (Yum, Yum!!) ...

They found a secluded beach where they hung out on the sand ...

... and enjoyed the surf! But wait ... what's that?

There in the water ... not a rock...

... but SEA TURTLES!!!

How cool is THAT???

So after some sun and surf and sea turtles ...

... then it was on to a zippy dinner-by-the sea in celebration of Susan's birthday and their last day on the island ...

With coconut cake to die for ...

... and a great end to a great day!

Onion Rings in Paradise

Mostly the moms seem to be spending their vacation eating, drinking and looking at maps ... here's Louise trying to figure out where to go next ...

... at the Bishop's Museum where there was lots of cool stuff about the Hawai'ian Islands to check out ... a good outing for a kind of cloudy, windy day.

Then they went down to Waikiki Beach and, on the recommendation of Coco and Lenny's mom ...

... went to Cheeseburger in Paradise where they indulged in some post-Sopranos tribute onion rings. (You kinda had to see the finale to get that one, we guess!)

After walking off the onion rings (and chesseburgers ... yum, yum!) along Waikiki Beach ...

... they headed off to St. Clement's Church where our mom Susan took a little vacation from her vacation and met with the local Integrity folks ...

... who put on a VERY nice potluck ...

... and gave her some VERY cool flowers to wear ....

... and a good time was had by all! (This is her with Coco and Lenny's mom's friend Rob who's taking care of the church for Cranmer and Hooker's mom while she's on sabbatical.)


Finally, here's a picture to prove that they're actually in the same place at the same time and not just taking pictures of each other: Our Moms On Vacation (for two more days, but who's counting? :)

Another Day in Paradise: Surfing, Sightseeing and Luau-ing

So the moms decided on Wednesday to take the plunge and experience one of the great attractions of the Hawaiian Islands ... the great sport of SURFING:

Cranmer the Cat rooted them on as they each tried their hand at different versions of the ancient art of surfing ...

... web surfing for Susan ...

... and channel surfing for Louise!

After that, it was off for another day of sightseeing around the island of Oahu, including Diamond Head Crater ...

... the beautiful Hanauma Bay nature preserve ...

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... the Halona Blow Hole along the rustic, rocky Oahu coast ...

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... and exotic flowers all along the way. (Luna wants to note here that even if she HADN'T chewed up that Hibiscus Plant our flowers at home wouldn't have looked this great so she REALLY doesn't want to revisit that past indiscretion when the moms get home ... OK???)

Then it was off to Luau Land ... an "everyone-says-yes-it's-really-touristy-but-you-should-go-anyway" event that seems to involve more Mai Tais (we detect a pattern here!) ...

... lovely scenery for photo ops ...

... and then lots of Hawaiian dancing ...

... under the palm trees as the sun set into the Pacific ...

... and the entertainment continued during a dinner of halu pig and other Hawaiian delicacies ...

... and a good time was had by all. (This photo is for our uncles Jim and Randy ... :)

The moms had a great time and actually WERE glad they went (and no, neither of them tried the "poi!") ...

ALOHA!

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Just Another Day in Paradise ...

So here's the latest from the moms on vacation in Hawaii:


From what we can tell from the pictures they sent yesterday (Tuesday) was pretty much about shopping ... (here's our mom Susan with her shopping face on!) ...



... and a little sightseeing. This is Diamond Head from the patio of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel where the rest of the day's agenda seems to have been ...

... Mojoitos for Susan and something called ...

... "Tropical Itch" (complete with bamboo backscratchers!) for Louise ...

... while they watched Hula Dancers and listened to Hawaiian Music ...

... while the sunset slowly in the west ...

... and the Tiki Torches lit the night of another night in Paradise.

Oh well ... they'll be back to reality soon enough ... might as well let 'em enjoy it while it lasts!

More From Oahu

Sounds like everything is going great in Hawaii ... the moms are sending pictures and we're posting them up as we have the chance. They DID get to see the end of The Sopranos on Sunday night ... still kind of trying to figure that one out, evidently. Not sure what we'll do on Sunday nights at our house now that THAT one is over -- it was kind of a family ritual to gather around the TV and watch our mom Susan spend most of the hour with her head buried under a pillow 'cuz she doesn't "do" violent TV. Whatever!

Anyway, one of the things the moms "neglected" to mention about this trip to Hawaii was that they were going to be seeing other animals while they were away! We guess we're OK with that ... as long at they're cats and not dogs. (We'd be drawing the line if we were stuck in doggie day care and they were rubbing some other dog's tummy in Hawaii!) This is Hooker ... of Hooker and Cranmer fame ... the kitties they're kitty-sitting while in Honolulu:

But when not kitty-sitting they went sightseeing ... and on Monday decided to "do" the Waikiki/Honolulu area ... starting out at the:

Where there was a great beach ...

Lots of surfing scenery ...

And it was easy to catch the "Tourist Trolley" to loop around the city and see stuff ....

Like this famous beach with the Duke the Famous Surfer statue:

And King Kamehameha -- still with his flower leis all over him from his holiday which was this last weekend and there were lots of parades and stuff. (He and Queen Emma are in Lesser Feasts and Fasts, you know. Check 'em out!)

And finally St. Andrew's Episcopal Church ... Cathedral ... built a really long time ago out of stone from Europe which shippers brought over here as ballast on their ships which they ditched on the beach when they got here to load up and take other stuff back -- so the church builders used the stones to build the church ... pretty cool, eh?

More to come ... today we think they're going shopping and then to a Hula show ... with a Luau scheduled for Wednesday and some Integrity gig on Thursday. Never a dull moment in Blue Hawaii!

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Meanwhile, we think maybe it's time for our dip in the pool here at Dig My Dog. (We complain about being in Day Care just to make the moms feel a little guilty ... actually, we love it and Aunt Lundi and her people take REALLY good care of us.) More later ... thanks for checking in!