Tag Archives: açai bowl

Oahu 2016

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Only about four months late in posting this, but Josh and I went back to Hawaii for his spring break in March. After a long flight, we got some poke and then crashed.

Fave, spicy tuna!

The next day I volunteered at the Boys and Girls Club. It was so wonderful to see how much the kids have grown and for them all to jump up to ask to be in my group for the field trip. Oh how I missed them! After a day full of volunteering, we headed to the Farmers’ Market for dinner.

Soccer golf with the kids.
Ahi tuna nachos and lemonade!

Friday I was off for a day at the beach with the kids. Unfortunately it ended up being a rather rainy day so we headed back a bit early. After volunteering, we tried Uahai Island Grill for dinner (new place for us!).

Still can’t walk in a straight line…
Furikake Calimari
Garlic Chicken

On Saturday we met up with my dear friend Jenn in Diamond Head for some lunch and an açai bowl. We decided to drive around the island and dream about where we would live when we moved back on day. We finished the day with my favorite, shabu shabu!

FIsh tacos
Açai bowl
Shabu

Sunday we headed up to the North Shore to watch the waves. First stop, was Giovanni’s for shrimp. After stuffing ourselves, we sat on the beach and watched the waves and just relaxed. We tried Tokoname (recommended by our Airbnb hostess) for dinner — another new place for us!

Vegetable Tempura
Ahi

Monday was my last day to volunteer and we spent it at the clubhouse doing crafts. Always so hard to say goodbye! For dinner, we met our friends Tia and Mark to catch up!

Kalua pork with kale
Haupia Sweet potato pie. Incredible!

Tuesday I finally had some time to hike (and it was of course raining). To wait out the rain, we had Lanikai juice for breakfast and just relaxed. After being stuck inside, we ventured out for lunch at Buzz’s Lani Kai. It finally stopped raining, so we did a quick hike to Makapu’u Lighthouse. I’ve done this more times than I can count and it never gets old.

Calimari
Steak salad
Burrito
Excited for my bubble smoothie!

Wednesday we got to hike the Pāli Puka! This had been on our list when we lived there but we were never able to complete it. The views were absolutely gorgeous (helped that we had a perfect day as well). For lunch, we went to Kalapawai cafe in Kailua then home to shower for a night in Waikiki.

Babies!
Coconut shrimp
Duke’s salad bar
Mai Tai
Such an iconic picture.
Love the flowers

On our last full day, we hiked up to Lanikai pillboxes. It was SUPER hot and incredibly crowded. We treated ourselves to a poke bowl as a reward for lunch and went to hang out on the beach. We packed up to leave on Friday and then went to the Farmers’ Market for dinner to meet some friends.

Dreaming of beautiful houses..maybe one day.
Edamame and poke, never gets old.
Lanikai Beach
Not nearly as good as the North Shore.
Gluten-free corn chowder!

On our last day, we packed up and checked out of our Airbnb. Our last meal was shabu shabu (of course).

And with that, another Hawaii trip in the books! A hui ho!

Oahu: Part 4

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Thursday was our North Shore day. Our tentative plan was to stop at some of our favorite places (for both food and scenery). First stop was Giovanni’s shrimp shack in Kahuku…quickly followed by delicious corn on the cob.

Shrimp!
So so so so so good

We continued on to Haleiwa..and along the way we stopped at one of the beaches for our third monk seal sighting of the trip!

Waves were washing over him and he didn’t care.

We made it to Haleiwa (which has changed quite a bit..new shops, restaurants, etc). Even with all of the new stuff to choose from, we decided to share a Matsumoto’s Shave Ice.

Cherry, Grape and Pineapple

Cherry, Grape and Pineapple

After walking around and enjoying Haleiwa, we started our way back to town. On our drive back we saw yet ANOTHER monk seal..making our total for the trip four! Which is a lot considering they are critically endangered with about 1,100 left. We also got a glimpse of Sacred Falls on our drive back!

Love this shot
Sacred Falls wayyyy in the distance.

We made it home to shower, change and make the sunset at the Tantalus lookout. It was a bit cloudy, but we still got some great pictures.

After a beautiful sunset, we met Kevin, Saki and Kion (Kevin is Josh’s friend from the Marines) for dinner at Sweet Home Cafe. The restaurant is a Taiwanese-style hot pot and shave ice place. It was absolutely delicious!

You go to this fridge and pick out everything you want on plates.
Then toss it all in a bowl.
And you the have deliciousness!
Shave Ice

On Friday, our last full day there, we hiked the Hanauma Bay ridge. This was another new hike for us and it completely blew away all of our expectations. It was a gorgeous day and we could once again see Molokai, Maui and Lanai. I think the pictures will do a better job of describing how gorgeous it was! The waves were quit insane…Josh took an awesome video!

Such cool rock formations climbing down to the rock bridge.
Two people went out there and stood on this while we were there. Stupid.
Looks so calm…
The guy who just wanted his picture taken.
The guy who almost died wanting his picture taken…
I was much slower than Josh…obviously.
Hiking back up!

After that incredible hike, we drove around the east side of the island for the last time and got some poke at Hibachi again in Kailua.

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After my last poke bowl, we went back to our apartment to shower, change and get ready for dinner at Duke’s!

Opa
Coconut shrimp

On our last day (so sad), we checked out of our airbnb at 10:00 AM and went to Diamond Head Cove Health Bar for one last açai bowl.

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After enjoying the deliciousness, we drove around the area a bit checking out all of the cool houses and then had an early lunch of Shabu Shabu (my fave).

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We then headed to the airport to catch our flight. It was absolutely amazing to be back and Josh and I left there even more determined to do our best to live there again one day (especially since it was 43 degrees and raining when we landed in Chicago). I am so thankful we were able to go back and see our friends, get outside after SUCH a long winter and enjoy some of our favorite foods! 🙂

Oahu: Part 2

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After a couple days of volunteering, it was the weekend and time for some hiking! Our goal was to do some of the hikes that we didn’t get to do while we lived there. The first one we started with was the South trail to Kaena Point. We had taken the North trail a few times but hadn’t ever explored the South side. Our drive there was stunning. It was our first time to that side of the island and neither of us realized how pretty it was!

Just beautiful!
Very open trail. Lots of sunscreen was needed!
Really cool rock bridge.
Abandon truck along the way.
Incredible view looking back.
Albatross inside the sanctuary.
Monk seals!! Josh’s first time seeing a monk seal! I took many pictures.

After a pretty awesome trip to Kaena Point, we were both starving and went straight to get some poke at our favorite – Ono Seafood.

Poke!

Poke!

We went back to the apartment and showered before deciding what to do for the evening. We decided on eating at House Without a Key at the Halekulani hotel in Waikiki. We sat outside and enjoyed the amazing weather and a really great meal to end our day!

Drinks!
Beautiful sunset
Coconut shrimp
Ahi
Tomato Basil Soup

The next day, we got up and hiked Kuli’ou’ou Ridge. This is one of our favorite hikes on the island and we were really excited to get to hike it again. The view of the Windward coast at the top of a hike never gets old!

Always such an incredible view.

After the hike, we got lunch near Diamond Head at Bogarts and then had my favorite açai bowl from Diamond Head Cove Health Bar.

So delicious!

So delicious!

After a shower, I met some friends from BGCH for dinner at Side Street Inn while Josh did homework. We tried tons of different food as it was family style. So fun!

Mushrooms
Wings
Fried Rice
Garlic Chicken
Ahi

On Monday, we had a laundry day and then met Andy and Anna at Bellows beach to hang out. I sadly didn’t take any pictures at the beach…too much fun catching up! A great way to end our long weekend!

Oahu: Part 1

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After much debate on where to take a trip, Josh and I decided to travel back to Hawaii…as that’s where we really wanted to be. What sealed the deal for us (especially me), was that the Windward Clubhouse for the Boys and Girls Club where I worked was having their grand opening for their new clubhouse…12 years in the making! I knew if I could possibly be there for that, I would never regret it. So we decided to book a 10 day trip to Oahu for some hiking, food and much needed volunteer time.

Our trip started with a 5:00 AM flight to Dallas to catch our connected to Honolulu. After 12 hours of flying, we landed around noon on Oahu. The first stop was checking in to our airbnb near Punchbowl. It was a great location (super close to where we used to live) so we felt like we were close to home. After that, we headed to Kailua for the clubhouse opening. It was so great to see my kids, my old coworkers and how incredible the new clubhouse looked. Many happy tears were shed!

Hugging Tia…we cried in front of everyone.
Josh, Mark and I watching the hula dancers.

After a few hours at the clubhouse, we headed back to Honolulu to have dinner at Shabu Shabu House. I was so excited that Josh documented my excitement waiting on my food. After dinner, we headed back to our airbnb and crashed! Successful first day back in Hawaii!

Excited for Shabu Shabu!

Excited for Shabu Shabu!

The next day, we woke up early and decided to grab breakfast at Cinnamon’s before I went to volunteer. We split one of their mac nut cinnamon rolls and an omelet. A great way to start the day!

Macadamia nut cinnamon roll.
Iced coffee.
Omelet!

After that, I spent the day at the clubhouse volunteering. Pictured below: some of my favorites painting their nails!

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After a day of volunteering, Josh and I headed to the Kailua Farmers’ Market to grab dinner. It was delicious as always!

Mushrooms!
Seared ahi tuna. SO good!
And my favorite..ice cream!

After the Farmers’ Market, we headed back and crashed for the day!

On Friday, we woke up and went to Lanikai juice in Kailua for an açai bowl. I was so very happy!

Delicious!

Delicious!

After breakfast, it was another full day of volunteering for me. It was a rainy day, so not much going on outdoors! Our plan was to hike Koko Head in the evening, but we got rained out. Instead, we decided to go to Soul de Cuba for dinner! We both ordered Fricase de Pollo.

Pretty good start to our first few days in Hawaii! More to come!