We have settled in to our Cozy Kailua Hale and it is just perfect! An adorable little rancher with high ceilings and an enclosed yard. We are a short walk from shopping areas and a 5 minute drive to one of the best beaches on the island. Yep, we could live here. Milk is only a dollar more than at home... that 4 pack of Easy Mac for $7.79 is a little rough though! I’m hoping Cruz grows out of that habit soon anyway...

Troy and I are of course loving the beach town vibe. The lush mountains here are just majestic. Photos just don’t do it justice. And the healthy food cafes! Especially the gluten free options and Acai Bowls!

My Kai loves a beach, especially the ocean, but he doesn’t like wet clothes, or too much sand on him. I put a shirt back on him that was slightly damp the other day and said “it’s not that bad.” He said “It’s uncomfortable. It feels like a swamp.” Touché kid. I kind of agree.

Cruzy loves the sand. Rolling in it, jumping in it, he doesn’t care. He’s Batman. He’ll tell you. A lot. His new thing is talking to people that we don’t really know. Sometimes he tells them he’s Batman. Or that he’s 3 and his brother is 5. Or that he has speed boosters and capes to give away. It’s pretty predictable now. Not total strangers, but people that we have a friendly conversation with in the park, a cashier at a store, etc. As long as Mom and Dad engage in a conversation with them, it’s fair game for Cruz to tell them a little about himself. He makes us smile. ☺️

Hoping we get adjusted to this time change soon. Getting up with 2 hours left until sunrise feels like an eternity.

Aloha! 🌈🌺

We spent some time over the weekend at the North Shore at Turtle Bay Resort. The waves were insane this weekend for the Volcom Pipe Pro. We were able to see some giant ones from our balcony.

We took the kids to see some live music at a charity event at The Surfer Bar. They hung in there long enough for us to see John Cruz and he was great! Troy’s been a long time fan so it was cool to see him live.

Yesterday was really cloudy with off and on rain but that made it easier to watch the Super Bowl in the middle of the day without feeling like we were missing out on anything.

We stopped at the famous Kahuku shrimp trucks on the way home for some Super Bowl snacks. We tried both Giovanni’s and Fumi’s garlic shrimp and they were delish! We thought Fumi’s was a clear winner, but I’m sure we’ll be trying again. They are really good.

You’ll notice Kai’s new pose in the photos. This is what we get every time we ask him for a picture now 🤣

Today, we drove across the island to Hale’iwa and the North Shore. It was a beautiful drive...have I mentioned those mountains?! First, we stopped at the Dole Plantation and took a quick train ride to see the pineapples. Kai was definitely interested about how they grow. Cruz was pretty bored, but he sure enjoyed his Dole Whip after the tour!

Next we stopped at the Pupukea Tide Pools and Troy took the boys in the water. They loved it! They climbed over rocks, saw fish, a crab and lots of sea urchins. We could see it was pouring south of us but the rain held out and they had so much fun!

Cruz fell asleep before we made it to the next stop at Matsumoto for shave ice but Kai is our shave ice guy! When did he get so big??!

Makaha Beach is pretty special. A beautiful backdrop of lush green mountains and palm trees, and experienced surfers getting some great long rides out of the pretty blue waves. We stayed away from the surfers and it was a fun little spot for us to splash around and enjoy the scenery.

Today we hung out around our cute little home. We have a plumeria tree in our back yard that is dropping its last few flowers. They are so pretty and smell so nice! Troy hasn’t been happy with the hot tub chemistry so after trying to fix it with chemicals, it was eventually drained. Troy even got in and scrubbed it so now it’s fresh and clean! Can’t say so much for the beaches as 3 local beaches were closed today for high levels of bacteria...I guess that happens with lots of rain. Hopefully it’s better in a few days. There are plenty of beaches on the island, but the closed sign is from Waiamanalo today.

Yesterday we went hiking at Manoa Falls. It was a perfect hike for the boys. Plenty of rocks and climbing to make it interesting, but not too long or steep. Although, there was a point in time that I declared “no pictures, no distractions, everyone must hold hands and hug the mountain” as there were some open sides with fairly steep cliffs. Of course Kai said “Hug the mountain?!!” The payoff at the end was a beautiful waterfall. Ahhh Hawaii how I love you!

After our hike, everyone was hungry so we stopped at Uahi Island Grill for some grub. I got the red curry fish with green papaya salad over rice which Guy Fieri recommends on an episode of Diners, Drive Inns and Dives. It was very good. Troy got bread pudding that he thoroughly enjoyed. He saw it on the menu and said “mmm I love bread pudding!” I got quite a kick out of that because I haven’t seen him eat bread pudding in the 11+ years that I’ve known him 😊 Like he says, he likes to keep it interesting. Haha I love him ❤️

We hung out in Honolulu most of the day today. Had some delicious ramen, (I may pay for this in a few days, but it was all so worth it) took the kids to a playground, and walked around the Ala Moana shopping center. Another great day on the island! I just love the Aloha spirit here, it’s a lifestyle! We are so proud of our boys and how adaptable and easy going they are. They just go with the flow 😊

We had perfect weather here on Sunday and Monday so of course we were on the beach! Kailua Beach (5 minutes from our house) was perfect for playing in the ocean on Sunday. Kai loves playing catch in the water and boogie boarding. Oh and eating too!!! These boys eat more on the beach than they do in entire days at home.

We stopped at a delicious vegan restaurant called Ai Love Nalo in Waiamanalo on the way to Makapu’u Beach on Monday. Omg it was so good!! We had delicious smoothies and Troy had a BBQ portabella sandwich and I had a Medi Bowl with beet hummus, falafel, millet and baba ganoush. Troy even thought his was delicious! I really wish we had healthy options like this at home... It’s coming...but the East coast is a bit behind when it comes to food trends. And York is an exception to just about all food trends 🤔

Makapu’u was yet another strikenly gorgeous beach. Deep blue water, lush, green mountains, a lighthouse, and some of the biggest waves we have ever seen. There were no swimming signs everywhere but probably 30 experienced boogie boarders getting intense rides followed by full body crushes on every wave. We all sat there in awe of these waves. Even heard Kai mumble “Holy Shit” 🤣 Though I know I had said it a few waves before, when I looked back at him he said “that’s what Pop Pop would say!” 😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣

We went to another awesome body boarding beach on Thursday, known by the locals at Sandy’s. Sandy Beach was a great spot to once again watch these guys (and a few gals) get pummeled by waves breaking right on the shore just to get a 3 second thrill. The lifeguards kept announcing that there were safer beaches up the road and that if you are visiting the suggest you not enter the water and go somewhere else. The danger with these waves isn’t so much the size but that they break right on shore so the water is shallow and they see a lot of neck and spinal cord injuries. We were content eating lunch, playing the in the sand and just watching everyone so we spent the day here.

I admired a young girl sitting on the edge of the sand by the surf taking it all in and sniffing a plumeria flower. A short while later she came over and asked me if I had an extra hair tie. I gave her the one that was on my wrist and she went off to enjoy the water. She later brought me back my hair tie and told me it had been “blessed by the waves.” I loved that ❤️ Then she walked over with her plumeria and said “someone gave this to me so that I could give it to you.” I just loved her aloha spirit so we chatted a bit and took some pics together. Her name was Ash and she made my day.

Yesterday was Aloha Friday. I \240believe this started many years ago as the end of the work week and promoted more casual dress, specifically Aloha or Hawaiian shirts. In fact, I think it was here in Hawaii that started casual Fridays back on the mainland, originating from Aloha Friday. You’ll hear everyone on the island saying “Happy Aloha Friday”- I like it much better than TGIF.

We sure enjoyed our day at Kailua Beach. Our Kai Kai was inspired by the body boarders at Sandy’s I guess because he was catching waves like a natural yesterday. Cruzy spent the day perfecting his spins and running up and down the beach pretending to be Batman! Click the picture below to see a video of his spin - pretty impressive!

Last night we went to Waikiki and saw a beautiful sunset and had dinner at Tropics on the beach at Hilton Hawaiian Village. It brought back memories of when we stayed there 10 years ago with my fam. Such a cool hotel and they have fireworks every Friday night on the beach at Waikiki that we enjoyed from the restaurant. Troy and I both had awesome fresh fish dishes too. He had butterfish and I had Kona Kampachi. Soooo so good.

The highlight for the boys though, was probably the Chinese New Year celebrations. A Lion came through the restaurant accompanied by loud drums. Kai’s face was priceless! They even fed the lion money for good luck. Check out the video...I particularly like how Kai is so kind to encourage his brother to go first! 🤣😂

We had a great time at the Paradise Cove Luau on Saturday. The boys had a blast playing Polynesian games, making headbands and getting tattoos. They love a show and couldn’t wait to go on stage to learn the hula!

After our hike we went to Tiki’s in Waikiki for some drinks and grindz! Caught another beautiful Waikiki sunset. They never get old!! The kids were hyped on root beer floats so they played on the shore line at sunset and slept on the way home!

We did some exploring on the North Shore at Kawela Bay and Sunset Beach. Kawela Bay was especially cool because of a giant banyan tree on the hike down to the beach. It has been featured in many movies including Lost, Jumangi 2, Journey 2 The Mysterious Island, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, and more.

Sunset Beach is an iconic north shore spot for professional surfing and killer sunsets. We got to see both!

We all enjoyed a day at Ala Moana Beach on Aloha Friday. 🌺 It was a great day for paddle boarding and we even caught the Friday night fireworks on the beach.

We’ve been following the rules, but sure do miss our family, friends and Kona girl back home! I also miss my kitchen and Troy misses his tools. 😆

As I type, Troy is urging me to get dressed for the Lanikai Pillbox hike which we have been wanting to do. This one is a little bit more challenging, so Troy and I are going to do this one without the boys.

I’ll leave you with some photos from the weekend. As a gift from my parents for Christmas, Troy and I had a night out on Friday. We went to one of the best restaurants on the island. Everything was great but the highlight was dessert!! I ordered the coconut sorbet, coated in dark chocolate, macadamia nuts and coconut with fresh fruit and Lilikoi sauce. It was so light and refreshing and the presentation was so cool! It looked like a real coconut! Troy had the pineapple “shave ice” which actually looked like shave ice, but it was tapioca pudding, pana cotta and real frozen pineapple shaved to look like ice. So special! Plus we celebrated my birthday a few days early. PS...I didn’t crop Troy dessert pic because me shoving every bit of that dessert in my mouth was one of the highlights of this trip for me! 🤣

We spent Saturday in Hale’iwa and the Pipeline on the North Shore. We got wet at times but enjoyed the day!

Sunday at Waimanalo Beach was fun. It was cloudy but Kai enjoyed some body boarding and wave jumping with Daddy. He and Pop Pop got knocked down by a couple surprise kahunas. Cruz spent some time in the water with Daddy but mostly enjoyed eating veggies on the beach, practicing his spins, and finding treasures on the beach 😊 My sweet boys are the bestest buds and that makes my heart burst into little pieces every day! 🧡🧡

I spent some time chatting with a lifeguard here before we chose to let Kai in the water here. He mentioned that some parents sit on the beach while their 5 year old are out swimming in rip currents. Guess some parents view lifeguards as babysitters everywhere! 😤

We took the crew up to the North Shore and got some garlic shrimp, grilled corn from the food trucks and bullet coffee from th Sunrise Shack. I got the vegan coconut one with coconut oil and coconut cream and it was delicious. Cruz devoured a bag of fresh mango. He just loves his veggies and fruit 😊