Thursday on Waikiki

On Thursday, Marc really wanted to walk around the city and take photographs, and the kids and I really wanted to go back to the beach, so we split up for the morning.

{I neglected to mention that Lucas's eardrum burst on the flight into Honolulu, which put quite a damper on his swimming in Hawaii. We were unaware of any ear problems until he woke me up in the middle of the night on Sunday, in intense pain. He then told me that his ear had hurt quite a lot during landing and then again when he went swimming. (! This, from the boy who once ground his teeth down to exposed nerves, and we didn't discover it until the dentist was examining him. He couldn't believe that Lucas hadn't been complaining of pain...)

Anyway... Marc took him to a nearby insta-care, where we found out that his eardrum was perforated. He was given antibiotics and told not to put his head underwater for about a month! Terrible timing, and he was gravely disappointed.}

I took a couple of photos of my feet in the sand, but apparently zero photos of the kids playing in the surf. Oops! In my defense, I was swimming with them most of the time.

Incidentally, it was quite rocky in most of the places where we were swimming. It was rather hard on my newly-pedicured toes. The boys scouted out a sandier area that we moved to for the second half of the morning.

Max went out and discovered all kinds of sea life: tons of different fish, eels, sea cucumbers, sea urchins. He wasn't even very far from shore! I stayed close to the beach with Lucas and Eva, who were enjoying the boogie boards we bought.

We had wanted to go to Matsumoto's Shave Ice, per our home teacher, Brother Kukahiko's instructions, but it didn't work out. Still determined, we discovered a new shave ice place right near our condo! (And the answer is YES, I was always hot.)

Check out this giant volcano of shave ice! Mim and Bob shared a peanut butter lover's variety.

Marc, Max and Lucas all went for the peanut butter lover's one as well.

I was sharing with Eva. I wanted a fruity flavor, but she won out with the chocolate lover's flavor! (Those are Oreo crumbs on top.)

Bob & Mim took the kids up to the owner's lounge to play pool and other games.

Marc checked on Yelp for nearby restaurants and we ended up eating in the food court of the International Marketplace! I had delicious tempura with shrimp, ahi, and veggies. Marc had macadamia nut-crusted mahi mahi.

We saw the dog walker again!

While Marc was putting Eva to bed, the boys and I went for a walk. I love these torches that were lit everywhere, it felt very festive.

Twinkle lights always add an air of festivity, as well.