Monday continued...

We got to the airport at just the right time. Ryan had received a text message from Howard they were about to land (wait, aren’t all cell phones supposed to be off during flights). Larry and Rita were already there and waiting as well. We all stood at the baggage claim and waited patiently for them to walk out and receive their leis. They walked out looking pretty awesome for just going through ten hours of traveling!

We loaded up their bags and swept them off to get checked in. Kayla got to the hotel and was thrilled to go see all the sea turtles off the balcony. After they got their stuff put away, changed and cleaned up a bit, we left to go grab an early dinner. We stopped along the way at a blowhole Larry and Rita had found in their morning of discovering. An odd tree with a large bumpy fruit all over it was near the road. All of us were wondering what it was, when Kayla announces it is a breadfruit…and sure enough she was right! Brilliant! After a quick look, we piled back into the cars and headed to the Sheraton…when we got there we realized the restaurants weren’t going to be open for another hour or so…ugh. We were all hungry and couldn’t wait that long. Back into the cars…next stop, Huggo’s on the Rocks. Again, they weren’t open yet, but all tables were empty and waitstaff hanging about. Back into the cars…next we just parked in the main shopping area and decided to eat whatever we could find that didn’t looks too expensive or too crowded. The Fish Hopper was close and sounded perfect! After we all got settled in, we immediately ordered appetizers and pretty quickly knew what we wanted to eat. I had the Kahula Pork…and from the looks on everyone’s faces when they tried mine, I think I ordered the best! Kahula Pork is the pork that is cooked in the ground…like at a luau. It was extremely moist and had an incredible flavor. I had been a little concerned it would not be served with a sauce, but after trying it, it didn’t need one. It was wonderful! Ryan had the Mahi Mahi over sweet potatoes. I had never seen sweet potatoes that were bright purple! They looked crazy, but tasted wonderful! He was happy he opted for the sweet potatoes over the rice (it was the other option you could get as a side). What we found interesting is that every plate…even Kayla’s had a little mini orchid on it. Too cool! Orchids are so plentiful, they use them like we do parsley or mint! The table behind us ordered dessert from a magnificent looking dessert tray…our whole table turned and looked…wow….sweet potato pie, coconut cake, macadamia nut pie, snicker cheesecake! We opted to take a snicker pie, coconut cake, and macadamia nut pie with us. While Larry and Howard checked us all out, the rest of the gang walked across the street to the beach. Sweet Wesley had been asking “wanna go beach” since he’d arrived. He finally got to stick his feet in the water!

After playing for a bit, we stopped at the Scandinavian Shaved Ice. Absolutely huge! Now the Huhn family was all hooked too. After Wesley chugged down some of the snow cone juice, we all piled back in the cars and headed for the hotel. Wesley fell asleep on the way back and was carried up to his room. We’d made a plan to rendezvous back downstairs to enjoy the desserts in about ten minutes. Ryan and I changed into our bathing suits and headed down. Ended up only Larry, Ryan and I could keep our eyes open long enough to enjoy them. We each had a few bites (the macadamia nut pie being my favorite…like pecan pie, but made with macadamia nuts instead!) then sat and chatted. After half an hour and us realizing no one else would be coming down, Larry headed upstairs with the desserts and Ryan and I headed to the pool. It was quite relaxing after having such a busy day. The pool wasn’t incredibly crowded either. Six foot deep at it’s deepest and the most shallow was at four feet. There was a baby pool though…which we thought to be the hot tub, but later realized it was only knee deep and made for the little ones. After a few laps, we quietly retreated back to the room. We both ironed our clothes for the next morning…I say we…what I really mean is Ryan. I started to iron, then go so fed up with it, Ryan took over. I wrote maybe a quarter of a page in the journal, my final few postcards, and fell asleep. I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer!