Hop to Hawaii

Thanks to the Air Force, we were able to fly to Hawaii each way on a C-135 for free! We are so grateful to be able to take advantage of Space-A travel. It saves so much money! We left Okinawa on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Hawaii on Sunday at about 5am local time. We hung out, booked hotels, and slept in their nice infant lounge until the Enterprise office in the terminal opened up at 8am. Once we had our rental car, we drove about an hour up to the North Shore and stayed at Turtle Bay. I had heard good things about the resort and it did not disappoint!

Caden with static hair from Dad's jacket on the plane

Caden had a stuffed honu waiting for him on the bed at Turtle Bay!

Turtle Bay view

View from the balcony

Surf at Turtle Bay

 We stayed at Turtle Bay for two nights and really enjoyed the North Shore and it's laid back feel. Brian bought a used surfboard at Surf and Sea and was able to surf at Sunset Beach right down the beach from the infamous Pipeline! Caden and I enjoyed playing on the beach and checking out some of the local shops. And of course I had to get a famous Matusmoto Hawaiian shaved ice! The line was long, but it was worth it! Yummm.

After our two nights on the North Shore, we headed down to the touristy area of Waikiki. We checked in at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. The receptionist informed us that she was out of the regular (military rate) rooms, so she gave us a corner room in the Rainbow Tower that had TWO BALCONIES and really great views. Apparently it is usually $100 more a night, but we still got the military rate!  We stayed there 4 nights, and later extended 2 more nights once we discovered that Jack Johnson and Willie Nelson (along with some other great local artists) were going to perform at a benefit concert for Japan right at our hotel on Sunday!

I enjoyed shopping at Target (I tend to miss that store since we don't have one in Japan!) and the Ala Moana mall near the hotel. Brian enjoyed surfing the waves in front of the hotel, which was convenient! We also did a lot of walking along the beach and in downtown Waikiki.

We ate lots of yummy food, especially seafood! I was excited to eat at PF Changs (one of my favorite restaurants) and one night we got a babysitter for Caden and went to dinner at Dukes on the beach. We got a second babysitter (Both were awesome and through a company called Happy Kids. They even brought bags full of age-appropriate toys and had lots of experience!) the following day so that Brian and I could enjoy some beach/pool activities by ourselves.

 

Mimes in Waikiki

 

 On Friday nights, the Hilton Hawaiian Village has a fireworks show so we grabbed a pizza and a bottle of wine and watched them from the comfort of our balconies! Caden was scared at first, but we just smiled and cheered so he would see that fireworks were fun!

Our friends from Okinawa, Sergio and Amanda Luna, were also at our hotel so we met up for dinner and drinks at Cheeseburger Waikiki on Saturday night after a fun day at the pool.

 

Sunday was our last day and the day of the benefit concert! It was called "Kokua for Japan". Kokua means "to help" in Hawaiian. The concert ended up raising 1.6 MILLION DOLLARS! WOOHOO! It was from 12-5pm with Jack Johnson and John Cruz as the closing act. We were able to stand right in front of the stage for JJ, which was awesome! Brian even got JJ to sign his surfboard before he went on! We had never heard of John Cruz before, but we really liked him and this is our new favorite song... All the locals sang along to it. Perfect way to end our trip!

 The guy above is Jake Shimabukuro and he plays the most awesome ukulele music! Brian even got him to sign my "Kokua for Japan" shirt! Check this video out...

Henry Kapono

Mick Fleetwood on the left

Michael McDonald

Jack Johnson about to play in the background

Jack Johnson

Jack Johnson and John Cruz

After the concert, we showered and took a nap before trying for a midnight flight back to Oki. However, we didn't know to ask over the phone if the plane was equip with an infant cot (life preserver) for Caden, so we showed up to the terminal only to be told that there weren't any on that flight. We had to go back to the Hilton and try for the next flight at 9 the next morning. We got on no problem the next morning and had a smooth flight home! :)