Our Little Sunshine and Belated Honeymoon

So Norm and I just returned from our Hawaiian vacation. It's the honeymoon we never had and was really special (thanks AmEx points and frequent flier miles). The afternoon before we left, Lauren had her first dance recital. Lauren and Mimi were the youngest members of the dance center participating and they had their own little routine to "You Are My Sunshine" (their mommies also performed on stage with them). Lauren is officially a little ham. She LOVED performing, and even took a bow before the lights dimmed after the routine was over. As soon as we exited the stage she turned to me and said "Do it again, Mommy!" Now, every night before bed, she insists on getting on her "stage" (our raised entryway) and performing for me and Norm while we sing "You Are My Sunshine" over and over while she twirls and waves her arms. We had better start saving because we understand those dance costumes can get very expensive . . . . . . . .



On to our honeymoon (or honeymoob as Norm and I like to call it):

We stayed at the Kahala Hotel and Resort on Oahu, a few miles from the hustle and bustle of Waikiki. A beautiful property with recently remodeled rooms that were gorgeous. We were upgraded to a mountain view room that also had an ocean view out of the window behind the bed. Here are the amazing views:




We had perfect weather all week - mid to high 80s during the day. I worked out at their state of the art gym every morning while Norm surfed. I also tried surfing Waikiki one morning but after catching 2 waves in 15 minutes, was bopped in the mouth with my rented board, so decided to end my surfing career then and there (although getting Angelina Jolie lips for a couple of days was a nice bonus). Our days were lazily spent either exploring the beach and shops in Waikiki, or lounging in the shade at the hotel, which had a great pool and beautiful white sand beach. Paddleboarding was also a fun activity we got to try at the hotel (for free!) The hotel also had its own resident dolphins and stingray, which turned out to be a blast to watch. A gourmet buffet breakfast was included in our package, and we could not resist the maple butter crepe pancakes. Of course those paled in comparison to the malasadas (cream filled donut-like pastries) from Leonard's in Honolulu that one of the bellmen (Daryl) brought us toward the end of our stay (Norm befriended Daryl and they surfed together twice during our stay). One of my best memories is going to a hole in the wall Chinese restaurant we found (with a killer string bean and ground pork dish), followed by spending an hour at the Barnes and Noble across the street from the restaurant catching up on all of the latest gossip magazines. Ah, heaven. Following are a bunch of pics that show the beauty of where we were and give a glimpse of how much we enjoyed ourselves. We missed Lauren terribly, but are very grateful that we had this time to ourselves.

The resident stingray at The Kahala:


Two of the very well trained dolphins in the lagoon at the hotel:


Happy surfer pose:


On the beach at The Kahala:


Norm busy burning off every calorie ingested at the breakfast buffet:


Beautiful sunset scenery at the hotel:



A self-photo taken on our last night in paradise:


We can hardly wait for our next tropical vacation . . . . . . . with Lauren!!!!