Christmas in Hawaii, 2007

It was often said in the Barnes family, that if nobody came home to Idaho for Christmas that Mom and Dad were just going to head to Hawaii. Mom didn't make it, but after a couple years of planning we took Dad to Hawaii for Christmas 2007, making it 49 (out of 50) states of the Union he has been in (and once again one ahead of Cris).

December 22-23, 2007

We flew out of ABQ on Saturday morning, and connected on ATA airlines in Phoenix, arriving in Honolulu about 7 p.m. We took a "taxi" to our condo, which turned out to be a stretch limo. Susie was unimpressed -- I guess because no liquor in the bar?. Everyone was tired after we checked in, but Elizebeth was hungry for sushi so she and I walked around Waikiki, found some sushi, and then did a little grocery shopping at the Food Pantry on Kuhio near our condo and in particular bought tropical fruit to get it ripening.

The next day was a planned veg-out day, and we hit the Waikiki beach. We also met up with our friend Sheryl Shohet and her daughter Heather and took them out to lunch. That evening we met up with the nephews and their wives: Aaron and Meredith, and Jacob and Daniella and their son, Marcus. We took them out to a Chinese restaurant near us -- good, but Hong Kong style and not the spicy dishes we are used to (but really good fish). (Marilyn is embarrassed she forgot to take any pictures of that meal, be we had a good time!)

Christmas Eve

We made it back to Waikiki right at 5:00 pm and were quite hungry. Without reservations we got our name in early and only waited 15 minutes to get into Duke's Canoe Club restaurant, and had a great Christmas Eve dinner. Cris really liked the poke (pronounce "po-key") rolls of raw ahi.

Dad, Susie and Elizebeth were wiped and we left them home, but Marilyn and I "dressed up" a little and took a taxi out to Mary Hockaday's family church. There we got to see hula dancers doing Christmas songs and enjoy a real local Christmas Eve celebration. [It was a lovely mix of Tongan natives and a everyone else. Two young men sang O Holy Night and then a young man led the children in a sign language depiction of a Xmas Story. The choir sang We Three Kings with 3 ancient men each singing one of the King's verses--very sweet.] Afterwards, Mary (Cris' boss, who grew up in Hawaii) invited me over to her parent's where we helped celebrate their 57th wedding anniversary. That's Tyler (Mary's brother), Frank, Robert (Mary's husband), and her mom in the picture. Tyler and his wife Faith were so kind to drive us back to our condo on their way back to the west side of Oahu, and we crashed.

Christmas

Another veg day at the beach, this time some done nearer Diamond Head and some in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotal with some boogie boards Marilyn wrangled over from the condo. [I had a hard time finding the family and after finally reuniting, I jumped in the ocean with my phone still tucked in my swimsuit, so I now have a new phone.] We came back to the condo and cleaned up, and then took a cab over to the giant movie theatre in Ward Center (16 screens). A zoo! Everyone in Honolulu went to the movies on Christmas! But we got seats together in a large theater for "National Treasure 2" and had popcorn and candy for lunch. [Apparently, a lot of the Baumgartner clan were at that movie at the same {Greenwich Mean} time so that was kind of fun.]

We made our way home again by cab (all the stores were closed), and then late in the day we made Christmas dinner and invited Jacob and Daniella and Marcus over. Using all four burners in both condo rooms we managed to make fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, broccolli (Cris steamed it too long, but Dad and Marcus loved it that way!), and a tropical fruit salad. Daniella brought a marbled cake (it looked like a bundt cake, but she expressed no knowledge of that term) and we had a great dessert. Marcus and Elizebeth exchanged gifts as they had each other's names in the Baumgartner children gift eschange although Daniella had gotten Susie a present too. We had brought a little something for Jake, my god-child and Daniella including this Santa Fe necklace and earrings.

December 26, 2007

By now we decided we wanted a car, and Cris called up Enterprise ("because they would come pick us up...") and made a reservation. However, long boring story later, it took most of the day and his walking over to their office near Ala Moana to finally get his hands on a car. By then we had shopped out Waikiki, booked the shuttle for the rest of us out to the Polynesian Cultural Center, and gotten the ride out there with a chatty bus driver who told us about every sight on the way. Meanwhile Cris got the car finally and drove out to meet us. He took all the time wasted and extra expense in stride, saying, "I needed a little time to myself, and give me a car and a map and I'm happy."

Dad, Mar and the girls only had time there to see the New Zealand exhibit but enjoyed that, and Cris showed up just in time for the luau. The food was pretty good for a massive assembly line buffet (Cris especially like the purple sweet potato salad), and we had a blast with the smoothie drinks in the pineapples. (The PCC, being run by the Mormons, is alcohol and even caffeine free, but that was fine by us.) Everyone who was having an anniversary that week (month?) was invited up to dance, so we did. We had all been idiots that day, going to the windward side of the island without coats, and so we had to buy Elizebeth a hoodie to get her through the evening. The dancing show was pretty good, very good dancers. [We especially liked the flaming batons that they twirled and the fires that the clowns sat on, jumped around, and generally entertained us.] We hopped into Cris' car fast and got out before the traffic jam got going and were home in a little over an hour.

Our 21st Wedding Anniversary

We had planned to get up early and climb Diamond Head, but we slept in a bit instead. But then we drove over to Sea Life Park, stopping for this nice photo on the coast. Marilyn had made reservations for she and the girls to do the "Royal Dophin Swim" as a great treat, while Dad and I watched and wandered the park.

As you can see, the women had a blast! They each got two rides on the dolphins, once being pulled by grabbing on to the dorsal fins, and once being pushed on their feet. They kissed and hugged and rubbed the dolphins -- Cris claimed he got jealous watching Marilyn flirt with the dolphins, but they were girls.... Definitely a lifetime memory. We bought the DVD, and anyone who gets near Santa Fe will probably be subjected to watching them swim with the dolphins.

We drove over to the movie theater, and while having problems with left turns and finding parking we managed to sneak into "Juno" just as it started. Good flick to see, especially with teenage daughters. Then back to the condo, where Cris called for and picked up some pizza for the girls and Dad.

Cris' treat was that night taking Marilyn to Alan Wong's restaurant. He had told them it was our anniversay, and they had a special menu for us! And made a special desserty with "Happy Anniversary" spelled out in chocolate on the plate. Wonderful dinner, with great fish, and a "tomato salad with li huing mui {pear} puree" that was one of the most special things we've tasted.

The next morning, despite being out late, the parents got up early and climbed Diamond Head. A lot of good couple's time together which was great. Then after breakfast with everyone, we went to the Honolulu Academy of Arts and got the shuttle to a special tour just for us (courtesy of Dad Barnes) of the Doris Duke Shangri-La estate. Born in 1913, she was a six foot tall, surfboarding, classical composing and grand piano playing, dancing (taught by Martha Graham), and swimming billionaire's daughter who bought her flip flops at Longs Drugstore and drove a Chevy Blazer so she could take her dogs to the vets. She didn't read much, but she collected Islamic Art and decorated her Hawaiian house with it in spectacular style. Quite a renaissance women, and not a boring tour as the girls had feared.

After returning to downtown on the shuttle, we had mediocre dim-sum in Chinatown, and then back to the condo where we collapsed and just vegged out for the evening, watching a Bourne Marathon of all three DVDs (thanks to Sheryl who had loaned us a player for the week!).

December 29-30, 2007

Saturday morning we packed up and checked out, and with a suitcase on Elizebeth's lap we headed to the North Shore. The waves were only 8-10 feet, but there was a nasty shore break at Waimea Bay that knocked both girls down. We were scared by all the stories of car break ins, so Cris just looked and stayed at the car. By noon the road was bumper to bumper, and Jacob and family were stuck in it coming out to meet us. So Cris told him (by cell phone -- service was great in Oahu) to bail and find us a fish restaurant in Hailewa, and we met up and had a nice lunch. We walked over to Matsumoto's and had famous shave ice - yumm!! It was really nice to see the nephews and their families.

Our friend Sheryl was kind enough to let us come to her house, where she let the women shower off the sand and then fed us dinner. All this before she headed off to play in a Symphony concert that night! We repeated a famous picture of Cris and the girls from 13 years ago on their futon -- the girls have grown!

After a stop at Border's and Starbucks, we took the car back to the airport and checked in. A red eye to Phoenix, and nice connection to ABQ, and then replacing Marilyn's phone while Cris grocery shopped. We dropped Dad off with lots of hugs and kisses, and came home.

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