Kailua, Hawaii

Rather than hike Makapuu first thing in the morning, as we discussed yesterday, we decide to stay in bed for a bit longer and watch the World Cup final. Though I think both of us were pulling for Holland, neither were too upset at the 1-0 Spain result. More disappointing was that there weren’t more goals and more excitement.

After the game, we headed over to Maka and Kii’s house for a BBQ/potluck. Spent the early part of the afternoon watching Maka and Kii cook and hanging out with their two boys, Treyton (8) and Theron (3), or T-Boy. The kids are everything you’d expect young boys to be: rambunctious, rascally, and full of energy. Lots of fun to play basketball with them on their little indoor hoop, to check out Trey’s Star Wars and Indiana Jones Lego creations, and to watch T eat. Trey has Kii’s face and smile, is tall, stick skinny and is whip smart; T-Boy looks a bit more like Makaena, has the cutest chubby cheeks going despite being pretty aggressive, even for a three year-old. T’s crazy facial expressions could keep me entertained for days.

OK…back to the food. As we were hanging out in the afternoon, Maka cleaned mushrooms; sautéed bacon; scaled an Uhu (a huge fish, he eventually steamed) using a spoon; and seasoned steaks. Kii stuffed mushrooms with bacon and shredded cheddar, prepared wontons (in the crab Rangoon family, made with fake crab, cream cheese, green onion, water chestnuts all in a food processor) and then deep fried them. Towards the latter half of the night, Maka also floured some little pieces of chicken and dropped them in the deep fryer as well. If you can’t tell, we are getting the royal treatment. Their generosity is seemingly unlimited and their taste for great food is overwhelming.

A close rival to the food was the company. On top of more time hanging out and catching up with Maka and Kii, we got to spend the evening with Ryan, Jonah, T, and Spondike. Time with old friends is certainly to be cherished, but when people are as funny and as good natured as this lot, it’s all the more special. Flattered that they all had time to come to Kailua to hang out. Won’t soon forget Ryan’s dog Ming, running around with Jonah’s son, Kawika, remembering old tailgating stories, and so on. A lot has changed in everyone’s life since we all got together like that, but it’s reassuring that certain fundamental things about people remain constant.

A night well spent, to be sure.

After a long night, we slept in a bit and then headed out for breakfast. Tried for Boots and Kimo’s again, but were dissuaded by the 45 minute wait (on a Monday!?). Had to “settle” for Cinnamon’s again, and happy to do it. Portuguese sausage, scrambled eggs, and rice for me; crab benedict (again) for LVL; and a short stack of guava chiffon pancakes for “dessert.” All super good, as expected. I wish every waitress was as (unintentionally) funny as the one we have had both times here. When you ask for something, she responds “OK, I’ll get it” in a very sweet, very high, very local voice. Not really sure why, but I love it.

After brunch, we met Maka, Kii, and the kids at Kailua beach park for the afternoon. Perfect weather, as usual. Though the beach was a lot more crowded than I remember it being (again, on a Monday?!?), the water was clear, warm, and inviting. Played with the kids in the sand, swam around with them in the water, threw them in the air [Ed. note: With Trey trying to instruct Josh how to throw him higher/farther/faster, just like his dad does.], took Kii’s paddle board out for a bit (LVL loved it), watched T-Boy almost fall asleep on the board. The ideal, mellow, Hawaii afternoon.

Met the Kealalio-Pulis at Round Table Pizza in Enchanted Lakes Shopping Center for dinner. Another old favorite, and something I’ve been looking forward to for a while.* Once again, and for the third time today, something that shouldn’t be crowded was totally packed (on a Monday? whaaat???). Most of the tables were full, there was a line to order food, and noisy kids running everywhere. Definitely not the chill post-beach type of atmosphere I had hoped for. Maybe everyone was there to see the two guys playing guitar and singing Hawaiian songs and old classics (e.g., Beatles’ Blackbird; James Taylor).** Despite the crowd,*** a really good meal. Salad bar; cheesy bread sticks; pizza; and a parenting clinic by Maka/Kii. After dinner, a Baskin-Robbins stop for dessert, a well-deserved treat after such a hard day. Oh, yeah.

Another beautiful vacation day without any stress or worry. I’ll remember it most for the time spent with the K-P family.

* The corn meal on the bottom of the always-crispy crust is what makes the pizza.

** They were actually pretty good.

*** Not to be forgotten was the family to our immediate right, with adults and kids sitting at different tables. What I assume was the dad had tribal face tattoos, a Hawaiian flag on his neck, and literally did not look up from his phone the entire night. The mother had bright pink highlights, crazy long fake nails, and huge (4-5 inches) gold Hawaiian bracelets on each arm.**** Not to judge, but there wasn’t much in the way of parenting going on.

**** I knew I had seen her before! She works at Boots and Kimo’s, and she became familiar after I’d gone in to check on getting a table at least twice since we’ve been here. Pretty small town.