Lox of Bagels & Sand Island Park

There is a bagel shop on Sand Island where we love to stop for lunch.  If you come to visit us and your plane arrives around lunchtime there's a good chance this will be the first place we take you after we pick you up.  In fact, this has become sort of a tradition that our more frequent visitors expect and look forward to.

We were fans of Lox of Bagels when we lived here back in the day and were very happy they were still here when we moved back.  We were also happy when our ever-opinionated boy decided he liked to eat there too!  Not that we would have let him veto us, but it's always more fun to do things when your children are enthusiastic than when they are whining about them.  Our girl isn't verbal enough to be super opinionated but so far she seems to enjoy lunch there too.

Last week we met up with family who were visiting us here on Oahu for lunch at Lox of Bagels.  We got there at 11:30 and thought we would beat the rush but they were starting to run out of certain bagels and all of their tables (their seating area is small!) were taken.  My husband suggested we get our food to go and take it out to the park at the end of Sand Island.

I don't remember ever driving all the way to the end of Sand Island before, but that's where the park is.  It definitely wasn't the prettiest one I've seen but we stopped right at the entrance and found a spot where we had a great view of Aloha Marketplace and downtown Honolulu.  We had a nice little picnic there and afterward our girl had fun running around and pushing her stroller and our boy had fun tree climbing and checking out things at the water's edge.

Do it yourself:

• Lox of Bagels is located at 111 Sand Island Access Road, which is off of Nimitz Hwy.  Once you turn onto Sand Island Access Road you will go down several blocks and it will be in a strip mall on your left, just a few doors down from West Marine.  After you see it, make a U-turn and look for a parking spot.

• They have a lot of different bagel sandwiches to choose from.  My favorite is the veggie sandwich on a toasted sun-dried tomato bagel.  My boy always gets a bagel pizza which I ask them to cut into quarters for him (it cools much faster that way!).  My girl is happy eating a blueberry bagel.  They also have fresh fruit cups and pasta salad for sale, as well as plain and flavored creme cheese.

• If we get there at the end of lunch or after lunch they will be sold out of many of their flavors of bagels.  But if we're there early enough I like to get a dozen bagels to take home.

• As I mentioned, their seating area is small but this is actually the first time we haven't managed to get an empty table there.  Unlike many restaurants, the temperature inside this one is usually on the warm side - probably because of their ovens baking all those yummy bagels.

• Check their website for their hours.

UPDATE • Bathrooms!!  Learned today that the nearest bathroom is a few doors down in the West Marine store, and they are very nice about loaning out their key to kids who just can't wait!

• I'll have to go back and check out the entire Sand Island Recreation Area sometime.  I did notice they have picnic tables and bathrooms.  As you can see in this picture there wasn't much green grass there.  Guess it's been too dry.

• I was there as part of a group of 6 so I felt safe there.  Not sure if I'd be as comfortable if it was just me and the kids.  As always, use your best judgment and common sense when it comes to safety at this park or anywhere.

Pizza Bob's in Hale'iwa

There are a number of good places to eat in Hale'iwa and I think Pizza Bob's is one of them.  Their pizza is good and so are their salads.  I think they have pasta too, but it's the salad and pizza that we usually order so that's what sticks out in my mind.

They have a children's menu and high chairs.  They also have crayons for kids to color with but on our last visit there they didn't give us any and the children's menu was laminated so I figured they didn't have anything for the kids.  But then I spied a cup of crayons on a neighboring table and since no one was sitting there we snagged them and let the kids draw on a flier we'd picked up in the entry.  So if they don't give you crayons and you want some, ask your server.

We've always eaten outside which has a nice casual ambiance about it.

Do it yourself:

• Pizza Bob's is at 66-145 Kamehameha Hwy. in Hale'iwa.  

• Lots of free parking in the adjacent lot.

• Seems like it takes awhile for the pizzas to be made so if you're in a hurry you might want to go somewhere else, but if you have time I think they are worth the wait.

• There are often coupons for Pizza Bob's in MidWeek, so clip one and save some money on your meal!

Laniakea Beach, a.k.a. Turtle Beach

After swimming and playing in the sand at Sunset Beach we headed towards Hale'iwa and stopped at Laniakea Beach, commonly called Turtle Beach.  I think this beach is so pretty, especially in the late afternoon.  The lighting is great, the rocks on the beach add interest, the coconut trees make it look so tropical...  We took a few group shots that were the "we've just been at the beach having lots of fun" type pictures and not the type to enlarge and hang on the wall, but maybe someday we'll have a nice family portrait taken here.  It's a beautiful spot!  I also took a few silhouette photos which I always think are fun.

The reason the beach is nicknamed Turtle Beach is because Hawaiian green sea turtles seem to love it here.  This time we just saw a bunch of them in the water, but it is common to also find them up on the beach here just hanging out and relaxing.  Word has gotten out about this spot as you can see from the crowd of turtle watchers below.  

Turtles or not, this beach is definitely worth stopping at!

Do it yourself on Oahu:

• Located off of the Kamehameha Hwy (Hwy 83) between Hale'iwa and Waimea Bay.  I recognize it by the fact that the beach comes right up to the highway with no trees between the beach and the road and parking is across the street in a big dirt pull-out type area.

• When we've seen turtles on the beach here they have always been on the far right end of the beach as you're facing the ocean.

• Hawaiian green sea turtles are a threatened species protected by law, and touching or harassing them is illegal.  Give them their space and save yourself possible fines and even jail time.

• There are often volunteers at this beach keeping a watchful eye on the turtles.  They are a great source of information, so if you have turtle questions, ask them!

Sunset Beach

I've joked that I go to the Mainland more than I go to the North Shore and the truth is, it's probably not as much of a joke as you might think.  Afterall, the North Shore is SO far away!  You know, far, as in 40 whole miles away from my house!  It seems that people who live here either get island fever and feel claustrophobic or they adjust so much that their frame of reference changes and going anywhere outside of a 10 mile radius takes advance planning.  I'm definitely in the second category.  But we really like the North Shore and this weekend we used off-island visitors as motivation to make the trek north.  

We drove up the Windward coast through Ka'a'awa (love the name of that town!), past the Polynesian Cultural Center and on up past Turtle Bay Resort.  Such a beautiful drive!  We picked Sunset Beach as our destination and when we got there we found a spot on the beach, dumped our stuff under our umbrella and headed for the water.

It always amazes me what a different place the North Shore is, depending on the season.  In the winter the waves are huge and swimming is definitely at your own risk.  In the summer the waves are much calmer and the North Shore becomes a place for swimming and snorkeling.


As its name suggests, this beach is a great place to sit and watch the sun set over the water.  On this particular visit though, we left before sunset so we could get the kids home and to bed at a decent time.  Because, you know, we were so far away that if we stayed 'til sunset imagine how incredibly late it would be by the time we made it all the way back home.  Oh, that and we had a couple more stops we wanted to make, but I'll save those for other posts.

For now, I'll leave you with another picture of Sunset Beach.  Definitely worth the "long" drive!

Do it yourself on Oahu:

• Sunset Beach is located off of the Kamehameha Hwy. on the North Shore between Waimea Bay and Turtle Bay Resort.  

• There is parking right along the road at the top of the beach, as well as additional parking across the street at Sunset Beach Park.  

• There are no restrooms or showers on the beach, but I think there may be some across the street in the park.  I should have paid better attention.

• If you are planning to venture very far from shore, check with the lifeguards about the strong rip current that occurs at this beach.

Kaka'ako Waterfront Park

Here's a picture of my kids eating a picnic lunch at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.  How lucky am I to get to include views like this in my weekly routine?!  The tropics aren't for everyone but I'm sure happy living here!  And would you believe this was Plan B for a picnic spot?

When we have an activity/appointment on the Windward side before lunch and one in town after lunch I often pack a lunch and we picnic at Nu'uanu Valley Park on the way.  If it's raining there we just keep driving until we find sunshine, which is how we ended up at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.

There's no playgroung but there's lots of wide open space and both my kids enjoy running up and down the big hills.  There are lots of places to picnic - near the parking lot, at the top of one of the hills, under a pavilion by the water or, as shown in the picture above, on the grass facing the ocean.  I loved this spot we found.  Sure can't beat the view!!  We all had fun watching tugboats pulling container ships out to sea and watching people take parasail rides.  We were a bit windblown when we left but were no longer hungry and were refreshed and ready to continue on with our day!


Do it yourself:
• Kaka'ako Waterfront Park is just across from the Children's Discovery Center at the end of Ohe Street, which intersects with Ala Moana Blvd. between the Aloha Tower and Ward's Warehouse.  Look up Ohe Street, Honolulu, HI on Google maps and you'll see it!
• The park has bathrooms and picnic tables.
• It's a popular spot for school groups to have lunch on their field trips but there is still plenty of space there even if you see five school buses in the parking lot.


Thanks to SteadyMom for hosting her Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

Zia's Caffe

I pride myself in being able to put off grocery shopping much longer than planned and still make healthy and tasty meals, but I pushed it a little too far last week and our fridge got so empty I suggested we should eat out.

We decided to head to Zia's Caffe in Kaneohe.  The setting, right on Kam Hwy, isn't anything special but they bring bread right away (always nice when dining out with kids) and we like their food - good salads and lots of great pasta dishes to choose from.  Pizza and lots of other choices too, but we always go with salad and pasta and if the kids have been on good behavior, they get ice cream for dessert.

They have a small patio and we sat there.  Our girl commented on a couple loud trucks that went by, but other than that we didn't really notice that we were right by the road.  The kids enjoyed coloring on their children's menus until the food came and we all enjoyed our meal, which did end with ice cream for the kids.


Do it yourself

Head to the website for Zia's Caffe to see their menu, get directions, check their hours, etc.  They have locations in both Kailua and Kaneohe.  We've eaten at both and I would recommend both.

Flat Stanley Visits Oahu

Have you ever met a Flat Stanley?  I've met three, but I've discovered that many people have never met a single one.  If you've never met a Stanley, let me explain.  Jeff Brown wrote a book called Flat Stanley about a boy who wakes up and discovers he was flattened by something that fell on him during the night.  The book (books actually, I think there's a whole series) goes on to describe the adventures he has while he is flat, including traveling by mail to a new place.  Many classes use this as a fun way to do a geography lesson, with each student making a Flat Stanley and mailing him somewhere.  So, on with my story.

Flat Stanley came to visit us from Louisiana.  When he arrived we got him a flower lei and I made him sunglasses and he was ready for some island adventures. 

Flat Stanley went to Nature Hour at Ho'omaluhia with us and we got some pictures of him on the nature trail there.  He also went to gymnastics class where he got a sticker for good participation for jumping on the trampoline with my boy.  

We wanted to make sure that Stanley's adventures included some uniquely Hawaiian things so we took him to beautiful Bellows Beach and took pictures of him digging and being buried in the sand.

We also took him to get some shave ice at Island Snow and of course got some ourselves too.

We had fun hosting Stanley and my boy even got a little nostalgic at the post office when mailing him back.  I think he enjoyed showing Stanley the sights.  What a fun way to learn about geography!  Which reminds me, I need to get out a map and teach my boy a little about Louisiana so we can get in on the learning part of this experience too!

Mahalo to SteadyMom for hosting the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge again this week!

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii

May 1 is Lei Day in Hawaii, and in honor of Lei Day there are lots of festivities and programs featuring traditional Hawaiian culture.  Many events are on Lei Day itself, but often schools have their programs at various times before or after May 1.

Sunday night we went to the May Day program at a high school where a number of our favorite teenagers go to school.  It's not a very big school, but they put on an excellent program!  They started with the introduction of their May Day court, with the prince and princess representing each island wearing the traditional colors and leis of that island.  The program included traditional Hawaiian hulas but also included dances from many other Pacific cultures including the Philippines, New Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti and a few others.  The students had obviously spent a lot of time rehearsing and their costumes were all very good too.

The Maori men's dance scared our girl and made her cry, but she recovered and enjoyed the rest of the program...well, except for the fire dance at the end.  She didn't cry for that one, but definitely wasn't thrilled with it and we think it gave her nightmares.  That night she woke up crying a couple times and when my husband checked on her he said she mumbled "fire."  Poor thing!

Our boy enjoyed the program, especially the dances that included spears and sticks.  "Dad, are there going to be any more dances where they pretend to fight?" he asked and then added, "I hope so!"

The program was long, just over two hours, but I can't think of any part of it that I'd have wanted them to leave out.  It was a great cultural experience, kind of like our own Polynesian Cultural Center show but without the hefty admission price.

Do it yourself:

Here is more info on the history of Lei Day.

If you're on Oahu, check and see if there are any schools that haven't had their May Day program yet.  If they're open to the public I would recommend taking your keiki.  Like I said, definitely a great cultural experience!