King Kamehameha Day

Update: Here is a link for information on the 2011 Lei Draping Ceremony.

On Friday we stopped to see the statue of King Kamehamea draped in leis for Kamehameha Day.  The leis were beautiful and amazingly long, as you can see in this picture.  For scale, the statue is eight and a half feet tall and the pedestal is even taller than that.  The longest leis were made of plumeria flowers. 

Graduation in Hawaii

It's that time of year here on Oahu and across the nation -- graduation time!  But in my opinion, you haven't really seen graduation until you've seen it in Hawai'i.  Leis, leis and more leis!  It is hard to recognize the graduate(s) you are trying to find to congratulate because from the side and the back they all look the same - a body in a gown with a tower of leis where their head used to be.

I'm sure all my readers would have guessed that leis and graduations go together in the islands, but for my non-Hawai'i readers, did you know that mylar balloons and inner tubes are also big at graduation time?  Are there any other places where inner tubes are routinely given to graduates or is it just here?

Our favorite babysitters graduated this weekend and we celebrated with them with mixed emotions.  (And with warm sunshine and a passing shower at the Waikiki Shell, and I'm not making that up.)  We are happy they've reached this milestone but they are heading to the Mainland for college and we will miss them, for so many reasons besides their awesome babysitting.  Congratulations and aloha J&J!


(Photo posted with their permission - don't want any of my friends to worry that their picture will unexpectedly appear on here.)

This post is linked to the Moms' 30-Minute Blog Challenge over at Steady Mom.

Cinnamon's in Kailua

I had a birthday this week and now I'm old enough to be President!  (But no thanks, I have NO interest in that job.)  To start the day off in a celebratory way my husband flexed his work day so we could all go to breakfast at Cinnamon's.

I'd heard of Cinnamon's, walked past Cinnamon's, had people use Cinnamon's as a reference point when giving directions, but never eaten there and was excited to get the chance to do that.  We chose to eat out in their courtyard.  If you do the same, be warned of the birds.  They're quick!  Even if you think you're guarding your food they can swoop in and steal part of your meal faster than fast.  Here's a picture of the sparrow that helped himself to our boy's pancakes.

From the looks of the umbrellas you are also in danger of being hit by bird droppings when you eat outside, but we were spared that experience.

They didn't have a children's menu but our boy made a valiant effort at eating his adult-size order of cinnamon-apple pancakes and our girl ate the buttermilk pancakes that came with the frittata my husband got.  French toast on Portuguese sweet bread was what I ordered.  Yum!  Oh, and a warm cinnamon roll made a delicious appetizer that we all shared.  It was called a "Cinnamon's Roll" which I first thought was a typo but I finally got their little pun.  Must be getting a little slow in my "old" age.  :)

Do it yourself on Oahu:

• Here's a map to Cinnamon's.

• Check Cinnamon's webpage for their menu and hours of operation.

• Take change for the parking meters and park along Uluniu Street or in the public lot that can be accessed from either Aulike St. or Maluniu Ave.

• They don't have children's menus or entertainment (crayons, etc.) but they do have a lot of high chairs.

• If you go on the weekend or on a holiday, either go early or make reservations.  We actually thought about going there on Memorial Day but at 9:30 AM the wait to be seated was an hour.

Tidepool by Sharks Cove

Two trips to Oahu's North Shore in almost as many weeks?  Crazy, I know!  And I have to say I thought I was going to go crazy on the drive up there which seemed to take FOREVER because a certain boy in the back seat talked nonstop the entire time!  But at least the little girl in the backseat got a nap on the way up there, so it was all good.

The plan was to meet up with friends at Sharks Cover where people could snorkel in the cove or hang out in the big tide pool to the left of the cove.  Unfortunately the surf was up a bit higher than predicted so only the bravest grown-ups in the group ventured into Sharks Cove but the rest of us had fun in the tide pool.  The water was really clear and we saw several different kinds of fish, some purple sea urchins and a couple crabs.

At Shark's Cove itself there is only a tiny bit of sand, but on the other side of the tide pool there is a bigger beach and that's where we spent our time when we weren't in the water.  The beach toys we took were put to good use!  We had taken food for supper on the beach and we were there to see a beautiful sunset reflected in the tide pool.  Ah, this is the life!

Do it yourself:

• Location: Sharks Cove and the adjacent tide pools are part of Pupukea Beach Park on Oahu's North Shore.  This spot is located between Waimea Bay and Sunset Beach.

• Parking: Spots are located within the park on the ocean side of the road.

• Facilities:  There are restrooms and showers here but I don't think there are life guards.

• Recommendations:  Wear shoes appropriate for reef-walking.  The rocks are sharp and there are sea urchins too.  I wore thick-soled slippers (kinda like tevas) which worked okay but had the kids wear shoes that provided coverage on the tops of their feet too.  

• The tide pools would be a great place to teach kids to snorkel.  The water is calm and shallow enough in many places that they can stand up if they need/want to.  But even if they don't snorkel they can still see fish and other things in the water as they walk along.