Most of the kids wanted to go souvenir shopping and there is no better place for that than the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. Anne also wanted to go to the art museum. Grandma and Grandpa and Nancy wanted no part of the swap meet so we decided to divide and conquer. I would take the kids to the swap meet and art museum while the other grownups went on their own trip and we would meet up in Honolulu later in the day for people watching and to watch the sunset on Waikiki beach.
Grandma and Grandpa and Nancy ended up driving back to Laie to enjoy the grounds of the Laie temple and visit Grandpa’s old stomping grounds at BYU Hawaii. They also visited the macadamia nut farm on the way to Kaneohe and stopped at the Pali Lookout. The kids like the Pali lookout because, in addition to the spectacular view, the wind blows nonstop. Diana enjoyed having the wind blow her hair around.
In the meantime, I enjoyed checking out the people and vendors at the swap meet with Emily, Anne, Sam, and Caroline. They had every imaginable form of souvenir, tchotchke, and dongxi imaginable. I immediately bought a hat to protect my scalp which was sore from the previous day at the beach and pineapple maze. The kids all got various souvenirs and we even got Nancy some genuine fake pearls.
After some shave ice and some people watching we were ready to head out to the art museum. I’ve always like going through art museums. Annie loves visiting art museums. We each approach it with very different styles. I motor through the museum and look at every single exhibit but only spend a few seconds on each painting. Anne takes her time and thoughtfully considers each painting or sculpture. I’ve usually powered through the whole museum before Anne is even finished with the Impressionist section. The rest of the family is even faster than me. They’re usually good for about one or two exhibits and after that they’re perfectly happy to skip the rest of the museum and find a nice bench to wait for me and Anne.
This trip to the Honolulu Museum of Art was no exception. Emily, Sam, and Caroline were finished after about a half hour. I was done after an hour and a half but Anne hadn’t even made it out of the first wing yet. We decided to go eat lunch at a fast food place down the street while Anne continued her crawl through the museum.
After lunch we called Anne on her cell phone and told her to meet us out in front of the Museum or she would get left behind. Luckily for Anne, we brought her some lunch from the fast food place although I think she would have gladly skipped lunch entirely to be able to hang out in the museum for the rest of the day. We then met up with Grandma and Grandpa and Nancy for a trip through Iolani Palace.
Everyone really enjoyed the palace tour. It was fascinating to learn more about the history of the Hawaiian monarchy and view the beautiful grounds of the palace along with the wonderfully restored interior. We took our time through the self-guided audio tour and once everyone was finished we packed into the cars and headed towards Waikiki for some dinner and people watching.
Waikiki is not any place I would choose to stay when in Hawaii but it was fun to go and check out the crowds of people on the beach and the crowds of people along the sidewalks. Some of the kids and I went strolling to check out the collection of hobos and street performers that both work the crowds along the street. Grandma and Nancy and Grandpa took up space on some prime benches and watched the sunset. The sunset along Waikiki wasn’t any more spectacular than the one we saw out of our hotel room every night but it sure was fun to check out all the crowds and beachgoers enjoying the evening the same as we were.
Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for going with us on such a fun trip. The kids were all pretty good. Nobody whined (much) or argued (much). Everyone got to do the top thing on their list and everyone had a good time. It was the best vacation ever!
