The David Ohana: Visitors from the Mainland

Whew! What a month February was; I would say one of my favorites since we moved here - reason being, February was full of visitors from the mainland - close family and friends that came to visit. Every weekend, except for the third, was filled with laughter, sightseeing, beaches, and local grindz. Matter-of-fact, one of the restaurants that we took almost every guest, now knows us by name.

So let's start with the first weekend of February.. Jen Harris, a long, long time friend of mine (since we were in kindergarten) came alone to visit for the weekend. The trip initially included her almost 2-year-old son but her husband graciously offered for her to have the weekend kid-free. She arrived on a Thursday night and we meet her at our town's local restaurant, Zippy's. After dinner, my husband and daughter headed home and Jenny and I stayed at Zippy's talking, laughing, crying til almost 2 am. We headed home and talked for a couple of more hours. That night, we only had about 2 hours of sleep.

The following morning we headed out to Boots and Kimo's for their famous banana-macadamia nut pancake. Our next stop, Kailua beach. The next morning, we meet up with some friends and enjoyed some Romy's Shrimp truck, North Shore style and then drove around the east shore to Lanikai and meet more friends for some fun in the sun. The sun was out, the water was warm, the company a delight. That evening, we enjoyed some huge organic burgers from The Counter. Wow, I'm getting full just writing down all the eatery places we went to. And that's only 2 days of her visit.

The next day, after church, she and our other friend from the mainland, Michelle, went shopping. I went home and caught up with some much needed rest. That evening, we met up at Hapa Grill, in my town and had a ladies night out. We ended the night with an appropriate dessert - Beard Papas..We all hung out at a coffee shop until the store closed. The very next morning, Jen left early to catch her flight home. I don't even recall if we slept that last night. Definitely one of the funniest weekend.

The following weekend, we were visited by our dear friends and fellow ministry leaders from CA, Erwin and Becky. They arrived Friday afternoon. Had dinner with the Palompos and joined us for our young adult bible study CORE. Becky even helped us lead worship, just like old times.

The next day, we headed for the Dole Plantation for some pineapple whip and then to the North Shore for some big wave action. For dinner, we met up with the Palompos and two of our CORE friends at Da Kitchen for some ono grindz...broke' da mout'!

After dinner, we strolled around Ala Moana mall and then ended the night with some Malasadas from Leanord's. Sunday, after church, we headed out to Lanikai again. This time, the weather was a bit "chill" so we just sat and chilled out.

The following day, Erwin and Becky left for a couple of days at Waikiki to celebrate their anniversary.

The last weekend, my family made a detour and stopped by for several days on their way to the PI. This was an exciting weekend, especially for my daughter, who couldn't wait to see her Mama and Papa, her aunty Sha and uncle Peter. The 5 days that they were here went by fast. I was especially excited that they would be able to attend an IGC service; they were able to witness one of the reasons why we moved to the islands. We brought them to the local places and did some sight seeing but their main reason was to spend time with us, with Keaolani. Here are some places we took them: