June 29th, 2014

We all woke up around 9 and I ran to the store to buy some beans for breakfast. I was mostly paying attention to the Costa Rica vs. Greece game on my Surface and car radio. It took my niece about 90 minutes to gather herself and get ready to go. I guess even non girlie girls still take forever to get ready.

Rebecca stayed home to get ready for work, and my niece and I were on our way to the north shore. I was still listening to the game which had now gone into overtime. My niece doesn’t notice social cues, she was blabbering on about how her friend said bla bla bla and so she said bla bla bla. I turned the radio up but she only talked louder. Costa Rica won the game which upset my niece because she “is part Greek”. I tried explaining that she is an American because she and 5 generations of her family were born in America. I learned that 10 year olds are never wrong, and apparently America has no culture because we all came here from other cultures. No matter how much logic or fact I threw at her, I was still wrong.

We stopped at the macadamia nut farm and she went nuts over the samples. I have never met anyone who likes free samples as much as her. We went outside and chased some chickens. I had to beg her to not try to pick up a baby chick. She didn’t believe the hen would attack us.

We headed further up the north shore and stopped at a fruit stand where we got a coconut, pineapple, some papaya and some sugar cane. Our next stop was Sharks Cove. I tried telling my niece that she would want a snorkel but she adamantly said no. After 3 minutes in the water she asked me to get her snorkel. There were tons of beautiful fish, both tiny and a couple the size of a pillow. As we glided over the coral, I felt a tug on my arm and looked up to see a turtle gliding not more than 5 feet in front of us. We followed it for a while until it swam near some sea urchins. I guess I have told my niece about them because she is terrified of going near them. I may or may not have told her that they can shoot their spikes. We swam out until the water was about 40 feet deep. Way past the point where I was comfortable taking a 10 year old, but eventually she said we had better turn around.

We spent a while at Sharks Cove and then headed to Haleiwa where we saw 3 different turtles swimming and eating algae. I had to pry her away from the water and we drove home through the middle of the island. We stopped at Safeway for frozen pizza and then I took her to Leonard’s bakery for Malasadas. Most times, when she tries something tasty, her eyes widen. When she took a bite of malasada, her eyes closed and her head went back and slightly to the side. I’m not sure what it meant, but she enjoyed the malasada.

We cooked the pizzas and watched Forrest Gump until we had to pick up Rebecca from work at 10:30. We all went home and I fell straight to sleep.

June 28th, 2014

I woke up at 1:30 with terrible stomach cramps. Three times I was pulled out of an ambien induced slumber to violently deposit something awful into the porcelain princess. Looking back, I really hope I was in the proper place, I was on ambien. For all I know, I could have gone outside and utilized the wash sink in the laundry room.

I woke up around 8 and my niece was still sleeping, so I went back to bed. We all got up around 9 and had eggs for breakfast. The three of us piled in the car and headed to Waimanalo, which is a beach on the windward side of the island. My niece was the first one in the water and she was having a grand ol’ time splashing in the waves and doing hand stands in the surf. After about 20 minutes, my niece clutched her arm and ran ashore claiming something had stung her. She was aware of jelly fish so that was her first conclusion. Rebecca and I went to investigate but we did not see any marks on her arm. I looked to the ground and saw about three Portuguese Man-Of-War jellyfish washed up on the sand. With the man-of-war, when you see one, there are usually hundreds, if not thousands more. We rushed up to the lifeguard station to see what we should do. He informed us that the sting is not unlike bee sting, and that it takes only time to go away. He told us that there is nothing you could buy that would alleviate the stinging, but to rinse the area and keep her mind off of it. She was a trooper, she didn’t cry once even though I could tell that she was in a great deal of pain. We were rinsing off and I jokingly offered to pee on the affected area but she adamantly refused. I had no intention of actually urinating on a 10 year old.

At my niece’s demands, we left that beach and headed for Waikiki where there aren’t any jelly fish. Rebecca dropped us off near the Duke statue and we walked to an ABC store where I bought her a bogie board an attempt to toke her mind off the jelly fish sting and as a reward for taking it like a champ. I believe that I might be lying on the sand crying had I been the victim of such an ordeal.

She spent the next 5 hours on the boogie board catching waves and washing up on shore. I sat on the beach keeping a vigilant eye on both her, and my back pack which contained my wallet and phone. At first I was worried because she likes to ride the wave in, and then lie face down, motionless and let the water wash her back out. I told her that she was not allowed to do the “corpse float” anymore because it worried me. I always thought that swimming at the beach was tiring, but having to continually watch an overly energetic ten year old is much more stressful and exhausting. 

At 6, we took the bus back towards home, we had to walk 1/2 mile from the bus stop to my place and her flip flop broke 20 yards in. I gave her my flip flops and I walked along side her barefoot. I ended up cutting my toe on something, but didn’t tell her because she would have demanded that she go barefoot, that’s how caring and compassionate she is. We got back to my apartment, showered and changed and then took the bus to the mall where we had dinner at my restaurant. Everyone came over and talked to my niece who always loves talking to strangers. She ate most of her dinner, and said she was too full to continue eating, until our server brought her over a sundae, which disappeared very quickly. After dinner we walked to Walmart to get her some new sandals. She must have tried on 50 different pairs of shoes, boots, flats, sandals, and heels. We finally found her a pair of flip flops and we were on our way. We got back the house around 10:30 and I did the dishes and she helped me sweep the floors before she went to bed. I waited up for Rebecca and then I fell asleep.       

June 27th, 2014

We woke up at 6:45 when my niece came in and said that she was hungry. Rebecca reminded her about the pizza still in the fridge from last night, but we were already awake. She ate her pizza and then went outside to find geckos while we tried to wake up. She came back in covered in bug bites and said the mosquitoes must really like her. I said, “Yeah, they must be deaf”. She didn’t get it right away, buy eventually she caught on. I took her to the store to get bug repellent, sun block, and eggs and then we went back to the apartment. We covered ourselves in sun block and headed to Waikiki. We had to park in a garage and then walk 30 miles to the beach, but we found a nice spot in front of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

My niece ran and jumped in the waves laughing and screaming with joy. We swam out a little ways, but the water was murky and there weren’t too many fish. She was really only interested in the waves. We had to pry her away from the water to get her to eat a sandwich or reapply sunscreen. She had a huge pile of shells, coral and rocks that she had collected, sadly most of them “floated out of my pocket”.

At 2:15, we had to leave the beach and head home. Rebecca had to change and get ready for work, so I cooked her a quick dinner while she showered and my niece was outside chasing geckos and hitting mangoes with a stick. We made the mistake of telling her that the sap that comes out of the mango when you pull it off the tree is similar to blood, so she went outside to “murder mangoes”.

Rebecca went to work, so my niece and I made a can of soup for dinner and then caught the bus to Waikiki. It was full of smelly strangers and it took too long to get where we needed to go. We ended up on the  far end of Waikiki and started walking towards the Hilton. I made the mistake of taking her into an ABC store so I could get a bottle of water. We looked at everything. She didn’t want to buy everything, which surprised me. But she wanted to look. She picked out one item, which is still surprising to me, I would have bought her multiple items had she asked but she only wanted one. I then took her to the farmers market to meet Mark, the gentleman behind Coconut Peanut Butter. She must have sampled everything at least two times. She told Mark that he was a genius and that everything he makes is delicious. She informed him that he is now a part of our family, and then went back to multiple samples. Mark asked her which ones were her favorites and told her to pick three jars on the house. Her eyes widened and she gave him a huge hug, I thanked him profusely.

We walked further down Waikiki and eventually ended up at the Hilton. The penguins weren’t there, but the turtles and ducks were. We got our spot on the beach and my niece ran into the water. She immediately found some boys her age who were playing catch and she joined them. She later told me that they were from Australia. She come out of the water moments before the fireworks started. I am always teary eyed after the fireworks, and I thought it was patriotism, but I realized it is because I don’t blink during the entire show.

After the fireworks, we walked about 1/2 mile to our bus stop only to take the bus 1/2 mile home. I wanted to walk, but her feet were tired. She went to take a shower so I did the dishes and made a loaf of coconut flour banana bread. I was going to teach her how to use the stove, but decided against it. I realized that our microwave is atop the refrigerator, which is ok for us, but not a kid friendly height. I places the microwave on a chair so she could reach it and reheat breakfast. I cooked us some mac-n-cheese for dinner around 9:30 and then Rebecca got home around 10. We continued watching the Avengers which we had started last night and after about 15 minutes, she asked if she could go to bed because she was so tired.         

June 26th, 2014

I woke up at 5:58 and started watching the USA vs. Germany game on my phone because it wouldn’t load on my Windows Surface. I was planning on taking my niece to watch it, but I don’t think her attention span could handle a 90 minute game. We tied on Sunday, which felt like a loss, and we lost today, which feels like a win because we made it to the next round of the tournament. We play Belgium on July 1st and I am already excited. After the game, I took my niece to Walmart where we found her a pair of reef shoes and a rash guard to wear in the water. We rushed home and then took Rebecca to work and we drove up to Kailua.

As soon as she saw the water she was in heaven. We spent the next 4 hours splashing in the waves, chasing fish, collecting shells, coral, sticks, rocks, and anything else she found. We swam out past the buoy, which was well over 100 yards past the shore. She was having so much fun jumping in the waves that she was squealing with delight. It was truly a magnificent thing to see someone so overjoyed with something so simple.
  At 3, I had to reel her back in so we could make it back in time to pick up Rebecca from work. We got to her work a little early so my niece and I went to wander. I finally found a USA Men’s soccer jersey that fit me, but it was $90, and I don’t think I could justify spending that much to Rebecca.
Rebecca ordered pizza from her work and we took it home and ate. I inhaled my pizza and did laundry while my niece showered and the I tried to wash off all the sand from my various crevices.
After we ate, and had clean laundry, the rest of the night was spent relaxing and trying to catch up on some sleep.

June 25th, 2014

We woke up around 9 and I headed down stairs to watch the soccer games and eat a nutritious breakfast of jalapeno potato chips and Dr. Pepper. We packed our clothes and got ready to head out the door.

We stopped for lunch at a Mexican restaurant in the mall to have lunch with Rebecca’s sister before going home. The food was mediocre at best, but I have been spoiled with authentic Mexican food from my time living in Mexico.

After lunch, we met up with my buddy Chris because he had a pair of sunglasses for me. We then drove to my parent’s house to say goodbye to the kids. Today was the day we finally told my niece about the surprise we had planned for her. We surprised her by coming home, and as we were saying goodbye, we informed her that she was coming with us. In a blank monotone voice, she said “yay”. We were persistent in that she actually was going to come home with us. It took about 30 seconds of us reassuring her that she was indeed coming with us. Once it finally sank in, her eyes widened and she gave me a huge hug and then ran to pack her bags. She was in shock for about a half hour as she frantically ran around getting her things. Rebecca and I played with the babies while she packed.

We headed to the airport and my niece’s face was plastered with a permanent smile. We arrived to the airport, dropped off our rental car and headed through security, I was pulled out of line because of the two cans of Dr. Pepper I tried to smuggle through. I chugged one can while defiantly maintaining eye contact with the guard and told them to place the other in their seized contraband bin for disposal.

We were the very last ones on the plane and stuck behind a group of slow moving people who could not find their seats. Once we were in the air, my crippling anxiety subsided and my niece and I passed the time watching movies on my phone. We landed around 8:40 and retrieved our checked bag from the carousel and headed outside to catch a ride home. The taxis were charging $40 into Waikiki so we went upstairs and waited 25 minutes for the bus. We were relieved when the bus finally arrived, but the driver opened the doors and quickly scolded us for trying to bring luggage aboard. The bus empty so I figured it would not be a problem. I asked if we could simply place our luggage under our seats since the bus was basically empty. He scolded me for interrupting him and bellowed that if it was not a carry-on bag, we could not take the bus. He then sat there for a moment with the door open, as we stood on the sidewalk stunned. I really wanted to tell him a few things, but my 10 year old niece was standing there and I didn’t want her to learn any new words. I flagged down the first taxi I saw and he agreed to take us. As we were loading our bags, an undercover security guard started yelling at the driver for picking up passengers in a drop-off area only. I rolled up the window as she was talking and gave a sarcastic wave as the driver took off.

The taxi cost us $43, which I plan on writing a letter to the city bus and demanding they reimburse me due to the fact the bus was empty, and the driver was a four letter word to us. We got home and I blew up the inflatable mattress for my niece which made me dizzy, and Rebecca cooked up some Portuguese sausage because we were all hungry and tired. I went to sleep right away, it was a long trip that hasn’t even begun to get busy.

June 24th, 2014

I woke up around 9:30 and went down stairs to watch Uruguay play Italy, and Costa Rica beat England. After the games, we dropped off some cookies to my friend Max who couldn’t make it to our shindig last night. We headed over to Bob’s Burgers and Brew to have lunch with my parents.

After lunch we headed to my parents house where my sister was watching both of her kids and both of my brother’s kids. Once they woke up from their naps, we all went swimming in the pool. The water was warm, but when I got out of the water I was met with a chilly artic blast.

I dried off quickly and we went to Rebecca’s to say goodbye to her parents as they will be at work until well after we leave for the airport. We said our goodbyes and then we drove over to my friend Chris’s house and had dinner with he and his wife. They were both in our wedding, he a grooms man and she a brides maid so it was nice to catch up with them.

We drove home and I went straight to bed. 

June 23rd, 2014

I woke p at 9 and headed downstairs to watch the World Cup. Mexico was playing Croatia, and Brazil was playing Cameron so I kept flipping back and forth while Rebecca and her mom were upstairs baking cookies. I ended up falling asleep after the matches and woke up to Rebecca watching a show about people making cakes.

At 3, when I couldn’t take anymore of the thick Italian accents and made-for-reality-TV drama, I called Brandon and begged him to let me help him move. I was fine with the first few batches of reality TV, I used to watch The Deadliest Catch, and the Ultimate Fighter, but watching people make cakes, and have fake arguments is just too much for me.

I hung out with Brandon and Di for a while and then I headed to Buffalo Wild Wings where Rebecca and I had planned a get-together with a bunch of our friends. I visited with the people I miss, and I stuffed spicy meat into my face hole. I think the only thing I miss about Washington is the people, I love living in Hawaii and I don’t plan on moving back, but I really do wish our friends… well, my friends would move out there with us.

After a great dinner, I left and called an old coworker and got to meet his 5 week old baby and then we went to a pub where he taught me how to play shuffle board. I got home around midnight and slept off and on for the rest of the night.

June 22nd, 2014

We woke up at 9 and headed to church. From the moment we walked in the door, we couldn’t go more than a few steps without talking to someone. It was great to see so many familiar faces. The sermon was amazing and captivating. After church, we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of bulk foods to take with us on the plane ride home.

At 1, we went to a restaurant to celebrate my Grandpa’s 96th birthday and also a welcome home party for Rebecca and I.I watched the first half of the USA vs. Portugal game and at halftime we took my niece and nephew and high-tailed it back to Rebecca’s house where we watched the rest of the game. It was a well played game that we almost won, but ended up in a tie in the final seconds of the game.

We visited with Rebecca’s extended family for a while and then Rebecca played the piano for my niece while I entertained the baby. At 7:30 we drove over to visit Brandon and Di for a few moments before we rushed away to hang out with my baud David and Rebecca’s sister. We met them at a local bar and enjoyed fish tacos and sweet potato fires until 11. We came home and I fell asleep right away again. 

June 21st, 2104

I woke up around 8 and headed to my old church for a Men’s Breakfast. There were only a few people that I recognized, but I still had fun. After the breakfast, I drove over to my parent’s house where I hung out with my niece and baby nephew for a while. My parents had just got home from the airport late in the night and we talked for a few minutes before we went to see my Grandpa who in in a nursing facility after a fall.

We had a brief but pleasant visit with my grandpa and then we went home to enjoy the sun. My sister-in-law came over with my other niece and nephew and the two oldest kids went in the pool even though it was only 68 degrees. I sat next to the pool trying to pretend I was back home on the beach. Rebecca showed up around 5 and then we headed to her parent’s house to have dinner. After dinner we went to my buddy Chris’ house and we talked with he and his wife until way past 11. We drove back home and went straight to bed. 

June 20th, 2014

I woke up at 7, which is 4 Hawaii time. I quickly got dressed and snuck out the door without waking Rebecca. I headed up to my friend Jorge’s house to watch Costa Rica play Italy in the World Cup. Jorge is from Costa Rica so he was pulling hard for the Tacos. It was a 9 am kickoff and Jorge was making eggs when I got there. The game was great, Costa Rica ended up beating Italy 1-0. Italy won the entire tournament in 2006, so it was a pretty big deal.

After the game I left so Jorge could get ready for work and I drove to 7 different stores looking for a USMNT soccer jersey. Every single place was either sold out, or didn’t have my size, the largest I found was a large.

I drove to my old asphalt job and talked with my old coworker Max for awhile and tried to convince him to move to Hawaii. I left when his boss showed up so he wouldn’t get in trouble. I then went to my parents house and hung out with my niece for a while. I showed her an old geography book I had when I was her age and started teaching her about the continents and countries. It was a little difficult to explain the USSR and East Germany, but I think she got the point.

I left there and went to the mall to continue my search for a soccer jersey, I drove to another mall, and then a soccer store but came up short. I remembered that I hadn’t eaten since breakfast so I went to my old restaurant for dinner. I was warmly greeted by everyone who remembered me, about half the employees, the other half were not working there when I moved. I filled up on a burger and left to check yet another store for a jersey. I went back to Rebecca’s parents defeated and full. Rebecca was out in Seattle today doing who knows what with her friends from college.  It is 10 o’clock and I am exhausted.