Goodbye Hawaii

And here we are. All packed up and ready to go home. Zoë is excited to go home. She misses the family, her room and all her toys. Me and Jeric? Not so much. We wish we were on permanent vacay. Lol. Totally not excited at all to get back home and back to that Mon - Fri 9-5 grind. But, we gotta do what we gotta do.

Gotta admire our beautiful view one. last. time.


Then, we hit up the mall to pickup some last minute souvies for the fam. At one of the spots, Zoë looked pretty bored. Lol.

In the middle of one of the mall walkways, they had a cute Koi pond. Zoë was excited to see all the pretty fishies.

And here goes our very last meal in Hawaii. We got a quick Spam Masubi snack at the mall's food court, then stopped by Ono Seafood for poke for me and Jeric and then a spam and eggs meal from McDonalds for Zoë.

And we're done. Waiting at the airport for check-in and boarding.

Didn't take many photos on the way home. None of slept much either since it was still pretty early in the day. I did get a photo of the sky transitioning from day into night though!

And here we are, back in the mainland.

The runway was pretty backed up with a bunch of incoming planes, so we had about a 30 minute or so delay in getting out. And of course, that's when Zoë decides to knock out. Lol!

Jeric pretty much had to carry her as we waited for Mom and Dad Samoza to pick us up.

Haha, poor thing must've been really tired. And there you have it. Vacay over.

Hawaii Day 6

Our last full day in Hawaii. We still had a few MUST spots to hit up. Since Hukilau Cafe and Helena’s were closed on Sunday/Monday, we just HAD to hit both spots up today.

We headed on out to Target first for cash back since both spots took cash only. We also did a bit of shopping since Hukilau Cafe wouldn’t start serving lunch until after 10 and Jeric really wanted to try their teri burger. We missed out on that when we were here the last time.

We drove straight away towards Hukilau Cafe. During the car ride Zoë mentioned that she missed home again. She said she misses Lola, Ninang Marky, Ninang Liz, Papa and Ninang Iban. I took a vid and sent it to them. She was super home sick and the only way we eased her discomfort was by letting her know we were heading to the beach. That got her excited and she never brought up missing home again.

And here we are! Hukilau Cafe.

Jeric got his teri burger and I ordered the loco moco with mushrooms. Mostly because I know Zoë would definitely eat the egg, mushrooms and rice more so than teriyaki meat.

I did get to try the burger too and it was sooooo good!

On the way to the car, a little local girl waved at Zoë and Zoë waved back. So cute! The girl had a little kitty who was basking in the sun. When the kitty saw us, though, he started to follow us. Zoë was happy and wanted to pet or kiss the kitty. But, the kitty was super disheveled, so I was like, uhhhh, no baby girl. The kitty kept following us though and the little girl was starting to get anxious. She stomped her feet demanding the kitty come back. But, the kitty followed us all the way to the car. Once Zoë and I got in the car though the kitty walked back to the little girl.

Of course, now Zoë begain whining and pining for her own kitty cat. It took a lot to get her to understand that she couldn’t take that kitty because it was the girl’s and also we had to convince her that we couldn't have our own kitty cat. Lol.

And off to our next stop. We really didn't have much left on our list except for just a bunch of spots that I wanted to scope out if time permitted. A few were on this side of the island, so we thought today's a good time to throw them in since we were already here and the only MUST SEE spot left was Helena's and that was closer to the hotel and saved for later tonight. Plus, these were just quick stops for photo ops. So that still left plenty of beach time for Zoë.

The first stop was Lāʻie Point State Wayside. It was just a scenic spot with a great ocean view that I found randomly off of spots to check out in Oahu.


Definitely worth the stop.

The next stop was Chinaman's hat, but on the way there we passed the Polynesian Culture Center and I wanted some snap shots of their tiki statues, so we literally drove in the driveway, stopped, I hopped out to snap the photos and then we took off. LOL.

Now off to Chinaman's Hat. Lol. Zoë was so bored of these view points, so she and Jeric just ran around the grassy areas that were before the beach sand while I went down to the sand and got my photo.

I don't recall it looking like this the last time we were here though. But maybe we were at a different view point. Who knows? That was like a decade or so ago.

And finally, Lanikai Beach! This is mine and Jeric's favorite. The waters warm, waves are calm and it stays relatively shallow far out.

This is the second time we've been here this trip and last time, Zoë wanted nothing to do with the water. This time, she loved it!

Even after Jeric was done swimming, she wanted me to stay with her and play in the water. Hahaha. So cute!

We did eventually get her out of the water and she was shivering. So we covered her with towels and that was it. Goodbye beautiful beaches of Hawaii.

Once we neared our hotel, we finished our last stop, Helena's, and got our short ribs!

We also passed by Liliha Bakery, which was also on the list, but I totally forgot about it. Definitely gotta stop in and get some Mochi Donuts!

The have other baked goodies too, but we decided just the Mochi Donuts.


We were all pretty tired and wanted to shower, so we just took the short ribs and donuts back to the hotel and devoured them there. The short ribs were aite. We really weren't impressed by them much. The Mochi Donuts though, those are sooo good! I wished we got two whole boxes full of them!

After eating and showering, we all got ready for one last night of strolling around Waikiki.

And here's the baby girl in her pretty dress, spinning around the lobby. Perfect way to end the night!

Hawaii Day 5

It's morning and we're ready for more Hawaii fun!

We promised Zoë more beach time, so that was the plan today. She really loved that tide pool over by North Shore, so I figured that would be our main area for the day and then I'll just add in other places to take her to off of my list.

Since Dole Plantation was on the way to North Shore, we took a quick stop there first.

We walked around and showed Zoë all the different pineapples.


These were her favorite of course. They were the only ones that were "pink". Haha.

This was just a quick stop and we didn't even grab any of the Dole Whip Pineapple Floats since Zoë wasn't much of a fan (I know.. how could she not be?!). We did peruse the store though. I got myself some pineapple gummy bears and Zoë came out with a cute, new, reversible bag and cute Hello Kitty magnets.

And then we were off to Haleiwa, North Shore. On the way there we were able to snap some pics in front of the sign. We missed it last time and there were so many cars, it made it hard to pull over or turn around.

We continued driving and passed by where turtles were a few days ago. Looks like no turtles on shore today, so we drove further to the spot with the cool little tide pool area.

Zoë was back at it again. She had fun with her toys in the tide pool area for a good 2+ hours.


There were these twin 5 year old boys who were way more crazy then Zoë. They were nice, but didn’t know how to respect someone else’s toys. One of the boys kept taking Zoë’s bucket and the other somehow ended up holding the GoPro. The dad kept telling them to give it back to us, but we were cool with it as long as they didn’t do damage. The dad wasn’t though. He was afraid they’d break the GoPro. The little boy didn’t though. However; the other boy did throw the bucket and it hit Zoë in the head. It did hurt her, but thankfully, no permanent damage was done and after a few minutes she stopped crying and went back to playing.

Jeric headed back to our rest area while me and Zoë stayed and eventually the twin boys and their dad left and Zoë was much happier. Those boys were just too much for her.

While I was out there with Zoë the same folks that came around last time were there again with their little one year old, Sequoia, who was celebrating her first birthday! I chatted a bit with her mom, Chelsea (a local), and Chelsea’s parents (who were visiting).

Then, Jeric yelled out at me that there was a turtle on the other side of the rocks so me and Zoë rushed over there. The turtle was swimming near shore and we got pretty good glimpses of it. I got some really good pics of the little guy.

Jeric eventually joined us, but Zoë was so over it. She wanted to go back to the tide pool area to play. So we headed back.

Hung out with the locals a bit, but eventually they left. A few other families came and went while Zoë remained playing.

Zoë also wanted us to catch her fishie this time time around. I attempted a bunch of times. Even went to a smaller tide pool area. Yah, unsuccessful. Daddy found a small pool formed up on a rock and saw a few fish there. He saw that he could easily scoop it into Zoë’s bucket. Success! Daddy got her a fishie! It's kinda hard to see, but it's at the very top left of the photo. It's a really small fishie and his grey scales blend with the sand.

It was pretty hot and I was starting to get a little burned so I left Jeric and Zoë to play while I relaxed out over in our shady area and had some leftover Malasadas.

Even got a visit from our favorite birds that followed us while we went on our hike a few days ago.

Now it was time to get Zoë to leave because we were starving and wanted some Giovanni’s. It wasn’t as hard as it has been the few other times we had to pry her away from the beach, probably because she had a LOT more play time this time around since we got to the beach early and we weren’t on any time crunch.

It did take her a good while to let the fishie go though. It was hard to let her know that we couldn’t take him home. Eventually she understood and let the fishie go herself.

Now to Giovanni’s!!


The line was pretty long here as well, but it actually moved through quickly. I had to get out of the car and get in line though because there weren’t any parking spots avail and Jeric had to wait for one with Zoë. The line moved so fast that before Jeric could park and meet up with me, I had to let a few folks ahead because he had the cash. All good though. After we ordered, we bought a smoothie from the truck next to us. I really wanted the Aloha Tea (pineapple iced tea), but Zoë wouldn’t be a able to have any so I got the Haleiwa smoothie instead, which was pineapple, peach, strawberry and mango.

40 minutes later, we got our shrimps! We ordered their famous scampi and then the lemon/butter. OMG! These were soooo much better than Romy’s. The shrimp was cooked perfectly. Although, next time we aren’t ordering lemon/butter. It’s just cooked shrimp that you dip in lemon butter.

Now, time for dessert! Down the street was Matsumotos Shave Ice! Originally we were all gonna share one, but after getting there and seeing how it looked, we opted for 2 smalls. Plus, I wanted a different flavor. Jeric got the rainbow (blueberry, strawberry and lemon) and I got the tropical (guava, papaya and lilikoi). Zoë had a little bit of both, but I think her favorite was lemon.


Ahhh, totally satisfied with all the activities and eats today.

Now, time to head back to the hotel. Zoë also started getting home sick. She kept saying she wanted to go home, not the hotel. Mostly because she wanted all her toys and her Ninongs, Ninang, Lola and Papa. She did get a bit whiney too, but we got her to calm down.

I've been meaning to catch a sunset photo on the beach and today, we actually got back to the hotel in time for me to take a quick shower and rush off to Waikiki beach to catch the sunset. So worth it!


After I came back, we all rested a bit, then got ready to hit the town for dinner. We actually ended up at Duke’s again since it was pretty late and most of the good foodie spots would be closed by now. Jeric ordered the same pulled pork sandwich. This time, I got myself the maple bbq burger. And, our server actually gave us a kid’s menu! What?? Last time the lady didn’t give us one so we figured there wasn’t one. We got Zoë a grilled cheese with milk. We killed our dinner, but Zoë barely touched hers so we took it to go.


After dinner, we walked around a bit and Zoë had more stage time! Hahahaha.

I also got a better picture of that cool, huge Banyan tree.

Then we headed back to our room and of course that's when Zoë ate her dinner. Hahaha. Now we sleep and get ready for our very last full day in paradise.