Sabbatical weeks 3 and 4 (the second half of June) flew by. With the exception of yoga each day, it felt like I did nothing, and yet I felt I had no time to sit at my laptop to write anything. The two main things to note from those weeks were that a) my follow-up chest x-ray after getting pneumonia showed improvement, and b) Emilia turned 5 and had a lovely little birthday with her friends at a park. It was “under the sea”-themed, and I set up a bunch of kids’ tables for art activities, inspired by the Kidsville craft stations at the Joshua Tree festival: parasol and rock and shell painting, various paper crafts, playdoh and sea slime, make-and-paint your own puzzles… and we also set up her teepee with books for story time. It was a lot of work for a party that I wanted to be “minimal”! Somehow it just never works out that way. But everyone had fun.
We spent the first two weeks of July in Hawaii: the first on Oahu, in Honolulu, and the past week on the Big Island, in Waikoloa Village. I’ve wanted to bring Emilia to Hawaii for some time now, and it was great to get her into the resort pools and the lagoons connected to the beach each day. She’s now a very tan little thing (she thankfully got my genes, not Nick’s). I’ll say, however, that the time change coming back to PST is pretty brutal, which is something we’d never really experienced before in pre-kid times. It’s been a rough transition, but hopefully our inner clocks settle soon.
Oahu
The lagoon at the Hilton Waikiki Village, which was a short walk from our hotel, the Modern Honolulu. We spent part of a day here and rented a paddleboard for a bit. Emilia went in and briefly tried to “fish,” but a tiny cut on her hand unfortunately derailed the afternoon. (It happens.)Another view of the lagoon, with the Hilton’s Rainbow Tower in the background (and Diamond Head at the far right).
The elevator at the Ilikai Hotel overlooking the Ala Moana Harbor, heading up to the top floor restaurant, Pesca.
A view above Hanauma Bay in the afternoon, after everyone had left the beach. (They get visitors off the beach shortly after 3pm each day.)The reef at Hanauma Bay. Saw some colorful fish.Took a yoga class with Yoga Floats at Ala Moana Beach one morning.
Trying to get into tree pose before falling into the water.
We were unexpectedly pleased with most of the food at the hotel restaurants we tried. This was the loco moco (top) and poi pullman bread french toast (bottom) at Tropics Bar and Grill at the Hilton Waikiki Village.
Big Island
The lagoon at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Big Island. We paddleboarded and swam with sea turtles, which loved to cluster around one of the waterfalls.Playtime at the sandy beach at Kings’ Land in Waikoloa. Great place for little ones; there’s a waterslide just off to the left as well. She spent a lot of time here.
Enjoying a circular pool at the tot beach.
Shade.
Last time we tried OBISIC some years ago, it was a trailer in a random parking lot. It’s since expanded into a shop at Waikoloa Village. This is the best shave ice I’ve ever had.My favorite was the Mana’s Chantilly: mac nut ice cream (which should honestly be the only ice cream base allowed for shave ice, IMO), chocolate syrup, chantilly drizzle, a snowcap (condensed cream), and topped with whipped cream and mac nuts.
I am an editor at Longreads. For over a decade, I've worked on curation, editing, and storytelling projects across Automattic, including WordPress.com.
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