la vie en rose

We woke up on Sunday morning in Waikiki to blue sky. We were supposed to meet J's dad for brunch in a couple hours, which left us just enough time to run down to the beach for a morning swim. Instead of the usual wading in before taking the plunge, we both ran into the waves and dove right in. The water was warm, the beach was nearly empty...it was a perfect morning.

J's dad and little brother picked us up at our hotel and treated us to a lavish brunch at a restaurant that was literally overlooking the water - the waves were crashing below us. J's dad had remembered how much we both enjoyed ahi poke the last time we were there and was proud to show off this restaurant's selection of 5 different kinds of poke. I was so sad that I couldn't try a single one, and more so because J's dad didn't even know that pregnant women can't eat raw fish. However, the gingerbread waffles, island Eggs Benedict, Portuguese sausage, and crab legs were delicious.

Afterwards J's dad asked us what we wanted to do. What we both would have liked to have done was get to know him and his family better. But I found out something that J and his dad have in common (it never ceases to amaze me how they could have certain personality characteristics in common and not have known each other - definitely a case for nature over nurture on some things!): they're both pretty go-with-the-flow. Meaning, neither was going to say "Let's do this" or "I would like to do that." I would have said, "I would like to meet my grandparents. I would like to know more about you." But that's not J's style. And apparently not his dad's, either. So we ended up at Sea Life Park.

Sea Life Park is kindof like Sea World, but Hawaii-specific and on a much smaller scale. We enjoyed our time there, but I think J's 16 year old brother could have thought of a million different things he would have rather been doing on a Sunday afternoon.

We saw massive sea turtles,

penguins,

dolphins eating

and playing basketball,

and a seal beauty pageant. Here's one contestant showing off her art skills

and performing a ballet dance.

The other contestant danced to Footloose

and showed off her gymnastics routine.

She won.

J's dad took us back to our hotel and let us keep the rental car for the rest of our trip, which was very nice. Although we wished we could have spent more time with him (and he later wrote J and said the same thing), we did enjoy the time that we did spend together. You know, it's pretty cool having relatives in Hawaii.