Our second day in Hawai’i was actually our first full day in Hawai’i. The kids, of course, woke up bright and early – I’m talking 6:30 AM early. Actually, now that I think about it, considering we are on Hawai’ian time, they got up at the same time that they do at home. What I don’t understand is how they are not jet lagged and don’t realize that it’s actually 9:30 AM in California. In any case, while Brian slept I made them a quick breakfast – a bowl of Apple Jacks each and a couple glasses of juice. While they ate and watched TV I blogged. After spying a couple of kids outside near our patio I decided to move my blog operation outside so the kids could play with the neighboring kids. So, I continued blogging outside with my cup of coffee close at hand. Soon, I heard both kids yell:

“Mommy! Look!”

Here’s what I found wrapping itself around the table leg.

Despite trying to keep the kids quiet, Brian finally woke and joined us on the patio. This is heaven – my boys, coffee and my tech devices. Violet was running around the grassy area like a maniac.

I can’t remember the last time we had such a relaxing morning. It was amazing. I remember vacations with my parents. It was not like this. Maybe it’s an Asian thing, but my mom always planned every second of our vacation to make the most of every trip. I have distinct memories of exhausting vacations. We always had tons of fun, don’t get me wrong, but it was exhausting. I always felt like I needed a vacation when I returned from my vacation. Brian and I vowed to make this vacation different – pure relaxation and fun. The extent of our planning consisted of where we would be each day but not a moment by moment plan; more organic. Today’s itinerary consists of visiting the concierge to get a few brochures and ask a few questions, visiting the neighboring Hilton Waikoloa Village resort to see if it has a better pool than ours so we know where we want to hang out, lunch, then hanging out at the pool and finally dinner. Here are a few pics from our tour of the Hilton Waikoloa Village:

The kids also enjoyed seeing the dolphins at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Even though I love to see marine life I was not a fan of the small tanks the dolphins lived in. Needless to say I did not pay to swim with the dolphins.

There aren’t many pool photos because like I said we didn’t do much other than hanging out. I could get used to sitting on a lounge chair with a drink in my hand. I had several!

For dinner we all piled into the car and headed over to the nearby Fairmont Orchid hotel. We had reservations at Norio’s Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar. They offered complimentary valet parking (so nice – you don’t get that in LA) so we ditched the car and headed in. We walked through the lobby and straight back to the towards the beautiful sunset at the back at the back of the open hotel. We stopped at a railing and heard the most amazing voice singing Georgia On My Mind.

After the song finished we headed to the restaurant. We had a gorgeous table outside that was completely surrounded by tiki torches and overlooking that view of the beach above. It seems like every hotel has tons of tiki torches outside. I think Brian analyzed every single one and probably already knows which ones he will be buying when we ultimately landscape our backyard. For dinner, Brian ordered the tenderloin steak with a side of broccoli au gratin; Ethan had the macadamia nut butter and passion fruit jelly sandwich; Violet had a bento box of Japanese sticky rice, teriyaki chicken, oranges and pineapple; and I ordered the omakase nigiri set and a side of edamame. I figured I would share my edamame with Violet. Who was I kidding? She ate most of it; I think I had five pods. Seriously.

All in all it was a fun full first day in Hawai’i.