Giving a 7 year old and a 4 year old each their own package of Tic Tacs at the beginning of a 4 hour car ride and telling them not to eat them all is sort of like dumping an entire container of fish food in the fish tank and telling the fish not to eat it all at once.
Music in my head.
Yesterday, as we drove through the volcanic desolation coming south on Rt. 11 away from the volcano, I kept getting the song "Wasteland" by the Mission U.K. stuck in my head.
We spent almost the entire day at the pool today. ES and I took a break in the middle to rent a "peek-a-boo" kayak (with a window in the bottom to see the fish) and went kayaking in the bay for half an hour. It was really cool, but not very conducive to getting photographs of what you saw. After we saw something cool, it would swim out of our field of view before we could aim the camera. We did see two sea turtles, a bunch of tropical fish and coral though.
ES watching the fish through the window.
The view between my legs.
ES's picture of Daddy(see me paddling in the reflection in my sunglasses)
Like father like son.ES's self-portrait.
Anyway, getting back to my "music in my head" topic... The sky has been hazy and gray all day from the vog, although it's been sunny (YB's rosey red cheeks can attest to that). So today's song running through my head was 10,000 Maniacs, "Like the Weather." "The color of the sky as far as I can see, is coal gray..."
Another Awesome Dinner: Cafe Pesto
For dinner tonight we went to the Cafe Pesto about 20 minutes up the road in Kawaihae. This was another one of those restaurants LW picked out because it had good reviews in both the Hawaii The Big Island Revealed book and the Frommer's Hawaii with Kids book. It also had EXCELLENT reviews on TripAdvisor (like an average 4.5 stars out of 5 from 23 user reviews - that's pretty unusual).
We weren't disappointed. The food was all excellent, the service was friendly and professional, and the atmosphere was really nice. The prices were surprisingly low considering all the fancy little frills - details like the red rose on the table, the lace doily under the dessert plate, etc. In fact, this was the LEAST expensive dinner we've had since we arrived on the Big Island, and in terms of food quality and service it was on par with the Hilo Bay Cafe our first night.
The decorations in the restaurant were quite the conversation pieces, too. One wall had some really beautiful paintings of Hawaiian scenery (with really big dollar values written on little tiny price tags attached to the painting). The wall behind us had a whole series of nicely framed photographs of Elvis. Most of them were of Elvis in his younger years when he looked somewhat "normal." The one right behind our table was from 1973 with him in the white jacket with the big collar and the gem stones all over and the HUGE rings on all his fingers. ES asked us why he had so many big rings. How does one explain the terms "ostentatious" or "gaudy" to a 7-year old?
The ONLY complaint I came up with for Cafe Pesto was in the restroom. They had one of those artsy-fartsy new sinks with a big stone bowl on top of the counter that was absolutely impossible for anyone under the age of about 13 to reach inside. I had to lift ES up so he could wash his hands.
BTW - I was informed by my family that I embarass them when I take pictures of the food at dinner, so I had to keep the camera hidden away tonight. They didn't say anything about not taking pictures in the bathroom though.
Tomorrow's agenda: Get up early and head out on a snorkeling cruise and to see the Captain Cook monument.
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