Doing the Touristy Thing

We've been busy doing the touristy thing around the island lately with friends visiting from the mainland - P&E and their sons N and A.
P was LW's college roommate and maid of honor at our wedding. I always like it when I am able to get together with E. We have very similar geeky tastes in movies, electronic gadgets, good beer, etc, and he always introduces me to really cool new things that I might not have happened upon if he hadn't told me about them.

Case in Point #1: Land Shark Lager. When we went to the package store to stock up the fridge, he spotted this on the shelf and picked some up. Man this is really good stuff!


Case in Point #2: The Lego Ultimate Collector Series Death Star. From the Lego website: "Movie-authentic Death Star environments include the Superlaser control room and target monitor, Imperial conference chamber, TIE Advanced hangar bay with moving launch rack, Emperor's throne room, droid maintenance room, detention block, trash compactor, and much more!"

I also really like the Imperial Star Destroyer, the Millennium Falcon, the motorized walking AT-AT, and the Sandcrawler, too.

While exploring the Lego website, I also discovered that you can make a custom Lego design using their free software download. They'll make the kit for you, and they will make it available for others to buy on the website.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Quotes of the Week: P&E's 5 year old son N thinks it's pretty cool that I work on a submarine. My two favorite quotes from N so far this week are:

"Uncle Kevin, your submarine costume is spiffy!" (I was wearing my summer whites to take P&E on the COMPACFLT Remembrance Tour.)

"I love you, Uncle Kevin. You're a banana dipped in chocolate."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sight-Seeing Recap:

Monday night we went to the Paradise Cove Luau. This was the second time we've been to this luau. Differences between this time (in late June) versus last time (in December):

- It was hot as heck. I was uncomfortably warm and sweating profusely. Then I looked over at poor red-haired, fair-skinned E and saw that he was about to MELT. We sought shelter in the shade and anxiously awaited sunset.

- ES Participation. I was pleasantly surprised that ES was more "in the mood" for this luau and actually participated in some of the activities.

ES Throws the Spear at the Target.

He actually threw the spear pretty well with good aim, but he wasn't strong enough to get the spear to stick in the hay target.

- We got to see the tree-climber guy drop the shower of flower petals this time. Other people who have gone to this luau have commented on it before, and we somehow missed it on our last visit.


- They changed the middle-priced option. It used to be that the mid-priced ticket got your food delivered to you at your table instead of having to wait in line at the buffet (in addition to getting a real flower lei instead of a shell lei and a couple of extra drink tickets). They've changed it so that now the middle-priced tickets have to go stand in line at the buffet, too.

The Buffet

I didn't think it was worth the extra $20 per ticket (from the lowest priced to the mid-priced) just for the flower lei, sitting in the middle section, and extra drink tickets.
(a) We have flower leis at home we just gave our guests when they arrived.
(b) The seating area isn't that big. I thought we could see fine from the side seating for the lowest price tickets - except for an annoying Japanese lady who kept leaning one way and then the other in front of me and tilting her head WAAAAAY back to look at the stars and put her hair in my lap.
(c) We didn't use all our drink tickets last time and we didn't use them this time either.

The line for the buffet wasn't bad, and there was plenty of food. My main complaint was the food didn't seem as fresh this time. Last time, the fish with the macadamia nut sauce was just to die for. This time it kinda seemed like we were eating leftovers, and I wonder if it was because the food had been sitting out there on the buffet line for a while (and ours was the last table called up to the buffet). The kahlua pork and the fried chicken were both really good though.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tuesday morning, I took P&E on the COMPACFLT Remembrance Tour.



Then in the afternoon, we went on the Atlantis Submarine ride.

All Aboard!

Where's his rig for dive procedure???
Where's his bucket and greenie???
Did he inspect the hatch seating surface???
This aspect of the ride still gives me some anxiety.

112 Feet Beneath the Surface

Fish on the YO Wreck

Today we went to Ko Olina to enjoy the beach and snorkeling. The snorkeling was a disappointment today. The water was really murky and I didn't see a single fish. Even so, it was nice to just relax in the nice warm water. It was partly cloudy, and the clouds helped provide some shade and keep the temperatures down. During the periods when the sun came out of the clouds it got really hot really quick.

ES and Daddy at Ko Olina.

Nano-Seconds before getting doused by ES's Noodle-Cannon

Up Next: Our new community swimming pool finally opens tomorrow, so I foresee some swimming pool action. Then we've got 4th of July festivities here in our community on Friday.