Hawaii - Final Night -

That night, there was a welcome ceremony at the resort.

Interesting outfits on men. How ya doin!!

 And then as a final meal of the trip, we sat at the outside restaurant at the hotel.

We watched the sunset, sipping wines and champagnes.

I had so much fun hanging out with my parents.

I wish my brother could have made it too.

I wonder how many more times we can have trips like this, just us family.

In any event, it was a great trip. I'm glad I went. Food poisoning and all.

Hawaii - Last Day -

On the last day, I finally felt fully recovered.

We drove up to North Shore in the morning.

After 30 minutes or so, the scenery changed from forests to fields.

Interesting looking tree. Nature is truly amazing.

My parents took a glider tour in North Shore.

They were seated in this tiny thing.

(Eh, me? No thank you. I feel like I can't breathe just looking at this.)

Pulled by a small plane, off they go, up in the air!

The flight lasted only 15 minutes, but they said it was really great.

I'm glad my parents are still healthy and very adventurous. Good for them.

And then we took a drive to the east of the island.

Fruit stand on the way.

After 30-minute drive later, we arrived at the destination: Romy's Shrimp!!!

Lucky for us, we beat the lunch rush and only waited for 20 minutes for food.

We brought our own beers. Ahhh.

We got the garlic & butter shrimp and steamed shrimp. SO TASTY.

After we got full, we took another drive along the coast to Honolulu.

It was a very scenic drive. Ocean on the left, mountains on the right.

Hawaii - The Resort -

We stayed at Marriott's Ko Olina Beach Club through my parent's time share.

There is a track that goes around the whole resort. A lot of people were running/walking.

And... it has a private beach!

I only went this far in the water, but the water was warm.

It's a great place to just do NOTHING. I'll definitely go back.



Hawaii - Day 3. Golf Day -

After sleeping for 9 hours straight, I felt a lot better on the third day. Whew.

We played golf at the Ko Olina Golf Club that day.

I took golf lessons just for this day, so I was pretty excited.

It was a beautiful course but hard one!

Every green had multiple levels of heights and I SUCK at patting.

But the lessons paid off and I hit really well with a driver and irons.

Hit more distance than my dad at times. Wha!

And for the first time, I HAD FUN playing golf. Thank goodness.

It rained on us a couple of times for short time, but overall, good day.

After the round of golf, Dad made us a late lunch at the hotel.

And I drove to Waikiki to meet up with my old friend, Luci.

It may have been the first time we talked this much, just Luci and I.

Friends over 14 years. It's great to have a solid friend like Luci. Love ya! 

Hawaii - Torturous 2nd Day -

After a long long night of hell, I sort of felt better in the morning.

At least, I wasn't nauseous anymore. Just NO energy whats-so-ever.

I just wanted to curl up in bed all day, but I managed to drive around the island with my parents.

First stop: Pearl Harbor!

I must say, it was awkward to be there, being Japanese.

And Hawaii is usually full of Japanese tourists, but here, I didn't see any.

I guess, it's like American tourists going to Hiroshima bomb memorial.

After that they wanted to go shopping (of course), so we went to an outlet.

I got no energy left by mid afternoon, so I took a nap in a car while they shopped more.

And then, we dressed up for dinner (in public bathroom at the mall).

Because... I had a plan to take them out for a nice dinner for my mom's 60th birthday.

Per recommendation by my local friend, we went to Alan Wong's.

It was a fine restaurant with very interestingly styled food and top notch service.

Too bad I could only eat one bite of my food.

But my parents seemed to enjoy the food, so that's all it matters.

It was my first time EVER to take my parents out.
It felt great. I felt like a grown-up.



Hawaii - First Night-

Last weekend, I met up with my parents in Hawaii. They flew from Japan and I from LA.

Bye LA!

My parents who got there earlier that day, picked me up at the airport.

We stayed in Ko Olina, which is about 40 mins drive from Honolulu.

It was already late, so we just ate at the hotel room, fixing up whatever we had.

Cheers with Asahi Dry BLACK! Very smooth and tasty.

Gave my mom her birthday present. Happy birthday, Mom!

It was all nice and peachy. Great to chatch up with them with family gossip.

BUT.... somehow I got food poisoning that day.

It was a long and hard night going back and forth of bed and bathroom.

Ugh. My luck...