No Nuts!

I was right. Falling asleep last night was not a problem. Waking up far too early happened, but at least I was able to go back to sleep until it was a fairly reasonable time to head out to eat breakfast. We did have to wait a few minutes for the café to open though. 😉

One of the perks of the hotel we chose was its proximity to the Ala Moana Shopping Center. There is a walk-through from the hotel to the shopping center which boasts a fairly large selection of restaurants, both fast food and sit-down establishments. There is one bakery/café that opens bright and early and since we were awake and ready to go bright and early, it was an easy decision. As such, the Liliha Bakery was our first breakfast spot. And I was super excited when I saw mac nut waffles on the menu. I love waffles and I love macadamia nuts (and I don’t get to eat them at home very often because of my food allergy kiddos) so eating a healthy amount of mac nuts on this trip is definitely on my to do list. Unfortunately, I was bitterly disappointed with my mac nut waffles because there were no actual nuts in the waffles. Just flavor. The waffle itself was nice and crisp, but without the nuts it just felt like another waffle. So disappointing. But this is only our first full day on the island, so there are still plenty of opportunities for me to fulfill my need for nuts!

After traveling all day yesterday, today was a rest and recover day. For my mom, that meant plenty of rest. For me, that meant plenty of yoga. For my dad, that meant plenty of time sitting on the beach reading. Kevin opted to join my dad since the beach is far more picturesque than staring at my yoga mat. The funny thing is my dad didn’t actually do much reading. He spent the entire time talking about his time in Hawaii. Funny how being in a certain location brings to mind things that you haven’t thought about in years. It ended up being story time on the beach and Kev recorded as many of the stories as he could, so technically it was family history time too. 😉

When lunchtime rolled around, Kevin and my dad came and collected me from the hotel. We headed to the food court at the shopping center and had some decent Asian food. It wasn’t five-star food or anything, but for a food court, it was pretty good. And it was something that you just can’t get at the food courts in Utah. We spent the afternoon much as we had spent the morning, with a nap for me instead of yoga. 

In the evening, Kevin and I found a yummy ramen spot for dinner. My ramen came in a bowl that was bigger than my head, literally, but the contents were so tasty! Kevin ate some Japanese style curry and takoyaki, a Japanese dish he learned to love on his mission and one that is difficult to find in Utah. I think I’m going to enjoy the food options out here! Bedtime will be nice and early since our bodies are still on Utah time, but tomorrow we have more activities planned. Taking a lazy day after our long travel day yesterday was definitely nice though!