Foreign Shopping & Manoa Falls Rainforest Hike

 

Where Joe lives and where we stayed- the yellow house on the left of the picture. The road you see is the driveway.

Joe's kids still had school, and Missy still had to work, so we had to wait til late afternoon to hang with the clan, but we were blessed to have Joe around to really show us the best foreign shopping experiences in the morning.  Due to Joe's company's relocation and subsequent layoff, he was looking for work and had time to drive us around and be our personal tour-host.  I'm glad he was the one driving, because the parking and narrow streets and one-way roads all get a little congested and confusing, but he was used to it.

A Look Around the Place

How would you like to wake up to this beautiful green mountain each day? Yes please.  This is the view from inside the home.

We took over Joe and Missy's master bedroom.  The girls got the air mattress and Steve and I were on the bed.  That was so nice!

In Manoa, it rains everyday a little here a little there.  There were rainbows daily.  I'm pretty sure that's a requirement for paradise.  The photo below is a zoomed in view from the house.

Joe took me outside to hunt for any avocados that fell in the night.  He was successful.  These avocados were huge, way bigger than the ones at our grocery stores!  You better believe we made a big bowl of fresh guacamole!

Joe with his avocado tree

Joe has a neighbor with a fun and unique rock retaining wall.  They put out hundreds of plastic toy animals/insects/creatures/figurines and let the neighborhood kids create scenes in their rocks and on the wall.  It's awesome!

Foreign Budget Shopping

Joe took us to a couple places that he thought I'd like- Daiso (like a japanese dollar tree), and Don Quixote (like a Japanese Walmart).  He was RIGHT!! Those places were awesome and had so many things I loved!  We also did go to Walmart and Sam's Club to find inexpensive souvenirs.  Daiso was also on our bucket list, so CHECK!

I could spend a lot of time at Daiso.  The products were all listed in a foreign currency, and there were conversion charts all over the store to help determine the US $ price.  Most things were $1.25-$3.75.  I particularly loved the dishes and if I lived there, I'd definitely be stocking my kitchen cabinets from there. I ended up buying a neck pillow for travel, something I could take on the plane and use at the airports.

Don Quixote, you'd think it would be some latin market, but no.  It's 100% Japanese.  Why they have that Spanish name is beyond me.  They had groceries, fresh produce, clothing, hardware, etc..  My favorite though- their "deli" was sushi and bentos and Hot Hawaiian food! I'm used to seeing the dry corndogs, potato logs, pizza sticks, and fried chicken behind the hot deli case, but here... shoyu chicken, ginger chicken, shoyu pork, garlic shrimp, spam musubi!  Are you serious?! This needs to be where I live.  I think this is another requirement for paradise.

A whole square section dedicated to sushi.  YES!

Fresh mochi!  Now we're talking! We bought Oreo mochi, and 2 peanut butter mochi!  There's nothing quite so soft and delicate as fresh mochi. 

We purchased $20 in fresh mochi-- check that off the bucket list!  The girls also wanted to get their lunch here, so we got them sushi and teriyaki chicken bowl.  Steve purchased some Andagi (japanese donuts) from a vendor, "da ANDAGI Guy", out front.  Those were delicious too!  And 3 for $1 is a fantastic price, especially in paradise where everything costs more.  Our next stop for lunch was Sam's Club for the best-priced fast food.  Here they had a Kalua pork plate lunch for $6, which is what I got because I know of no other Sam's Club that puts out Kalua pork.  Yum!  Steve stuck with his usual big slice of pizza and a drink.  I think we got ice creams too.

We had to rush to get the kids from school.  All our shopping made time fly!

Manoa Falls Rainforest Hike

Greeting us in the parking lot was the infamous HEY-HEY  from Disney's Moana!  Haha!

Stephen and I went part-way up the trail to Manoa Falls last time we were in Hawaii, 4 or 5 years ago.  It was a rainy day, we were pressed for time, and only got to see some of the trail.  It was too rainy to trek up to the falls.  But this day, was perfect.  We didn't have rain and we made it all the way up to the falls.  My favorite was not the falls, but the rainforest plant life that we got to admire on the way up.  There were some GORGEOUS landscapes and some incredible formations, and interesting intricacies in the plants all around.  We experienced another world walking in that rainforest.  

Malia, Amara, Maisie, Lily posing in front of a wild Peace Lily flower.

Now sit back and enjoy a look at some of the majesty we walked amongst-

If you're ever in a rainforest.  Look up.  It's beautiful.

This vine climbing the tree!

bamboooooooooo

Look carefully and you'll see Manoa Falls!

Mushrooms anyone?

go ahead and grow like that!

I don't know how Maisie survived, but she hiked on all those rocks in her slippas! Every flip-flop-step flicked more and more mud onto her legs.

Um.  I found the portal to heaven.

Thanksgiving Turkey Prep

Joe volunteered to cook the turkey for Thanksgiving.  He takes his turkey seriously.  The night before, he soaks the bird in a homemade brine.  Then he uses all manner of fruits and herbs to stuff in and around the bird when it bakes.  It's a labor of love and the meat is a masterpiece when he's done with it.

Malia helping Joe pour the brine into the turkey