Honolulu

 For the longest time, I've been trying to drum up a trip to Hawaii so my dad could show us all his Navy haunts. And also because...it's Hawaii.  Hard to go wrong with that!  Scott and I and Trajan and Micaela left at 10 pm to drive to Vegas for some cheap flights.  It wasn't painless to drive through the night and get to Vegas 4 hours before our flight because we were nervous about problems arising on the road and missing our flight.  But nobody said it would be easy, they only said it would be worth it.  OK, that was me that said that.

 And I was right.  Look at the cute lobby of the Coconut Waikiki Hotel!  Our friend Ronald at the front desk even upgraded us to a suite, which was sweet.  Two bathrooms!  The room was luxurious, and we shared it easily with Trajan and Micaela.

 So worth it.  My head cleared and my mind expanded when I saw this sign.  Ahhhh!

 My cousin Allison and her friend Dean recommended some great restaurants to us.  First stop, the noodle place.  Curry udon and tempura by the piece.  Dean and Allison were right.  We went back again for the next meal, and I tried my first spam musubi, a big, fat sushi with a slab of spam on top, wrapped in seaweed.

 Waikiki looked like a postcard.  The Hilton sponsors fireworks on the beach every Friday, so we were welcomed to Honolulu in style our first night.

 Next morning, Scott and I went on an early walking tour of all the places Dean and Allison had recommended.  We got portuguese donuts, malasadas, and the famous Leonard's bakery.  Even though we had already had breakfast at the hotel.  When you have ll these food choices, you have to be an overachiever. ;)

 Scott and I were accused of not relaxing, but look!  Here's proof!  No really, we relaxed, I promise.  We just got up at the crack of dawn to do it.  Lol.  With the 4 couples' different travel styles, we all meshed pretty darn well, I must say.

 Saw lots of brides in beautiful, upscale Waikiki, most of them Japanese

 Favorite hidden spot: the balcony overlooking the entrance to the Surf Rider Hotel.  We dozed there and people watched.

 Beach time with Micaejan

 And then quality time at Uncle Bo's.  Oh baby!  The food.  I can't even...

 These, my friends, are wonton nachos doused in pure heaven.

 More malasadas.  We couldn't help it.  Total gluttons.

 Breakfast friends Momo from Paris/Vienna and the Canadians.  They were fun to relax with on the "lanai."

 Seriously spent an hour at breakfast.

 Favorite Waikiki activity besides stuffing our faces was sitting in all the fancy hotel lobbies, lanais and pools.  The Royal Hawaiian was the most royal, the Surf Rider was the most historic and the Sheraton had the best infinity pool.

 At the Swatch store, I fell for this watch and put a picture of it on Instagram saying #yoquiero.  My cousin Allison said it reminded her of Opa and I burst into tears a little bit.  Not one hour later, Scott said he had to go to the bathroom and came back minutes later breathless.  I was sitting in our spot on the Surf Rider balcony, and I was staring at the picture of the watch on my phone.  I said, "I'm just going to..." and Scott pulled out a Swatch bag.  I was about to say "...buy this watch."  It could not have been scripted better.  Scott is the best gift giver ever.  He always gets the right thing under the right circumstances.  I love my watch and the memories I now have associated with it.

 We managed to sneak in quite a few trips to this little Japanese market to buy mochi ice cream in tropical flavors.  I tell you, it's not easy to eat this much.  It's a skill.

 Trajan has Chinese lessons by Skype several times a week.  He is a hard worker!  It was fun to hang out with him and Micaela.  They are easy-going and fun.

 I was totally smitten with Honolulu and ate up (literally) every minute there.  Too soon, it was time for the next leg of the journey, and we bused it to the airport to meet up with the others and pick up our car, bound for the fabled North Shore of Oahu.  I secretly crossed my fingers and hoped it would live up to Waikiki, because so far, this place was stealing my heart and I didn't know how it could get any better.