Sunday! Surreal, Shopping, Submarine, Super Wong!

Oh my stars, did we have an interesting Sunday in Waikiki!

I had been looking forward all week to "Church on the beach" - yes, yes, as you all know, I have high expectations...  And as many of you know, I appreciate a good message at church to take with me through the week.  But let me tell you, this service let me down so much.  It was a vanity homage to the guy running it (he sang all the songs himself.  Off key.)  And I thought that the hula (not  being properly danced) by a caucasian lady was just plain offensive to Hawaiians...

It could've been SO awesome - especially being on the beach!  And it could've been great for showing how Hawaiian rituals and church are combined, but like James said "When something works well, why would they tweak it?!  It worked in 1975 for them, so they might think it will work in 2011."

James is such a compassionate dude.  I'm so glad I married him.

One of the redeeming qualities was that the Church had a guest singer named Jeff Schmidt (who was great) and he sang and played the guitar.  I got his CD I liked him so much.  Just a basic guitar-playing guy with a good message.  Love.  (and ain't that what it's all about?!)

Lunch at home, I got to walk around the shops while James worked out. I may have purchased a beautiful new pink dress.  James loved it - I consider that a success.

We trotted down the beach to the Hilton Hawaiian Village where our submarine was waiting to take us 120 feet under the water to look at the local Hawaiian fish, coral and other marine wonders!

The Atlantis submarine tour was one of the highlights of our trip!  Only an hour long, but left us with many memories!  We got to see some of the "Hawaiian pyramids",  an old boat, and an old airplane (all brought into Waikiki harbor to rejuvenate the coral reefs.

Here are a few photos we captured underwater...

And as we got back on the boat to take us to the island we got the best view EVER of Waikiki!

After our adventure underwater we decided it was time for an afternoon cocktail and went to Tropics at Hawaiian Hilton Village.  I may have gotten the party started with a Waikiki Cosmo and some coconut shrimp.  Heaven.

After changing back at the Hotel we hopped in our trusty red convertible Lola and sped off to dinner at Alan Wong's.  James was very excited - the entire menu was on an iPad!  Wowzers - you know you live in 2011 when an iPad is given to you to select your food.

(I thought it was only good for the menu, as it had restrictions on what areas of the iPad you could and couldn't use- but not James!  He broke the code and managed to get into the iPad and leave a note for how to make the Waikiki Cosmo, my new favorite drink...  Sorry in advance IT people at Alan Wong's...)

Then we devoured the tasting menu - it was a five course little slice of paradise!  Hawaiian fusion food.  My stomach was happy!  See Below: spare ribs in guava sauce.  To the right is our "grilled cheese and Tomato soup".

 And then came the Seafood Lasagna - oh, baby!  This may have been my favorite dish of the evening!

We took a celebratory picture and went home to crash!  Full bellies = Happy McGraths!

Saturday (Meanwhile Back at the Ranch...)

Friends, Family and Fellow Bloggers - we had a VERY active Saturday.  We hiked, we ate, we got some sun and we had an adventure!  (An adventure which has caused me to have a very sore rump right now as I sit here blogging to you trying not to scream when I recross my legs...  My adventure was horseback riding for 2 hours - thus the sore bum.... But more on the adventures later!

We got up, James and I each had our morning Emergen-C (tropical flavored, of course...) and then we hit the Starbucks of Love.  I had the coconut latte this morning and wondered why I had never thought to try the coconut flavoring before?!  It's DE-LISH!  I highly recommend it if you're the sort who likes flavored coffee, such as I.  (but the image below is the coconut cream frappachino, which I will be sampling later today for my afternoon pick-me-up!)

Then it was off to hike up Diamond Head Crater!  A 1 mile hike to the top, but it was VERY strenuous!  And at the end of the entire hike up is a staircase of about 90 stairs - James and I were huffing and puffing!  (along with the other zillion tourists that were up there with us.)  But the walk was worth it and the views were AMAZING!

Then it was off to eat at Uncle Bobo's BBQ by the North Shore.  I love it here.  Not gonna lie.  I had the ribs and James had the pulled pork.  We both were very eager to eat here, as we LOVED it last year when we visited!  It did not disappoint.

After eating we threw on our beach things, put the top down on Lola and went to the beach!  Kaawa beach on the north east side of the island.  We had to try a local beach, but the one with the best view was full of campers.  (Real salt- of- the- earth types of people.  AKA- Ruthie thought they were Borderline homeless...)

BUT it was an AMAZING beach!  And the views were SPECTACULAR!

After catching some sun we trotted off to the Kualoa Ranch for a little horseback riding for me and a little all - terrain vehicle for James.  My horse, Toby, was a stellar creature:

Here's how I look while riding...

And here's how James looked after the 4-wheeler experience.  That's not a tan...  My husband was COVERED in filth.  And he was the happiest I've seen him in a long time.

Here's to playing in the dirt!  James will carry on with his quad biking in the other post...  But in the meantime here's a fun video for you to check out of me and my horse: Toby.

We then went back to Waikiki, James had a shower and then we went to Uncle's for some of the most delicious fish you'll find on the island!  We were told about this place from a lady who we met on the beach 2 days earlier.  A local gem - we love 'em!  This was the sea bass I had:

It was a DE-LICIOUS meal!  I loved it!  We will for sure come back here again!  The service was excellent, the atmosphere was fun and the food was A-Mazing!  I approve!  Uncles - you get my stamp of approval!

Then it was back to the hotel for an early night -we were tired so we watched Larry Crown - with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.  What a sweet movie!  And a great way to end our day...

Aloha!  More to come!

Lost tour on a quad-bike!

We so much at the Kualoa Ranch this afternoon I think this bit deserves its own post.

Ruthie took the horseback tour but unfortunately I wasn't able to join her as the weight limit for the horses is 230 lbs... bummer. BUT I got to do a tour on a quad-bike which was absolutely insane - so much fun. Looking back I'm glad Quicksilver took one look at me and bolted from the barn - I LOVED the tour we did on the bike. I got to see loads of locations from so many different movies that I've seen over the years including 50 First Dates, Windtalkers, Jurassic Park, Pearl Harbor and Tears of the Sun.

Most incredibly though... LOST!! I got to see and walk through so many different locations from dozens of episodes of Lost. Some of the Dharma bunkers, the open field where Hurley build his golf course... so many more, but I won't give too much away for anyone who hasn't seen the show yet (YOU SHOULD SEE THE SHOW!).

The quad-biking itself though was so much fun, thrilling and adrenaline pumping in fact. If you haven't done it yet I would definitely recommend it. By the end of it I was absolutely caked in dirt from head to toe. Ruthie got a bit of a show when we met up back at the ranch house at the end!

Another day, another adventure. Another meal, another Mai Tai.

Can life get much better than this?! I don't see how...

This morning started off with a hike along the south eastern coast line of the island. We followed the Makapuu trail all the way to the end where we found the lighthouse waiting for us, perched on the end of a small peninsula right on the edge of a steep cliff which plunges down to the ocean.

It was uphill all the way but with views like this and perfect weather there was no complaining! It was really nice to say 'good morning' to other hikers on their way back down as we ascended and vice-versa on the way back down.

http://www.hawaiiweb.com/oahu/hiking_and_camping/makapuu_lighthouse.htm

After our hike we decided the hit the beach and while there were several to choose from we didn't have much luck...

The first beach at Koko Beach Park was spectacular with huge waves crashing on the white sandy beach. The beaches lined with greenery, the kind you lusted after while watching the Lost. Unfortunately the red flags were out and the life guard came walking right up to us and basically told us we would die a terrible drowning death if we attempted to go even 5 feet into the water. With that, we took a few pics are went on our merry way up the eastern shore...

Koko Beach Park

The second beach at Waimanalo, equally beautiful, also had the red flags out. Not for life-snatching killer waves and currents but for just as deadly jelly fish!! Adios amigos - we dropped it like it was hot, as Snoop said once. Later!!

At this point it was late in the morning and we were getting hungry. Just 10 mins up the road was a great place we found the last time we came to Hawaii - Buzz's Steak and Chop house by Kailua. Ruthie and I both had the Thai Peanut Chicken Burger (awesome), with fries (Ruthie) and a cup of celery and coconut soup (me!). Soooo good, amazing. Buzz's looks out onto the beach and the ocean, we managed to bag a seat outside on the veranda and chomped away at lunch while looking out at the view (and hey, we're on vacation, while also sipping on a Mai Tai... what??).

A good few hours of playing in the ocean and baking on the beach later, we decided to head up to Tropical Farms, the Macadamia Nut farm we went to last year. We didn't do the tour, this time we just took a look around the farm house which is basically one big gift shop with free coffee that is infused with the flavor of macadamia nuts and complimentary tasting samples of the nuts themselves... salted, plain, cinnamon infused... all sorts, and all completely LUSH!

Full of freebies, we decided to head back to Waikiki and check out the open-air mall at the Ala Mona center. I followed Ruthie around while she looked in a few different places - the Amex card thankfully managed to sidestep a few land mines in Kate Spade. :o)

Before dinner Ruthie went to chill in Starbucks and upload a few photos from the day while I went to work out for an hour. I had to work through last night's slap up soul food meal at Side Street Inn and also prepare myself for tonight's island feast...

For dinner we went to a Japanese restaurant in the Hilton Hawaiian village where the chefs cook the food in front of you using some CRAZY knife skills.

Dinner was was like watching the love child of Bruce Lee and Beatrice the Bride from Kill Bill cook for you with several miniature samurai swords... the food was awesome, the cocktails flowed and watching our chef Barry do his thing was phenomenal - here's a taster of his knife skills...

Oh, think twice... 'Cause it's another day for you & me in PARADISE! (god I love Phil Collins...)

Friends! We had a beautiful Thursday in O'ahu.... Here is how we spent our day...

My body woke me up at 6am, so what's a girl to do you might ask?! Why, GO TO STARBUCKS and start the day right of course!  Lots of catching up to be done on emails and Facebook!  (because we all know what's important on a honeymoon - coffee and Internet time.  Right?  Right??)

So when James joined me we just HAD to take a picture.... (with our his and hers mac books...)

Then it was off to have a wonderful adventure on Atlantis Submarines!  We had sprung for the extra legroom and bigger porthole to see the fishies and on our way to our appointment time I got a phone call telling me that "The visibility was too low to see the fish, and could we reschedule for later..."

 Well, when underwater currents upset your viewing you gotta go and make make some lemons outta that lemonade!  (vice versa - whatever...) So we rescheduled for Sunday - which is fine by me.

Fortunately James is a GENIUS and we decided to go shopping instead!  At the Waikele Premium Outlet Mall - it was Super fun!

We went to Banana Republic, BCBG, Tommy Bahama, Barneys New York, Sax off 5th, Coach and Polo Ralph Lauren!  James was crazy patient with me as I tried on every dress in BCBG - and finally settled on one that was over 75% off.  I love getting a good deal!  It's pretty and blue and I'm wearing it to the Japanese Steakhouse on Friday night!

Then we hopped back in Lola and went back to Waikiki to lay on the beach for a little bit ...

But mainly, we arrived home early to prepare ourselves for the crazy fun about to happen - we were going back to SIDE STREET INN!!!

Oh, Baby - we did some sweet sweet eating there with our friends Dietra and Jason last year... so of course we wanted to fill our gullets with the same delicious, fried, happy hormone enduring food!  De-lish!

We had the kim- chee fried rice (which James and I couldn't finish, but we made a good dent!)  I have also decided that Kim-Chee translated into English means "OHMYSWEETJeebus!It'sGOOD!".  Just a little something to add to your vocabularies...

Then we had the ribs of love.  I don't remember their name, but they were lovely and sweet - just like a rib should be...

Finally there was the deep fried pork chop.  Now friends, you haven't lived 'till you've had the deep friend pork chop...  Simply heavenly!

All in all a VERY successful trip to the Side Street Inn.  Neither of us had to undo our pants buckle after, and neither of us threw up.  I consider this a total win.  (as the last time we came last year I was moaning the whole way home from all the delicious food that was in my belly...)

Finally we finished off our evening by taking in a funny film called "The Change Up".  Enjoyable!  Would I rent it?  Sure!  It was a very fun end to a very fun day!  Here's to the next 12 days in Paradise!