Two Open Houses Booted Us Out

Our family spent lazy summer days on the North Shore during two of our open houses. The North Shore is only a short drive, and is my favorite side of the island. All sides of the island look completely different. It's the "up in the country" side. The largest town is little Historic Hale'iwa, (pronounced Ha-Lee Ee-vah) population just over 2,000.

Our first stop was Flavor Mania, the exotic gourmet ice cream palace. We fell in love with this place several years before we ever lived here. Every time we came to Hawaii we stopped here for ice cream. All of the ice cream is homemade in the store with wild and crazy tropical flavors. I had the Chocolate Macadamia Nut, Son1 had the blue with marshmallows, (a vanilla flavor of some sort) and Hubby had Pineapple Cheesecake. Son2 had them all.

The long time owner was diagnosed with cancer, recently. He was forced to sell Flavor Mania, but two of the original signs remain. It may still be called Flavor Mania. I am not sure on that one. The name on the door has changed, though.

It was almost time for the end of the open house, but we stopped to kill time at W-Mart. Hubby picked up a few items, and was nearing the check out stand, when Son1 reminded me we hadn't visited the fish. Every time we go to W-Mart I take my kids to see the fish. They expect it, they love it, and it's cheap entertainment.
Our second open house we headed back to Hale'iwa for the annual Hale'iwa Arts Festival. It is held every July in Hale'iwa Beach Park. Over one hundred artists display their fine arts and crafts from Oahu and neighboring islands. Visual performers present dances, music, and storytelling. On our way into the park we bought mangoes from a local farmer, off the back of his truck. We headed to the food stands for some local style eats before checking out the art. Son1 found the keiki mural and didn't hesitate. Right behind the keiki mural he spotted the face painting station. He insisted he wanted his entire face painted like Spiderman. Noooo. I thought of possible clogged pores and sweat off paint all over his hands and down the front of his shirt. Plus, I didn't think he could sit still that long. So he settled for a spider web.We rounded the booths, admiring all of the artists' work. Nothing screamed BUY ME, even though we were open to new art for our home. The kids were restless. We said goodbye to Hale'iwa and hello to the beach.

We went to our favorite little beach, the one we frequent on busy North Shore days. It's the very place where this blog began.

Hubby and the kids got right in. I sat rigidly on our straw mat next to our two phones. That was so unlike me. I don't go to the beach with my suit on to sit. It was about time for the realtor to call. Minutes went by. No phone call. Her policy is to call after each open house. Finally Hubby motioned me toward the water, and told me to relax and forget about the open house, to pretend we were on vacation, and enjoy the day with the kids. I was positive he heard that somewhere from someone before. Uh hem! Impulsively, I pulled off my coverup and jumped in the water. Once I was completely wet, I put our home sale out of mind.

We all watched the surfer on the horizon for awhile. He was stand up paddle surfing. (There is a blog post coming, explaining more about the sport.) We watched and explained to the kids about this type of surfing. You can just barely see him in the horizon, below.

A few moment's later, Son2 threw his body over his brother's boogie board.

He propped himself up on all fours in an instant.

And I can't believe I caught this picture! He sprang up, cackling, because he had accomplished what he set out to do, alone. Hubby and I were stunned and impressed! My 16 month old won't walk without holding a single adult finger, but he surfs, instead!
About this time, some children were playing next to our family. The kids were elementary school age, a few years older than Son1. They raced sprints into the ocean over and over. Son1 insisted on playing, too. Graciously they agreed. They showed Son1 some aloha, which is a way of life here. (Playing with children you just meet is really common. I will miss living aloha more than anything when we leave the island.) They even let him win a couple of heats, on purpose. Hubby jumped in as the race judge. Son2 and I found our spots on the straw mat, and observed. A tourist family sitting nearby asked if all of the six children racing were mine. I laughed pretty hard. I still can't decide if I thought it was funnier that I could have that many children so close in age, or if I found it amusing that all folks with sunkissed tans look related to mainlanders. The other kids looked nothing like my family. I assured her only two boys were mine.

Dinner time rolled around. We packed up our family and thanked the children for playing with Son1. Time to go home, to my immaculate open house home.