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.

Can't Get Enough of Craigslist

Hubby sold a number of things on Craigslist amidst rushing to make our house presentable for market listing. It was too tempting not to check for other deals at the same time, though. And you know Hubby loves him a deal. In the hour and a half hustle before our first open house, he dashed to Home Depot to replace our cracked doorbell. Well, this tandem bike happened to be for sale down the road. He bought the tandem with just minutes to spare. He stashed the tandem in our garage until later that evening.
After the open house, and some dinner, Hubby installed the tandem around the seat of his mountain bike. The little handle bars needed adjustment, too. Finally, the bike was completely adjusted, and it was time to mount. But Son1 grew leery. "No, first Mommy is gonna ride it, and then I am next," he declared. And they both looked at me with expectancy. Now how was I going to say no? I straddled the tandem and perched myself on the little seat. Hubby sized me up and down. "You know, you fit pretty well on that seat. I bet I could lift the seat all the way and you and I could go riding together." Or not. I wasn't a huge fan of this contraption. We soared up and down the cul-de-sac for what a preschooler took as a victory lap. He cheered just like a member of a pit crew. We stopped in front of our house, and now it was their turn.

Watching the two of them ride several rounds made me grow the slightest affinity for the tandem. Hubby could steer and pedal without Son1. Hubby also steered and coasted while Son1 pedaled. Hubby pointed out the most important value to the tandem. Son1 learned a sense of balance without training wheels.

This is just the beginning of something else, though. It's the beginning of father-son stuff, stuff without Mommy. I stood there, smiling, watching my eldest in complete bliss. My heart and my head recognized the moment for what it was, what my husband had dreamed about for years, and what my little boy started to discover. I thought this day would come, and I would react differently. I imagined a sadness on my part. But it just wasn't there tonight.

Legoland Day 2

Sight unseen, we bought season passes to Legoland. After one day we knew it was a great decision! We spent the night in Carlsbad, and went back to see more of Legoland!
We boarded the Coast Cruise through Miniland where we saw several replicas of famous sites.

Sydney Opera House

See the little brown spot sticking out of George's ear? It's a little Lego crew cleaning the wax out of his ear!

New York City was built with 2 million of the 40 million Legos at Legoland. The new Freedom Tower is under construction on the left, as in New York.

Son2 and I sat out at the Aquazone, where Hubby and Son1 power skiied through the waves and dodged water blasts triggered from spectator stations.

Later in the day at the Castle Hill section of the park, Son1 and Hubby panned for gold. This is his gold medal that he is still so proud of!

Legoland has plenty of themed play structures. The Hideaways has a medieval theme, where the kids climbed rope ladders and braved wooden catwalks. It was multilevel, and one of the largest plays structures I have ever seen.
We strolled through the Enchanted Walk, and came into view of the Knights Tournament. Hubby asked if I wanted to ride. Nooo.
Hubby chose to ride Knights Tournament, alone. The kids and I hung out at the Builders Guild, a Lego building station. When it was his turn to ride, we ran down in front of the fire breathing dragon, for stroller parking. We cackled and cackled as we heard Hubby scream. These robotic arms twist and turn at high speed. The passenger selects the intensity of the ride, level 1-5. Hubby selected the full effect speed of 5. This video is a little short, since I was trying to snap pictures before I started the video.

Son1 was ready to ride more rides. Today he was more of an expert at the Volvo Junior Driving School. He remembered that the electric cars were not on a track. Why go the right way? Why not play bumper cars? Those ride attendants gave him plenty of personal driving school attention!

The last ride of the day was the Legoland Express. The park started to empty, so we just kept riding past the station until the park closed, except when a straggler wanted to board.

The day ended so fast, and we were all sad to leave Legoland. Well, maybe not all of us. Hubby and I were pretty tired!
Son1 would have homesteaded this Lego house, if we would have allowed him.

But I have even more fun to share. Yesterday I couldn't load this video, so I bring you an encore presentation of our first day at Legoland. This musical fountain is interactive. I hopped and jumped on different sensors to make the instruments play!