After getting in at 11:30pm on the 18th, and then having a not-deep-sleep until 5am, Ava woke me up and I didn’t think I’d be able to get back to sleep so I got up with the family, and accepted I’d have a headache all day.

It was a lazy morning. Lunch was early, and we’d selected a place that we hadn’t been to before that looked neat, but when we got there it was closed on Mondays! Back to Google, with drove to L&L Drive Inn, in the middle of Hale’iwa. It turned out to be kind of a Hawaiian Asian fusion place that looked similar to Canadian Asian Fusion places that we avoid like the plague back home, so we walked one storefront up and into Dat Cajun Guy.

The food here was excellent! And one of the guys was so enamored of Ava that he hung around our table talking with her and us when our food came. I think he realized he was being slightly awkward, and walked away, because after we’d finished eating he came back. He was a really nice guy and we enjoyed talking with him about her and his 2 (soon to be 3) kids, just the timing was a little off, before lunch. 🙂

We drove to Honolulu after, while Ava slept in the back. At the airport we circled the area for a while trying to ensure Ava stayed asleep. She woke almost as we realized that Ruthie’s flight was an hour early. I don’t even know how that happens. We rushed to a parking spot and into the airport to try to figure out where to meet her.

We got a phone call from an 808-local number. It turns out that Ruthie, as an Unaccompanied Minor (or “UM” in the lingo) was not allowed to leave the airplane gate without her designated adult. We didn’t know this. So the phone call was from Alaska Air telling us this. Miranda had to go to a ticketing agent, get a boarding pass, go through security to meet Ruthie at the gate so she could leave!

We needed to go back to Walmart to get some milk and Ruthie a swim suit (hers had met an unfortunate end in her school locker), so we had lunch at Chili’s again. The food was pretty consistently mediocre, except for Ruthie’s pasta which she declared was the best pasta ever. She also loved all the trees in Hawaii. I really love seeing a place that I love from a new persons eyes, so it was fun looking at what she was excited about.

Back at home we were really close to Ava’s bed time so we hung out for a bit before putting her down. Finally, around 5:45ish Ruthie and I went out to the water for a swim. It was pretty cold and I was exhausted from my late night, but I need to get a swim in every day, so I was determined. Ruthie was determined because Hawaii. We snorkeled a bit and I tried to show her some fish, but they kept being just out of her vision (it was super murky because the surf is up again), but she enjoyed just being in the water, which is great because just being in the water is pretty fantastic.

This morning Ava slept in until 6, we’ve had breakfast and we’re now just waiting for her to wake up so we can go kayaking! It’s overcast and apparently going to get up to 24c today.