Morning and lunch
Meg’s birthday kicked off with a 90 minute session we had booked for her at Outrigger Infinity Spa, which was located in the hotel penthouse. Last year we went as an entire family, but this time around we let Meghann go while the girls and I hung out at the hotel room. Once she returned, we headed out to lunch.
We decided to eat at “OMG”, aka Oahu Mexican Grill. This restaurant was a little hole in the wall, with an experience similar to what you’d find at Chipotle. I had a burrito, Meghann ordered a veggie bowl and the girls had a steak bowl. We had a table with a nice view overlooking the ocean. Meghann and I liked ours, the girls not as much.
After lunch, we decided to walk the Waikiki strip for some shopping. We stopped at several shops including O’Neill, Louis Vuitton, Billabong, a “DFS” center, and Tommy Bahama. I ended up finding some new clothes, no luck for Meghann unfortunately!
Dinner at Hy’s Steakhouse Cheesecake Factory
After shopping, we headed back to the hotel. We had a dinner reservation at the nicest steakhouse on the island, Hy’s Steakhouse! As our reservation time approached, Meghann’s appetite shifted and she decided to call an audible. She felt like going to one of her favorite restaurants. which also just happened to be adjacent to the hotel – Cheesecake Factory!
We arrived a bit before 5pm and managed to get a table relatively quickly. Meghann ordered her favorite Santa Fe Salad (no tomatoes!) while I had a salmon caesar, Sage ordered bow tie pasta and Vivi ordered her beloved “roadside cheeseburgers”. Overall it was a good experience and Meghann got to enjoy her favorite restaurant, even if it was a bit odd eating Cheesecake Factory in Hawaii! We were so full after dinner that we decided to wait a bit before dessert. Despite being tired and ready for bed, Sage and I ventured out to Kith to bring back an encore round of the prior night’s amazing ice cream dessert.
Last Day
Our final day in Hawaii started with Meg and I making the day’s plan out on the hotel balcony. For our eighth and final day of the trip, we decided on a plan not too far off from what we’d do during a “normal” weekend at home. The agenda included lunch at Kona Brewing Co, shopping at the largest mall on Oahu, seeing “Despicable Me 4” at Consolidated Theaters Ward 16, and finally dinner at Vivienne’s all time favorite restaurant and a nearly weekly “back home” staple for us, Chili’s. We packed, loaded up the Jeep, and got on the road. I managed to pack our dirty/wet clothes bag into Sage’s new luggage, much to Meg’s disbelief. Sage thought it was so funny she made a video with commentary and sent it to us afterwards.
Lunch was good and not too dissimilar from our trip to Kona Brewing earlier in the week. After lunch we headed to the “Ala Moana” mall. First observation – parking there was intensively competitive. We finally found a spot after about 10 minutes of searching, and headed in. Ala Moana is an open air mall. As we walked through, we discovered all kinds of cool shops and were overall impressed. They even had one of those cat bars where you can have a drink and chill while petting a kitty. We made stops at a kid arcade, watched some Hawaiian dancers at the center stage, and also stopped by Louis Vuitton, Yeti, Lego, and North Face, where Meghann found a sweatshirt. The mall was massive and we could have easily spent more than the couple hours we had there.
After the mall we headed over to the movie theater. It was relatively quiet for a Sunday, likely due to yet another perfect day outside. From the movie was like the previous ones from what I remembered. Meghann and I both fell asleep for half of it. Overall it was a pretty nice albeit standard and expensive theater experience.
Finally, for dinner, we decided to go to Chili’s. This is the girls’ favorite restaurant and we eat here almost weekly when back at home. We decided to try the Hawaii version to compare. The menu was identical, although no rewards program with free chips and salsa. We all ordered our favorites, and they were pretty much the exact same as what we’d get back in Phoenix. The restaurant had some nicer Hawaiian decoration though!
Flight home
Finally, it was time to head to the airport for our 9pm redeye. The airport was incredibly quiet with many of the airline counters not even open. We made a pit stop on the way to the gate for Meg and the girls to use the massage chairs. We boarded and left on time, which is where our good fortunate ran out. We were hoping to get as much asleep as possible on the overnight flight, however a little under halfway through the flight, someone in the row ahead of us got sick and threw up all over the floor. Unfortunately Sage’s backpack was under his seat, and was soaked by all the vomit. The flight attendants told us they were unable to assist, but gave us some rubber gloves and said “good luck”. Meghann and I had to take everything to the bathroom and clean up what we could. We ended up throwing the backpack away and putting all the salvageable items into garbage bags they gave us. Gross! Needless to say we did not get much sleep. We finally made it back and headed home, pretty delirious from not sleeping. We stopped to order Meg an overdue birthday cake and get some donuts to eat while unpacking.
All in all – another successful trip in the books! On the last night, we asked what everyone’s favorite and least favorite part of the trip was:
Sage
Favorite: Swimming with the turtles
Least favorite: Getting sunburned
Vivienne
Vivienne Favorite: Swimming in the waterfall.
Least Favorite: Getting sunburned
Meghann
Favorite: Hanauma Bay and Snorkeling
Least Favorite: Spending so much time in the room
Dustin
Favorite: Halona hidden beach cove
Least Favorite: Swimming at Waimea Falls
Overall it was another wonderful trip, although at this point we’ve definitely spent enough time in Waikiki. If we head back to Hawaii again it’s definitely time to try a new island! Until next time.
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