Aloha: A Pirate Looks at *almost* Forty

Happy birthday to me!

I figured why not start out year 39 with some
sunshine on my balcony? I wasn't naked!!

Last year I celebrated my birthday in Hawai‘i, and here I am yet again! *Full disclosure, I’m writing this on an airplane after an incident you’ll read about tomorrow. So if it is scatterbrained, that is why!

I had us all up extra early because we had a date... a breakfast date with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy! Makahiki, down on the ground level, is where we went to celebrate another circle around the sun. After I checked us in we went outside by the koi pond to meet Mickey. Katura was so giddy she could hardly contain herself. Okay, she didn’t contain herself. She was over the moon! We had her go see him all by herself before our whole family had a photo together. While waiting for our table Mickey was outside alone waiting for more families. This was perfect! He welcomed Katura to come back and play. They had so much time together just the two of them, with her dad standing by. It was one of those moments you see in commercials, except it really happened!

Eventually we were taken to a seat outside, also by the koi pond. I loaded up on kid food at the buffet for us girls to share, but lucky for me Katura didn’t want any and I got the Mickey Mouse waffle to myself. It was so good!!

Minnie and Goofy took turns visiting our table, which was a real treat, but Katura was surprisingly shy compared to her Disneyland encounters. I had a nice surprise when our server brought me a complimentary dessert and sang Happy Birthday to me! Katura ate the frosting for me, her dad had the chocolate. They approved of the taste!

After breakfast we changed our tentative plans so we could do a couple laps through the lazy river and play in the big pool one last time. Totally worth it. We didn’t bring the camera with us, so it was just the three of us laughing together and being silly in our new favorite place!

Oh! I forgot! After breakfast we went to get our daily pool wrist bands and found a PhotoPass photographer by a cool Stitch statue. We took advantage and got some fun photos! If you do a Disney Park or Aulani, I highly recommend using PhotoPass!

 
Okay so we did our swimming then went back to our room to change and get on the road back to Waikiki. Our destination was the Honolulu Zoo. Overrated. I don’t even feel like writing about it. No shade. No animals. The best part of the zoo was our lunch, namely the fries and the free drink refills for Katura’s souvenir cup. And dammit, Siamang Gibbons are NOT monkeys!! Every damn primate you see isn’t a freaking monkey! The photo below... NOT MONKEYS!

THIS is how you do the Honolulu Zoo!

Why the zoo, when we have Wildlife Safari memberships that actually allow us to see animals versus empty exhibits? The answer goes back to June 21. Oh funny, we had actually been at the Wildlife Safari and on the way home I randomly looked up Jimmy Buffett’s tour schedule. I seriously freaked out when I saw he was going to be in Waikiki ON MY BIRTHDAY!! And I was going to be in Hawai‘i at the same time. This was a dream come true!

 
I did my homework, and I’m a Parrothead, so I know parking in Waikiki could be an issue. The zoo is by the Waikiki Shell, so the plan was to visit the zoo during the day, thus claiming a parking spot and not worrying about traffic. We ended up in line probably an hour before the gates opened, which ended up being 5:30pm. It was rather toasty waiting in line, which is why we didn't get there any sooner. We took turns wandering around with Katura so she could burn up some of her energy. Shawn was definitely better at this than I was. Fortunately it was time to move forward in line and go in. Before entering all bags were checked. They have a pretty strict admission policy, which is good i think. We did ask before getting in line if we could bring in her stroller and collapse it, and they gave us the OK. Thank goodness! What I didn't know was that we couldn't bring in cameras - and they checked all bags... all bags except my actual purse holding my real camera! HA!

Katura had to have a paid ticket to go in, so I got us general admission lawn seats to save some money - and since it was my 5th time seeing Jimmy, I wasn't worried about having the best view. This may have been a mistake. We were close to the front of the line, so we had our pick of the lawn and viewing spots. Shawn got our towel and blanket ("blanket" meaning his pirate costume that I gave him permission to not wear since it was so hot) situated white I checked our merchandise (yikes that’s expensive!!) and got us some water and nachos. Shawn took off to use the potty and get some water - and came back with the shirt I had been eye-balling. It was kind of a farewell to the tour shirt, and not available in Eugene, which is why it caught my eye.

For most of the wait it was really pleasant. We had nice people by us that we chatted with. Spaces filled in as 7pm neared, and the sky got dark - with a gorgeous moonrise coming between palm trees and behind Diamond Head. Everyone had their phones out to get photos of the moon. None of mine came out great, but I will remember it anyway. It was lovely!

The opening act, introduced by Jimmy, was two local ukulele players that were very impressive! Katura enjoyed them and danced around, so that made this mommy happy! It was around 7:30 when Jimmy took the stage! I’ll break this down into two sections. The good and the bad. Calm down, no way do I have a single thing negative to say about Jimmy! I hold him on a pedestal that can't be toppled.

Good: Jimmy and the Coral Reefer Band and the Reeferettes! I loved the music choices, hearing songs we don’t typically get at his shows. I forgot to mention this was an acoustic show, so each song felt stripped down and had its own feel, yet still the classic sound. The setting was ideal. Below Diamond Head, right by the beach, outside under the stars. I had a perfect birthday moment prior to the show while laying in the grass, looking at the stars, with my baby laying on my chest. Can’t beat that! And it was his final show of the tour. That right there made it feel extra special. And seeing him on my birthday? Priceless!!

 

Bad: the sound was not good. We could hear the music, but when Jimmy was talking it was too quiet in our area. This was partly due to the sound system and partly due to the next issue. The crowd. This clearly was not an area filled with Parrotheads like myself. This was obviously local people, most not native, that wanted a place to go get trashed and high. You could tell they only knew the big songs, like Margaritaville and It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere, which is fine, but they clearly didn't appreciate or know most of the other songs. As the night went on the drunkenness grew. That’s fine. We know I'm a girl that loves her rum, so I totally get it! It was the pot. More and more people were smoking it, and I did confirm on our way out that it is NOT legal in Hawai‘i. I actually saw one total buffoon fall on a child ahead of us, due to his marijuana and alcohol consumption. It was getting crazy -with or without a child I would have felt this way. Katura had fallen asleep, and my concern was her safety from being stepped on or having to breathe the smoke. I got in major mom bear mode watching over my cub a couple of times - but she was safely nestled up against her daddy, but still. I couldn't help it. 

Also good: as “normal” folks like us started leaving early, a group of Air Force guys ended up by us. They promised of anything happened near Katura they would take care of it! Even asleep our girl was winning people over!

I cannot believe it happened, but during the last song, we left. I could hear the concert was we left, but the smoke was so intense that we just didn’t feel it was smart to be there anymore, not with a baby. I was sad, and just really disappointed that I had to dip out early. It was so rad to be at his last show of the tour, and at least I got to take my little girl to see him and see her dance along with his songs.

The drive back to Aulani wasn’t bad after we got out of Honolulu. At Aulani once valet took our car, we hung out in the lobby area talking to a fellow OSU grad... we met so many at Aulani!!

Finally I was cuddling in bed with my little girl who slept all night in her pirate gear. She made her mama proud! I can declare this was a pretty rad birthday!

~ ALOHA ~