Aloha!

Our Hawaii adventure started six months ago when our friends Pat and Kazumi got engaged and decided to get married in Honolulu. How could we say no to an opportunity to visit Hawaii under such happy circumstances? ;)

Although the total flight time was well over 10 hours, we adjusted to the time difference fairly quickly. We arrived on Tuesday evening and settled into our hotel. We went for a nice stroll for a few hours with another couple of friends who were on the same flight and staying in the same hotel. Despite the late hour, we still saw plenty of people roaming the streets of Honolulu. 

On Wednesday, we started by having breakfast at a nearby restaurant called Snappers. The local birds were quite bold. We saw some of them hop onto a neighbouring table and attempt to steal food right off a patron's plate! After breakfast, we explored Ala Moana Center, the largest shopping mall in Hawaii. It is also the largest open-air shopping center in the world. We browsed the many shops and enjoyed a nice lunch at the Nordstrom Café. Matt had a fanastic arugula and shrimp salad and I had an ahi tuna poke. In the evening, we attended a dinner hosted by Pat's family at Gyu-Kaku Waikiki. It is a Japanese BBQ restaurant. The concept of a BBQ restaurant is that plates of sliced marinated raw meats are provided and you cook it yourself on a grill at your table. The dessert: s'mores. Very whimsical. 

Thursday was the big day, the wedding day. The majority of the guests boarded a shuttle bus to the ceremony site while others drove themselves. The weather was perfect and the scenery was beautiful. We all watched as Pat and Kazumi said their vows on the beach in both English and Japanese. It was very touching and intimate. The most hilarious moment was Kazumi announcing after the wedding certificate was signed: "Now he's allll mine!" Everyone laughed and cheered. The reception was held at The Beach House in Moana Surfrider Hotel. The dinner was a delicious four course affair that ended with a trio of desserts and a slice of wedding cake. Although there was talk of going out after the reception ended, we didn't have the energy and bid the rest of the wedding guests good night.

This morning we attended a brunch hosted by Kazumi's family at Pikake Terrace in Sheraton Princess Kaiulani. It was a unique mix of traditional North American brunch items and Japanese breakfast items. The highlight for us was the delicious and very fresh local tropical fruits. After brunch, we browsed some more shops before returning to our hotel to prepare for the evening's festivities: a luau.