The cottage has a guest book that people can sign and leave advice for future guests and one thing that kept coming up in all the comments was Ted’s Bakery. It can be found just down the road and has a reputation as being a great place for breakfast. So Greg decided to take a quick ride down while I was making my smoothie (I think the idea of a yummy bakery item appealed to him more than a green smoothie!) He came back with the most decadent looking bakery items! Oh man did they look good – fresh doughnuts, chocolate haupia cream pie, and pineapple macadamia cheesecake! Ok I thought. . .so I had a green smoothie I could have a little piece of something not so good for me – ¼ of the doughnut turned into a taste of the chocolate pie and the cheesecake. YUMMO! After breakfast we got dressed and headed out to church at Lanakila Baptist Church in Waipahu. This is the church we attended when we lived here 30 years ago. It was a pleasant 30 minute drive and we turned in the parking lot to find that outwardly not much had changed. We walked into the sanctuary to see that much had changed! It now had air conditioning! They were finishing up their adult SS class so we slipped into the back pew. When SS was over we were immediately approached by a small Hawaiian woman who introduced herself and as we began talking found out that she had been there over 30 years and she remembered Greg. They spent time reminiscing about the group of young people that were there as teachers in their Christian school and the Marines that came over to the church from Kaneohe every Sunday when Greg was stationed there. She was so excited about Greg being there – she had her husband take our picture with her and got one of us in front of the church. The other thing that has changed is that the church no longer has the numbers attending – I didn’t see any military families or many young adults. There were only about 50-60 people there. I imagine that a lot more churches have started since we were here and that is why the lower attendance. But when we lived here that WAS the church to attend. After church we decided to head into Waikiki and Honolulu. We had a gift certificate for a Steak dinner at Chucks Steakhouse in Honolulu. We found it but it didn’t open until 4:30 so we decided to eat at an outdoor, beachside restaurant called Dukes. We had a beautiful, breezy view of the ocean and great food. Next we decided to take a walk across the street to the International Market Place. They have vendors that sell all kind of things from jewelry, to aloha wear, to T-shirts and souvenirs – we were just going to walk through for the exercise. Well, that changed – Many years ago I lost my wedding band when we were moving and I had always wished I could get another one, but never said anything to Greg – it was just a want and not a need. One day before we left Greg informed me that he had set aside money to buy me a new wedding ring when we were in Hawaii!! I had been looking online at what was available and found a beautiful gold ring with the word “kuuipo” on it and plumeria blossoms engraved around it. I fell in love with it and wanted to find something like it here. Kuuipo is Hawaiian for “Sweetheart” and the plumeria blossoms are significant because the first house we had here in Hawaii had a plumeria tree growing in our yard and I made many lei’s out of the flowers when family came to visit us in Hawaii. There was a jewelry vendor in the market and we stopped to look and sure enough found the ring I had pictured. Greg haggled nicely and got it for a great price! I now have the ring of my dreams! We continued walking through the market as Greg was looking for an aloha shirt to wear. I looked with him at muumuus but didn’t think it would be a practical purchase so guess what I bought – yep – hoodies!! I go to Hawaii and buy hoodies!!! But they say “Hawaii” on them so that counts as a touristy purchase right?! We left the market place and wandered around beautiful Honolulu and took some floral pictures and then decided to head out and drive up the eastern side of the Island. Once again a breath taking view! We stopped at several locations to take pictures. In Kaneohe we stopped to pick up some groceries and meat to grill then continued on our way back to the cottage. We put the groceries away, sat down to watch some TV and the next thing I remember is Greg waking me up to go to bed! I am still struggling with the jet lag and fall asleep pretty early and wake WAY too early! But it is getting better. I lasted a little longer last night and slept a little later this morning. Well it is time to get this next wonderful day started so I am going to make my smoothie and hop in the shower – more tomorrow.
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