Next stop was a new one to me, but one we wanted to go to with Emma. It was Queen Emma's Summer Palace. It was just down the road from the Pali, and given that it was the former residence of a Queen Emma, we felt we had to go. The tour inside talked a lot about Hawaiian history and the former rulers of the islands.
We then went into downtown Honolulu to visit the Iolani Palace, see the King Kamehameha statue across the street, and wander over to the old mission homes of the early missionaries.
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| This is Kawaiaha'o Church. It's the first church the missionaries built. |
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| I loved the white plumerias everywhere! |
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| Some of the old mission homes and buildings. |
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| We had to stop and get a picture of Emma on Queen Emma street. |
After finishing at Punchbowl, we headed to Chinatown. We were picking up dinner for everyone here, but first we wanted to wander around a little. We found a market place with loads of fun things. Emma bought several little souvenirs for herself, including an umbrella hat and some necklaces. There was a big halloween festival that was about to start as we were picking up dinner. It had made parking a little scarce, but it was fun seeing some of the costume contest entrants, as well as listening to the band play just down the street.
Dinner was fantastic - I love chinese food! After dinner we held another uke jam, spoke some German with my uncle (he served a german speaking mission years ago and has kept it up better than I have!), and Emma showed off some of her taekwondo moves.
We enjoyed some yummy pancakes the next morning with Marcellus and Jo, and then headed to Waikiki. Normally I prefer avoiding Waikiki because it is so crowded with tourists, but Emma really wanted to see Waikiki beach. Her reason is too funny though. She likes the Brady Bunch show, and loves the episodes when the family went to Hawaii. In those episodes, the kids have a tiki necklace which they believe brings them bad luck, and causes several near mishaps. One of these mishaps is Greg nearly wiping out while surfing at Waikiki beach. This is why she wanted to see it. How can you say no to that? We also did a little shopping in the area (more souvenirs for Emma!), and then headed to Kahala Mall which is really close to my aunt and uncle's house. We finished there and then spent some time in the backyard throwing a frisbee or just relaxing with a ukelele, which is now one of Emma's favorite things to do. We decided to have a quiet evening at home with Marcellus and Jo, so after dinner we all watched Napoleon Dynamite. It was Emma's first time seeing it, and she thought it was hilarious.
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| The famous Royal Hawaiian pink hotel. |
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| I have no idea why Eric's pulling this face. Emma took this picture and I didn't notice at the time what he was doing. I can only guess it has something to do with the tiki necklace he's wearing. Yes, before the trip I bought a tiki necklace just like the one in the Brady Bunch. Occasionally Eric wore it on the trip and we always pretended that something bad was going to happen because of it. Yes, we are nerds. =) |
The video below is of Emma learning to play the ABC's or Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (whichever you prefer).
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