Exciting trip

We took Mayu to the airport today for her flight to New York.

She's on a weeklong whirlwind tour of the East Coast. She'll tour Manhattan, take a hip hop class, see the Empire State Building, the United Nations, the Statue of Liberty, have dinner in China town, take in a Broadway show then head to Philadelphia for a day and Washington, D.C., to end her trip. She might need a vacation from her vacation.

Deal of the day

L saw these mugs at a local Jewel/Starbucks the other day and noticed that they were on sale for two for $20. She thought they'd make good gifts for her host family in Japan this summer. So today we drove back to the store and she went to purchase the two mugs. However, the clerk couldn't figure out how to ring them up for the sales price. He called the manager and because there were about five customers in line behind L, the manager said to give her both the mugs for the price of one - $10.95. Whoo-hoo!

Date night

After yesterday's soda explosion, Andy and I left the girls and went downtown for a date night at Pizzeria Due. A little beer and pizza and all is right with the world.

Dammit, L!

Spring Break shopping

I took the girls to Mitsuwa today so L could buy matcha powder for a cake she needs to make soon for her Japanese class. Here the girls are enjoying their matcha and vanilla swirl ice cream.

We went to Chipotle for lunch. It was a first for Mayu and she liked it. She had L try a piece of the steak that was in her burrito bowl but we forgot she had spicy salsa on it. L is not a fan of spicy things. The girls looked at a couple of stores after lunch and Mayu was giving L advice on what would be good gifts to take to her Japanese host family. She bought a few things, but we need to wait to get more until we know who all is in the family.

Mayu won't be here for Easter so L took her to Walgreens to buy Peeps. She likes marshmallows and said it was good. Of course, L had to have her wear the Peeps glasses we got years ago from Aunt Liz.

Scavenger hunt

It was a little chilly but Mayu, L and her friend,s, A and T, joined the youth group for a Chicago scavenger hunt. Here they are at the stock market ...

... and here they are in front of the Art Institute. Afterward, they came to Oak Park and had hot chocolate.

Pretty cardinal in the yard today. Spring has to be close, right?

Back to college

E and B packed up their things and drove back to college today.

L woke up in time to give them both hugs before they left.

Andy, L and I went to church for Palm Sunday. I got a nice palm leaf; Andy's kept dropping leaves.

Taking a break from cooking for a full house, we took the girls out to Jimmy's Place for thin-crust pizza.

Japanese candy

L has to make candy for her Japanese class when she returns from spring break so Mayu brought out a couple of her candy-making kits from Japan.

This candy actually tasted like a hamburger!

Glad she's home

Favorite human?

River water

L needed some river water for a chemistry experiment and her teacher suggested getting some from the DesPlaines River. We asked Aunt Allison, who lives near the river, where the best place to collect water would be. She said we should go near the library in her town so last night Andy took L over there and she easily collected several bottles of water. No one fell in the river! We were all surprised at how clear the water is.

Wisdom teeth

E was at the oral surgeon's office bright and early at 9 a.m. today to have all four of her wisdom teeth removed. They said she did great. She goes back Friday for a quick check-up before going back to school.

Cute cakes

How cute is this? L made this panda cake while we were in Hawaii and was able to sell it for $40.

Just last weekend she made this unicorn cake for her friend A's birthday.

She did a really nice job on the mane.

Springy Sunday

The crocuses were blooming today with temps up to 56 today! Andy went golfing, of course.

While he was gone, I took the kids on a quick Target run. We drove through McDonald's so Mayu could taste her first Shamrock Shake (before they're gone!)

E gets all four of her wisdom teeth out Tuesday and one of the "last meals" she requested was deep-dish pizza. We packed up the kids and had dinner at Lou Malnati's.

Spring break

E and B drove home from college today for Spring Break. I think they're going to spend a lot of this week asleep.

Surfer dudes

We didn't surf while we were in Hawaii, but we took pictures of those who did. Andy was pretty pleased at the shots he was able to get.

Mummies at the Field

We took the girls to the Field Museum tonight for a members' preview of the new Mummies exhibit.

L and Mayu before the program began.

The dinner - chicken, roasted cauliflower, salad, rice and a roll. L had rolls, a lot of rolls.

Andy had the girls do a "shocked" pose by the "Where's Sue?" sign. The museum is relocating Sue and replacing it with a bigger dinosaur. They have markings on the floor where the new dinosaur's footprints will be. We'll have to take Mayu back when the new dinosaur is installed.

From the museum's web site: Our new dinosaur is a cast of Patagotitan mayorum (pat-uh-go-tie-tan my-or-um), a giant, long-necked herbivore from Argentina. From snout to tail, it stretches 122 feet long, longer than two accordion CTA buses end-to-end. The titanosaur will make its home in our main Stanley Field Hall, standing near the fighting African elephants. And it’s so tall that you’ll see its head peeking over our second-floor balcony! Once it arrives, you’ll be able to touch the titanosaur cast, walk underneath it, and take selfies with it from the balcony. Some of its real bones will also be on display, including an 8-foot-long thighbone.

Honolulu and Waikiki Beach

We rented a Camaro convertible for the week which gave us lots of opportunities to spend time in Honolulu and on Waikiki Beach. It was a surprisingly short drive from our resort and parking in Honolulu is so cheap. We parked at a mall for four hours and got two hours free after validating our parking with a $10 purchase and the next two hours cost us a total of $6! On the night of the catamaran cruise, we parked for four hours at the pier for $5.

We passed this on our way to the beach. People have their surfboards locked up the way you'd see bicycles locked up here.

Beach time! Lots of good people-watching happening on the beach - Japanese tourists taking surfing lessons, surfers out in the ocean, people taking selfies.

I could get used to this!

Pineapples everywhere ...

... and sand. Lots of sand. Glad I didn't have to vacuum out the car.

One of our impromptu lunch stops was the Rock Island Cafe. Food was OK but the decor was pretty awesome. All kinds of rock 'n roll memorabilia - even a Route 66 sign.

On Monday, Marc 5, we had tickets for the Pearl Harbor tour. However, it was too windy for the Navy to take tourists out to the memorial, so they suggested we visit the other sites then return to see if the Navy was cleared to run the boats. They never did that day. But the tour of the USS Missouri was cool.

Couldn't resist getting a picture of Andy by the bakery since he'sone of the church's main doughnut makers.

We took a shuttle to Ford Island. Does this picture look familiar, Cindy?

After the Ford Island and Aviation Museum tour, we walked through the USS Bowfin submarine. It was pretty hard to walk through the small doors inside the sub.

Dining area inside the sub ...

... and the engine room.

We returned to Pearl Harbor on Thursday and this time the Navy was transporting people to the memorial!

One morning we stopped at the "Punchbowl," the National Memorial Cenmetery of the Pacific. It was pretty interesting to walk around and look at the tombstones from Pearl Harbor. There's even a memorial to the Japanese soldiers who lost their lives at Pearl Harbor.

Andy in front of Hawaii's Supreme Court building. Nice pose! This one should look familiar too, Cindy.

And Hawaii's capitol. It just looks like an office building but it's almost totally surrounded by reflecting pools and the inside is open air. There was a demonstration going on when we were there.

I think this was my favorite meal of the trip. We stopped in at the Waikiki Brewery Company and had dinner. I had Island Style Ribs and rice. The meat fell off the bone. Yummy.