Paradise Cove Luau vs Hale Koa Luau

Luaus are one of those big touristy attractions near the top of everyone's lists when it comes to things to do in Hawaii. After living on Oahu for a year, we've been to two luaus. Both times were when we had friends visiting. Our goal is to try to go to all of the luaus that the island has to offer to see which we like best. For now, this is a comparison of the Paradise Cove luau and the luau at the Hale Koa hotel.

The Basics

Paradise Cove: I bought the standard tickets for $49.00/adult and $37.00/child 4-12 through the Leisure and Travel office on post. Each ticket included entrance to the luau, a shell lei, mai tai greeting, credit for two alcoholic drinks, activities, entertainment and dinner. Luaus at Paradise Cove (in Ko'Olina) happen seven days a week from 5:00-9:00pm.
Hale Koa: Since the Hale Koa, in Waikiki, is strictly for military, I was able to buy the tickets online for the same price as they would have been had I gone to the Leisure and Travel office. Both Veronica and Adriana could have gone for free, but I decided that an extra $10.00 each would be worth it for them to have their own seat and plate. Each ticket at the Hale Koa included everything that Paradise Cove offered, minus the drink credits. The luau lasted from 5:30-8:30pm and only happens on Mondays and Thursday.

Seating

Paradise Cove: Since I bought the cheapest package, our seating was off to the side. Seating was first come, first serve, which worked in our favor since we were there pretty early. Although our seats were off to the side of the main stage, we still had a great view. The only down side to our seats was that they were uncovered. Not sure what would have happened in the event of rain, but with the sun blazing, it was pretty toasty.
Hale Koa: Seating for this luau was assigned when I purchased the tickets. The website automatically gives you the best possible seats for your group, although you have the option to change them. I'm pretty sure that all tickets for the Hale Koa luau are the same price, however there is a lower section closest to the stage and a slightly elevated section behind it.

Pre-Dinner Activities

Paradise Cove: I thought Paradise Cove had far more activities prior to dinner to choose from. There was a canoe trip, spear throwing, lei making, tattoos, palm crowns. There were also a ton more people at Paradise Cove, so sometimes the wait got to be annoying. For the Imu Ceremony (where they take the roasted pig out of the ground), we sat in a large theater type thing and they brought the pig around for everyone to see.
Hale Koa: We made crowns and orchid bracelets before sitting on mats on a large grassy area for some entertainment. The guy running things was pretty funny. After he climbed the palm tree, we were directed back to the Imu Ceremony where we were able to stand and watch before heading to our tables for dinner.

Dinner

Paradise Cove: With the standard tickets, dinner was buffet style. Each row of tables was released one at a time to go get food. On the menu was: salad (green, macaroni, potato), rolls, fish, pork, rice and probably a few other things that I'm forgetting. Plus a dessert table with a bunch of assorted treats.
Hale Koa: Dinner at the Hale Koa was delivered by a waitress. We started off with three different salads and fresh pineapple at the table. Then, we were each brought out a plate which included: the best Kalua pork I've ever had, fish, chicken, beef, rice, potato, and this awesome fried banana thing. For dessert we each got a coconut custard thing and a piece of coconut cake.

Show

Paradise Cove: The shows at both luaus highlighted the culture and dancing of the Polynesian Islands. The show was a little long for our liking and the kids were ready to go by the end.
Hale Koa: We enjoyed the shorter highlights of each different culture. At the end of the show, they did a really touching tribute to the troops. Overall, we enjoyed the show part at the Hale Koa better.

We really weren't able to choose which luau we preferred. We loved both of them for different reasons. With the kids though, the Hale Koa is probably the better option. We have a few more visitors lined up, so we'll see how other island luaus compare.

Have you ever been to a luau?

Our First Year in Hawaii

Exactly one year ago, after several delays and a long day of travel, our family landed at the Honolulu airport. It felt like a dream. We were one of the lucky military families that was actually going to get the chance to live in paradise for the next few years.

Driving around, I was in awe of how beautiful the island of Oahu was. The blue water was some of the clearest I've seen in my life. Everywhere we stopped, the sand was powdery and white. The swaying palm trees against the background of the bright blue sky was unlike anything I had ever seen before.

In our first year, we've explored quite a bit. I've been able to knock a good amount of items off of my Hawaiian Bucket List, but we still have plenty left to do while we're here.

We spent 45 days living in the Schofield Inn, the hotel on post. It wasn't the greatest, but it could have been worse!

On one of our first mornings on island, we explored some of the beaches on the north side of the island.

Waimea Bay Beach Park quickly became one of our favorite hangout spots.

So far, I've been on one hike, the Makapu'u Point Lighthouse. The hike proved just how out of shape I am.

We've been to two different luaus, which I still need to post a comparison of.

This sweet little bundle was born at Tripler Army Medical Center. Probably my favorite birthing experience out of the three.

We've had lots of family and friends visit, and we're still expecting a few more visitors before the end of the year.

Boo'd!

When we moved into our house on post, I had expectations that I would be BFFs with the other ladies on the block. Our kids would hang out all day and we'd get together for wine and girl's nights. When we had new neighbors move in a few doors down, I even went over with cookies in hopes that we'd spend mornings at each others houses sharing coffee. Sadly, that hasn't been the case. However, after last night, I have a sliver of hope.

While I was preparing dinner, I heard a knock on the door. As I walked towards the front of the house, I heard voices and saw some punk ass teenagers in the area. I was reluctant to open the door in fear that they were selling something or asking for donations. I peeked out the door and saw a lovely purple trick or treat pumpkin with a note hanging out.

Inside the pumpkin was a bunch of candy, two rubber duckies, and some body parts that grow when you put them in water. Veronica and Adri quickly claimed the candy and split it amongst themselves. Fine by me, since I spent yet another day sneaking Snickers from the trick or treat bowl. We'll probably start "growing" the body parts this evening, after school.

I don't have much on my to-do list today, so Juli and I will most likely head to the store to pick up some goodies to boo another neighbor. I'm so happy that this tradition hit our street. I look forward to passing it on, and hopefully forming some friendships with the neighbors.

Have you been boo'd?

Catching Up

It's been over a week since I last blogged! Whoops. Life has been busy lately. I am now attempting to get back on track. My calendar is full, let's just see if I actually have time to type what I have planned.

Last weekend, our best friends from Georgia (also Adri's Godparents), flew into town for a visit. It's had been nearly a year since we had last seen them, but with friends like those, you can always pick up exactly where you left off. Unfortunately, we had a few downpours from a hurricane passing through, so a majority of their visit was rained out. Regardless, we had a fantastic time. Whether it was hanging out on the couch watching HGTV or out and about touring Oahu.

It's always nice when people visit here. It's really the only time that we go out and do the touristy things. This time around, I got many more items crossed off of my Hawaiian bucket list. There was even a day where the boys were golfing and the girls were at school that my friend and I got to drive around the island just taking pictures. I've always wanted to do that, but I would never go on my own.

While the BFFs were here, we did several new things. We went to the Dole Plantation for the first time, and I finally got to try the Dole Whip, which was a bucket list item of mine. Bleh. It wasn't even that great. The only thing that saved it was the chunks of pineapple that John added on top.

I bet you didn't know that pineapples actually grow above ground..!

We also went to another luau. This time, at the Hale Koa. Last time we had friends visit, we went to the Paradise Cove luau. Both were great, but for different reasons. I'll be posting a comparison eventually.

My favorite part of the entire visit was the last night though. I insisted that everyone had to stay awake until at least 10:00. John and I are used to going to bed around 8ish and the friends were still dealing with jet lag, but we managed to stay awake until about 11:00, mostly bullshitting and catching up while sipping on pomegranate tequila from the girls' little plastic cups.

Now that our visitors are gone and we won't have anyone else visiting until Thanksgiving, I'll be catching up on the blog.

Ballin'

I'm pleased to report that for the second year in a row, I had a really great time attending the Military Police Ball.

Due to horrendous traffic, we missed the social hour, but made it just in time for the receiving line. When you have an event with 600 people though, it's nearly impossible to get them all through that line. So we skipped it.

Not only was our group of friends lucky enough to manage to all get seated together, but we also got a table with a great location. We were one row of table back and a few to the side of the main stage. Pretty close to the door too, which was nice for running out to the bar and such. 

The formal portion was interesting. People had already started to get rather wild before dinner was even served. There was that guy (or several of them) that responded to the toast to the fallen. A First Sergeant in the crowd got up to yell at Soldiers who were acting like asses during the Commander's speech. Some wife behind us was acting rowdy. 

This year was my first year trying the grog. It tasted fine, but smelled sort of like cigarettes or something along those lines. I don't even know. And I don't know why they always chose Diet Coke to represent the spouse at home during a deployment. I don't know about everyone else, but I drink wine like it's water when John is gone.

Since we got there rather late, we didn't have a chance to take very many pictures. Boo.. ): Thankfully my friend took her big camera and snapped one of us partying. I'm still waiting for the Brigade to post their pictures from the event on Facebook, so that I can steal the ones I'm in.

Juliana's First Beach Trip

Over the weekend, Juli had her very first beach outing. Up until this point, we've avoided the beach for a couple of reasons. 

For one, I was advised not to swim for four weeks after giving birth. There was no way I was going to sit at the hot beach without a efficient way of cooling myself off. Since my littlest munchkin has been attached to me like a little suckling pig, she wasn't going without me.

There's also the fact that Juli heats up pretty quickly, and I wasn't going to dunk her in the ocean to cool her off. Even though we bought a tent to use at the beach to keep the sun off of her, it can get pretty warm in the shade. 

Juli turns two months old today, so last weekend we figured it would finally be a good time for her to experience the HI life. Her and I snuggled beneath a tent for the majority of our time at the beach, but she did get a chance to dip her tiny toes in the water for a bit. When they're this little, they're not supposed to wear sunscreen, so I also did my best to keep wrapped in a light blanket to avoid the sun's rays.

She was much better behaved than I expected her to be, which has me thinking that we'll be back to being beach bums sooner rather than later.

Don't forget to check out both of the great giveaways that I have going on here and here!

The Break is Over

Wahhh! After two weeks of leave, Johnny goes back to work today. It's unbelievable how much we've done so much in these past two weeks. I lost count of how many trips we made to the beach. I forgot my SD card at home for the majority of those, so I don't even have the photo evidence to help me out. I'm going to try to work backwards starting with yesterday to see how much I can remember.

For Father's Day, Hubster went golfing with a couple of friends. Because, what better way to celebrate Father's/Mother's Day than to be away from your kids. I'm not kidding. After golfing, we hit up the beach, followed by dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It was the perfect end to leave.

On Saturday we went to an Eat The Street food truck rally. Normally, they have a theme, but there wasn't one this time, which left us kind of disappointed. Most of the trucks had the same stuff that we've already tried. We will probably wait until they have a theme that we're interested in to go again. The highlight of this event was finally getting my $10 mason jar of lemonade. The line has always been way too long, but this time we arrived early and headed straight for the line in hopes of not waiting too long.

Friday, Hubs went on a shopping trip with his BFF to stock up on golf stuff. Once they were done, we hit up the beach. It was a pretty quick trip followed by pizza with friends.

While Veronica was in school on Thursday, we went to the beach again. Taking only one baby to beach is much easier than two. Sadly, those days are soon to be long gone. John's Battalion also had a spouse coffee to welcome the new Battalion commander's wife. I was extremely anxious to go, because it was my first social event here and I didn't know anyone, but I actually made a new friend.

Wednesdays are gymnastics days for Veronica. After her class we did some shopping. I was looking forward to going crazy at Old Navy, but when you're trying to control two little people and keep them from knocking over mannequins, it's hard to shop. This is also the afternoon that I tried malasadas for the first time. I think they can be described as hole-less doughnuts..? Either way, they're yummy Hawaiian food!

I'm starting to have trouble remembering what we did Tuesday.. It was Adri's day for gymnastics, and Veronica was a bit sick and ended up missing school. I want to say that we bummed on the couch all day, but that's probably not the case. Knowing us, we probably pumped her full on Tylenol and headed out to the beach.

Since Monday was the last day that our visitors were here, we took them out to see Pearl Harbor. From there we did some souvenir shopping followed by the beach. And that pretty much takes us to where I left off with this post.

I haven't counted up how many items from my bucket list need to be crossed off, but there are quite a few! I should be posting an update about that relatively soon. The one thing that I know is that I'm slowly achieving my goal of having a sweet tan. In the past two days, I've received two comments on how my legs look so dark.

Tourists in Our Own Town

First of all, thank you to those of you who commented on my ultrasound post last week. Prior to writing the post, I was mostly focusing on the negatives. I guess once I got that all out, I realized that things won't necessarily be so bad. A c-section is honestly the least of my worries. I just want a healthy normal baby, which is entirely possible, no matter what it looks like the ultrasound shows.

Anyway, a couple of John's fraternity brothers have been here since Wednesday night, which has helped keep my mind off of baby things. Except for the fact that I feel like I'm the size of a baby hippopotamus and I can't sit comfortably unless my legs are wide open. Those things are constantly on my mind. Along with not being able to breathe and constantly peeing myself. #sorrynotsorry

Since the guys have been here, we've gone out and done a handful of the touristy things that there are to do in Hawaii. Even though we've lived here for over six months, many of these were firsts for us also. Having visitors is quickly helping me cross off items from my Hawaiian bucket list. The guys did their research before arriving, so there hasn't been a shortage of things to do. In fact, I'm looking forward to resting and doing nothing when they leave.

Thursday started out on the other side of the island at the Spitting Caves, a place I had no idea even existed. We continued touring the windward side of the island before calling it a day just in time for the Heat game. After traveling all day the day before, the boys were exhausted.

I was the solo tour guide for Friday morning, since John had a schmooze fest social gathering at his station for all of the local police agencies. We headed out to my favorite spot near Schofield, Waimea Beach Park. This was the first time that we had been there that the water was absolutely calm and crystal clear. In the winter, I love watching the huge waves crash up on the shore, but the calm summer waters are definitely the highlight of this place. The parking situation sucks, but the fact that it's one of the closet beaches to our house makes it worth it.

Friday evening we went to a luau at Paradise Cove. I was extremely impressed with everything that they had going on. When we first got there, there were a bunch of activities for the entire family to participate in. Then there were a couple demonstrations, followed by dinner and the performances. Eventually, I'll get around to posting a full review of the entire experience. It was a long night, but there was never a dull moment.

Saturday was a boys' day. They did a hike in the morning, followed by a US soccer game, and then some more sightseeing. I was home all day with the girls. By the time they made it back, I was rather annoyed so I'm not even quite sure what they spent the day touring.

Yesterday we attempted to cram a bunch of activities into the day. After we left the house around 10 am, we didn't return until about 8 pm. The day was spent in the sun, so although I'm definitely getting closer to achieving that sweet tan that I was hoping for, this momma was exhausted. My girls were troopers the entire day, but knocked out as soon as we hit the highway on our way home.

Since today is the boys' last day here, we're going to attempt to squeeze in a few more must do's, without getting too crazy.

I will never know how tourists come all the way out here and have an enjoyable time... There is SO MUCH to do and it doesn't seem like much time to do it all in. Add to that, the fact that East Coasters are attempting to adapt to the six hour time difference. No way I could do it! As it is, it took us close to two weeks to adjust to the time difference when we moved here, and we weren't even out doing tiring activities all day.

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SUP

After the weekend, we're able to cross off a major item from my Hawaiian Bucket List. We finally got a chance to try stand up paddle boarding (SUP)!

Saturday morning we rented a board from the rec center on post, and headed to the beach. The four adults in our group stupidly assumed that we'd be up and riding the thing instantly since everyone we've ever seen doing it made it look simple. That was not the case at all. At all.

No one was able to actually stand up on the board for more than just a couple of seconds. Balancing a huge chunk of foam on the water is nowhere near as easy as it looks. For the most part, we were able to get the kneeling part down though.

Once we had given up for the day, we saw a couple that was helping each other out with the standing part. Duh. By that time we were bruised and defeated, so it was going to have to wait. Along with having no clue how physically demanding this activity was, no one knew we'd end up scraped and bumped up. I have some pretty epic injuries on my knees and feet.

Juli made it through unharmed, but a repeat will probably have to wait until after she's born. Honestly, having to pull myself up without the belly getting in the way was a bit of a pain.

We tried the whole SUP thing again yesterday. The water was pretty rough, so there was virtually no chance that any of us were going to be standing up. I will say that I felt much more comfortable on the board though.

I wish I had pictures to share, but my little buddy Adri stole one of my SD cards again and I have yet to find it. Luckily, this time I know it's somewhere in my house (or possibly the yard or car) and not randomly absent from my hotel room. Hopefully I'll be able to update with photos soon.

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Living on Base

From the very beginning, John and I always said that we would always live off base, pretty much no matter what. For us, it has always made more sense to live off of the installation, and pocket the extra BAH (basic allowance for housing) money. Sure, maybe he'd have to drive a little further to work, but even with factoring in gas money, we'd still come out winning. After house hunting in Hawaii, we changed our minds pretty quickly. Well sort of. My mind was changed pretty quickly, it took some convincing on my part to get my other half to agree.

As we searched the internet for suitable housing, it became clear to me that it was going to take some work to find the perfect place within our price range. We needed something with at least four bedrooms that would take Caesar. He's a 75 pound dog, and most rentals weren't willing to accept pets over 20 pounds. John also insisted on having central AC. First of all, many homes down here are only rocking the window units. Plus I've heard that the power bills can get hefty on the island. Also, with the terrible traffic, I had no interest in waiting an hour from the time my husband got off of work until he got home.

Miraculously, I convinced my dear husband that we should at least try living on-post. If it was totally awful, we could search again once our lease was up after a year.

After living in our house on-post for five months, we're both pretty happy with my decision. We literally live five minutes from John's office. It came in handy yesterday when he urgently needed me to drop stuff off for him. Twice. When he takes command of a company, we'll be about 2 minutes away from the battalion/brigade. He'll be able to walk to PT every.single.morning.

I love that the girls and I can walk to the PX in a matter of minutes, and that the commissary and clinics are just as close. I have yet to become involved in any sort of volunteer activity, but the short commute time will definitely beat the half hour that I was doing each way in Georgia.

So far, the housing company and our community center have been awesome. When things break, they come out quickly to fix them. Just last week they came out and redid the landscaping out front, after I complained that the previous tenants had destroyed everything that was alive.

We're even getting money back each month for utilities, since we stay well under the average usage for the neighborhood.

For now, I'm enjoying living on post and all of the conveniences. But, I can say that without a doubt, we'll be buying another property at our next CONUS duty station. It only makes sense to have something that is ours, and then rent it and have the tenants paying our mortgage for us when it's time to move on.

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Weekend Highlights

Annnd it's Monday again. Why does it always feel like the weekend flies by no matter how long it is? John took leave after returning from JRTC last week, so even though our "weekend" was five days long, it went by much quicker than the typical five day week. Hopefully these next five days pass by just as quickly.

While Hubster was home, we spent a good amount of time beaching. Let me tell you, we needed it! Living in Hawaii is nice, but unless you're taking advantage of the surroundings, it can be just as dull as any other military town. Three beach days in the span of five days definitely made me appreciate having the opportunity to live in paradise.

Wednesday: It was the first time that John got to go watch Veronica do gymnastics. From gymnastics, we headed straight to one of my favorite beaches on the North Shore. We spent a good amount of time catching rays and building castles, before heading into town for Thai food. My parents used to eat Thai takeout all the time and I thought it was the grossest thing. I've had it twice now in the past month or two, and I love the stuff!

Thursday: Anniversary day! I actually spent the majority of the day away from Hubster. He dropped V off at school while I had my 28 week check up. From there he went on a man-date and I went with a friend to get a pedicure and do some anniversary shopping. Oops, I suck at gifts. After school, we dropped V and Adri off at a friend's house and went on a date to Top of Waikiki, a revolving restaurant. It was such a fun experience!

Friday: Another beach day. The weather in the Schofield area was crappy, so we packed up and headed to the other side of the island. We've been wanting to check out Hanauma Bay since we got here, and finally had a chance. It's known for it's amazing snorkeling views, but unfortunately, since it was kind of cloudy I wasn't feeling the full submersion thing. I may have also been afraid of being disappointed by the reefs. We've gone on multiple snorkeling excursions on cruises and have always kind of been let down. After growing up in South Florida, and my dad always owning a boat, I've seen some remarkable reefs. Nothing else has ever compared. Hubs had a nice time snorkeling and saw a bunch of fun fish though. I'm sure we'll go back another time.

Saturday: One of Hubster's friends was heading to training for a month in California, so he threw a Tres de Mayo party. The boys drank plenty while the kids made a mess and the wives lounged around. They made this frozen lemonade + beer drink that I tried a sip of, and I can't wait to make when I'm not pregnant anymore. It was freaking delicious, and I'm sure very dangerous.

Sunday: After a crazy Saturday night, the plan was to have a nice crepe breakfast/brunch and head to the beach. I'm lazy in the morning and we didn't make it out for crepes in time for breakfast. Instead, we decided to do the beach first and then get crepes as a late lunch. Only the crepe place closed long before we were done at the beach. This was our first time going to the beach in Kailua, and we instantly fell in love. The sand was so much softer than anywhere else on the island, and the water temp and wave size were perfect. We ended up getting burgers just before heading home. At home everyone crashed for nap time, followed by a shower and bedtime shortly after. Yay for sleep!

I apologize for not visiting a single blog last week. Now that Hubs is back to work, I'll be attempting to catch up. Or I might just mark them all as read in Bloglovin' and start fresh.

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New Neighbors

I really don't do well in social situations with strangers, so I do my best to avoid them. But when we got new neighbors, I knew I had to go over and welcome them. Our next door neighbors came over to welcome us when we first moved in, so now it my turn to pass on the torch. It can be hard when you're at a new military base and don't know anyone. Especially when that Army base is at least a five hour flight from the rest of the country.

To make things less stressful, I just bought a package of break and bake cookies. No need to worry about mixing or cleaning or making sure you don't poison anyone. When it came time to bake, I was disappointed that I had only bought a 12-pack of extra large cookies. I still kept four of them anyway.

After baking and cooling, I placed the cookies on a paper plate and topped it with aluminum foil. Eight cookies fit perfectly on the plate. I wrapped some twine around it and attached the little card that I made on PicMonkey and printed onto cardstock. On the back of the card I wrote a little message and included my phone number.

It took a bit of convincing to get me out the door, but I finally headed over. Out of all the four places that we've lived, this has been the only place where the neighbors came and introduced themselves. I had to keep reminding myself how nice of a gesture it was. I timed it perfectly for 11 am to make sure that no husbands would be home on lunch break. I had no interest in dealing with that awkwardness.

After introducing myself and Adri, handing over the cookies, and chatting for a minute or two, I was back on my merry way home. I was glad that I went with "welcome to the neighborhood" instead of "welcome to Hawaii", because it turns out that they had literally moved over from the community across the street from us. How anticlimactic. I'll just consider this time a practice run for when we have a new family PCS here.

Have your neighbors ever stopped by to welcome you to the neighborhood?

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