Oahu with Gymnasts

Story from 2009

One of my daughters, Beatrice, did J.O. (Junior Olympic) gymnastics for about 10 years. As she advanced in skills and competitive levels, we got to travel more often and farther afield. It afforded us reasons to travel to Arizona, California, Oregon, and Hawaii.

Our Hawaiian trip was fabulous and we are still full of memories. I recently ran across photos from our time on Oahu and took a day or two for a trip down memory lane.

Our gymnastics team was signed up for 2 separate gymnastics meets on consecutive weekends on the island of Oahu, so we started planning for 11 or 12 days on the island to make it a proper family vacation. I talked my mom into coming along. She had never been to Hawaii and was just as excited as I was. I also agreed to chaperone two other young gymnasts from our team, which helped me with the cost. So… I was planning a trip for me, my Mom, my gymnast, Beatrice + two more, as well as my two other kids, Clara and David. That was 7 of us headed to paradise!

We booked a flight, I found a vacation rental 3 bedroom condo, reserved a minivan and organized packing lists for everyone. The flight was good (even with 3 years old, David), and getting the rental went very smoothly. We were greeted very warmly with traditional leis.

And the adventure began

The condo I booked was on the west side of Oahu. It is not as common of a destination for tourists, but it ended up being perfect for our home away from home. Our rented condo was up in the Makaha Valley and provided what we needed for meals and quiet time. The grounds were beautiful with pools and walking paths and quite a few peacocks. My kids were enthralled. The condo was just up the hill from Makaha Beach Park, which was almost like our own private beach as there were not the crowds of people there.

I particularly enjoyed staying a bit out of the beaten path. We had to drive up and down the west coast each day (sometimes more than once) to get our girls to their gymnastics practices in Honolulu, but it gave me the opportunity to ‘mingle’ just a bit with the regular folk as we stopped for groceries and gas. It was easy to strike up conversations about what life was like on the island and they all had curiosity about why we were there. The gymnasts would often pull off a couple of flips and tumbling moves to the delight of everyone around.

Since we were there for such a long stretch it was nice to not be frantic about fitting everything in. We had made a short must-do list, anyway, so it was truly time to hang out and enjoy the warm weather away from rainy Seattle in January. The girls’ requests were for a lot of beach time and some shopping. My request was to see Pearl Harbour. My mom wanted a Luau. We scheduled everything around gymnastics practices and we reserved one day each weekend for the scheduled competitions.

Pearl Harbor

The girls (the gymnasts) kind of groaned about a ‘boring war thing,’ so I told them that Pearl Harbour was our first sightseeing outing to “get it out of the way.” All 4 girls were between 10 and 13, so I could understand their initial lack of interest, but I was determined.

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Once we found our condo, our ‘home’ and got unpacked, we spent the rest of the first day at Makaha Beach. After the long flight and such, we just chilled for the rest of the day at the beach, reveling in the warm air, the beautiful scenery, foliage, flowers, and birds.

But the next day, we headed off to Pearl Harbor, and I had nothing to fear. What a fabulous place. We didn’t go to all the exhibits, but we watched the film about what happened on that fateful December 7 day. For the first time, I saw the light dawn in the kids’ eyes. Little David was only 3 years old, but he was engrossed in the movie.

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Then we got on the boat that heads out to the Arizona Memorial. The girls were all chatty and giggly when we boarded the boat, but as we got closer to the Memorial, they got quieter and quieter. The kids were quiet and respectful, asked a million questions in hushed voices and read the names of the people who died that day that were etched on the wall . They noted common surnames, speculating on whether related family members died together. I encouraged them to do some research when we get home and they nodded. Even 3-year-old David wandered from railing to railing looking quietly at the wreck of the Arizona underneath us. He understood the somber respect due the awful memory of that day.

When we got off the boat back at the center, we hit up the gift shop. All of the girls bought postcards with pictures of the history and of the current Memorial. I was so pleased at their newfound interest in a part of our national history.

Regular Days

Many of the days kind of melted together with a bit of a routine of gymnastics practice, grocery shopping, beach time, meals, and pool time (it kind of seems silly to go to Hawaii to swim in a pool, but compared to Seattle in January, sunny days with an outdoor pool was such a delight).

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Mom and I had decided that we weren’t going to try to see and do everything. The practices for the gymnasts kind of broke up most of the days, so we decided we’d enjoy the tropical atmosphere and relax, rather than frantically try to fit in a lot of things. We did get to spend an afternoon at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet and the girls shopped to their hearts’ delight. There are over 400 vendors there and it is open 3 days a week. It was fun!

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We even had an evening routine of homework time for the school work the girls brought from their teachers. Mom and I tried a variety of different wines each evening as we spent some fun mother/daughter time together.

However, we did have two other notable Hawaiian experiences both seemed perfect for the wish list that each of us had created.

Polynesian Village

My mom’s bucket list included a luau. We researched some choices and decided to spend one of our whole free days at the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was a fun day for my kids and us adults. It is large and “touristy,” but we were having so much fun being tourists (which is what we were, right?) that we joined right in with everything.

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The Polynesian Center was full of activity and a variety of things to see and to join in with. The center is set up with history and activities throughout a series of ‘villages.’ Each village area highlighted different Polynesian peoples and culture… Tonga, Tahiti, Hawaii, Fiji, Aotearoa, Samoa. They offered displays of history and culture and activities from presentations to dances to shows to games. One of the employees even convinced the kids to try some poi, an indigenous food made from taro root. The paths amongst the villages were paved and beautiful with foliage and waterfalls.

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The luau dinner was delicious, served buffet style and they had a small stage show with Hulu dancing and drumming. The children in the audience were invited to come down to the stage to try some Hulu dancing of their own. My gymnasts were delighted and Hulu’d for the rest of the night, including in their seatbelts in the van on the way back to the condo. The roasted pig was proudly displayed before serving and the side dishes were good. We all ate to bursting, then slowly wandered back along the paths to see the evening show.

We went from the luau dinner to a fantastic stage show with a large cast of indigenous people doing the Hula and Haka and other traditional dances and stories from all the Polynesian cultures. There were some pretty amazing fire dances, too. It was a long active day, but it more than satisfied our touristy hearts.

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Hanuama Bay

We were experiencing beach time every day and twice the three gymnasts went with other teammates to their rentals and enjoyed beach/pool time with their friends. But I decided that our beach time should include a first time experience at snorkeling for all of us. After more research, Mom and I had decided to spend another of our free days at Hanauma State Park. It is a nature preserve and a very special protected place.

Hanauma is a small, sheltered cove and is open to a limited number of people each day. Since it is a protected reserve, entrance includes a requirement to see a 9 minute movie, a documentary, about the preserve and what the rules and responsibilities are in order to be able to experience this beach.

This picture is a stock photo from Hawaii State Park website and you can see the small crescent beach with the shallow entry into the cove and the numerous reef areas that spread throughout the cove.

We were able to rent snorkeling gear and our first-time experience at seeing the tropical underwater life was quite satisfying. It was such a wonderful place. David had a new beach to explore and the entry level for the water meant he got to explore the water, too, without the big waves that kept knocking him over at ‘our’ Makaha beach.

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My mom didn’t want to snorkel, so my daughter, Clara figured out that she could walk all the way out to the reef area, since the water was so shallow and she showed grandma all the beautiful fish out there, holding her arm helping her avoid the sharp rocks.

We came ‘home’ that night full of sun, sand and a new experience under the water. Happy kids!

The Competitions

The REAL reason we came to Hawaii was the gymnastics meets. All of the girls did well at both competitions and came home with a few trophies and medals. My Beatrice took 1st place on Vault at both meets, which was like the cherry on top of a wonderful trip.

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