Pupu time

I finally went for a swim on Waikiki beach today. It was a bit cold – I’m a total water wuss – and rocky. They’re having sand erosion problems. They got their original sand from Stockton, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. That’s right, Waikiki, the beach lover’s wet dream, has been built from the sandhills of Stockie. It was previously just rice paddies and swamp. After our Waikiki paddle we went back to the apartment for leftover pizza and Playstation then struck out again for nirvana – more Ala Moana shopping. I’ve gone all bargain basement in my old age. My only purchases were at Gap (again). Hey, when you’re a stay-at-home mum, no longer a career woman … For $89 I got a military green cardie, a white t-shirt, another orange t-shirt, a striped cardie to match my maxi dress, a $12 pair of navy cords … And I forget what else. But it was bulk bargain time. Husband got two new Calvin Klein work suits – his old ones had holes – at Macys for 600 bucks. Sprog 1 got three pairs of Calvin Klein undies for $9 … Then Husband and the Sprogs went to the LEGO shop to build their own little LEGO people and pay for the privilege, while I dashed around making sure I hadn’t missed anything. I skipped the $59 (on sale!) Abercrombie Kids trakkie pants, couldn’t decide on a Marc Jacobs wallet to fit in my new Marc Jacobs handbag (and how come the wallets cost the same as the handbags anyway?), and embarked on a fruitless search for a cool belt to hold up Sprog 1’s new skinny jeans. Then we attempted to have mai tais at the shopping centre rooftop bar, but they don’t let under 21s in after 4pm, hello? So we jumped in a cab and went to Uncle Bo’s bar and grill for pupus (the Hawaiian word for nibbles). Being 44 going on 14, I was making pupu jokes all day: “let’s eat pupus”, “is it pupu time yet?”, “feel like a pupu?”. The pupus were delish at the time, but it felt like I was giving birth to a food baby afterwards. We had spinach, artichoke and crab dip with fried wonton chips, garlic mozzarella bread with mushrooms and steak bits, crab cakes, steamed pork wontons and spicy tuna in seaweed, with a side order of spaghetti and meatballs for unadventurous Sprog 2. Then we staggered home at the outrageously late hour of 6.30pm and introduced the Sprogs to the delights of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World on cable (possibly rated M but preferable to their choice of Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs). And now it’s our last holiday day. Sprog 2 and I kicked off the morning with a penguin patting/turtle feeding session in the hotel gardens (Hilton Hawaiian Village rocks!) followed by a Diet Coke for hungover Mummy. Hmmm, how shall we spend the rest of the day?