Nana and Papa Bear came to visit, and we packed a lot of fun into five and a half days! Here are the highlights:

We spent a morning at Dog Beach--wading in the water,
playing in the sand, watching a submarine go by, and exploring
a nearby WWII-era battery.

Nana and Papa Bear tagged along to music lessons. We spent
the waiting time sampling goodies from our favorite bakery
and teaching Nana and Papa Bear to play Uno and Set.

Lion loves trying on hats at the Swap Meet!
We spent a couple of hours wandering through
the vendors and snacking on papaya and boba smoothies.

We made the drive up to Tantalus Outlook.
You can see Diamond Head and Honolulu in the distance.

Nana and Papa Bear timed it just right to catch the girls' summer recital! Lion played a piano solo (a more complex piece than she's played for a recital before), Bug participated in a violin ensemble with a mix of beginner and advanced students, and Monkey joined an ad hoc rock band (a set of siblings and Monkey wanted to play "Fight Song," so they played together. Unfortunately, you can't actually see Monkey in the video, but you can hear the drums!)

The girls may be puzzled as to why the post-recital dinner was photographed,
 but Build Your Own Ramen was the most unusual dining experience we introduced
 to Nana and Papa Bear. You can choose from a variety of noodles, broth, and a couple dozen ingredients
(including things like gobo fish cake, quail eggs, and taro).

Followed by this dessert, which is as delicious as it is initially baffling.
For the record, that's a mound of shaved ice drowning in fruit-flavored syrup,
and topped with bobas, coffee and fruit flavored jellos, and gummies. Mmmm... 

We finally made it to a luau! The main attraction, of course, is the buffet dinner
and the show, featuring Hawaiian music, hula dancing, and fire dancing, but
this luau also featured pre-dinner activities.

Daddy and the girls competed in a traditional Hawaiian game
that involved tossing stones and sticks into a goal.

They also tried their hands at throwing spears.

They had much more success learning to make palm frond crowns with flowers in them!

Nana and Bug got Polynesian "tattoos" painted on!

This was definitely the best picture from our Kualoa Ranch Movie Tour!
(About 80 different movies and TV shows have been filmed there.)
This photo features three "scared" girls, one plastic mini dianosaur,
and the original log where the kids hid from T-rex in the first Jurassic Park.
(They haven't seen the movie yet, but it's a great photo op!)

The girls were very excited about spending a morning at White Plains Beach!
It's a lovely little uncrowded beach that usually has the best waves
for boogie boarding. This time it also had a napping seal!

It took some doing, but the girls managed to get Nana and Papa Bear past
the breakers to cool off.

I didn't end up with photos but we also took a couple of scenic drives during their visit: one up to North Shore through a more rural area (destination: shrimp trucks & Dole whip) and the other down the main drag through Waikiki (fancy resorts, high end shopping, and beautiful but crowded beaches) then to see Iolani Palace and the King Kamehameha statue you always see in TV shows. Sadly, the statue itself was entirely covered for a restoration project!

Daddy took Nana and Papa Bear on the harbor tour, but the girls
and I skipped it this time and met up with them at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center--
beautiful memorial grounds and a couple building of very well done exhibits.