Chapter 16: In Which We Enjoy our Last Night and Morning at Aulani, Despite My Vain Attempts to Remain a Little Annoyed
We had made a reservation at Monkeypod for 4:45pm on Tuesday, in order to take advantage of their Happy Hour specials: 50% off all appetizers and $9 pizzas. Monkeypod is right across the street, close enough to walk, but we were running late so drove over instead. We were seated right away at a large round table with a pretty view. The twins ordered cheese quesadillas, and the rest of us chose individual pizzas and one order of garlic truffle oil fries to share.
Jeff and my mom each ordered a Mai Tai. They reported that they were strong. Jeff didn’t really like his, and said that the one he had at the luau was better. Neither one ever drinks much, so one was enough.
We tried to cheer Benji up and keep the mood light. Sam brought some of his vacationing
LEGO guys along, which was a little photographic diversion. Our food came quickly, and everything was delicious. I had the Proletariat Pizza, which did not photograph well but was good: pepperoni, sausage, onions, green peppers, olives, and fresh mozzarella. We finished it off with some tasty cream pie for dessert.
After dinner, we hurried back to Aulani where it was time for a swim.
Just before bed, Jeff made a run across the street for some Aloe Vera gel for some sunburns we observed among the boys as they were getting ready for bed. Aulani does not sell Aloe Vera in their gift shops, but it can be found at the Island Country Markets store nearby (a slight variation of the ABC stores seen all over Hawaii). It felt important (to me, the always over-cautious one) at the time, but we actually used very little of it, because by morning it did not really seem needed. I was happy that we really had done very well avoiding sunburns. Jeff rarely burns, but the boys have my pale skin, so you never know.
Wednesday morning was bittersweet. It was disappointing to realize that we only had a few hours left at Aulani, but we were eagerly anticipating fresh adventures to come on the Big Island. Once again, because I was too excited to sleep, it was an early morning for me. I left the room at 5:30 and wandered around the resort with my tripod for about an hour, taking random photos.
I wanted to talk to a cast member about my concerns about our experience the day before at Aunty’s, so inquired at the desk when I was picking up my Daily 'Iwa. The appropriate manager was not there, but they cheerfully took my name and number and promised that she would be calling me.
My view from the window on 15th floor on my way to our room:
We again had a satisfying and convenient breakfast at Ulu at about 8:00. I loved that we could eat a quick meal in such a pretty, open air setting.
Afterward, we hit the pools. We enjoyed having the Infinity pool all to ourselves. Loved this pool!
My mom played photographer and stayed dry. There were lots of free chairs for relaxing.
The boys like to ride Jeff, like Mr. Ray taking his students to school:
I joined Sam on the tube waterslide next. Here’s my attempt at capturing it photographically:
The lazy river was next:
After we finished swimming, we headed back to the room. On the way, we saw a PhotoPass photographer, so had to stop.
This sign was near the refillable mug station. For some reason I found it very entertaining. Yes, more candy! More pop! Mmmmm.
We took a peek at the splashy area for smaller kids.
It was always so pleasant walking around the resort, with warm smiles and alohas from every cast member who made eye contact. Happy mahalos blunted the pain of spending money at the shops. I remember laughing to myself that day after yet another friendly greeting, because I realized I could not hold a grudge about the Aunty's incident for Benji's sake. Oh, well.
Once we were all back in our room, we ran around finishing up our packing and checking to make sure we did not forget anything. We had been searching for Sam’s stuffed buffalo for days, an item he LOST in our room at Aulani or possibly the Hilton. No idea exactly when, but we’re guessing it may have gotten lost when housekeeping collected sheets one day. We had hoped when we had the room all emptied out it might turn up, but no…nothing.
At some point I noticed the cozy Aulani robe that I had neglected to try out still untouched on its hanger, so threw it on over my dry swimming suit. We did not have any photos of the lanai, so I asked Jeff to take a quick picture of a relaxing scene out there. I assure you that I did not relax on the lanai at any point (I guess if we had an ocean view I would have, but we are more the type to get up and out pretty quickly in the morning when there is so much fun stuff to do). Anyway, this is how it would look if I were relaxing with my delicious morning coffee on the lanai instead of running around taking photos. Ahhh…
Look who insisted on saying goodbye!
We finally appeared to be ready to go, had the car all loaded and were nearly on our way, when my mom exclaimed she had left her hat in her closet. Since it was past our check-out time, the room was locked, so we needed to get help from a cast member to get back into her room to pick it up. After that was over with, we actually left for the airport. Hooray!!! Onto our next phase of the trip…