Saturday, July 9

We started Grace's first full day in America rather slowly. We're not yet adjusted to the timezone, so the time in Hawaii is paying off. It'd really suck to not be adjusted but be at home and have to go to work. As it is, that'll happen soon enough.

We stopped at the activities desk to ask about their Pearl Harbor tour, wondering what the $38 got that you didn't get just showing up. Evidently the deal is that the tour companies by tickets in bulk for the tours, while saps that just show up have to wait first-come, first-served. There's a little overhead, but they also give you a ride there and a guide at the site, so it makes up for it. We wanted to do more than just visit the sites, so we decided instead to be freed from taxi availability and tour schedules, and rented a car instead. The price for a full-size was reasonable, so we rented one of those through Monday morning. She arranged for the rental place's shuttle to pick us up in about a half-hour, so we made with some time-killing.

We had some coffee and biscuits from the cafe in the hotel lobby. Good, fresh Kona coffee, with a muffin for me, and a croissant for Claire. We sat in the lobby, first in an area with a too-short sofa (being tall has disadvantages, and seats too close to the ground is one of them), and then at a table near the hotel's entry. Grace laid and cooed on the table while we ate our breakfast. Shortly, the van arrived, so we scooted out to fetch our car. The van stopped by one more hotel and then deposited us at the rental place.

While there, we learned that the full-size car was like a Chevy Malibu. While that's a fine car, we're not really sedan people, so we inquired about the Jeep Wrangler Unlimited they had on the lot. Except that it's red, has a different trim package, and is a little newer, it's just like the one we have at home. It cost a little more per day, but I pulled the “on vacation” card, and we dropped the extra to feel like we're just at home.

We struggled getting the car seat in place, and lamented that we hoped it wouldn't be this hard in our own Jeep. Of course, we plan to make a more rounded decision, including having a convertible deal, where the seat part separates into a carrier, so that should make a big difference. Eventually we got the seat in, and plopped Grace in. She's a little young, and it was her first car seat experience, so, of course, she didn't like it. Claire sat in the back with her, helping keep her calm, and Grace fell asleep pretty quickly. I think all infants fall asleep quickly in car seats, right?

We decided, for both a few necessities, and just for the hoot factor, to make a Target run. They recently opened their first stores in Hawaii, and while “way over there,” there is a Target on Oahu, which is conveniently where we are. We put that into my phone's GPS, and followed the directions, with a few missteps, and arrived in no time.

Outside, it looks mostly like a Target store. There's a little more flair to the facade of the store, but it's pretty subtle. There's a Target store near our house that has big Target symbols in the concrete outside, that might be missed if you didn't know it; that kind of subtle. Inside, it was just like any other Target store, which is a huge company goal. The only obvious difference we noticed was that the Target team members wore red shirts with stereotypical Hawaiian shirt patterns, complete with Target bulls-eye's.

We trolled around the kids section, looking for some easy-to-handle sleepwear for Grace to have for the flight home. Her 0-to-3-month clothes are getting a little snug, now that she's  quickly gaining on her fourth month. We grabbed a couple things, and some more diapers (hate to run out of those) and more formula (a primary goal of the shopping trip). We also picked up one of those car-seat pads to help Grace keep her head in place in the event of a rough road, accident, or sleep. Two of the three seem likely in the back seat of a Jeep. (The accident is the one we're thinking is less likely.) On the way out, the very friendly check-out gal let Claire snap a shot of the team member shirt. I teased she'd be on the cover of some internal Target publication before long, but Claire calmed the gal's sudden worried look by saying she wasn't in that kind of job, and that they'd probably bring a bigger photo set-up if they were going to do it anyway.

After shopping we realized we were getting quite hungry. The day had slipped by, as often happens when you're in a Target store. I plugged in a search for “restaurants” on my phone and picked a few that aren't chains we have at home. We rolled by a couple that didn't look as sit-down as we would like, and one that was closed on the weekends, and finally found another mall with a restaurant in the back, overlooking the water.

The Aloha Tower mall is a fair-sized complex, whose namesake is a clock tower. Beneath the tower are a number of shops and restaurants, including our target, Gordon Biersch. I had the Lobster and Shrimp Mac and Cheese, and Claire had their Jerk Chicken Tacos, and we had a couple of their brewed beers. It was so tasty. As happened yesterday at the California Pizza Kitchen, lunch was too big for the tempting dessert on the table advertisement.

While we were waiting, Claire decided she wanted to try to stop by a Verizon Store to check out phone options. She'd tried to be patient and even share my phone, but was really missing having one now that we're back in a service area. We searched on my phone and found that there was a store kind of across the street from the mall near the hotel.

We went right to the Verizon store, circled a couple times looking for a parking spot, fed the meter and crossed the street to the store. Claire got all excited at the store, and I could tell that she was 90% likely to leave with a new phone. A very friendly person helped Claire make a good decision, and even got an accessory, and happily left with new phone in hand.

We returned to the room to take care of Grace and charge our phones. Claire's new one came with a partially-charged battery, and her accessory came with a spare, and mine was well-drained from use all day for searching and GPS. While we cooled down, Grace fell asleep, kind of anchoring us in the room. We watched some television, I tapped on the Mac a little bit, and Claire played with her new phone.

After a few hours, we decided something to eat would be good. We debated trying to find somewhere, but given the adventure this afternoon and Grace's looming sleepy-time, we decided maybe a quick take-out from down the street would be better. As lame as it is, we decided that since there's a McDonald's across the street, and the menu is familiar, that a couple Big Macs might be passable. I trekked out while Claire tried to get Grace settled in.

The McD's is literally across the street (well, kiddy-corner) from the hotel. You can see the golden arches from the steps just outside the door. I saw a bunch of inviting lights down the street, so I decided to walk down to the next corner to cross, just to see. It turns out you can't cross the street for a few more blocks, but the walk was actually kind of nice. I texted Claire about the options I saw, but we decided to stick with the plan.

I made my way back to McDs, ordered a couple Big Macs and large fries. A few people were there before me with unfulfilled orders, and some people came after I'd placed mine. It took a little time while they prepared my order, but eventually they handed me a paper bag, and another bag with a couple of sundaes in it. I was going to say something, but the gal zipped off to tend to another order. I shrugged and made my way back across the street.

In the room I told Claire of the free sundaes. I guessed that the orders got crossed. There was a woman who'd gotten the same in the order before me, and she had taken her ticket and tossed it back. Perhaps the gal thought they belonged together. Since she gave them to me, and would have probably just tossed them had the error been pointed out, I took 'em. Yeah, I'm that kind of crook... Turns out, though, upon reviewing the receipt in the bag, that they'd not taken my order as burgers and fries, but instead as burgers and sundaes. Sigh. And, to make the case stronger, there were no fries in the bag. I offered to run back for fries, but Claire said not to.

I tended Grace to sleep while Claire ate her burger. Then I ate mine. At that moment I think I swore off McDonald's entirely. Compared to every other burger we've had in the last couple months, even those in the “developing country” of the Marshall Islands (where they have no cattle), the McDonald's burgers were pathetic. I think frozen entrees do more to honor the dish they mimic than this burger did.

I spent a little time working on the Mac, tethered to the Internet for a bit, and watched a little more television before turning in.