coffee and poke and malasadas, oh my

on our last full day in hawaii, i managed to snag one of the peloton bikes and take a beginner-level ride that i really enjoyed.  

when i was done, i decided i deserved one more delicious island latte from island vintage coffee.  it was drizzling as i made my way down the street, which of course didn't matter since i was already all sweaty anyway.

and of course, when i got there the line was longer than the last time.  yikes.

it was a full hour before i finally got to this point:

success!

when i got back to our room, the hub had just finished his yoga class and we decided to forego our free hotel breakfast and take a drive out to boots & kimo's for the very best macadamia nut pancakes on the planet.  they'd relocated since our last visit, but thanks to online ordering our breakfast was ready and waiting for us once we arrived.

we'd left the sleeping bean at the hotel, and as we were on our way back she texted us to let us know she was up and ready to start the day.  the hub told her where to find the chairs and umbrella he'd reserved on the beach, and then he dropped me off to meet up with her while he headed back out to find some fresh poke bowls.  the macadamia nut cream topping on our pancakes had melted a bit by the time we finally got to sit down to eat them, but it didn't matter.  they were still super delicious.

and then as soon as we were done we grabbed our floaties and got right in the water to spend some time bouncing around in the waves.  

we spent a good amount of time relaxing in the water, and then i glanced back towards the shore and saw the hub waving at us from our umbrella.  he'd been gone for awhile, and it turned out that he'd gone on quite the quest for those poke bowls.  it actually took driving to three different spots before he found what he deemed the best on the island - from ono seafood.

and not only that, but he'd also battled a ton of traffic and stood in a long line to secure a box of fresh malasadas from leonard's for us.  i felt so bad that he'd spent so much time driving around on a wild goose chase just to satisfy our cravings instead of just staying with us and relaxing at the beach.  and yet he does this kind of thing for us all the time, and those are the moments that always stick out in my head...the ones that really bring into focus how much he loves us.  he always volunteers to do whatever it takes to make us happy, never complains about how much of a pain in the ass those things can be, just does it all because that's the kind of man he is.  that's love, plain and simple.  i don't know what i did to deserve him, but i'm pretty damn grateful.

a little later, when we got back in the water, we had a handful of sea turtle sightings.  i was always half a second too late to catch them with my phone, but if you look really closely here you can see him splashing around in the distance.

after we'd had our fill of sun and surf, we headed upstairs to get cleaned up and take a walk to find something for dinner.  i was pretty dismayed to take off that striped rash guard and find that i'd gotten myself one hell of a weird tan line.  lineS, more accurately.  ugh.

we headed across the street to a familiar spot, one we'd also visited on our last trip to maui.  we dined on simple but tasty fare - wings, sliders, fries, fish & chips.

later, while the hub slipped away to enjoy a cigar outside, i remembered our box of treats.  it was our last night in hawaii and i knew we weren't going to take them home, so i did what any normal person would do:

oh yes.  i took bites out of each and every one of those bad boys.  after all, there were six different kinds - original sugar-coated, cinnamon sugar, li hing mui (a salty/sour powder), custard, chocolate and haupia (coconut cream) and i needed to do them all justice.  the bean just shook her head and smirked at me, taking just a couple of bites that satisfied her own craving.  they were all super delicious, but i have to say that my favorite was the haupia-filled one.  mmmmm.

it was a pretty lovely, relaxing day that finished off our hawaiian vacation on a great note.