Guess who came for a visit???

Well, since our visit to the islands last month, it has been pretty well same old, same old here in Waikiki.  Walk in the morning, little chores around the condo, lunch, a little snooze before heading for the pool.  We have been playing cards on a regular basis and I must say, the ladies have kept the men in check pretty well the whole time.  As it now stands, the guys are one game ahead overall but that can change in the blink of an eye.

Art and the ladies
in the white convertible

On Tuesday morning  this week, I rented a car for the day and I ended up getting an upgrade to a convertible.  Well talk about Art being excited, he has always dreamed of owning one.  All four of us went grocery shopping in anticipation for a visit from our friends Jean Loup Guérin, Stela Boudreau, Jeanne Belliveau and Roger Brodeur who will spend 4 days in Waikiki prior to embarking on a seven day Hawaiian Island cruise. 

Waikiki Beach skyline
viewed from the hills

Diamondhead viewed
from the hills obove
Waikiki Beach

After grocery shopping, we went for a topless ride around town and ended up in the hills that we see from our balcony which overlook Waikiki.  WOW!!!  What an extraordinary view they have up there.  From on high, we can see the inside of the Diamondhead crater and all of the skyline of Waikiki Beach, truly a million dollar view.

Jeanne and Roger stayed with Rosella and I, Jean Loup and Stella had booked a room in the the Ilikai hotel.  In addition this, we were also expecting the arrival of Babe and Claudette Bernier friends of Arthur and Ethel from Sussex the same evening.  They will be staying here at the Ilikai for the month of April.


Early in the evening, we drove the car to the airport to surprise and meet our friends with flower leis. Babe and Claudette were supposed to arrive at about the same time as the others but their flight from Seattle was delayed so they arrived later. Our friends from Shediac had a good flight from Vancouver and were glad to be here in beautiful Waikiki.

Jean Loup
& Stella

Jeanne Belliveau



Roger Brodeur



Breakfast on
the lanai

Taking pictures
on the stroll

The next morning, we had our four guests over for breakfast on the lanai and after that, we went for a nice stroll to show them a bit of the beautiful surroundings in our neighbourhood. 

I finally caught you Elvis!

From there, Rosella and I along with Jeanne and Roger jumped in the convertible and went to visit the bronze statue of Elvis which was erected at the local Neal Blaisdell Stadium in honour of the first ever live satellite concert featuring Elvis which originated from that venue in 1973.  Jeanne is an avid Elvis fan and, as you can see in the picture, she got a great kick of holding onto Elvis' leg.

Then Jeanne wanted me to bring her to the Outrigger Waikiki Hotel where the Society of Seven, a group which has played there to full houses for over 40 years perform all kind of music, imitating artists mainly from the 60's and 70's.  Jeanne had heard about them and she surprised Rosella and I with tickets for the Friday night show to thank us for having them stay with us during their visit in Waikiki.

Feeding the penguins
at the Hilton
Hawaiian Village

On the way back, we returned the car and after lunch, we went for a swim at the hotel pool.  Following that, we went for another stroll to show our guests the Hilton Hawaiian Village which is just steps away from us at the Ilikai. It is a tropical paradise with lush gardens, koi fish ponds, pink flamingos, penguins, you name it, it is there.  We had a nice tour and then proceeded to Art and Ethel's condo where Bob and Claudette had already arrived for supper.  Ethel fed us all with an excellent fricot with hot biscuits, mmm mmm; good old Acadian comfort food!.   Rosella had brought  a strawberry crumble for dessert, all and all, it was was a great meal in picnic-like atmosphere. 


After supper, a bunch sat down on the deck outside to watch the Hilton Luau which is staged every night and can be fully observed from Art and Ethel's apartment while the American Idol fans bellied up to the TV to watch the 11 finalists perform.

We had planned to go for another stroll to the Hilton to listen to Hawaiian music but at 9:00 pm, everybody was plum tuckered out so we all decided to cal it a night.

Thursday morning, all the visitors along with Art and Ethel had reservations to board the bus and spend the full day and evening at The Polynesian Cultural Centre which is about one hour away from Waikiki.  It is Hawaii's prime attraction featuring displays, exhibits and live performances by native from eight  Polynesian countries including Fiji, Tahiti, Samoa Hawaii and other Pacific countries.  Each country has a theme island at the centre where they are all dressed in colourful native costumes and perform traditional dances and music and demonstrate the various crafts and rituals of their respective cultures.  In the afternoon, there is a colourful canoe parade followed by a buffet supper and a spectacular show.  It is a full day of adventure and diverse activities.  Rosella and I didn't attend because we will be going next week with our daughter Nicole when she visits with us for 10 days.  By all accounts of those that went, it was a memorable day

Friday morning, we were all up and at it bright and early and after breakfast, our four guests and I boarded a bus to go visit the Pearl Harbour memorial site followed by a bit of shopping. 

Off with the
fleeced lined
sweat shirt

On our way home from shopping, we were all dressed in shorts and short sleeves except for our frigid friend Jean Loup.  The temperature was surely in the 85 degree range when he finally succumbed and took off his fleeced lined sweat shirt along the side of the street.

We then had supper at the Wailana Coffee Shop in our favourite restaurant across the street from the hotel and went to The Society of Seven performance at The Outrigger Hotel.  The group provided us with great entertainment, featuring songs from such artists as the Rat Pack (Dean, Sammy and Frank), the Beatles, Elvis, Mick Jagger, song from The Phantom of the Opera and other great songs. One of the artists sang so much like Josh Groban that if you closed your eyes, you would swear it was Josh himself.  It was a great show, the performers were excellent, all and all, well worth seeing.

Saturday was cruise ship embarkation day for our guests.  After breakfast, Jeanne and Roger left for power shopping with Rosella at the Ala Moana Shopping Centre in search for shoes for Jeanne who has difficulty finding proper fitting shoes in Moncton.  Within one and a half hour, Jeanne found everything she was hoping to buy.

Ethel had invited us to go have lunch with them and we had a great feed of Italian spaghetti followed by a strawberry crepe and then it was off to Pier 1 for our friends for their embarkation.

It was was a super visit, we had lots of fun, visited and saw many new things with them.  Saturday night, we picked up our oldest daughter Nicole who will be spending the next 10 days with us.

Stay tuned for my blog about her visit.