Nanea's Adventures

While we were in Hawaii, in early April, the  Merrie Monarch Festival  was happening in Hilo on the Big Island The Merrie Monarch Festival   honors the legacy of King David Kalākaua, who inspired the perpetuation of Hawaiian traditions, native language and arts. The last 3 days of the festival was the International hula festival. We got to watch a lot of that on TV later in the evening. I would love to go next year! (Nanea, too!) There are lots of performances that you can watch on youtube. Here are some of my favorites from this year. There are SO MANY!!  MM1 MM2 MM3 MM4 MM5 The performance (and outfits) are all so beautiful and amazing. 

After a long trip to Hawaii (and lots of time in the sun and at the beach) it was time to take Nanea to the American Girl doll salon for a complete hair styling. The ladies at the salon do such an amazing job.  Isn't she pretty?

Kula Botanical Gardens, in upcountry Maui, is one of the prettiest gardens I have ever visited.   Kula Botanical Garden is located on the slopes of Haleakala and encompasses 8 acres of colorful and unique plants, amazing rock formations, a covered bridge, waterfalls, koi pond, aviary and new attractions including the carved tiki exhibit. I dressed Nanea in one of her new dresses for the visit. We were visiting for a couple of hours enjoying the gardens, the view and the bit cooler weather.

What a surprise we discovered after having lunch at the Wharf Cinema Center in Lahaina, Maui. We had lunch at the Cool Cat Cafe! Nanea had a snack too! We walked down to the 2nd level and found " Forever H and H Maui ". The first thing I saw was an amazing collection of American Girl Dolls. I also met the owner and her daughter! They have a Facebook page where you can send them a message. https://www.facebook.com/ForeverHAndAMaui This is the store front. Looks cute from outside but what is inside is wonderful! On the left and on the right you can see the American Girl Hawaiian Dresses that she makes and sells! (There are Molly and Isabelle)   Samantha, McKenna and Josefina!  Saige and Caroline!  Kanani in a very special place! Nanea is wearing one of her new outfits. (Love her with Mele) They dresses come with the plumeria flower clip and the Kukui Nut Lei We bought 4 new outfits for Nanea! ALOHA!!!

The Dole plantation is a fun place on Oahu with activities, presentations and a country store! It was about a 45 minute ride from where we were staying in Honolulu in  Wahiawa .  We took a ride on the Pineapple Express and learned all about Hawaiian agriculture. There were many, many fields of pineapples. We walked around the plantation gardens and saw many types of flowers and plants. Everything was so beautiful. There was also a large country store which had all sorts of pineapple gifts. We even saw a presentation of how to cut a pineapple the right way with a special knife.  There was a lady selling beautiful Hawaiian dresses! She also was selling Hawaiian dresses for American Girl dolls. We bought 3 of them. This dress is one of hers! See the cute flower lei! The best treat is Dole Whip . Nanea loved hers!  Everything in the country store is about pineapples!

This is a little preview of what I will be blogging about for awhile. We just returned from 2 weeks in Hawaii with Nanea.  9 days in Oahu and a week in Maui.  We went to so many places and took lots of pics!  Can't wait to share the adventure.  Here are some pics of Nanea just to get started. Also - Happy Birthday, Nanea! We celebrated it in Hawaii! Next post - in Oahu!