A Morning on the North Shore of Oahu

It was just me and the twins on Prince Kuhio Day (a State of Hawaii holiday), so I packed up the truck with our beach gear and headed north to the North Shore of Oahu.

On the drive over, we knew it was going to be a great day. Just look at the blue skies!

First stop - Paalaa Kai Bakery for snow puffies ...

The twins didn't want to try the snow puffy, so I bought one for myself ...

and bought a malasada and donut holes for the boys.

We normally go to the mini-mart next door (Paalaa Kai Mini-Mart) to buy spam musubi and fried chicken, but to our dismay, we discovered that the store is closed on Tuesdays. 

After a brief pit stop in Haleiwa town for coffee and spam musubis, we headed to Ke Iki beach. We found a nice parking spot right on Ke Iki Road, and walked a short ways to the public access point to the beach. 

The beach was pretty empty when we arrived shortly after 9 am. 

The boys wasted no time looking for shells.

Here's some of what we found. We need to get some help on how to find the nice ones.

Thanks to the surf, there was a small pool of ocean water that formed on the beach, making for a safe place for the boys to get wet without entering the ocean.

In the mornings, there is a lot of shade at the top of the beach - great for taking it all in without getting burnt from the sun.

After a couple of hours, the twins were ready to go. One had a bucket of shells, the other - a coconut.

The twins noticed a bike path near our parking spot and wanted to explore it, so we did. It's part of the North Shore Bike Path (Ke Ala Pupukea Bike Path) which is a great way to explore a stretch of some of the world's most famous surf breaks.

We stopped at Log Cabins and watched the surfers. I wish I had brought my DSLR to take some photos of the surf. These were taken with my iPhone...

By now, it was after 1 pm and we were all thirsty and in need of something to cool us down, so of course, we stopped at Matsumoto's Shave Ice. They have a really efficient system for taking and fulfilling their shave ice orders, so don't be discouraged by the line if you ever come here. It moves relatively quickly.

Can't wait to take another trip out to the North Shore, and hopefully we'll go on a day when Paalaa Kai Mini-Mart is open!