Moanalua Gardens and Marinara Sauce

We have been keeping super busy this month, and I'm happy to say I've finally gotten a chance to hike with a group I joined a few months ago- Hiking with Keiki. They are a Facebook group that's for residents of Oahu and they have several hikes every week that you can join. Some are easy and are for pee-wees (ages 1-3), while others are hard and for kids 8+ or babywearing only. Every now and then they have adults-only hikes, which are usually longer in duration and harder trails.

I joined this group a while ago but at first I was too busy to join the hikes. Then I was too shy and was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep up. But finally I saw some hikes for pee-wee walkers that seemed easy enough for me and Evie, so I signed up. Hikes are posted on Monday nights and you gotta be quick and sign-up, otherwise you are on the wait list, which can be quite long.

Cottage under renovation

Our first hike with the group was at Moanalua Gardens. It's a small, public park between Pearlridge and Honolulu, right next to H201. It was formerly the home of Prince Lot Kapuaiwa, who later became King Kamehameha V. The park has the King's cottage, which was built in the 1850s and is currently being renovated. Next to the cottage was a small koi pond, where the kids were able to feed koi, ducks, and birds.

Koa bench

After spending time feeding the wildlife, we kept walking around the park, stopping under the shade of the various monkeypod trees. Moanalua Gardens participates in Honolulu's Exceptional Tree Program, which protects trees from destruction. This park is home to the famous Hitachi monkeypod tree, which the Hitachi Corp uses as their symbol. While we were walking/hiking, a wedding was taking place under the Hitachi Tree, so we didn't get to spend time playing there.

We stopped for a snack break by a fountain at the far end of the park, and you could tell it was almost lunch. The kids were cranky for food and the adults were in need of shade. We slowly made our way back across the park to the parking lot. Evie and I were hot and hungry, so we snacked on the way home and I was barely able to keep her awake. The "hike" was more like playtime in the park, but Evie was introduced to following a group around and was given time to play with other children. She mostly kept to herself and liked to go off exploring; I'm sure the child who kept pushing her off the rocks didn't make her want to interact with the others (and I barely controlled the urge to discipline the kid myself!). But otherwise, it was a great first time with the group and I loved being able to see parts of Oahu I didn't know existed!

Off on her own

In addition to hiking this week, I made homemade marinara for the first time! The idea came to me for meatless Monday, and it turns out it's not that hard. The hardest part was taking the skin off the tomatoes, which I did by cutting an "X" in the bottom of each tomato, boiling them for 30 seconds, then dropping them in an ice bath. I found the tomatoes that were cut on the smoother side peeled better.

I combined the tomatoes with garlic, onions, fresh thyme and basil from my plants outside, fresh parsley, and oregano. It simmered for a few hours and I used a potato masher to "puree" the tomatoes (didn't even have to chop them), and when it was done it was so good! Sweet but with no added sugar. I'll definitely be making it again. It didn't get as dark as jarred tomato sauce, but that did not affect the taste.

Sauce over stuffed shells

Evie and I have another hike planned for this week, so stay tuned!