2024 Dec 25 | Christmas with Tsogt and Naraa, Tantalus Lookout sunset, Honolulu City Lights

I stopped at Martha's Lei Stand at the Honolulu airport to buy a couple of leis.

For Tsogt and Naraa.

They brought gifts for me.

And Ogii.

Kitchen table items.

A shirt for me.

A shawl for Ogii.

Lots of snacks.

A puzzle.

Kilauea started erupting again today. Some more of Ogii's family is coming this weekend. If it keeps going, maybe we can all fly there and see it.

The USGS YouTube has a live camrea.

The weather is pretty good there.

I still want a Herman Miller Aeron chair, but they're still expensive, even used.

Until this one showed up for $350.

He actually reduced the price to $300, and then I saw another one for $250, so I went to pick them up.

The cheaper one was in rather rough shape.

With many scratch marks on the arms.

The other one was almost like new, but had a wheel instead of a lever to move the arms. I guess that means its an older model.

Some mixed nuts at the grocery store.

And a huge summer sausage.

Stick-on Christmas lights on this car.

We went to Siam Square for lunch.

They went to the beach.

Ogii making spam for breakfast.

Kilauea is still going.

Although it's staying in the caldera, unlike in 2018, when it erupted through some houses.

I drove by this display. We'll have to go see it at night.

Shingon Mission of Hawaii Buddhist temple.

I bought a SIM card for Tsogt at Walmart.

$25 a month for unlimited use for 3 months.

The phone says it will work.

And there are no SIM restrictions, but it wasn't working.

So I took it to a Boost Mobile store.

I was there for a few hours, but they couldn't get it to work, even using a different SIM card, so there must be some problem with the phone.

Nearby was a small shop. The girl is running around with the price gun.

It's a pretty bad area of town, with a lot of homeless around. They have a sign saying they can take something, but please don't take too many as they're a small business with low profit.

I tried to take the Boost Mobile SIM card back to Walmart, but it's not returnable.

I can order the same plan, 3 months unlimited, online with Mint Mobile, and it's even cheaper.

And they have eSIM, so if there was some sort of problem with the physical SIM system of his phone, it should work.

Ready to activate.

But it's not working, even though it says no SIM restrictions.

The network says the phone isn't allowed.

And unauthorized.

I finally checked the IMEI online, and for some reason it's locked by AT&T in the US, even though Tsogt brought it over from Mongolia. Which means we won't be able to get the phone to work at all. And while we can't put the Boost SIM card in Naraa's phone because it doesn't have a physical SIM slot, we can use the Mint eSIM in hers, so at least one of them will have a connection when they're out.

I also needed a nutcracker for the nuts I bought, but Walmart didn't have one.

Nor did Ross.

Nor did Target.

Safeway's app says some are in stock.

Let's see.

There they are.

Safeway is also open 24 hours, even on Christmas. Although plenty of people aren't Christian and would rather have the money from working than a day off.

It's getting late and the food is almost done, but Tsogt and Naraa aren't here. Are they still at the beach? Since they don't have phone service, we can't call them, and I don't think wandering all around on the beach and between there and here to try to find them will be very productive.

Then I remembered that we have trackers on our keys in case we ever loose them, and since they have Ogii's keys, we can see they're at Ross.

Buying lots of stuff.

Back home for dinner.

Lots of good food.

And the chocolate liquors.

While watching Home Alone.

And having lots of snacks. They brought pine nuts from Mongolia to eat, similar to sunflower seeds.

Christmas morning we tried to get reservations for Hanauma Bay for the rest of Ogii's family for Friday, but all of the slots sold out.

Within a few minutes. While a few times said they didn't sell out until a few minutes later, they were only for one or maybe two people, and we needed a group of four and another group of three.

I guess we'll try again on Friday morning to get Sunday.

Playing cards with our new gift.

Ogii made breakfast.

And we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Then opened presents.

Me opening one from Ogii.

It's a box with multiple sections to organize the stuff in the back of the RAV4.

I got Ogii some earrings and a necklace.

Made by Elton Chun, a local artist, who hand paints mother-of-pearl shell.

The necklace is a sea turtle.

Everyone with their gifts.

I bought Ogii a few Hawaiian dresses, and Naraa really liked one, so Ogii gave it to her.

Ogii in another one of her new dresses and necklace.

We drove up to Tantalus Lookout to watch sunset.

On the way up, we were behind a pickup with South Dakota plates.

This one could be state-issued since it's three letters and three numbers, but it could be Sun Protection Factor 110.

The parking lot is quite small and was full.

But just down the hill a bit is plenty of parking on the side of the road.

Then a short walk up.

There is a viewing platform.

Although most people were on the grass in front of it.

A few cameras with big lenses, and Tsogt, Ogii, and Naraa on the grass.

With Diamond Head behind us.

To the other direction.

Tsogt got some pictures of us, too.

Three of us.

Ogii and me.

Just me.

The sun was lined up between these two palm trees.

A closer view.

As the sun went down, the cloud above got a nice color.

Everyone getting pictures.

Almost down.

On the drive back down the hill, this guy has a car with many lights.

Then we went to City Hall for Honolulu City Lights. The parking garage was pretty full, but many people were leaving, so you just had to wait for a bit.