It was a name I was somewhat against initially. When my Grandkid started calling me, “GrandPa Hawaii.” You see the G-kids had multiple grandfathers, so that’s how they referred to me, as the grandfather over there in Hawaii.
I immediately asked my daughter Breeanna; “Bree, couldn’t the kids just call me Grandpa Michael“? Her reply was “no sorry DAD; we don’t allow the kids to call adults by their first name“. So begrudgingly the name stuck…. and now it’s a business. Gotta love God‘s sense of humor.
Now in our fourth season, I’ve made a lot of friends offering shave ice. We have families coming back four years in a row, just for our tropical treats. And for the camaraderie.
I love talking about Hawaii! And listening to the many peoples fun stories of visiting the islands. Whether our customers have been to Hawaii or not, we have a common bond. Relishing the idea of being transported to a topical paradise, simply through shave ice.
Back to the moniker GrandPa Hawaii, I’ve had countless fond memories in dealing with our cherished customers, especially the first time visitors. But more so in experiencing the kid’s energy.
What a blessing to serve a “Rainbow” shave ice to an anxious youngster. They just exude excitement as they place their order at the trailer takeout window. The energy is infectious. Nothing like having a rainbow in your tummy to lift your spirits. My true reward is when I get to hand a youngster their shave ice. If nothing else to simply experience their gratitude. Couldn’t all of us receive a lesson on the simple pleasures of life just by walking a mile in a child’s moccasins?
I’ve had a couple of amazing interactions with kids recently. It has seared my heart as to why I do what I do.
One woman who had brought her kids to the trailer on numerous occasions this summer, reach out to me at the market the other day. But what followed was pure magic. This whole Hawaiian shave Ice experience has allowed this former Hawaii Island transplant to become a part of the community in Colonial Beach. Although I am a recent “come here”, I’ve been so fortunate to be accepted.
So this woman and I chatted for a while near the meat section in the market. Then, as I pushed my cart onward to continue my shopping, I looked back at her. She motioned to her son, “that’s GrandPa Hawaii, the shave ice guy“.
Immediately the little boy ran to me, (more like sprinted) and wrapped his arms around my lower torso and hugged me with delight as he was so happy to see me. Within a few seconds, his younger sister also came charging up to me, equally giving me a big hug. Talk about a Kodak moment, one which I’ll never forget.
Then this past weekend we had the weather changed on us in an instant. After having a good first half of the day, all of a sudden, a northerly started blowing in. Our canopy was literally lifting off the ground. Within 10 minutes, everyone on the boardwalk was scattering for their cars and leaving the beach. So we frantically secured our outside canopy and benches, and hustled to take everything down.
Fortunately, my helper “Kennedy“ saw the wind and gusts coming so we were able to react in time to dismantle the canopy. Mind you, we have replaced this canopy several times in a little over three months this season, since we opened on the boardwalk. I was determined not to have my recent replacement trashed by the wind and rain again.
So we acted quickly and got the tent and benches put away just before the sudden storm front came. What timing! Thank you, Kennedy for being observant. After about 20 minutes of wind gusts and downpours the weather mellowed out slightly. However, after being soaked to the bone, we were of the notion to close up early and call it a day. 90% of the beach-goers had packed it in and had headed to their cars already.
Then suddenly a visitor came up to our Trailer window, inquiring about getting 2 Shave Ice for his two young nieces. When we start to clean up and close for the day, our policy is to generally leave the Ice block for last. Just in case a customer comes up last minute before we officially call it quits.
Well, this gentleman showed up with these two cute, young girls; both wearing matching beach attire. So precious these two little ones. He asked “are you all closing up now?“ I looked at Kennedy and inquired do you still have an ice block on the shave ice machine?
She said “yes", but there was just a fraction of an ice block left over. Maybe we could possibly get two more shave ice out of it before it runs out.”
The gentleman was so grateful. But it was the two young girls (both of whom were probably less than 7 or 8 years old) that convinced us it was the right thing to do. To stop packing it up and to serve them the last two shave ice of the day.
So I mentioned that we also offer French Vanilla ice cream at the bottom of the shave ice as well as our signature Coconut snow cap topping as an option for the top of their shave ice. The one young girl was ecstatic about not only getting our last shave ice of the day, but also to have vanilla ice cream at the bottom. However, the other young lady hung her head and said “I’m lactose intolerant and can’t have ice cream or any dairy product”.
I told her you’re in luck as we have our dairy free/lactose free snow cap which is mostly made entirely of coconut milk products. With a little bit of vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and Stevia to taste.
She was so excited to hear that we had a dairy free option and she started jumping up and down with happiness. What a priceless moment, to see this young girl’s joy. WOW! One wouldn’t believe how that made my day. We took a picture of the two of them expressing their gratitude and are posting it with this blog.
God has blessed me with the best job on the planet. Making new friends each and every day, talking about Hawaii, and instilling joy into the youth of Colonial Beach. What a privilege for this transplant from Hawaii to be embraced by this community. Beyond priceless 😉
Can’t wait for the next Kodak moment.
With Aloha,
Michael Whelan
( AKA GrandPa Hawaii)
