Fun in the Sun

Ok, so as promised, here's some of what Aki and I have been doing so far here in Hawaii.

It's hot here so lots of stuff we do is with water.


Aki filling up watering can in the garage


Me having shave ice at Waiola's


My first swim class. Here I am with my teacher Aunty Jana.


Putting my eyes in the water. Daddy was shocked when I did this, but you know, I don't do this just for anyone...


Aki's taking swim classes too, but mommy gets to go in with her


Here's mommy and sleeping Aki at the beach for Daddy's high school reunion

Of course, we can't spend every day in the water... Last weekend we went to a festival at the museum.


It's just like the T!


Bouncy house!

And yesterday we went to a concert with Jake Shimabukuro at the zoo! We had to sit really far away, so we spent the concert time just hanging out.


Trying on daddy's hat


Later Jake signed autographs, but it was kind of late already so we just went home without getting him to sign my belly.

I'm also almost through my first week of school, and I'll post some more about that later!

Five Days In

Hi everyone, I've been here in Hawaii for 5 days now, and I've been so busy swimming, driving around, hanging out with my grandparents, and playing with their cats. My daddy took lots of pictures of these things, but he's been kind of busy too lately. We'll put them up as soon as we can. Tomorrow is my first day at my new-new school. I am going to get to eat lunch there and take a "nap" there too! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow!

Two Days in Placentia

Our road trip is over now, and we've been resting at Ah Mah's house for a couple of days before we go to Hawaii. We've been trying to pack everything in to these last two days, so here is just a little of what we've done.

Like I said before, Ariel, Sydney and Aunty Cee were there for our sleepover the night we got to California. I love playing with them!


Aki loves playing with them too. She didn't like this talking doll though.

The next day we went out to eat little packets of Chinese food with more family people.


I got to see two more of my favorite family, Aunty May and Uncle Nicky.

That afternoon some of mommy and daddy's friends came over.


I had cheesy triangle chips for dinner


Aki liked arm wrestling with Uncle Billy

Then today we drove to meet Uncle James and Aunty Linen for some playground time and lunch. We went to the coolest park in Torrance!


I liked the space ships! Blast off!


Aunty Linen and Uncle James brought their doggies. I can't remember which one this is.

We had yummy Japanese food for lunch and went to play badminton!


Aunty May is my favorite coach!


For dinner we went to the place that daddy missed on our last trip when he missed his plane. Thanks, Uncle Don and Aunty Kim!

These years on the "mainland" have been so full of fun, family and friends who have become family now. We'll all miss each and everyone here, but tomorrow we take off for our new home in Hawaii! Stay tuned for more adventures!

Day 18: Las Vegas to Placentia, CA

Today was our last drive of our road trip. We started the day out with another swim in the pool at the hotel with Ashley and Brandon and their parents. Then we had some lunch, got in the car, fell asleep, and woke up in California!


While Aki and I were sleeping we drove through a desert. It was hot.

We stopped for some running around and dinner at Uncle Greg and Aunty Susan's house. Alana let us play with her toys while Maile hung out and looked cute.


Here I am, interviewing daddy


Aki found another Bumbo and climbed in


Aki trying on princess slippers. No pants!


Aunty Susan brought home some yummy Korean food for dinner. It was jajangmyun time!

After dinner so we piled into the car and headed to Ah Mah and Ah Gong's house. A little while later, we were there! My cousins Ariel and Sydney and my Aunty Cee were there for a sleepover and to welcome us home. We watched Hannah Montana!


At the finish

Not that I can count that high, but daddy says we drove over 4300 miles in 18 days. We visited 19 states, swam in a bunch of pools, and saw lots of friends and family. It was an adventure to remember, but still, I'm glad to be off the road! We have a few days now at Ah Mah's house and then on to Hawaii!

Day 17: Flagstaff to Las Vegas, NV

Today we drove from Flagstaff to Las Vegas. There's lots to see along the way including super canyon views and driving over the big big Hoover Dam. Daddy got really excited because he got to see the Hoover Dam Bypass bridge being built. It's a pretty awesomely huge bridge going over the river, and the arch is almost done!


Bypass bridge in progress

Finally we got to Las Vegas. I've been to Las Vegas twice before, but both times I was still a baby inside mama. This time, it was a lot more scenic. The temperature was 40 degrees hotter than in Flagstaff. It was 115 degrees while we were driving up to the "Forum Shops". We had lunch inside and watched the scary scary show.

After lunch we went to have dinner with daddy's cousin Gregston and his family. I've never met them before, but we had fun rolling around on the floor with Brandon and swimming with Ashley at the pool after dinner.


At Sam Woo BBQ

One more day on the road!

Day 16: Santa Fe to Flagstaff, AZ

Another day, another 6 hours in the car... Daddy says there's only two more days of driving, and I'm ready for some running around time!

Today we drove from Santa Fe to Arizona. This is apparently where all the trains in the country come. Why did I not know about this place before?


We must have passed about 20 trains like this today. This one was pulling about 80 cars.


Daddy celebrated passing the "Continental Divide" by getting out of the car and posing us next to this sign.

Then it was on to the Painted Desert and the Petrified Forest National Park. I thought I was going to get to draw on some more things, but it turned out the desert was already painted enough.


A little part of the view


Here's mama and Aki taking in the view


At another point, the ravens wouldn't let us go see the view. They got really mad when daddy got closer so we just left.


Down at a pueblo, there were more drawings on the rocks. This one seems to show a raven eating a baby, or maybe it's a stork with a baby.


The desert was just unbelievably pretty


I took some pictures with Aki's camera


Here's mommy and Aki checking out the view at the Jasper Forest


Me running down past some huge petrified logs in the Rainbow Forest


Aki touching some rock wood.

One more city before we get to Ah Mah's house! We can't wait!

Day 15: Santa Fe

Today we stayed around Santa Fe and went visiting some places up north. Actually, it was really only one place, but it was pretty cool! We went to visit the Bandelier National Monument, one of the places where the Pueblo people lived a long time ago.


Here we are listening to the ranger's tour. Aki likes sitting on things.


The native people dug caves into the mountainside to live in. They also built houses down on the valley floor. Then they all left like 400 years ago.


The mountain is very soft, so you can just poke holes in it. Here I am poking a hole in the mountain.


A view of the buildings from up above


We got to climb into some of the cave dwellings


Climbing down was harder


But climbing up was no problem!


Some of the cave rooms were really big!


Later, because it was so hot, me and Aki had a treat: juice!

We drove back down the mountain to see some sculptures at a place called Shidoni.


That's a nice giraffe. Can we get one? It's only $27,500. It would look nice in our front yard!


How about a $17,000 Galapagos tortoise? I think we can get this one, daddy.


Lion


This is something different. Same price though.


I like sculpture gardens because you can run in them!

Finally we made it back into Santa Fe. After walking around a little, I fell asleep. Mommy, daddy, and Aki had dinner and woke me up when we got to the concert place again. This time it was little kids playing violins and cellos.


They're from the Suzuki school. Like Ichiro Suzuki?


Aki was glad to mingle with the crowd


And feed mama little corn dogs. Open wide!

We had lots of fun in Santa Fe. I hope we can come back again some day!