Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day, everyone! We started the day out with not having breakfast because Owen and I were too excited to talk to Ronak, Auntie Sarita, and Uncle Sameer on the computer. We talked for a long time!

Poke - our adopted pet for the weekend
Afterwards, we had to feed Poke, our adopted pet turtle.

Feeding Poke
Poke is one of Owen's class pets. Owen had volunteered to take Poke home to take care of it for the long weekend.

The rest of the day was a blur... maybe because I was so tired and took a 3 hour nap. I know mommy and daddy were busy cleaning the house while Owen didn't nap. Next thing I know, Grandma, Kung Kung, and Aunty Marlene came over with a ton of food and things to help set up the house. Grandma ordered 2 turkey meals from the Hawaii Prince Hotel in Waikiki. It came with all the fixings - stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, baked yams, rolls, cranberry orange relish, gravy, and pumpkin pie.

Turkey from Prince Hotel
Here's one of the turkeys before Kung Kung carved it.

Then everyone came over with more food.

The spread
Here's the final spread with inari sushi, pan sushi, namasu, ham, egg rolls, 3 different bean salads, spinach cranberry salad, and cornbread. We forgot to take a picture of the desserts - 3 different pumpkin pies, cranberry dream jello, mandarin orange cream cheese jello, brownies, and an ambrosia fruit dessert.

Owen provided some entertainment for us after dinner. Here he is performing the Hawaiian number song he learned at preschool.

The family
The whole family!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Weekend Adventure in Maui

Over the past month, daddy's been working once a week at a place called Maui. He had to work there again this past Friday. But this time, we met him there and stayed for the weekend. Kung Kung, Grandma, mommy, and Aki came along too.

Aki and I went to school as usual on Friday. After school, Kung Kung, Grandma, and mama picked us up and we went straight to the airport. The adults really like the new "drive-through" check-in.

Although it was a short flight... by the time we got our minivan and grabbed a quick dinner at Costco in Kahului, it was super dark out. Aki fell asleep on the way to the hotel. Mama kept me up by letting watch an Elmo movie on her phone. Mama found a great Kama'aina deal at this nice hotel. We didn't do much the rest of the night, but I got to stay up and watch TV!

The next day, I woke everyone up at the crack of dawn. Then we went downstairs for the buffet breakfast and explored the hotel. They had a koi pond, penguins, flamingos, swans, and even talking parrots!

Swan court
Beautiful white swan

Keiki pool
I was most excited by the keiki pool.

Later that morning, mommy and daddy took us to ride on the Sugar Cane Train.

Waiting for the Sugar Cane Train
We were early, so we waited at the station for the train to come.

Here comes our train!
It had a real steam engine!

Conductor gave Aki an autographed postcard
During the ride, the conductor (Uncle Terry) told us more about the train and the history of the area. He also gave Aki and me an autographed postcard as a keepsake!

View of Lana'i
The train took us from Puukolii to Lahaina. And we saw another island, Lanai, from the train!

Myrtle at the end of the line
Once we got to Lahaina, the engineers turned the engine around on a turn table so that the train can take us back to Puukolii. At Puukolii, the end of the line, the engineer had to turn Myrtle around one more time to take the passengers back to Lahaina.

Aki and I had a lot of fun on this long train ride. Then we went to meet Kung Kung and Grandma at the Lahaina Cannery Mall for lunch. At the mall, we were treated to a nice surprise. They had an ice carving competition! I didn't want to go to lunch when I saw the artists working.

Ice Sculptures at Lahaina Cannery Mall
Cool fishies!

Free hula show at Lahaina Cannery Mall
After we had lunch, we saw part of the free Keiki Hula Show.... wait a minute, this lady is no keiki?! But her performance was very beautiful.

Owen and daddy in the pool
I spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the keiki pool while mommy and daddy took turns going down the 150-foot lava tube water slide. Too bad Aki missed out since she had to take a nap.

Sunset dinner at Kimo's in Lahaina
For dinner that night, we drove down to Lahaina to Kimo's just in time for the sunset. Notice how famished I was... I was stuffing my face with the warm sourdough rolls smothered with butter.

Sunset over Lana'i
Sun setting over Lana'i

Fire Dancer at Drums of Pacific Luau
We got back to our hotel rooms just in time for the luau show. We could see the show from the balcony of our rooms. I had such an adventurous day, I fell asleep on mama's lap right before the fire dancer came out.

Kung Kung admiring the water feature at the keiki pool
This morning, Aki and mama decided to sleep in, so daddy took me and Kung Kung for a walk. Kung Kung really like the water feature of the keiki pool. Then daddy and I went swimming some more before we had to leave for lunch and the airport.

Tasaka guri guri!
But we couldn't leave Maui without having Guri Guri! Daddy ordered 2 scoops to share with mommy, Aki, and me... but Aki and I each polished off a scoop, so daddy had to go back and order 3 more scoops for us.

We had a super fun adventure. I hope we get to go back to Maui again since we didn't get to see I'ao Valley or the Maui Ocean Center on this trip.

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Halloween Recap

A few days before Halloween, I helped Owen, mommy, and daddy decorate the pumpkins we picked out from the farmers market. Mommy got us a "Lite Brite" kit from the store that was perfect for Owen and me.

Aki helping Owen with pumpkin
I helped Owen pound the pegs into his pumpkin.

Owen decorating his pumpkin
Owen making star designs on his pumpkin.

Owen's Lite-Brite Jack O' Lantern
Owen's pumpkin lit up. Pretty cool, huh?

Screamer Jack o' lantern
After dinner, mama carved this scary one.

One Halloween Day, we had a big party to celebrate. Too bad mommy and daddy didn't get around to taking pictures during the party.

Wall-E exploring the back yard
Owen and I dressed up as WALL-E and EVE. I didn't feel like wearing my EVE hat.

Wall-E costume
Owen in his full WALL-E gear. Owen even has HAL the roach on the front of his costume.

Braden, Owen, and Aki
After the party and naptime, we got all dressed up again to go trick-or-treating with Owen's buddy, Braden who dressed up as a dinosaur.

Aki inspecting her loot
Here I am inspecting my loot. Mama let me have some SweetTarts and Dum-Dums. But I think my favorites are Skittles and M&M's.

Funny enough, when Owen and I woke up the next day... all of our candy were gone. Did the candy fairy take it all away?

Monday, November 02, 2009

Happy Birthday Mama!

Happy Birthday to the bestest mama there is! Hope you have a great day!

Love,

Owen and Aki and Daddy

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