The Valdez family are big supporters of the public library. I mean, I made a fundraiser shirt proclaiming it! And now that Oren can finally write her first and last name, it was time for her to get her own card. And her first acquisitions? Along with a bag full of books, she borrowed these:
What can I say? She’s well-balanced.
Having a library card not only allows her to borrow books and DVDs, it teaches her to treat other people’s property with respect, return items on time, and to keep track and save her money (for DVDs). It also teaches her manners (remaning quiet in the library), organization (putting books/dvds back where she got them), and how to use Subject Browse and limits to find the latest CDs (oh wait, that’s me).
Oh, and you can’t forget about the kids’ manini late fee charges: just 5¢ per day (as opposed to 25¢ for adults)! Tempted to borrow her card every now and then!
(UPDATE: Mahalo to @shinobiusagi on Twitter who informed me that the late fee for kids is actually 15¢/day for books & CDs and will be changing to 25¢ on August 5th)
The library is a valuable resource for our keiki. Please support their ongoing fundraising efforts at the Friends of the Library Hawaii website, where you can donate online. Oren thanks you, personally!
“Waikiki Aquarium, oh what an experience!” Wasn’t that how the old jingle from the ’80s went? Well it certainly rang true this past April at the annual (and FREE) Mauka to Makai/Earth Day Expo.
It was my daughter’s first trip to the famous Hawaii attraction, and my first visit in years. Honestly, it hasn’t changed all that much–a new sculpture out front, some new tanks here and there–my daughter loved it all, though, and was most impressed by the tank with fish as big as her!
But what made the day extra special was the fish and seahorse release at the nearby beach. Kona Kampachi, Aholehole, and 100 seahorses bred at the aquarium were released into the Pacific Ocean in the Waikiki Marine Life Conservation District.
There were also info booths from various environmentally-conscious organizations and we even took home a native Hawaiian plant (a gardenia, I believe, which unfortunately isn’t doing too well, right now). Before we left, we checked out the Hawaiian Monk Seal exhibit and demonstration. Although very informative (they’re called “monk” seals because of their solitary nature), Oren saw the nature lesson as a good time for a nap:
For a free event, it was definitely worth it. I’m not sure if the Aquarium offers enough to return anytime soon, but the next time the Expo comes around, we’ll be there!
Our third Honolulu Family Festival is in the books! This year, we got there early in the morning to snag a spot at Magic Island and hung out at the beach til the festival opened. Oren, as is the case more often, broke into random song. Guess she was happy?
When the festival finally opened, we put our beach gear away and headed straight for the ride tickets booth. Oren and Katrina got the unlimited ride bracelets for $20 each. As the appointed documentarian, I declined. They hit every ride twice–well, every ride Oren’s height allowed her to go on–and got more than their money’s worth. We did sneak her on to the roller coaster, though, while the operator wasn’t looking. He turned away a like-sized kid just before her. Sshh, don’t tell Mufi.
A few rides and a game of turtle fishing later, we headed home for a nap. As a special treat for dinner, we went to Kuru Kuru Sushi… and turned around because it was too crowded. We went to Genki Sushi instead. I insisted on conveyor belt sushi and we were gonna get it! Oren got a kick out of the sushi parade and enjoyed being the little dictator barking out orders on which plate to snag. Between the three of us, I think we did pretty well:
Our “little” girl turned 4 this past weekend and boy, did we celebrate! The festivities started a week early when we got her a new bike (Toys R Us was having a sale, that’s why). Here she is taking it out for the first time:
As you can see, getting it going is no problem for her. Stopping, on the other hand… We were trying to find a less gawdy girl’s bike, but alas, this tasseled, pink beast was priced in our budget and came fully assembled.
Part 2 of her birthday weekend started early with her first hike up the Makapuu Lighthouse trail. Her cousins Tehani and Logan (who were sleeping over that night) served as little sherpas having done the hike a couple years ago themselves. It was a bit chilly, but the cool weather kept the kiddies from heat exhaustion. And I only had to carry Oren like 1/8th of the way! All of us got our reward with this spectacular view at the top (QTVR panorama. Click and drag to view):
The activities continued with a trip to our neighborhood pool and park. Katrina and Tehani had some pretty competitive swimming races going!
Was totally out of breath keeping up these two! After the pool, we drove up to the park to fly a kite and play some hoops.
And with that, the day was done. Wait, we’re going to Ice Palace? I guess we’re going to Ice Palace! We headed to the rink after dinner. Oren started off with ice walkers then tried make do without them. At this point, she was pretty grumpy from going nap-less the whole day (it’s almost 9pm at this point). She hung in there a bit longer with a jolt of hot cocoa, though.
We finished the night off back at our place for a late movie (tip: don’t rent G-Force). The kids frolicked into the wee hours until they passed out at around 2 am.
The next day (yes, there’s more), we had the official family birthday party at Haleiwa Joe’s. No reservations, but had no problem getting seated and the buffet was good (and affordable). Oren loved the mini-waffles! After food & presents, we walked around the little lake and gazebo and took some family pics:
And FINALLY we come to Monday night, her actual birthday. I made a kal-bi for dinner and a butter cake with chocolate frosting (from scratch and after 2 tries). Needless to say, it was a fun and tiring weekend. But Oren had a blast and that’s all that matters, right?. Happy Birthday, little lady!
With Oren so active nowadays with school and gymnastics, and me and Katrina on a quest to re-capture our early college bodies thru WiiFit (she being more successful than I), we thought it be a good idea to start doing some more active things together as a family. We decided to take Oren on her first hike on the Aiea Loop Trail!
As residents of Aiea for almost 5 years now, we’ve never attempted the trail, but heard a lot of good things about it: it was great for beginners; it was nicely shaded; and it was great for dogs. Hey, Oren’s never hiked before and she loves dogs! Perfect! We dusted off our trusty Hikers Guide to Oahu, packed our water, and made our way to the trail.
We knew right away that we weren’t going to do the full 4.5 mile loop. We also weren’t going to allow Oren to whine her way out of this 5 minutes in. We decided to hike about 1/2 mile in (to the bench) and turn around, making for an even mile. Here we are coming to the first clearing:
(Diamond Head is in the distance, but you can’t really see it).
The air was cool and crisp, and the only sounds we could hear were the swaying trees, the rustling leaves, and the sound of our own footsteps. It was very peaceful, to say the least–a welcome break from our hectic weekdays. Ok, so there were a few “I’m tiiiiired” and “I’m huuuuungry” complaints from Oren, but we soldiered on and came to our turnaround point at the bench.
After a quick granola and water break, we headed back down the trail to the parking lot. Oren said she counted 8 dogs. Overall, she impressed us. She kept pace and enjoyed herself (she said she was hunting for dinosaur bones). It was a great day for a first hike and we’re aiming for 2 miles the next time!
What to do with a 3-yr old who jumps off couches and loves hanging on playground equipment? Enroll her in gymnastics! A seasoned gymnast now at 3 months, we’ve been impressed with her speed and agility (something neither of us has). She also happens to be frighteningly flexible. Here she is going down the “tumble track” which, if we owned a mansion, would be installed in our living room right away!
And here’s some “real world” gymnastics at our local park:
Yes, that was dangerous, and I’m probably an idiot for capturing it and posting it to our blog, but she does flips like this all the time and it looks so cool.
Happy New Year, everyone! Yes, it’s been a while since I updated, almost 2 months in fact, but it’s been a busy 2 months! Let’s start with Halloween…
Oren (3rd from left) posing with her ghoulish cousins before trick-or-treating.
Most of you know that every year, I create a custom costume for Oren (with a lot of help from the mom-in-law). In previous years, she’s been a Chinese gymnast, Supergirl, and Princess Leia. Much like Sylvester Stallone in Demolition Man, it allows me to unleash my inner-seamstress. And because she was too young to complain, she’d wear anything we put on her. This time around, we decided she was old enough to choose her own costume. Her first choice was Tinkerbell, but Target didn’t have one in her size. Her surprise second choice was the witch costume, which happened to be Katrina’s staple costume when she was growing up. Of course, Trina’s version was a white-faced, bloody ghoul witch, so we grabbed a pack of makeup as well.
Mommy creating spookiness.
Since I didn’t have to do any sewing this year, I focused my efforts on the jack-0-lantern. I thought I’d go with a scary cat to go along with the witch theme:
Meow!
If you want to see a step-by-step slideshow of the carving process, check out my page on Whrrl.
The Thanksgiving holiday was a special one this year. First off, we hosted both our families. Trina made a turkey with all the fixings, while I carved (with the help of this video on YouTube). I think the spread looked pretty good (tasted good too):
Hope you're hungry.
It was also special because we all had the day off afterwards to recover (and check out the malls on Black Friday). Trina and Oren always had off, but in my case, it was a result of the HGEA agreement with the state to give certain UH employees paid leave during the holidays (with a paycut). This includes 2 weeks during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays as well as Spring Break. So I guess I use the word “special” half-heartedly; while it’s great to have time off during the holidays with my family, a 5% paycut (coupled with my wife’s previous paycut) means living much leaner (first thing to go was cable and our Blockbuster Online account). Of course, that’s hard to do during the holidays, but we tried our best.
It’s hard for me to remember what happened during those 2 weeks off; it’s just one big blur of lazy days, movies, shopping malls, soda (lots of it), food, family and friends. All I know, is that Oren had tons of fun. Evidence:
Christmaaaaaaaaas!
Oren loved it all. The shopping, the tree, the lights, the gift-wrapping, the gold antlers and santa hats, and the carols (she sings them year round, actually). Speaking of carols, I was able to attend her Christmas program this year. Her class, the Peeking Pueos sang “The Chipmunk Christmas Song”.
She was supposed to be Simon but she refused to wear the glasses. Primadonna.
But Oren wasn’t as joyful during our family’s Christmas Eve party in Kailua. When it was her turn to sing the same song in the talent show, she went all Michigan J. Frog on everyone; you know, the Loony Toons character who only sings and dances for his owner. We were a little bummed that she didn’t perform, but she eventually warmed up… 2 days later at the in-laws. She even threw in a “Single Ladies” dance routine afterwards!
Unlike previous Christmases, everyone knew what to get Oren this year; PRINCESS STUFF. We were up to our eyebrows this year with Princess outfits, art supplies, video games (we gave her a Leapster), toys, and more. Here’s her favorite piece of Princess schwag, courtesy of Aunty Kristie:
Miss Aiea!
Yep. A tiara and high heels, too. The good part about this Princess obsession is that it might justify a trip to Disneyland sooner rather than later.
New Year’s Eve was spent at the familiar joints. First, my half-sister’s place in Kalihi then to Kat’s family’s party in Liliha. Was it me or was it a lot louder this year? I’ve never heard that many bombs go off in my life (and they’re still going off in Aiea!). The Valdez’s usually bring the most ammo to the NYE parties, but we cut back on the fireworks budget this year. Luckily, my uncle came through. It’s amazing how loud the paperless strings sound when you braid them together! Oren got a little more brave this year with the fireworks. Not only was she twirling sparklers and throwing pops, she held her first punk and lit her first fountain!
Do you feel lucky, punk?
On the business side, 2009 was a great year for Valdezign, due in part to my wife, who’s my inspiration, but also because of all the great people I’ve met on Twitter. Without your support and encouragement, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I worked on quite a few side projects, one of which was putting up my Valdezign Store! After being featured in the Entrepreneur section in MidWeek in September for my personalized Twitter shirts, I wanted to make sure there was an easy way for people to buy them, as well as showcase some of my new designs. My latest shirt is a fundraiser for Hawaii Public Libraries. Like the Twitter shirts, they can be personalized, but this time with your favorite library branch:
With the HSPLS facing budget cuts and furlough days, I wanted to do something to help. All proceeds from the shirt sales will go to Friends of the Library Hawaii.
And that’s the way it was for 2009. Thanks for bearing with me on the long post. I’ll try to update more frequently to avoid this in the future.
Finally! A blog update! Have some catching up to do, so here we go… For my birthday (almost 2 months ago), I bought myself… um, received as a present from the wifey, a Lumix DMC-TS1 waterproof/shockproof digital camera! Considering the amount of pool time we’ve been logging, it was the perfect gift. The camera is very unassuming; it looks like your typical, silver-bodied point-and-shoot. But according to the specs, it’s waterproof up to 10ft and shockproof up to 5. Still, I was very hesitant to take it in the water. Not many electronic devices are compatible with liquid. But we did, and the results were AMAZING. Here are a few shots:
I was also amazed at the clarity and sharpness of the underwater pics. Of course, conditions were perfect on that day so that helped: cloudless, sunny, day and a new, clean, pool. The onboard flash does fire, though, if needed. On top of the underwater capabilities, the camera also shoots in HD! Here are a couple videos. Sound pickup was pretty decent, too.
And because it’s shockproof, I don’t worry when Oren picks it up and starts snapping away. She’s actually taken some decent pics! Maybe I’ll round them up for a future blog post. Anyway, the camera is awesome, to say the least. I recommend it to anyone living in Hawaii. We’re all in the water so much, we might as well document it. And by the way, it’s available for purchase here on the blog in the Favorites page above!
I can now say with confidence that Kalia, our 5-month old kitty, is an official member of the family. Why? Because, like our daughter, this cat appears to be a natural in front of the camera! I was playing around with Katrina’s latest classroom acquisition-an old Olympus E-1 DSLR donated (!) by a parent, complete with a set of lenses and an external flash-and found Kalia cruising in my daughter’s bedroom. With macro-lens attached, I was able to get up close and personal, with nothing more than an ear-twitch from her! I later followed her downstairs, and snapped her lounging on our office chair.
By the way, if you want to book Kalia for any kitty calendar shoots, please contact me to discuss her sitting fee and location requirements.
When I played basketball for Maryknoll High School, I dreamed of the day where we could have our own homecourt. It was always awkward claiming Mid-Pac’s court as ours; even more so when they’d be the “away” team. I’m convinced, if we had a homecourt to defend, we would have at least won a game.
Fourteen years later (maybe 50+ years for some), the dream is realized. On September 4, the Maryknoll Community Center will have it’s grand opening, ushering in a new era for the school. I got a sneak peek into the facility on an alumni tour and it was nothing short of amazing. See for yourself in the little photo tour, above.
They mentioned that alumni will also have access to the gym and all it’s facilities. That being said, maybe I can get a photo of me wearing my old #31 jersey on the Spartan logo, center court.
Here’s Oren starring in yet another fantasy football intro video, this time as Jerry Maguire! As far as the profanity, don’t worry. The line I fed her was “you my mother father”. As always, working with my daughter on these vids is a blast. She takes direction well. She knocked out most of her lines in one take!
And in case you missed it, here’s her unleashing hell on her opponents in 2008.
Charlie Villanueva, a power forward for the Detroit Pistons, recently held a Photoshop contest on Twitter. The assignment, tagged “Hairless”, was to give Villanueva some digital hair. Charlie has a condition called alopecia – a skin disease which causes hair loss – and thought this would be a good idea to raise awareness for the disease, as well as have a little fun with all his “Tweeps”. He announced the winner on “ESPN First Take” and I’m proud to say that… I didn’t win. But out of the 200+ entries he received, I did make the top 5 and my entry got a nice chunk of airtime. My theme? “Charlie and the Villanueva Factory”. You can get a close look at my work here.
My name wasn’t mentioned in the piece, but Villanueva did say my entry was his favorite and the most creative. Props to the winner, though. His “Charlie Ventura” poster with Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh as a dog nipping at his heels was awesome and very clever.
All in all, it was an exhilirating experience. Love doing this stuff, and it’s just a bonus to have someone appreciate your work, especially on national TV!
Welcome the newest member of the Valdez family, Kalia! She was adopted from the Humane Society last month. Besides the clawing and pre-dawn meowing, things have been surprisingly enjoyable. With my family only ever owning dogs and Katrina’s cat experiences relegated to adopted, outdoor strays, welcoming a cat into our family (and indoors) was a huge step. In fact, the first name Katrina came up with for the kitten was “Caligula“, anticipating that it would be a little terror. Thank God our daughter couldn’t pronounce it, hence “Kalia”. She is an affectionate and playful kitten who follows us everywhere! Our daughter has really taken to her; maybe a little too much, considering all the headlocks and full-nelsons she puts Kalia in.
We want to thank Julie & Kyle, the family cat whisperers, for helping us with the adoption (and for the cat goodie bag)! This cat is a perfect fit for us!
Oren, like a lot of a kids, are talented mimics. Here she is with her niece at a family get together (our cousin Randy’s annual Hawaii visit from New York) at Legend Seafood and a few silly shots of us from Father’s Day.
I tip my non-existent hat to the marketers over at 20th Century Fox for reeling in my 3-year old daughter to Night at The Museum 2. I was wondering at what age she’d be ready to take to the movies, and we got our answer when the movie trailer featuring a talking statue of Rodin’s Thinker uttered those three famous words. Soon, Oren was flexing and chanting all over the house, “boom boom firepower!” We knew it was movie time!
We got to the theater just as the movie started, which was key–it didn’t give her a chance to get bored with the previews and commercials. For the first half she was quiet, attentive, and still. After about an hour, she told us she wanted to go home. Not wanting to give up our first movie outing in months, we did what any responsible parent would do–we bought snacks! Sure, she was a little amped after the fruit punch, but she stayed within the row and her non-movie voice questions were kept few and far between.
Overall, it gave us complete confidence that we could do this again. Thank you, Oren!
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