My, how time flies! Our daughter Oren turned 3 years old and she made the most of her birthday weekend! First up was a family celebration at Makino Chaya all you can eat seafood buffet in Aiea. Besides the sticky carpet, everything was great. Oren stuffed her face with shrimp and finished off the night of non-stop eating by blowing out the candles on her birthday crepe!
The next day, we attended a wedding (which we also did last year… March 22 is a popular date!) at Michel’s at The Colony Surf. Not only was the view spectacular, the Eggs Benedict was as well! I made the mistake of wearing white, though, as Oren splattered strawberries and egg yolk all over my sleeve. Loved the haupia-filled french toast Katrina got, though. Wow!
The closing ceremonies were held at the house, where I baked a devil’s food cake; with Mommy adding the neon-pink frosting (per Oren’s request) and Oren finishing it off with a bag of gummi bears. How excited was she to blow out her candles? See for yourself:
It was another epic birthday for our beautiful girl. She continues to amaze us every year with her growing list of feats. We love her! We hope she stays 3 for a little while longer.
With the weather on Oahu so blustery the past month, Costco came thru in a big away by stocking a bunch of cool kites. Oren chose the fairy, of course, though the dragon was a close second! It took a while for us to get it to fly (chalk that one up to Daddy not putting it together correctly), but eventually, the fabulous fairy flew! Our daughter has surprisingly strong grip, we found out. Good job, baby!
At our friend’s daughter’s first birthday party, we had the opportunity of taking a mini behind-the-scenes tour of the giraffe pens at the Honolulu Zoo. As you can see in the video, Katrina and Oren got close enough to feed one of them! Oren got a little freaked at the end, but I was proud of her for being so brave. And this is the closest I’ve ever been to a wild animal… well, not counting Oren on a bad day of course. It was a spectacular experience. I recommend checking it out. Oh, I also got to try out Katrina’s school camera, the Nikon D40. Was extremely impressed! See some of my pics below:
Valentine’s Day has evolved over the years. What used to be a day stressing about flowers, fancy dinners, and gifts, has turned into a simple, frugal, family day. Oren started the weekend off by bringing home a slew of heart-themed preschool crafts. A mini photoshoot ensued. V-day started off with some pastries from Panya at Ala Moana, then some shopping (for others). Side note: Miki House has some cute stuff, but how can they justify a $175 dollar t-shirt?
Then it was off to Ward Center for some lunch at Kakaako Kitchen and chocolates at the Honolulu Chocolate Company… for me! Yes, I’m a chocoholic. The darker and bitterer, the better!
My wife selected a VosgesOaxaca Bar as well as a Mo’s Bacon Bar. Bacon you say? Not as exotic as you would think. Think of it as bits of chewy, salty peanuts. The Oaxaca was dark, bitter, and spicy. Wonderful. Oren scored a chocolate-covered strawberry, as well.
We chilled the rest of the day. I watched the NBA All-Star Game while wifey read a book. Shaq performing with the Jabbawockeez was awesome! Oren went nuts playing with the balloon we picked up for her, and we held yet another photoshoot with her V-day crafts. It was just another low-key Valdez family day, and I loved every minute of it. Happy Valentine’s Day!
My Aunty Ping was in Hawaii for a rare visit (lives in Virginia, was on extended stop-over from the Philippines) so we took the opportunity to take her to a few of our favorite places on Oahu. Can’t go wrong with Kakaako Park on a sunny day; rolling green hills, blue sky, crashing ocean, and of course, cardboard surfing! I brought along the fabulous Kodak Zi6 HD cam and propped it up at the bottom of a hill. Check out the crazy dragonfly/helicopter at around the 1:24 mark!
New Year’s Eve 2008 was spent in the two havens for illegal fireworks on Oahu; Kalihi and Kaneohe. All my years here, I’ve proclaimed Kalihi as the capital, but this year, Kaneohe takes the crown. Every other house on my auntie’s street had the aerials going. Ash and paper were raining down on our heads! Here’s an example:
Yes, my auntie was definitely enjoying that. These were going off about 50 feet away from us and exploding above our heads. Here’s the finale:
All the noise deterred Oren at first from getting in on the action, but with a little help from Grandma, she braved the intense pyrotechnics and spun her first sparkler!
We celebrated the New Year with a bevy of braided paperless firecracker strings (spun by Auny Gart, myself and Uncle Julian). All the noise of a firecracker with none of the cleanup!
By the way, all the videos in this post were shot were the awesome Kodak Zi6 pocket HD camcorder. If you’re computer can handle it, watch the videos in YouTube and click the “Watch in HD” link. Pretty amazing for a $200 camera the size of an iPod.
As most of you remember, December 26 was the infamous Oahu blackout day. What did you guys do to entertain yourselves? I fired up my laptop and switched on my pocket camcorder and got this clip of Oren getting down to some music. Hilarity ensues as she craps her pants mid-move! (Sorry, Oren, I’ll take this video down if you ask me too).
Christmas Day was spent at my mom’s house as usual, but this year, Oren participated in the lunch preparation by helping Lola (my mom) pick calamansi for the pansit. Who knows if she grabbed the good ones, but the pansit still tasted great! We also got to meet our friend’s (and mom’s new neighbor’s) baby Kaya for the first time! What a cutie!
What a difference a year makes! Last Christmas, she bolted from the same piano bench. This year, she serenades the family with a couple carols (and one Old MacDonald)! We’re very proud that she overcame her stage fright. Now, if we can turn this into a lucrative singing career…
And here are a few pics from the magical evening. Yes, that’s her holding an infant!
Oren brought home her first gingerbread house from preschool last week. Not only was it a fine piece of work, it was delicious, too! And like most demolition projects, it went down faster than it went up.
A few weeks ago, Oren starred as an angel in her preschool’s nativity “play”. I missed it, but Mommy was on the scene. She sucked her thumb through most of it, but it looks like she had no problem with the costume. After all, she’s been in quite a few! Of course, seeing her dressed up as an angel makes me feel guilty that she isn’t baptized, yet.
Ok, the Ala Moana Christmas train is bigger, plays music, and has cars shaped like ice cream cones. Fun, right? Well, not enough to elicit any sort of reaction from our daughter. Even the volunteer train escort was surprised (check his confused look at around 00:26).
As most of you know, I’m a complete Star Wars fanatic. If you need a reminder, do a search for “Halloween” on this site. Anyway, when I heard the Pacific Outpost Fighting 501st Stormtrooper legion was appearing at the Honolulu City Lights for a Toys for Tots drive, I had to go! To donate a toy of course! Unfortunately, Oren didn’t have as much fun as I did, as she squirmed and complained most of the night.
Even when she was sorta coming around and asking “where’s Darth Vader”, Darth happened to take a potty break. No offense, but Darth Maul is just not as cool.
But it was a great time, and it was for a good cause. I hope the 501st was able to bring enough geek dads out to meet their Toys for Tots goal!
We took a rainy trip out to Hawaii Kai this past weekend to celebrate our niece and nephew, Tehani and Logan’s birthday party at the soon-to-be-closing Chuck E. Cheese’s in Aina Haina (also site of my 23rd birthday if you can believe it). Oren freaked at the creaky old-skool animatronic puppets (my wife was scared of them as a kid as well), but really loved the food – pizza and more pizza, even italian subs and french fries! We gave in and allowed her several cups of fruit punch as well (hey, its a party, right?) Then it was off to the arcade, where she b-lined for for the 1-token rides.
We had the most fun watching her attempt to play skee-ball, though. See the video below:
Oren stuffed her face with shrimp and finished off the night of non-stop eating by blowing out the candles on her birthday crepe!
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