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!
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).
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:
You would think a ride on the Pearlridge Christmas Express would bring joy to a child’s face. Granted, she has been on a mini-roller coaster. Guess Oren expects more from her railed rides!
It was the first of many trips to the mall for us, as we hit Pearlridge Center for some Christmas Shopping. Here’s Oren, fresh from a visit to Hanai Bear (which is closing, by the way) giving us a tour of the womens apparel section in Macy’s. Watch her at the end of the video checking herself out in the mirror! She’s definitely my daughter!
The beach house also had this sweet playground set (if only we had room) with little rock climbing grips. We were impressed how she figured it out. There was no stopping her, after that!
The Valdezs were invited to our friend Kim’s birthday party at her uncle’s amazing beach house in Kaneohe this past Saturday. It was a good, old-fashioned day outdoors; hamburgers and hot dogs, swings and slides, oh and paddleboats and kayaks. Oren donned a toddler life vest (where was mine?), and we all boarded the paddleboat. We explored the mangroves around the bay, checked out a cool dilapidated pier, and burned quite a few calories, while we were at it. Check out the video below for the “chugga-chugga” action!
Here’s Oren and her trademark “blast off” countdown and dive into the pool. Although we’re proud of her counting and fearlessness, she always forgets 14 and 15!
More classics including “Itsy Bitsy Spider”, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, and “This Little Baby Bumblebee” (thanks to Leroy and Gart for the song id!)
These were going off about 50 feet away from us and exploding above our heads. Here’s the finale:
Entries (RSS)