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!
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.
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:
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:
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!
It was a low key birthday weekend for me as usual; nothing to celebrate when you’re getting closer to middle age! But it was great spending time with my mom and sis last Saturday, as they treated me (and Oren) to birthday dinner #1 at Ruby Tuesday then clothes shopping at the Navy Exchange. Birthday dinner #2 didn’t go as planned as Oren’s gift to me was mean cold (my wife’s gift to me was allowing me to buy these). We slugged all day at home, cancelled our dinner reservations at Buzz’s Steakhouse, then got take-out from Kiawe Grill (and a bday pie from Anna Miller’s). I had the Buffalo Pulehu Patty plate. YUM. Throw in a couple bday wishes from friends and coworkers and it was a great past few days for me. Thanks everybody! You make this old man feel loved!
We were back at Bishop Museum this weekend, this time for a 1st birthday luau for baby Nolan, who’s amazing journey began in Taiwan where he was born, then adopted by Katrina’s friend Tiffany and her husband Gabe. Oren, through typical “small town syndrome”, saw her babysitter friends Cadee and Cody, who happen to be the kids of a friend of the parents. The familiar faces loosened Oren up a little faster than usual, and they all had a blast in a castle bouncer. She had so much fun in there, I’m trying to convince my wife to get a small trampoline for the backyard. We’ll see… anyway, check the pics above and the little video clip below of the bouncer bday madness!
All of us got our reward with this spectacular view at the top (QTVR panorama. Click and drag to view):
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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