kaua'i

This is it.
Our last vacation trip for the summer before school starts!!

I wasn't planning on going anywhere since we've already taken 2 rather large vacations already...but since both my sisters were going to be there....and since Mitch had a long trip to Korea on his work schedule...I decided to go with just myself and the kids.

We stayed at the time share units at Princeville, Kaua'i.
We had a 2 bedroom unit which we shared with my sister Elika and her kids.
Airi and her family were just across the parking lot and we basically got together every day for lunch, dinner and pool!

The kids.
Right before hitting the pool.

Whoa, that's a lot of kids!

And a lot of babies, too! Ha ha ha...

There were 2 different pools near our units.
Both had sand areas for little kids, and shallow pool all around so the kids could swim safely.
They were fabulous!
Kaden's first time hitting the sand and water.
He loved it all!
The sand, the water, the sun...ok, not sure about that last one, but I sure did!

Here we are.
He couldn't look up from the water because he was too busy kicking his feet!

I was a bit worried that the water would be too cold for him...but no.
He loved it!

Kaden, my waterboy!


On our way to Poipu one day...we stopped by this huge park and let the kids run around.
They had fun...and the park was ginormous...but it was quite literally the HOTTEST. DAY. EVER! I was dying just following the kids and taking pictures.
Here's all the kids.

At Poipu beach...the kids crafted this makeshift see-saw.

Chasing the waves at Poipu Beach.
The waves were pretty large...so most of the little kids just played around in the sand.

Family pic.
Poipu was beautiful~!

Me and my sisters and our babies.
Who has the biggest baby...?

And here are pictures from the other pool.
This one had less shade for us...but had a shallower pool and even had this fountain thingy for the kids to play in.
Jolee and Justus couldn't get enough of it!

Probably what the kids will miss the most...
The fun of the beach...without all the messiness and hassle!
If I ever buy a house with a pool...I think I shall make one side a sandy pool.

(Ha! And as long as I'm dreaming...maybe I'll add a million dollar view, a luxury car, etc. etc...)

Justus and Jolee.
Surprisingly were pretty inseparable on this trip.

See what I mean?

Eating dinner together.
Traveling with cousins can get stressful when there's so many little kids...but there's definitely benefits as well.
This is what my girls loved the most about this trip.
Always someone to eat, play, and sleep with.

Our last day there...we had some time to kill before heading to the airport, so we hit the pool for one last time.

Relaxing in one of 2 jacuzzi tubs there.

And then...near the park we found this contraption.
I think it's some type of exercise equipment...leg press, perhaps?
The girls thought it was some type of see-saw.

Kela scaling the monkey bars...

I rented a small car...because I knew that once we got to the resort, we could shuffle the kids around and drive legally. Which meant that on the way to and from the airport, we had to squish all 4 kids in the backseat.
I know, I know...small kine illegal.
And the kids slept for the most of the drive home anyway...

At the airport, we met up with Mitch (who flew in just to fly home with us so I wouldn't have to fly with 4 kids all by myself! ) and headed back home to Oahu.
In style!
We got to fly home in FIRST CLASS!
Sure, it's only a 20 minute flight...but still.
It was nice.

To check out the many, many, many other pictures I took, check out our photo site here!!

"3"

Three years ago...we had this birthday part for Kela planned. It was her 4th birthday and we decided on a pool party at my friend's house.
HOWEVER, instead of my daughter's pool party....I spent the day in the hospital.
Delivering her:

Here's Jolee at a week old.
She was born July 19, 2008
Weighing 8lbs 2.5 oz.
(my smallest baby)

Her birth was 2 weeks and a day early.
Not to mention a mere ONE day after Mitch returned home from his 3-week training in Seattle. Had she come one day earlier...I would have delivered her solo!!
Anyway, the day she was born, I didn't know I was in labor (I thought it was a false alarm...), we had NO baby bag packed, her carseat was still in storage and I had NO baby supplies.
You'd think it being baby #3, I would have been better prepared!
But no. We were not.
Anyway...to read up on THAT adventure, click here.

And here's our little girl now.
She is our most precocious, sassy, head-strong, and hands-down the most accident-prone child in our family.
She makes us smile and laugh every day.
We call her "Stinky" because...she has always been a real stinker when it comes to getting into trouble and causing a fuss.
We love her and are glad she's still in one piece-with all her fingers and toes in tact.
What does that mean?
Read it here and you'll understand what I mean about her being accident-prone.

So...as I mentioned in Kela's birthday post...we planned to keep Jojo's birthday party very low-key.
How low-key, you ask?
It was just us and Grandma.

And some Trader Joe's Cake with Trader Joe's Frosting.
Along with some sub-par pizza.

(NO more Domino's Pizza for us, thank you very much!)

Here's the cake.
And may I just say...Trader Joe's cake and frosting TOTALLY made up for the bad pizza and small shindig.

See?
Jolee was happy.

After dinner, we played around with our cousin Boston.
He's visiting from Arizona and hasn't been having the best time adjusting to the time change and different surroundings.
But tonight? He was happy as can be.

As for our Kaden (because I can't seem to post about anything without mentioning him at least once! I mean, look at him? He's just too stinkin' cute to resist)...well, at 6 1/2 months, he has finally cut a tooth! I couldn't get a decent shot of his singular tooth, but let me just say...it's there!
And it's sharp.
(which many mothers will probably tell you...is NO fun while nursing)
But all that aside, just further reminds me how fast time is flying by and how fast children grow up!

A Happy, Happy Birthday to our little Jojo!

my seven year-old?!

When did I become old enough for a SEVEN year-old?!
Well, the answer to that is: This past Saturday.

Yes, my first born has turned 7.

Here she was. Born July 9th 2004
Weighing (my biggest child) 8lbs. 13oz.
Yea, she was a big baby.

And here she is now.

Kela wanted a big party with all her friends and cousins this year.
And...considering just her cousins alone equals around 14 kids (at least the ones that live in Hawaii...) I was a bit hesitant to go along.
PLUS, did I mention that ALL her cousins from Mitch's side are here on island right now as well?
They are.
All 5 of them.
So, with family alone, the number of cousins equals 19!!
And that's not including the adults!
Was it crazy of me to say yes to this ridiculous scheme?
YES.

Anyway, for her party she wanted to swim at the pool.
Lucky for us, no one else was there except for our party!
Of course, that could be attributed to the fact that it was RAINING!
But, despite the intermittent showers, there were some bouts of sunshine so the kids had fun.

The Sakuma boys found this little stray kitten wandering around the pool.
They decided she was more interesting than swimming.

But the girls, well, they swam.

After swimming, we headed to our house for some dinner.
On the menu? Sushi, of course!
Mitch tried to convince me to get pizza instead, but I said NO.
If we're hosting 45 people in our tiny house, then I'm going to at least make the FOOD worth the lack of space!

Yes, you read that right.
At most, there were 45 people in our tiny little 1200 sq. foot house.
29 of them were kids.
Remember what I said about being crazy?
You probably agree with me now, eh?

I got a bit nervous at the beginning...worried that some people wouldn't care for sushi, but since I also ordered a pan of fried chicken...I think there was something yummy for everyone.
At least, I enjoyed the food. Ha ha ha...
No but seriously, since there were hardly any left overs, I do believe everyone enjoyed the food.

I mean....come on!
It's SUSHI!

And the cake.
Kela requested a cake from Safeway...
Rather than the homemade cupcakes I usually do for birthdays.

Sheesh, I don't know who should be more insulted! Me, or Betty Crocker!

Though in the end, I was glad to have one less thing to prepare before the party.

But in the end, the cake was a hit.
As portrayed by my niece, Reina.

How did we manage to fit 45 people into our tiny house?
Well, technically, we didn't.
Some spilled out onto our back lanai.
After dinner and cake, many of the kids dispersed upstairs into the girls bedroom and toy room.
While most of the little ones enjoyed the toys out on our lanai.
Like our toy kitchen/bbq set...

And our sand box...

While others pretended to sleep.
I know the feeling...I was pretty exhausted after all the festivities!

Kaden did GREAT!
He was vastly entertained by all the kids running this way and that...
Not to mention Grandma's watch.
He really seemed to like that...!

All in all, the party was a success, I think!
Sure, our house was full to bursting.
29 kids sure is a LOT of little bodies in one small space!
BUT, considering there weren't any injuries, fights or even much dropped food for that matter...I considered it a SUCCESS!

And Kela enjoyed the day, which is the most important thing, right? And also a good thing, since next year, I just may have to figure out a way to pare down the number of people.
Or choose another venue.

Or simply forget her birthday.

Just kidding.

For the tons of other pictures I took from the day...check em out HERE!!

baby knox blessing

This past Sunday was my sister Elika's baby's blessing.

Baby Knox Mark Daley
He's so tiny and so cute!
And so not Japanese looking!
ha ha ha...
And looks very similar to his brothers at this age.

Here's the family.
Minus Dean...who was teaching his class while we were snapping away.

Me and my sisters.
And all our little boys, so close in age.

The whole gang of us....who made the long drive up to Hau'ula for the special day.

Congrats to my sister Elika and her newest little baby.

(That outfit, by the way, Kaden couldn't wear coming out of the hospital because it was too small for him. Just some perspective...for your FYI...)

6 months old!

Kaden is officially 6 months old!
I can't believe how fast time has flown by!
And how big my baby boy has gotten!!


How big, you ask?

His 6 month check up revealed that our Bubba is now:
28" tall (94%tile)
18.9lbs. (71%tile)
with a head circumference of 16.9" (29%tile)

As always...big body, small head.
ha ha ha..

• Anyhoo-at 6 months old, my baby boy has started eating solid foods. And LOVES it! (duh!)

• He still spits up. A lot. (Which combined with the above item makes for frequent -and messy- wardrobe changes throughout the day)

• He can roll (and roll, and roll) over like a champ-forwards and backwards.

• Though he can't crawl yet, he has learned to get up on his knees and often scoots forward and backward as he kicks his chunky legs. And believe me-he's a good kicker. (But I've known that since he was in utero)

• Has started wearing size 4 diapers...the same size as his almost 3 year-old sister (though I'm hoping said sister will be out of diapers soon...)

• LOVES, LOVES, LOVES the attention his sisters give him. Which is probably a good thing since his sisters give him A LOT of attention. As do I.
  

the fourth

Fourth of July, 2011 was spent at Waikiki Beach.
Amazingly, we managed to snag a prime location right next to the water!
Unfortunately, Mitch forgot to bid the day off, so he had to work...but the rest of us got to enjoy a LOOONG but fun filled day in Waikiki!

So, here's our set-up.
Courtesy of the Kurihara's and Daley's, we had 2 E-Z up tents and even a huge netted tent for our food and such.
It was quite the get-up.
I was vastly impressed.

Upon arriving at the beach a little after noon, the kids wasted NO time hitting the water.
It being Waikiki beach in the Summer, the waves were a bit stronger than I would have liked, but the kids were oblivious and (thankfully) safe.

They spent the majority of the day in the water, with only a short break in between swims to eat and whack a watermelon.

?? Curious about that last one about the watermelon?
More details on THAT to follow.

Kaden spent some time in the sun...but with the warmth of the rays, fell asleep and took a nice long nap.
(note: he's not actually napping here...just that whenever he wears this hat, it somehow manages to fall over his face. Ergo, his dislike of hats.)

Relaxing in the shade of the tent.
Something he has learned recently...getting up on his knees!!

Caleb on the left, and Knox on the right.
Do they look like cousins to you?
Yea, me neither.

Anna and Aya.
After their after-dinner swim.

Jolee spent the majority of the day inside the food tent.
NOT because of the food, mind you.
No...since Airi brought her 2 dogs, Jolee used the tent as a barrier between her and the dogs.

It was actually quite funny...any time someone unzipped the tent to go in or out, she would rush to zip it right back close.

One could arguable call her the "Zipper Nazi"

It did sprinkle rain a tad towards the end of the day...but for the most part, the weather was BEAUTIFUL!

Ok, so here's the whole thing I mentioned earlier about the watermelon whacking.
Apparently, this must be a Japanese thing...since NO ONE ELSE had heard about this fascinating summertime ritual!
You place a watermelon on the ground and take turns whacking it with a stick (blindfolded, of course...though the little ones did without since they barely made a dent in the rind un-blindfolded!).

And after everyone had a turn, the cracked open watermelon is cut up and distributed and eaten.

Still never heard about it before?
Well, the kids enjoyed it and the watermelon was delicious.

I recommend it at YOUR next picnic gathering!

(Though, I'd also recommend a relatively small stick. I imagine a baseball bat would obliterate the melon instead of simply cracking it open...just a thought.)

These two...were practically inseparable.
As always.

At the end of the day...waiting for the fireworks to start.
Since our new mayor decided to ban the sale of ALL fireworks, we had to make do with watching the professionals do their thing.
While LAME, it was actually pretty nice for me...since my girls don't care for fireworks anyway. Also, I admit it was nice enjoying the evening without being smothered in smoke and being bombarded with popping and cracking all around us.

All-in-all..,I'd say our Fourth of July celebration this year was a huge success!!
And despite the fact that we were there ALL DAY (seriously, from Noon till 9 PM), you know you had a great time when it didn't FEEL like you were there all day!

...except when you get home and feel dead on your feet!

I sure hope you all had a safe and fun Fourth celebration as well!!
I'm grateful for a large and close family to celebrate this holiday with...
And am equally grateful for the many great people, past and present, who have made it possible for us enjoy the freedom to do so!

And as always...I took TONS more pictures. To check those out, click HERE!