beach day...

Sometimes, we forget that we live in such a beautiful place!
Several weeks ago, Mitch's brother bought a paddle board...and has kindly allowed us to store it at our house. :)
We decided to take it out for its maiden voyage and test it out.
Conclusion: It rides beautifully!

While Mitch rode out first, I took the kids in the double jogger and looped Ala Moana beach park a couple of times.
Then headed to the beach to let Jolee and Kaden splash around in the shallow water and play with the sand.
For Kaden, it was very first time actually playing in the sand and water...

Mitch on the board.

Here's Kaden...working up the nerve to venture into the water after Jolee, I think...

And here's me.
Yes, I went out.
Even though I was deathly afraid of sharks.
And the rocky reef.

But all I saw was a cute sea turtle swimming by!!

Kaden.
Not sure what to make of the sand sticking to his fingers at first.

And then...plunging right in to the water.
He LOVED it!
The sand, the water, the sun...was perfect!

But what did they love the most?
Chasing the pigeons that came searching for food...

No idea what he's doing here...

Trying to push the stroller around like he does with everything else.
Unfortunately, it wasn't working...

Maybe when he gets a little bigger, we can put him on the nose and paddle out together!

one year, baby!

Can it really be one year already?!?

My sweet baby boy hit his ONE YEAR mark on January 5th.
Since Mitch was working, I'm sure we'll celebrate it as a family when he gets home....but for today, we treated him extra special, spoiled him a bit more than usual and snapped a few pictures.
Mitch had the brilliant idea to take a picture with a sign (I know, I was shocked, too!) so I typed this out (because my handwriting is SORRY!) and snapped a few pictures.
This was the best I could get with him holding the sign up.
Funny enough-it was with my camera phone!

And...here's a few of the outtakes.

Despite being a bit confused as to why I kept shoving a big piece of paper in his face, I think he had fun!

YAY!
Happy Birthday to my miracle baby boy!

After having 3 girls in a row...you'd consider conceiving a boy a miracle too!


To reread all the FUN we had on the day of his arrival, take a look HERE!

If you haven't heard the story...READ IT!

I promise it'll make you smile.

Or, chuckle.

Or gasp! And thank your lucky stars it didn't happen to you! :)

christmas train

I took the girls on the Pearlridge Mall Christmas train the other day.
This was the first year that Jolee rode it.
I was a bit nervous that she'd get scared...she freaked out when they had the BUG train ride.
Although really...stuffed bears on rocking horses and Christmas trees are a tad less intimidating than oversized preying mantis and beetles that move, right?

So, I need not have worried...she loved it.

Here they are...getting ready.
Looking at this, I'm beginning to think Kela is getting too old for this kind of ride...

Or, maybe not.
She enjoyed it just as much as the other two.

Kaden, not so much.
Had to give him my phone to keep him occupied.

ojichan & obachan in hawaii

So, on Christmas Eve, my parents flew in from Seattle to spend the Holidays with us.
While they were here...we got together every day to make the most of their short stay.
Here's just a few things we did together.


*oh, and FYI: Ojichan is Grandfather, while Obachan is Grandmother in Japanese. :)


#1: Kua Aina Burgers in Haleiwa

My parents love Kua Aina's.
More specifically, the Avocado Burger.
I mean, who doesn't, right?

Well...to be honest, these kids probably would have been just as satisfied with McD's...the food comes out faster there...

Much faster, it seems...

Kaden got to taste his very first french fry there...

The verdict: hmmm...not bad. Not great, but good in a pinch to appease a bored baby.

#2: Matsumoto's Shave Ice

Technically, this should probably have been combined with the above #1, seeing as it was the same day.
But my Mom cannot come to Hawaii without eating some shave ice.
Her favorite is Matsumoto's.
I think there are much yummier ones closer to home, but since we were already up on the North Shore, we came here.
The kids are happy so long as they get their "rainbow" shave ice.

Kaden loves shave ice.
Seriously, what baby doesn't?

Baby Knox LOOOOVED it.
And kept trying to grab Obachan's bowl when she wasn't paying attention.

These would be grandkids #21 & #19, respectively.


#3: Honolulu Zoo

I haven't been to the zoo in a really long time.
The girls ask every now and again to go...but it's just so far away.
Plus, I've let our annual pass expire.
Even with the Kama'aina rates, it's not inexpensive.
Fighting traffic to get there, fighting for a parking spot, paying the parking fees when you actually manage to find a spot and then walking around the zoo in the HEAT just doesn't sound very appealing to me these days.
SO, my girls were thrilled when my sister suggested a visit to the zoo with their cousins and my parents.

Yes, this is the group we went with.
There's one non-Sakuma in there...she was Seina's friend.

So we found this copse of trees with low branches...

And decided to take a picture with everyone, plus my parents.
Immediately after which, my nephew Marques fell down and hurt his knee.
Suppose we should have heeded the sign (not pictured) that warned us NOT to climb on the trees.

We convened at the playground for a short bit.
Kaden kept getting booted off the slide by kids, so had to settle for climbing on this crocodile.
He wasn't all that impressed.

He WAS, however, impressed with the animals in the Keiki Zoo area.
I could tell he wanted to go inside the goat petting area...but I just couldn't.
It's too gross in there.

The little ones hung around inside the Keiki Zoo while some of the older ones continued walking around the rest of the zoo.
I was thankful for Kaden. Who allowed me to stay relatively in one location...as opposed to walking around the whole of the zoo in the heat.

Anna got to milk a fake cow.
Even though it was just water that squirted out...it was still kinda gross...


#4: Picnic on the beach

Lastly, before my parents flew back home, we headed out to Waikiki Beach to enjoy one last hurrah together.
No swimming...just a relaxing picnic dinner at the beach.
Or, the grassy area in front of the beach. :)

Kaden was SO happy to have such a vast area to roam around.
Oh, and plenty of birds to chase around.
Notice he's pointing to them.
These days, he points to EVERYTHING!

And by the water's edge, the tide was low enough for some of the bigger kids (plus Ojichan) to hunt for crabs and shrimp.

My girls really wanted to go down...but I forced them to stay up top.
Poor girls...mama's too paranoid!

Ooh, and the pretty red & white shrimp Marques caught!

Jojo and Luke.
Have I mentioned how cute I think these two are?
They were running back and forth along the water's edge...throwing sand, peeking over the edge, and playing so well together.

Riho caught the second shrimp of the night.
This time, a grey and white one.

After running around and shrimp-hunting, it was dinner time.
Bucket of fried chicken, onigiri, hotdogs and chips.
Oh, and carrot sticks and edamame, too.

Who needs fancy food when you have cousins to play with, right?

Obachan and baby Knox.

Ended the evening with some friendly racing...

And Kaden pushing his stroller ALL OVER the park.

I miss my parents already...it was SO great having them here!
And sure, they had a rough trip going home because the flights were pretty full (flying standby during the Holidays is NOT recommended!)...but they finally made it home safe and sound.

Yay for grandparents!

happy 2012!!

Okay, I'm a tad ashamed to admit how FEW pictures I took of our New Year's celebration.
Sorry...It's not that we had an uneventful New Years.
No, it was bustling and busy.
I just took more videos than pictures...videos that I've been banned from posting on here.
You'll understand later.

Traditional New Years Eve meal in Japan is noodles.
It's usually soba noodles, but since we are Okinawan...we opt for the far superior Okinawa Soba. Hahah...ok, no offense to any Mainland Japanese there.
Anyhoo-after some YUMMY Okinawa Soba to celebrate the ending of 2011, and welcoming 2012, it was time to PARTY!

And by "party" I mean busting out Wii Just Dance.
The kids had a BLAST!
Us adults had to literally wrench the remotes out of their hands to dance it up a couple times.
And dance, we did!
Normally, I would post one or two of the videos I snapped of said dancing...however I was "strongly coerced" NOT to.
Therefore, you will just have to take my word for it.
It was fun. For all of us. :)

Well...okay, maybe not ALL of us....

December 31st also happens to be my nephew Jonas's birthday.
How would that be, huh?
Having the ENTIRE WORLD celebrate your birthday with fireworks every year?!

Happy 15th birthday, Jonas!

Gosh, I can't believe how old he is...Mitch and I used to babysit him when he was a baby!
And yes...that's a Chocolate Haupia Pie in lieu of a birthday cake.
Much yummier, in my opinion...

Okay, due to our awesome mayor...fireworks are no longer allowed on New Years and Independence Day.
Yup, you read that right.
NO FIREWORKS.
So, we settled for poppers instead.
Still fun...just not AS fun.

Just a random picture of the night.
Kaden doesn't seem to like checkers much either...

Oh, and right about here, I'd post our New Year's Day pictures...except that I took ZERO pictures from the first.
Pretty lame of me, I know.
But we had various sushi (spicy ahi, spicy salmon, crab, & natto), somen noodles and the same great company.

Looking back, I must say that 2011 was a GREAT year for us Seavey's.
Each year seems to progressively get better and better...with our children, added blessings and progress. I have no complaints...just gratitude for all the great things that continue to come our way.
Here's to an even more fabulous 2012!
Happy New Year!!