flashback friday: halloweens past

there's been a few Halloweens that I haven't documented yet...and it's high time that I catch up on all the costume cuteness over the last couple years.

 

2010: ahonui insisted on being cat in the hat that year...all on his own.  no other costume would be acceptable.  it was too funny.  we then dressed up baby nahe (who was only 2 months old at the time) as a sweet little pea in a pod.  sooo darling. 😊

2011: ahonui was addicted to first person shooter/zombie video games a lot more than I preferred, was able to control, or liked to admit, so that year he really wanted to be a zombie.  ummm - denied! so his backup costume was to be a war soldier...ohhhkaaaaay.  but since I didn't have his soldier costume by our ward trunk-or-treat party, we improvised and my clever mother scrounged around our apartment for a last minute quickie to throw on the boy...we found some red little boy boxing gloves, threw a kitchen towel around his neck, put on his red bball shorts, dabbed some black eyeshadow under his eyes, and voila! a boxer was born.  and nahe was a sheep - because it was the cutest, more original (not a witch, clown, or bumblebee), best-fitting costume I could find at Walmart. what can I say, I'm not a seamstress!!

2012: it was ahonui's first year at laie elementary and the school has a little Halloween parade so we dressed him up as a ninja last year (he was pretty into the Lego ninjago series).  nahe still doesn't have much say in what she ends up as for Halloween so we put her in a fairy princess getup.

we always have a ton of fun taking the kids out for the long walk around town to get as many goodies as possible until the little legs give out and the fussies start rearing it's ugly head for the night.

what do your kids like to dress up as for Halloween?  do u make your own costumes, buy them, or improvise with whatever you can find around the house?  sometimes those are the best ones!!

I'm kinda curious to find out what ahonui's costume request will be this October...and also if nahe will have an opinion on what I put her in when we parade around Laie.  we'll see!

flashback friday: summah-summah-summah-tiiiiiiiime!!!

summer break is almost over.  well, it'll be over mostly for ahonui.  he goes back to school and begins first grade in about 2 weeks.  because it's not like I really had a summer.  brandon and I both worked, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary, we didn't go anywhere truly noteworthy.  but we're still in laie.  and we have tons of family and friends nearby.  and we're all still quite happy.  so that means i'm gonna still count my blessings.

 

here's our summer in a collage nutshell:

some memorable events now that I'm thinking back are worth reminiscing about...

• lunched with a bunch of my friends at kahuku grill...can't remember the last time we all got together for a lunch date to laugh over nothing and everything.
• spent a few hours at pcc with the kids to just walk around the center and check out the new IMAX "Hawaiian journey" short movie.
• braved an Ono Yo trip with NINE kiddies all by myself...and won a free ono froyo with their instagram photo contest!
• took ahonui to the dentist several times to fill cavities, pull teeth, put silver caps on...the works.
• enjoyed a trip to the Honolulu Zoo with the entire fam to celebrate my nieces bday.
• got to catch up with my Utah-visiting cousin & his family who are, by the way, some of my favorite people ever.
• watched my 13 & 14 year old nieces (who I still think of as innocent little 3 year olds, lol) dominate on the soccer field. 

it was a nice break from conflicting schedules, dropping off, picking up, homework, groggy mornings, and sweaty afternoons while it lasted.  back to that grind in a few weeks.  gonna beach it up a little more before the boy hits the classroom again!

flashback friday: waikiki 2012

just over one year ago, Brandon decided to celebrate my bday a little differently...so we stayed in a beautiful corner rainbow tower room at the Hilton Hawaiian Village!!

luckily we had a family member who worked there that hooked us up with an awesome discount on the room.  because I don't think that we could've afforded it otherwise. we checked in on friday afternoon, and left Waikiki on Monday afternoon.  the 3 days went by way too quick and made us wish that we could live that life forever.  it's always so difficult to go back to your routine of school, work, transporting the kids to and from the grandparents, etc. after such a relaxing "stay-cation".

 

here's some of the highlights of our little escape:

• chillin' on our wraparound balcony overlooking Waikiki beach and diamond head.
• swimming in the hotel pool with the kids.
• enjoying a mac 24/7 breakfast with the man vs. food HUGE pancakes
• watching the amazing fireworks from our room's balcony.  so convenient!
• grinding at cheesecake factory with Brandon's brother's family, and his AZ mission companion.
• macaroni grill birthday dinner (sheesh, does it sound like we eat out a lot or WHAT?)

birthday celebrations are the best!  haha.

flashback friday: disney vacay

(it's been a looooong time since i've done a "flashback friday", and i'm pretty sure that there's quite a few things that I've missed since being MIA for the most of 2011 AND the entire 2012 year...this is me with an update mostly for documentation purposes. *grins*  have i thanked you lately for stopping by my blog??)

 

in april 2011, brandon's cousin was married in washington state, and it was for that big event, that my MIL made the executive decision that the entire kahaialii clan (21 of us, to be exact) should, must, and will fly up for the previously mentioned big event.  so we began planning in october of 2010 for the trip and then we thought, what the heck - why not throw SoCal in the mix while we're at it?  thanks to a decent 2011 tax return, we pulled off paying for airfare, hotel, transportation and meals for our family of four for a week & a half of pure bliss.  and chaos.  and constant diapering of a 7-month-old in public restrooms.  it was fun!

 

seriously though, we did have a blast.  even though nahe was too young at the time to remember and appreciate her first mainland experience, i'm still happy that we all made it there (and back in one piece!) together.  some of the most memorable (not necessarily the best - but memorable, because it's been a while and things from 2011 are a tad rusty...and also because not everything is raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens when you're living out of a suitcase filled mostly with diapers) moments of the trip?  right here...

• sightseeing the city of seattle, including the space needle, and children's museum.
• ahonui getting feverishly sick in seattle...thus, only getting out of the hotel room to see the space needle and children's museum. 
• jennifer & mark maiava's beautiful wedding reception in tacoma.
• nahe getting a not-so-fun rash all over her cheeks in seattle...we're thinking that her skin didn't care too much for the 50 degree washington weather.
• breakfast buffet at goofy's kitchen on our first morning at disneyland.
• smooth sailing on the "it's a small world" ride with ahonui, introducing him to the animatronic beauties from around the world.  i think it was his favorite.
• "soarin' over california" ride at disney's california adventure park...i think that's my favorite.
• watching the kids faces light up during the firework show and "world of color" water show.
• universal studios backlot tour...it gave my feet a nice rest and me & the kids a nice mid-day nap. =)
• curious george playground at universal studios - ahonui didn't want to leave that place...there were air bazookas shooting plastic balls - need i say more?
• trying to get our money's worth of our "unlimited food pass" at universal, so we stopped at every eligible restaurant to fill our already full bellies.
• a long flight home with a 7-month-old that simply won't sit still for more than 2 minutes.  lucky for us we had lots of aunties & uncles, and grandma & grandpa willing to take the wiggle monster off our hands a lot throughout the trip.

i didn't want to forget these things.  and although everything doesn't go perfectly while on vacation, i'd say it's pretty close to perfection when you've got free time with your family doing memorable, once-in-a-lifetime activities together.

flashback friday: ahonui's arrival

today's flashback: january 3, 2007...

ahonui tehaumarinoongarangi kahaialii was brought into this world at 8:05am that day. here's how it happened:

my due date was on january 3rd, so on new years day 2007 the excitement of our very first new arrival was building quite rapidly. at around 5am on january 2nd i woke up with what felt like cramps in my back. i couldn't go back to sleep so i just watched tv until the cramps died down a few hours later. when brandon woke up i told him that i thought i was having labor pains. he called up his mom and she said to time the contractions. once they began to get really close together then we'd need to be ready to go to the hospital...so i tried to relax and kept a watch next to me to keep tabs on the contractions. i didn't feel like sitting around the house all day so while brandon was at work i cleaned and ran errands. when i went home later that night i noticed that the contractions seemed pretty close together and a lot more painful. brandon was scheduled to work night show that night so i called my mom to come over. she stayed with me to help time the contractions and get our things together for the hospital. aren't moms the best?!!!  at around 8:30pm she called brandon and told him it was time to go. my brother, marcus, came over to give me a blessing with brandon and then we were off! we arrived at castle hospital at about 10pm.

needless to say, it was a long night. i received an epidural at around 5am...people have their opinions about epidurals, and will probably judge me and think that i cheated with childbirth. oh well, at least after 7 hours of extreme pain i eventually got some rest and my screaming could finally subside. it was so worth it to me. my baby is happy & healthy and i didn't suffer longer than was absolutely necessary. so there.

after an hour of pushing, our 8 lb. 3 oz. baby boy was born. 19 and a half inches long, brown hair, brown eyes, and very hawaiian looking...everything was worth that first moment with him. i'll never forget it.