Having fun in the sun

Sorry I haven't updated this in a while. Here's some new pictures of what we've been up to. We've been trying to go to the beach as much as we can. It's a little more difficult with three kids. Kalei just loves the ocean. He has no fear. He's been using his floaties. Because he wears them, he thinks he can go wherever he wants. We went to Hukilau. He had so much fun.

We decided to visit the gravesites of our grandfathers the Friday before Memorial Day. We wanted to beat the crowd. We went to Kane'ohe and visited Kainoa's grandfather's grave (Papa). He's Kalei's namesake so I really like the picture of Kalei looking up to the sky. Then we went to Punchbowl and visiting Grandpa Willing's and Grandpa Yuen's graves. Liko had an accident in the car while she was sleeping. I forgot to pack a Pull-up or an extra panty, or pants (what a bad mother) so she had to wear one of Kalei's diapers. She thought it was silly. It was nice to pay our respects for our grandfathers.

Then we went to the Aquarium in Waikiki on Saturday. The kids really enjoyed it. They liked being able to touch the sea urchins. Well Kalei enjoyed it more than Ku'uliko.

On Memorial Day we decided to go to the beach and have a barbecue. We went to Malaekahana. We got there a little before 9 am to beat the rush. We got a nice spot. It was low tide so Kalei had so much fun walking in the water everywhere. Ku'uliko was by the reef and looked for sea shells and creatures. We had kalbi ribs for lunch which were ono by the way. We stayed until about 2pm. All the kids crashed. It was a long day but so much fun.

That's about it for now. My mom and dad are here so we'll be seeing them tomorrow. We're so excited. I'll try and be better about posting pictures.

On Oahu

So we're here on Oahu now. We came in on Wednesday at about 6pm. We flew on a daytime flight and that is the last time we're going to do that. The kids were good on the flight from Salt Lake to L.A. The second flight to Honolulu was more of a challenge. Kalei was getting bored and he wanted to move around. Plus, the battery in the DVD player died so he was going nuts. My arms are still recovering from carrying him and then switching off and carrying Kamalu.

Right when we stepped off the plane, the heat and humidity hit us. Whew it was hot. When we got to the baggage claim, we heard Kainoa's mom and Kaitlyn laughing. They were at the waiting for us. It was so good to see them. Then we saw my cousin Jared. He works for Northwest Airlines.

After we got our luggage, we headed to Zippy's. We got Zip pacs (a surf pac for Kainoa) and Napples. Man, it was so ono.

It was the season finale for Lost and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. I was so tired. The kids went to sleep early.

We went to Windward Mall the next day. Of course we had to make a stop at Maruki Tei and Cookie Corner. I swear I'm going to start gaining weight because we're always eating. Oh well, I better enjoy it while I can.

Kainoa's dad set up the pool in the backyard. It was so hot. The water was nice. Kalei loved it but at first he didn't know what to do. He just stood there and laughed. He kept trying to put his head under. So dangerous.

Then yesterday we left before 8 am and headed to Target in town. It felt like we were back in the Mainland.

So, today we pretty much napped for a couple of hours after church. At least there was some breeze. Kalei has been stuck in Mountain Standard time so he's been up at 5 am almost every morning since we've gotten here. It was good to get a nap in. It's been exhausting. Hopefully he'll get used to the time zone soon so we all can get some sleep.

Well we haven't gone to the beach yet but we'll probably go sometime this week. It's just difficult with three kids but we'll get there. I'm so glad that we came to visit. It's been so nice. Aside from being hot, we've been enjoying it. Poor Kainoa, he's not used to the heat now but I've been okay.

Well I guess that's it. I'll keep adding pictures as things happen.

Home

"I'm going home, back to the place where I belong..." I love that Chris Daughtry song.
So yes, we're going home. Yay! Thanks Mom and Dad! My dad called me on Wednesday and said that he could fly the kids and me back with his points/miles. He said we just had to pay for Kainoa's ticket. We didn't even have to think about it twice. We got online right away and was able to find a really good priced ticket, $425 roundtrip. We're flying out next Wednesday to Oahu. Kainoa is staying until June 2nd. We're going to celebrate Kalei's birthday while we're there. Kainoa will come back to Utah and I'll be staying there. The kids and I will fly to Maui with my mother-in-law in June and I'll stay there until July. My family has a reunion in the Big Island in mid-July. Then I'll fly back with the kids and my brother Shaun. He's moving up here with us. So Kainoa and I will be separated for about a month and a half. It's a long time and I hope I'll be okay. I think it should be fine since I'll be at home with family. We almost were going to be separated this summer because Kainoa was thinking about doing his externship in Hawaii while I stayed in Utah. I'm glad he was able to get one here in Utah but now it'll be backwards since I'll be in Hawaii. It'll give us practice for next summer when he actually does his externship in Hawaii.
I'm so excited! I started packing the kids' clothes on Thursday. It'll be a good trip. We were talking about how we need to plan out our time there with what we want to eat and where we want to go. We're going to the beach, that's for sure.
For those that are back home, call us up or we'll call you and hopefully we can get together.

A day at the zoo

We had really fun day yesterday. We went to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. It took us about an hour to get there but it was so worth the trip. The kids really enjoyed themselves. We invited RJ, Kainoa's brother to come with us. When we got there, we had a little picnic and Ku'uliko loved it. Then we went to see the animals. They all sat in their strollers. Kalei was so good. He didn't complain at all. Ku'uliko rode in the stroller and walked at the very end but she was really good. She was so proud of herself. She kept telling us, "I went to the potty at the zoo two times." We put her in a pull-up just in case but she kept it dry.

There was a merry-go-round and train there and of course she said that they were her favorite part of the zoo. Not seeing the animals, just going on rides. She wanted to ride on the zebra on the merry-go-round. So she did and Kalei rode on the ant-eater. She said that the zebra is her favorite animal.

We had a close encounter with a giraffe. He came right up to the fence and stuck his head over it. Ku'uliko got pretty close but was getting a little scared.

Towards the end, we went to the cougar cage but we didn't see it at first. Then Liko started calling it to come out and it did (the last picture). She and Kalei were so happy.

To finish off our zoo experience, we rode the zoo train. The kids enjoyed it so much. Kalei kept making train sounds the whole time. We saw some bison and Kainoa noticed that there wasn't a fence around them. They could've come right up to us on the train but they didn't.

We really had a good time and I'm so happy we went. It was nice to have Kainoa there with us. Ku'uliko's been having so much fun spending more time with her daddy now that the stresses of school are over for now. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

P.S. Yes I did cut my hair this past week. It's really short. I haven't had it this short since high school. I told the stylist that I wanted a change and this is what she did.