Happy Mothers'...Week!

So on Sunday, May 4th, we had our next set of visitors. Desi and Brittney Taylor came and so did my mom, and we have been going non-stop ever since. On Monday we got up and went to Waikiki. We started off the day at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, and then just walked and walked from there.

We stopped and got some delectable smoothies before heading home. It was a fantastic way to start the vacation.

On Tuesday, Mom and Desi shopped all morning at local favorites (Ross and Sam's Club) and then we headed off to Lanikai. The water was beautiful, but it was super windy so we didn't stay for too long. I don't have any pictures because of the lack of camera. Maybe my mom will blog some if you're lucky.

Wednesday we went to the Aloha Stadium swap meet. The tourists bought all sorts of souvenirs, and then we decided to try Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, we were too late and they didn't have any more tickets that day, so we went to the beach.

Thursday the ladies (Mom, Desi and Brittney) went up to the PCC. I stayed behind and babysat a little girl from the ward whose mom just had a baby. That night when they got home after picking Jason up from work, he brought me a birthday/mother's day present...a new camera! Hallelujah! I was so excited to test it out the next day at Hanauma Bay.

Friday we were going to hike to this light house, but we had a hard time finding the trail head, so we skipped it and just went to the Bay. Our car only has 5 seats so Jason and I shared the front while Brittney drove.

The best part about our new camera is that you can take it underwater! It was so much fun snorkeling and trying to take pictures. My finger kept hitting the zoom, so I mostly missed the fish. Maybe after I get more used to it I'll get some better pictures... at least you can see the reef.

I was, however, able to capture one particularly interesting fish.

Ashlyn loved hanging out with Brittney, especially when she shared her ipod.

Mom got all tuckered out from all that swimming and decided to take a nap on the beach.

This picture of Ashlyn cracks me up. I think she is trying to fly away in the wind.

We ate dinner that night at Benihana in Waikiki. It was delicious.

Ashlyn and Jason walked along the shore while waiting for the fireworks to start. They shoot them off every Friday night at the Hilton. We hear them from our apartment, but this was the first time we actually watched them.

On Saturday, Jason planned every minute. We started off by driving to the Valley of the Temples where we saw this Buddhist temple. It was pretty cool. Jason especially liked ringing the gong. Ashlyn's favorite part...the fish.

Our next stop was the Macadamia Nut Farm for some free samples, and then onto the Laie Temple. We walked around the grounds for a few minutes, enjoyed all the beautiful flowers, and then headed off to our next destination.We went to get Acai bowls at this little hole in the wall on the North Shore. There were little green geckos running all over.

After filling up on Acai and getting some snacks for lunch later, we were off to Waimea Bay. Matt and Melissa McIntosh met up with us and we played with the underwater camera some more. And Ashlyn showed off her swimming skills. After Waimea, the McIntosh's introduced us to this beach where the Hawaiian green sea turtles love to hang out. This one was just chillin' on the beach, and because I knew my underwater photography skills were lacking, I handed the camera over to Matt for the under water picture and video.

We had to leave the beach so that we could get to Matsumoto's in time to get some world famous shave ice. It is a must when you come to Oahu.

We ate dinner next door at Haleiwa Eats, but Ashlyn wasn't too interested in sitting in her high chair. After her walrus impression, she just wanted to sit and read magazines. On Sunday morning, Jason and Ashlyn surprised the mothers with fresh flower lei. We snapped this shot after church. Then Jason made us a scrumptious Chinese-food dinner and we ended the night with some card games.

Monday came around again, and all the playing had wiped Brittney out. We decided to take it easy and watch movies all day with a quick trip next door to the Ala Moana Shopping Center in between. Desi and Brittney have to head back to Arizona today, but I still have my mom until Thursday! We'll have to see if there is anything blog-worthy tomorrow!

Our First Visitors!

About a month ago we had our first visitors to Hawaii! We had lots of fun with Andrew, Liew and Andersen and lots of adventures. We drove all over Oahu and went to Kualoa Ranch where we saw several movie sets and learned how long a cow's tongue is, went to the Polynesian Cultural Center where we learned where the closest ER was, and we had several trips to the beach where we learned how white an Asian can be. The most valuable learning experience came when we almost burned down our apartment....DON'T put your oven on self cleaning mode without cleaning as much as you can FIRST!

If you want to see more you can visit Andrew's blog at http://blog.chinesemonkey.com/

And The Survey Says....

What survey you ask? Can Jason put the stem on the apple this time around? Cast your opinion in the comments, we find out next month. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you're probably too young to give your vote anyways. And if you can't tell, the left spherical object is the head, the right is the body.

Due Date - November 12th, 2008
Weeks Along - 12
Size of baby in pic - 4 centimetres

Talofa!

Well, as many of you know I was in American Samoa about two weeks ago, but unfortunately our digital camera was either:

a) stolen at the Pago Pago airport terminal
b) stolen on the plane while I was sleeping
c) stolen at the Honolulu aiport
d) misplaced by me somewhere on the way home.

I will tell you I had it in the Pago Pago (pronounced pahn-go pahn-go) airport when I checked in, but when I got home it was nowhere to be found. So unfortunately I have no pictures, when I do some of the stories I'll let you know.

Some of you also know Andrew, Liew and Andersen were just here for a week and a half, and as much as we'd love to post a report, our internet at home went AWOL... just like the camera. So be patient, we'll have a pictoral and video update in the near future!

The Children's Discovery Center

Hooray for Spring Break! I mean, not that it does anything for us directly, but it does free up some of our friends to play. Last week we went with the Nitahara family to the discovery center. It was pretty fun. Ashlyn seemed to like it, even if her face doesn't always express that.

We wanted to make sure Ashlyn knew her geography. There will be no forgetting San Diego for that girl! She is pointing to our current place of residence.


Ashlyn loves fish. She even says it now. "Fsshhhh" These little chairs were so cute. She jumped right in and curled up to a good book.
And, thanks to her cousin Ryan, Ashlyn always wants to play with cars. This little table was perfect.
Playing with Daddy in the tot section.
Guilty as Charged! Judge Ashlyn is just waiting for Judy to retire.

She even got to play like a plantation worker and pick plastic pineapples. She would not let this one go.
Jason was like a kid himself. This was a giant bubble blower. The little kid next to him was fascinated by his bubble blowing skills.

This chair makes Ashlyn look even smaller. Is that possible?

Ashlyn and her best friend here, Kiera Nitahara. They are a little less than 5 months apart, and they have so much fun together!

Kiera's oldest sister, Kyla, is teaching Ashlyn how to play chess. I think she got it.
Ashlyn making friends wherever she goes. She got this worker to help her build with the mega blocks.
Jason with some blocks of his own. Little Ashlyn is trying so hard to help him.
The finished product. He is so proud!

All in all it was a fun day. I don't know if we will ever go back because Ashlyn could only handle about an hour or two, but it was fun to watch her interact with all the people and toys. She is growing up too fast!