.halloween 2010.

This is how late I am. So...here are some pictures of Halloween. Kaiya was the Flashdance girl. Apparently in the movie the girl was an exotic dancer or something with dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Hey...I threw this together at the VERY last minute because Kaiya wasn't having anything to do with a long blonde wig so I could make her Baby Gaga. LOL!!! So this is what I came up with....

.long beach aquarium.

Although Disneyland was one of the highlights of the trip, we also got to visit the Long Beach Aquarium. Both kids and adults were fascinated at all the exhibits. We got to see divers feed sharks, eels, and fish. (I think there were sharks...anyway). There was also a touch tank and you could touch the sting rays. So cool! There were otters and jellyfish and fish fish and more fish.

After the aquarium, we all headed to Grandma Barbara's friend's, Henri, house in Lakewood.  We all had a fun time talking story and catching up with Henri, her husband Raul, and daughter Marlea.  Henri also made some delicious food...and they even had tortillas from New Mexico because that's where Raul is from!  Too bad we all had just eaten lunch right before heading to Lakewood, but that didn't stop us from eating more.  :) And miss Kaiya...the bottomless pit...decided to help herself to handfuls of animal cookies and milk.  Marlea's daughter and the three kids sat down on the porch and took some great photos together.  Which reminds me, I should probably send a copy over to Henri.

We also got a chance to have dinner with some of Grandma Barbara's side of the family.  Aunty Aileen was just on Kauai so it was a treat to see her again so soon!  Same goes for Aunty Nan.  Kaiya, Kaytin and Caleb all had a chance to meet their baby cousin Sienna.  Sienna is only four months younger than Kaiya. We also got to BBQ with some of Papa Harry's side of the family.  It's always fun seeing the California family...and it just makes us miss them so much more.  Hopefully it won't be as long until we visit them again.

There is a lot more that we did on this Fall 2010 California trip, but I didn't get a chance to catch in on (digital) film.  I hope you enjoyed the three-post recap of our trip.  

.california love pt.II.

...continuation...

For some reason I couldn't post more pictures so I decided to end the last post and continue with a new one.

Day one at Disneyland ended with us leaving early...1-to fight the crowd all trying to rush out of the gates at the same time, and 2-because of Kaiya's fever.  Plus, we had an entire day left to spend soaking up the Happiest Place on Earth!

Sunshine and Blue Skies...

 Day Two at Disneyland started with a tour of Disneyland via the Train!  It was a beautiful day!  We then went on Small World (which the wait was already longer than any from the day before) and Uncle Wes and Kaytin went on a couple more before we decided since we had seen most of Disneyland on Day One, we would venture over to California Adventure!  This was a first for everyone but Mommy and Daddy.  As soon as we walked in, they were clearing the pathway for a High School Musical performance.  So...Aunty Dawn was front and center waiting for "Troy and Gabriella" to perform.  (Haha...Kaytin is actually the one that insisted on getting a front row seat...so Dawn says.)  It was then on to some lunch (better choices than Disneyland, in my opinion), rides and more.  I think California Adventure is like a big fairground.  It's fun, but not nearly as exciting as Disneyland.  :)  As the day came to a close, we decided to head out early, but not before Kaiya had an AMAZING silhouette portrait done of her by a Japanese lady, who has only been doing the portraits for a couple years.  She was amazing!  She looked at Kaiya's profile a couple of times and carved her silhouette out with a sharp pair of scissors, no drawing or sketching or anything.  And within a minute or two, she presented us with a tiny black silhouette of Little Miss Kaiya...filipino nose, chubby cheeks, and little hair flip all included.  I highly recommend doing that the next time you're at Disneyland.  Thank you Grandma Barb for that!!


We think Disneyland was a SUCCESS and a half!!  We all can't wait until our next visit....which will hopefully be soon.  :)  Here are a couple more pictures from The Magic Kingdom.

....coming up next the Long Beach Aquarium...

.california love.

Kaiya went on her first trip to California in October. She's been on a long plane trip before, we took her to New Mexico and Vegas for Easter.  But...she was only 6 months old back then.  This time it was a little different since she was 1 going on 12, not to mention walking and talking.  But we survived.  She slept for an hour here and there, but in between she watched movies with daddy, walked up and down the aisle with mommy, and luckily there was a little girl who was sitting in front of us that continually tried to entertain her.  What a life saver she was.  Turns out they were going to Disneyland, too...and she informed us that they would be at the Princess Breakfast the next morning if we wanted to meet up.  LOL!!!  She was about 6 or 7...going on 21.  Haha.

When we finally landed at LAX, we looked around and finally found Grandma Barb who was meeting up with us from New Mexico.  The rest of that day was kind of wasted with traveling to the hotel in Anaheim and picking up things, like diapers, from Target (GREAT excuse to go shopping right away.)  


The second day we took a trip up to Rancho Cucamonga (sp?) to do some shopping.  It was rainy and cold, and of course we didn't bring any rain or cold gear, so we had to buy some things to at least keep the kids warm the next day at Disneyland.  


As Disneyland day finally approached...it was pouring!  But it turned out to be in our favor because there were NO LINES and we got to ride pretty much all of the rides that we wanted before early afternoon!  Plus, a little rain doesn't hurt anyone...at least that's what mommy learned from going to college in Oregon.  We were so lucky that Uncle Bill, Aunty Kimi, Wyland, Kiyomi, Aunty Angela, Nicole and Drew all met us at Disneyland!  And it turned out to be a beautiful day once the sun came out by late afternoon.  Kaiya came down with a pretty high fever, 104, but luckily we came prepared and doped her up with Tylenol and Ibuprofen to keep the fever under control.  We kept having to take her jacket and blankets on and off, take her temperature, put socks on and off...but she was a trooper through it all.

DISNEYLAND!!!

First Rides...no wait time!

Daddy was WAY excited for this!

...to be continued...

.twelve months.

The last sticker.  Bittersweet...she's no longer a baby baby.   She's a walking, talking, crazy one year old.

.kaiya's first birthday.

Little Miss Kaiya turned ONE on September 14.  As a special treat, Papa Dave flew in from New Mexico to celebrate!  Kaiya was treated extra special on her birthday and got to wear a special pink tutu and a funny looking headband that mommy bought for her.  Everyone thought she was the cutest thing with her headband on when we made a quick trip to Costco.

After picking up Papa Dave from the airport, we headed to a special birthday for dinner...at Duke's!  Her first birthday dinner was a kid's chicken strips w/french fries, which she refused to eat, of course.  :)  She did love the dinner rolls and muffins from the Salad Bar, though.  

 And since it was her birthday, our server brought her a Hula Pie!!!  She had a few bites, and loved it....but was nice enough to share her birthday pie with everyone else at the table.

After dinner, Kaiya was surprised with ANOTHER cake at Papa Harry and Grandma Barbara's house.  Mommy and daddy bought her a Chocolate Dream Cake from Kauai Bakery...not knowing that she was going to get a Hula Pie at Duke's.  (Who gives that HUGE piece of Hula Pie to a one year old?...I guess Duke's does.)  The only difference was we let Kaiya demolish the cake and dive in all by herself.  No sharing, it was ALL hers!  At first, she was a little skeptical, but after a minute or so she couldn't stop indulging and it was everywhere.  

And although she won't remember this day, mommy and daddy sure will.  I think it's successful to say that Kaiya had a great first birthday...little did she know that she had a first birthday party coming up later on in the week, too!

.hmmmm.

So I just realized that I haven't updated Kaiya's blog in TWO months! Yikes! I thought I did, but I guess not. The pictures are ready on my computer, though. I guess all I can do now is let you know what you can expect to see.

Kaiya turned the big ONE! She had a great birthday at Salt Pond complete with Hello Kitty theme and Mexican Bar menu. Grandpa Dave and Uncle Dennis (daddy's best man at the wedding) came to Kauai to help celebrate and we had a fabulous time.

We also went on a family trip to California and visited THE Happiest Place on Earth, not one but two days! Grandma Barbara and Papa Harry, Aunty Dawn and Uncle Wes, Kaytin and Caleb, and Grandma Barb were ALL there. We got to see a lot of family while we were there too! Sooo much fun, and a definite must do again. Did I mention that Kaytin had no idea we were going in a trip until we left for the airport...and didn't know about Disneyland until the bus ride over. That was quite the secret to keep from her. Luckily she can't quite read big words yet cause Disneyland was plastered all over the hotel! Haha.

Kaiya got to go trick or treating for the first time. Last year she was only a few weeks old and was asleep by the time we got to Uncle Matt and Aunty Shannon's...which is right up the driveway. But she looked amazingly cute in her costume that mommy put together at the last minute. More on that later.

I'm sure there's a lot more happenings that went on but since I don't have the computer handy or the camera to see what pictures are on there, this update will have to do for now. You can also look forward to the beginning of Kaiya's (and mommy and daddy's) adventures in potty training! Ahhhhhhh!!! Wish us all luck, but since the munchkin is constantly saying 'doo doo' 'doo doo' 'doo doo'...we thought we'd take an attempt. Alright...until the next update...with pics, I promise...have a fabulous day!

.she's almost one.

I can't believe Kaiya is turning ONE in a few hours.  Well, technically not until a little after noon tomorrow, but that doesn't matter.  I can't believe that at this time last year Eric and I were in the hospital...anxiously awaiting Kaiya's arrival, although we still had a few more hours until we would finally meet her.  I remember it like it was yesterday, and I hope I always remember it like that.  It seems as you get older, the years fly by, but with Kaiya time goes by extremely fast.  Too fast.  Before we knew it, Kaiya went from a newborn that would just lay there and sleep, to holding her head up and rolling over, to crawling and saying her first words, to starting to eat "real" food...and now she's talking our ears off, dancing, laughing and walking all over the place.  Life couldn't be any better at this moment.  We're looking forward to the years ahead of us with Kaiya...and hopefully brothers or sisters...but not anytime soon.  We're pretty content with Little Miss Kaiya right now....she makes everyday fabulous.

Happy Birthday Yaya!!

.just dance.

She's been doing this for a couple months now, if you tell Kaiya to dance...she sways back and forth.  She'll do it either when you tell her, or if she hears music.  This has got to be the best video, so far, we've gotten of her dancing.  She loves her music and dancing....

.kaiya loves her robe.

Aunt Judy sent Kaiya a cute little robe that she couldn't wait to get her cheerio infested hands on.

.how cute is she.

.she rolled around with it. took it for a crawl.  took it for a walk. tackled it. and tried to rip it's tag off.