Christmas Eve

We spent a few hours at Hickam Beach with Papa... gotta love Christmas Eve day in Hawaii!

Merry Christmas

Camera Thief

Ella will snatch up your camera if you leave it in reach and will take pictures of everything... including her blanket.

Papa's Here!

Papa arrived late Monday night after a 3-day ordeal and a night or two sleeping at the Vancouver airport. All the snow in Vancouver has thrown holiday travel into chaos, canceling flights, delaying flights for days, etc. We're just happy he is here and ready to enjoy the holiday. Ella is ecstatic to see him and had been looking forward to his arrival for days.

Note on Ella's development, she has never been interested in dressing herself, just allows us to do it, no fuss, no inclination. It's the reason Ella has been well coordinated and properly dressed at all times. In just the last few weeks, she has become totally independent of us and refuses any help when getting dressed. Yesterday was also the first time she wanted to pick her own clothes as we were getting ready to go to Costco. I think it's adorable and as long as she's decent, I could care less what she wants to wear shopping...Ron was a little skeptical when she put on her bumble bee costume, complete with pink shoes. How can you not be so proud as people oohed and awwed at her as we walked through Costco. Too cute!!

Why sometimes I laugh so hard I cry...

Me: "Ella, why did you put your pajamas on?" (it's the middle of the afternoon)
Ella: "Cause I got hiccups."

Me: "Ella, did you take a sugar cookie?"
Ella: "Yes, it's in my belly, I lost it."

Baby Shower

Christina and I had a baby shower for our friend Sara today. I've known Sara since shortly after we moved here and she has been a wonderful friend. Sara and her husband are leaving next month for the mainland (sniff*sniff) and we are going to miss them!!!
Ella adores Sara and pretends to talk to Sara on her toy phone: "Sara, go for coffee?" Sara, baby Wyatt, Ella and I often go for coffee at Starbucks, often enough that when Ella even sees a Starbucks she will ask, "Go for coffee with Aunt Sara?"

Sugar Cookies

Last week the UPS lady knocked on the door with the box in hand and said to me: "I don't think you're supposed to see this, but sign here please." Ron had bought me the KitchenAid stand mixer I've been wanting for years. Merry Christmas to me! Amazon did not box it, they just put the shipping label on the KitchenAid box and sent it out, oh well, at least I get to really enjoy my Christmas baking this year!

Aloha Uncle Joey

Today was Joey's last day on the island. We headed to Hickam Beach this afternoon but as luck would have it, the beach was closed due to storm drainage and debris in the water. The waters are red and murky and the health department is advising people stay out of the water until it's cleared. This is pretty consistent around the island. Bummer.
We headed into Waikiki for dinner at Duke's Canoe Club before dropping Joey off at the airport. Ella will be so sad to not have her companion when she wakes up. As we were leaving the airport, Ella said: "Oh no! Joey gone. Ella no see Joey anymore." It was cute. (Photo note: This is Ella's smile when she knows there is a flash coming.)

Dear Daddy,

Happy Birthday! I hope you enjoyed your day even though you had to go to work. Mommy and I miss you when you aren't with us and we are very lucky you take such good care of us. Thank you for everything you do for us, and for being the best Daddy in the world. I love you!

Love Ella xoxo

Dear Ron,
I wish you a very Happy Birthday and thank you for always being there for us. Life is wonderful with you by my side, and I wish you many more years of love and happiness. Happy Birthday, my love. xoxo

Rain Rain Go Away

After managing a couple hours at Ko Olina on Friday under overcast skies, it began to rain again in the evening. We've had torrential down pours off and on since Joey arrived. Yesterday, Ron and Joey headed out and climbed Diamond Head Crater but had to forgo Hanauma Bay because of looming storm clouds. It proceeded to monsoon and rained steadily into last night.
Late this morning we headed to Kailua and stopped to view Hanauma Bay. After being stuck in traffic for over 2 hours (Honolulu marathon we didn't know was still going) and bypassing all the big surf beaches, we made it to Kailua just in time for another bout of torrential rain. Yeah, Hawaii! Needless to say, today was another bust. Our fingers are crossed that we can at least enjoy Joey's last day tomorrow with some semblance of a tropical island. Here are some pics of the surfer beaches (and the short-lived good weather)as we continued on our quest to Kailua... We did brave the rain and managed to drag Uncle Joey to Lukas' birthday party last night:

Ko Olina

The weather has been crazy. A severe storm came through Wednesday night into Thursday and the torrential rains have closed roads from mudslides. We stayed in most the day yesterday and once it cleared, we ventured out the North Shore, only to get rained on again. So instead of the beach we stopped at the Dole Plantation for some pineapple ice cream.

Today started out much better and Joey, Ella and I headed out to Ko Olina (Ron had to work again). Spent a while at Ko Olina and did a drive up the west coast. It's been overcast and has started raining again - hopefully it clears up by tomorrow...