Staycation

Nainoa's favorite exhibit at the Natural History Museum

We decided to have a staycation this week. I have really enjoyed my week with Nainoa. I feel like we have spent a lot of quality time together as a family. This week we went to the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay Natural History Museum, Aliante Discovery Park and had a play date with his friend Sofia. Next week we are probably going to go into shock with the school schedule. I have school 5 days a week and Nainoa has 2 full days a week. Sigh. I'm not ready to go back. I'm already planning our spring break in March. Disneyland!!!

Finding Nemo Aquarium

Feeding the ducks or feeding themselves?

Catching Up

Yes, I know, I know, I KNOW! I have been totally slacking. In lieu of the lack of posts I decided to make a 5 minute video of what we've been doing these past months. Hope you enjoy.

Whale Watching

We took Nainoa whale watching a couple of weeks ago. I was a bit nervous to see how he would do. Would he get sick? Will he jump off the boat??? He did great. The boat was huge and we spent a lot of time inside because it was cold and windy. We saw a ton of whales. Nainoa loved coaxing the whales to jump!

Walking with Dinosaurs

Nainoa has a had a busy week. Yo Gabba Gabba on Tuesday and today Walking with Dinosaurs. We have been prepping him and telling his it was going to be loud in some parts so hopefully he doesn't freak out.

Oz

It's official. Ivan and I are going to be spending the summer in the Gold Coast of Australia for three months doing Stomp at the Juniper Casino. The Lolos are going to be meeting us there once Lola has her Philippine Passport situated.

I can't believe I am coming out of retirement. So weird to to be thinking about doing the show again with a kid. I am very excited and overwhelmed at the same time. Ivan and I will have to find a baby sitter when we get there and I a little nervous about leaving with him with non-family members. Yikes!

We had to expedite 9's passport ($195!!). Here is passport picture. How cute is he??? More posts to come about our birthday weekend and our trip to Disneyland with my Bests!

We Made It!

We are here! The flight was totally manageable. Thank goodness for the nice Hawaiian Airlines stewardess who gave us 3 seats instead of just two. Having that extra seat was key. I gave him a present to open right when we were about to take off which held his interest until we got in the air. He ate lots of snacks and took a two hour nap. When he woke up we opened another present, watched 2 episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba and then all of a sudden we were landing. We didn't even have to walk him up and down the aisles. It was awesome. So much different to have that extra person, even though I did most of the entertaining. We are having a great time so far. Nainoa loves hanging out with Tutu and Papa Al. He LOVES the water and just wants to swim all day. He takes the best naps after! More to come.

Nainoa chillin' at Tutu's house.

Ala Moana Beach

Just so happened that The Fabulous Sin City Roller Derby team was on our plane from Vegas to Honolulu. We watched their match with Hawaii's Pacific team. Vegas won!

Nainoa finally likes to ride on the shoulders. So cool to watch roller derby outside in Hawaii.

Bonnie Springs

Here are some photos of our trip to Bonnie Springs. It is right at the base of Red Rock. Nainoa had a great time feeding the deers and chasing the chickens around. The weather was perfect. It was so nice to be outside and not be in the hundreds. The highlight of our day was the train ride. It's so fun coming up with new fun things to do as a family.

Memorable Memorial Day

Here are some photos of our family picnic on Memorial Day. We went to Floyd Lamb Park which is an amazing oasis of trees, fishing ponds, hills, ducks and peacocks. Who knew that this beautiful place existed in the desert. Lola and Lolo had a great time and even the dogs did too. As soon as we got there Lola said..."Aaahh, I could stay here all day."

Lolo caught a fish.

Lola caught weeds.

I love this photo.

Snowwy Easter

Since Eye has been traveling with Dan every weekend we decided to tag a long since he was going to Tahoe for Easter. The best part of the trip was spending quality time Mish, Eddie and Kai. We ate, played in the snow and sat back stage with our kids and watched Uncle Danny be funny. I can't believe it was almost six months since we saw each other! It was so nice to get away and actually spend time as a family too. What a great Easer weekend.

Family photo

Can you see Nainoa's tooth?

Having breakfast with Auntie Mish and Kaiyayai

They day we left we got a lot of snow.

South Lake Tahoe

Nainoa's first concert. He fell asleep but woke up for Single Ladies. Kaiyayai stayed up just to watch that number. Everytime a song ended Kaiyayai would ask, "Is it Single Ladies yet?"

Uncle Danny feeding Nainoa

RNO to LAS. Nainoa is such a great traveler so far. He slept the whole hour an ten minutes.

Amy's Playground

Today I took Naiona to Amy's Indoor Playground. It was very clean and they had lots of toys, books, bouncies and even an infant area. He had a blast crawling around touching everything. He is so into textures. I love watching him feel his way through the world first by touch and then by mouth. Nainoa loves to practice standing and he's even trying to walk. (He took 2 tiny steps at Auntie Rocky's today) He really liked playing with these trucks while standing. Naiona is so much fun to watch. I love when he's so happy playing and exploring. Hopefully we'll make it back here again with Marls & Pema before we go home.

Cruising Waikiki

When Eye was doing shows at night, Nainoa and I would cruise Waikiki. It was nice to watch the sunset, listen to live music by the beach or watch a free hula show. For really long walks I would use my both City Mini (thanks Pema for the suggestion) and P-sling. If Nainoa fell asleep in the sling I would transfer him to the stroller because it has a great lay down feature. For shorter walks I would just use my trusty sling. I must say I prefer wearing Nainoa but the 23 pounds can take a tole on your back! Here are a few shots from us hanging out in Waiks.

Aloha!

ALOHA!!! We made it safe and sound. I was so nervous about flying the 6 hour 40 minute plane ride without Eye, but Nainoa was a great little traveler! He continued on his regular schedule, sleep, play for two hours, sleep again. He never cried. There were so many nice people on the plane willing to hold the baby while I went to the bathroom. Everyone commented how happy he was and how good he was. I was very proud.

When we finally landed in Oahu, Daddy was there to greet us with leis. I love the Nainoa's keiki lei.

Daddy was so happy to see his son in his homeland. He kept saying, "Welcome to the homeland son!"

We went straight to Tutus and Grandpa Al's house to open gifts. It was so nice to watch the baby with his other grandparents. Popo and Naiona were definitely feeling each other out. When Popo started barking, Naiona barked back too. It was very funny.

We got up at 5:30am and it was still dark outside. He's down for his 1st nap and then we are off to Waikiki beach which is 2 blocks away!!!