a field trip to the beach

nanea's school has an annual field trip to camp homelani in waialua on the north shore. previous years only parents could attend, but this year they opened it up to any family members that wanted to go. it's really a fun day, and of course no north shore trip is complete without a visit to the famous matsumotos for shave ice!

neither of them ate even half. too bad they don't make minis. however, not a bad deal for $2!

nanea and two of her school mates

a trip to dole plantation

last month we had a visit from the geris family, so played hooky a lot from school. it worked out that my babysitter was on vacation during this time, so i was able to take a few days off from work as well. we had fun touring the island and doing tourist-y things we don't normally get to do, like a luau and lots of beach time. we'd never been on the train at dole plantation, so it was fun to try that, and of course you can't go to dole without having their famous pineapple dole whip (pineapple soft serve ice cream).

waiting for the pineapple train

finally on the train!

my little pineapples...

"i only whine little bit"

makena is a whine-r. she always has been. we're sure it has something to do with ALWAYS being sick, chronic ear infections, eye infections, general sick-y colds. so, she's learned she gets her way when she whines. yes, we give in, where we never did with her older sister.

so, the time has come where enough is enough. the whining is driving me bonkers! when she starts to whine now, i firmly tell her to use her words and stop whining. it usually works after a few minutes. the other morning she was whining and fake crying for her usual morning staples, milk and dora. after telling her to cut it out and speak normally, miracles upon miracles, she stopped right away. she gave me a crooked little quizzical look and said, "i only whine a lil-bit," enter big sheepish grin. noa says that the amount she drives us crazy with the whining, she more than makes up for being absolutely hilarious. really, she just melts your heart with her cuteness. hence, the always giving in to the whining. vicious circle i tell ya!

palm tree princess

nanea did a photo shoot for palm tree princess, who sells the most darling handmade dresses on etsy. in "payment," she got to keep her dress and hair accessory, and the amazing tracy wright corvo sent us all of the pictures. here are some of the shots:

cowgirls

i worked 14+ hours both saturday and sunday this weekend, so the girls spent quality time with daddy. on sunday they went to a cowboy-themed birthday party and came home with lots of fun accessories. noa texted me these pictures while i was working:

little cowgirls

noa said makena kept shouting "i'm a cow bell!"

and we THOUGHT she was in her bed...

i check on the girls every night before i go to bed. turn off their fans, re-tuck them in. the other night i headed up the stairs at about 10:30pm, and saw light coming from under makena's door. i thought, oh no, she's up and playing in there (which she has been known to do). however when i peeked in the door, i came across this sight (and quickly had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing out loud):

fast asleep in her chair with two of her three favorite babies. you can't see the book tucked away on the side of the chair. she must have decided her babies needed a story so thought she'd go to the reading spot. if you look closely at the big picture, you can see that she also thought she needed some accessories and put on a nice jade and gold bracelet. she is just too funny for words most of the time!

Silent Night - Les Benedict - 8 Trombones

posting this a few months late, but this is my dad, all 8 trombones on the recording. it is beautiful!