Great Aloha Run

My first time running the Great Aloha Run! 25,000 people, 8.15 miles from the Aloha Tower to the Aloha Stadium. I ran with my friend Micaela because Zui's too fast for me.We bought matching outfits for the run (I know, I'm cheesy)
TONS of people. Would you believe we didn't even cross the START line for a half hour after the race started?? Just waiting for the mobs of people to move in front of us. We didn't even pass the walkers until mile 4 or so. Next year we will come earlier so we can get a better line up.



We did it! Micaela and I finished in 1 hr 30 min and Zui in 1 hr 10 min. I came in 6,427th! Not bad!A fun goal, I'm glad I did it. Maybe next year I'll be fast enough to run with Zui! lol ;)

Maiaohe Wonderland

Every year my students perform their Christmas songs in "Maiaohe Wonderland" aka, the Dennis Kim's garage. Maiaohe is the name of the street the Dennis Kim's live on--the street is lit up with tons of lights, and gets tons of passerby's the few weeks before Christmas.
This year my students performed 4 nights in a row. I played the duets with most of the younger ones, it was really fun for me. Here I am with Mia Ohki. Brennan Lee at the piano.

Anjuli and Grandpa outside his house. Don't you love the lit up palm trees?

I love this decorated house. They turn the outside into Santa's Workshop, it really is amazing.

Happy Birthday to Me--31

I was lucky enough to have a "birthday weekend" thanks to an encouraging husband :) On Saturday night a few friends got together and went to Bravo's, one of my favorite restaurants. Micaela's bday is just a few days before mine, so we had a little birthday bash for us, plus some. We got to ride in Andrea Taylor's convertible...with the top down! Let me tell you, it was SO much fun. I felt like I was a young, free, college student. Something about lots of girls in a convertible with wind blowing in your face is just so liberating!

The morning of my birthday Zui made blueberry muffins, yum! Zeya loved saying to me, "Ha-Birday Ma!"Right after we picked the kids up from preschool we headed to Ho'omaluhia. I love that place. It is so calm and peaceful, and I love that the kids are happy there. And that's what I wanted for my birthday: happy kids. Kinda funny, cause when we picked them up from preschool Anjuli had just gotten this cupcake loaded with pink frosting from a classmate's bday party. Everyone was hungry and wanted to eat it...how do you share one cupcake between 3 toddlers?? Well of course I didn't want pink frosting all over the van so I held that cupcake for the entire half hour drive with Zeya screaming non-stop. I almost threw in the rag and turned around to go home...so glad I didn't.We had a great time feeding the ducks. There are always soo many ducks there, and some big geese, too. The kids love having life-size animals following them around.
Feeding the fish is fun, too. There are CHOKE koi!

It was really amazing to see them all literally jump out of the water to grab the bread. Too bad you can't fish these koi, you could scoop them up with a butterfly net!
I just realized how crooked Jazzy is...good thing she didn't fall out! And no, it's not cold in Hawaii, Zion just LOVES to wear his jacket--with the hood on--all the time.
Anjuli insisted we all put flowers in our hair, even Jazzy :)
After the kids naps we went to...Chuck E Cheese! I wanted to spoil the kids and let them do whatever they wanted. After a half hour there we headed to McDonald's where the kids ate and played. When we got home Zui grilled us some steaks.

Birthday cake was meant to be a homemade mango pie but...the mangoes we were going to use had worms in them...so a few pastries did the trick. All in all, a great birthday! Thanks to everyone who helped make it special :)

Bach to the Future

We had our "Bach to the Future" piano recital a little while ago. It featured music from the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic genres. The week prior we had a Piano Party (rehearsal). Everyone played a run-through of their song, then we had a potluck lunch, followed by some playtime on the jump.

The kids loved the big jump (thank you Uncle Delbert!)
Emi and Mia Ohki
The night of the recital I had Zui open it up with the announcements.
Soren and I

Congratulations to all my students! Another great recital!

Jenn's trip to Oregon

October 24-31st I had the trip of a lifetime. Me and Baby Jaz flew to Oregon to spend a week with my family. I got to see my mom and dad, my brother Carl and his fam, and my 3 sisters. The best part of the trip was just being with my family again.
Baby Jaz getting to know Papa again :)
Famous "Papa's Kisses"
Spent some time at the Ham home. All the kids had grown up so much! Gary loves holding baby Jaz, and even offered to watch her while Julie and I went out to dinner (thanks!)
Everyone loves feeding baby Jaz ;)

Dad took us all out to eat at Golden Crown, where we had our "favorite things" party that Cindy put together. Everyone brought two of their favorite things, then we all swapped. It was really fun to see what everyone else liked, and come home with something new.
I spent a night at Carl and Aimee's house. Tyler just got his permit and can drive!! I can't believe how old he is--I remember when he was born!
Again, everyone loves feeding baby Jaz, she was more popular than me! lol
Jazzy girl really liked Carl. He could always get her to smile.
I just had to take a picture of their wall, I think it is so cute. Maybe someday I'll do something similar.

Aimee and I had a really fun craft day. We spent several hours making cards.
Look at all of our materials!
Even Ryan joined in the fun!
Natalie with Jazzy girl.
On Friday the Jones girls and Mom headed down to Seaside for 2 nights at the Worldmark. Between us girls we left behind 20 kids at home!! We were all a little ecstatic :)

On the way we stopped to see Aunt Erna. She is 90 something but still going strong. She is such a crack-up! And her mind is so sharp, she says she does crossword puzzles and plays Scrabble to exercise her mind.
Mom treated us to lunch at Pig'n Pancake, yum! Luckily Jasmine fell asleep so I could eat with 2 hands.

We had to stop to get Elephant Ears--one of my favorite memories of beach trips to Seaside.

Jaz was such a good baby traveling around so much, still all smiles.
Uncle Lance came to visit, my mom's brother. It was great seeing him again.
Girls in the kitchen, yes we are bakers :)
Saturday morning yoga session! Corina taught us all a few moves.
Friday was such a rainy, stormy day, but Saturday turned out to be gorgeous, and warm enough to wear a short sleeve shirt!

Miriam and baby Jaz just cruised on the sand while we took pictures....until Jasmine started rolling away!
Me and my sis Julie. My sisters convinced me to cut my hair like Julie's, so now we're twinners!
"I love your hair!"
Gotta love the jumping pics--this is something I learned from the Kim ohana, they always do this!
Saturday morning Cindy and I took a walk on the beach while mom watched our kids. It felt so nice to get out. We let go and ended up doing cartwheels!

Me and Cinds had lots of great talks, it was so nice to catch up. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of us together!
Miri and Jazzy girl at 5 months, just 2 weeks apart.
Aren't they cute?
Back at the Hughes home, having some girl time painting nails.
We stayed up late playing Dance Central--soo much fun!
Juje and Creen showing their moves.
We even got my mom and dad to do it!


The next morning I flew home, and got a great big welcome home from Zui and the kids. It was great to see them again.The biggest surprise was coming home to Zeya in underwear! Zui potty-trained him while I was gone!!
Julie gave me some Spiderman pajamas for Zion, which he absolutely LOVES.

Thank you Zui, for watching the kids for a whole week!