Kids Update

Anjuli at age 4 is lots of fun and easy to get along with (most of the time). She loves princesses and always wants to play dress up. Recently Grandma sent in the mail some new princess jammies and a new valentines dress. Anjuli was ecstatic! She loved modeling them for me. Anjuli loves preschool and playing with her 2 brothers.

Anjuli loves the sleeves on this princess dress. She calls them bells and loves to "ring" them :)

She made quite a cute valentine at church on Sunday!
Anjuli loves art and has learned to write her name. At preschool her 2 favorite things to do is read books and paint.
I know this is an unusual picture, but we just thought it was so funny Zion would fall asleep in the bathtub! I was gone when this happened, but apparently Zui had finished bathing Zion and went downstairs to get Zeya. By the time he came back upstairs Zion was completely knocked out and wouldn't wake up for anything.
Zion turns 3 next month and is SO excited to get a balloon on his birthday and go to Chuck E Cheese. He talks about it everyday. Zion loves to tease his big sister and take her toys away. But when she's gone (at preschool) he always asks where she is and when she's coming home.
Zion loves to have his picture taken right now. Such a ham. Other favorite activities include playing outside, playing with water, and anything with wheels. Zion also loves to cook with me. He is always pulling out the stool and saying, "Mommy, we use the mix-it?" (mixer). He loves our new Kitchenaid more than anything!
Zeya also loves water, as can be seen here :) Oh boy, we have found him not only in the bathroom sink, but also in places such as inside the toilet bowl (eww!) and inside Grandpa's koi pond trying to catch the fish! We really have to be careful to close all the doors to the bathrooms, he is quick.
Zeya loves to make messes!! Every meal is a huge mess and usually requires some kind of full-body rinse or a bath. He loves to throw things on the floor. We call him "Zeya ba-beya" and often sing about him to the tune of Fiddler on the Roof "Mess-maker, mess-maker make me a mess..."
Zeya has a really fun-loving personality, and loves people. He is always waving at strangers and saying "hi" to them. His two other words he knows is "Mommy" and "bu" for bus. The older kids love and adore him, and I can always count on them to help entertain when I'm busy.

All Aboard!

The kids have been enthralled with a short train movie about 10 minutes long. Ever since, they've been asking me when they could ride on the train. I didn't even think there was a train on Oahu. But I looked it up, and sure enough there is an Oahu Railway Society that restores old trains and offers rides. I was so excited, the kids were even moreso.
They had some really neat locomotives we could look at.
The kids matching shirts are from Grandma (thanks!).

Here's the passenger train we rode. The kids couldn't wait to get on.
The 45 minute tour was just long enough. Pretty slow and bumpy at 15 miles/hr. The kids loved it. Especially since the train passed by construction sites with lots of diggers and bulldozers--two shows in one!
Afterwards Lorinda's family bought all the kids train whistles. Wow! The kids have had tons of fun making ear-shattering noises with these :)
Afterwards we took the kids to McDonald's. The play center was a plus.



Chuck E Cheese was right around the corner. The kids begged to go, so we spent $2 and gave them each 4 tokens. They had a lot of fun in 20 minutes :)


What a fun day. The kids were exhausted by the time we left. I love it when my kids are happy.

Ko'olina

My college roomate Melissa came into town with her husband. We took them to our favorite beach, Ko'olina.
Anjuli loves boogie boarding. Zui gives her a little push when the "wave" comes and she rides onto shore.
Zeya loves the beach. It's so nice to have everyone entertained (for free!)

It's pretty hard to get 3 kids to look at the same time when they're all enthralled with sand toys.

Beach days make me happy, because my family is happy :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

We celebrated Chinese New Year at the Dennis Kim home, as usual. First the grandkids did a lion dance while Grandpa beat the drum in the background.
Then time for the hong bows! We dressed up the kids in some Chinese outfits that Linda gave them a few years ago.
Zui had been practicing with them for a few days to get the hong bows right, so they were actually pretty good at it :)
Lucky girl! Anjuli's been so excited for Chinese New Year so she could have some money to buy a princess sticker book she's been wanting.
Dennis and Yvonne also dressed up in traditional Chinese attire. The kids sure love Grandpa and Apo!
Thank you, Dad, for the red envelope$!

Mom and Dad's Visit

My Mom and Dad recently came to visit us. It was so much fun. The best part about it was watching them play with the kids. Anjuli for weeks now has been telling me, "Grandma always lets me watch 3 movies...(insert anything that Mom usually doesn't let her do). Needless to say, the kids love them very much :)

Zeya took well especially to Papa, who loves to play and tickle with his grandkids.

The famous "fall forward" :)

We did so many fun things together. One of our favorites was going to Ho'omaluhia, a botanical garden. The name actually means "a place of peace and refuge." It truly is so relaxing and peaceful there.

The kids favorite part is feeding the ducks, which there is A LOT of.

Zeya especially loved the ducks and would try to chase them all around.

Anjuli decided to go on a long walk with Grandma and Papa, but got too tired so lucky her, she got carried!

More feeding the duck pics...Zeya could have stayed there all day I think.

Mom brought me a big Christmas present--my very own Kitchenaid mixer!!

I've just been using a handheld mixer ever since we got married, and had forgotten how nice it is to have a 'real' mixer. The kids especially love the mixer.

Since we've gotten it, everyday (and I'm not joking) Zion or Anjuli asks me to go make something in the mixer so...we've been baking a lot lately :) They love watching it mix, and the yummy treats after.

Here's Anjuli helping me make Icecream Cake out of icecream sandwiches (so super easy!)

Another fun thing we did was go to Makapu'u lighthouse. About a mile walk up a paved trail and you're pretty high up with a beautiful view of the ocean. We even saw some whales spouting!

The kids even did pretty well on the walk.

One night we got a babysitter and went to the PCC luau and night show. It was so nice to relax, eat with 2 hands, and have fire-dancing entertainment :) Thanks Mom and Dad!

Love those mid-bite shots...

Another day we all got on our bikes and did the North Shore trail.

The kids love riding their bikes, and it was fun to stop at so many beaches along the way.

So nice to have someone take a picture of our whole family!

Mom and Dad gave us the best gift of all--a 2 night getaway. We were so excited, at first we didn't even know what to do. Our first stop was to Hawaiian Waters.

I love waterslides! What a blast!

It didn't take long to remember how much fun we can have together. It felt like we were young college students again.

Later that night we walked along the beach outside our hotel. It felt strange to have so much time on our hands, and for things to be so quiet!

We went to the Pali lookout one day. So fun, and so super windy.

I felt giddy the whole time, probably from finally getting enough sleep and having 2 hands to eat enough food, and enough time for US.

Hiking Manuawili Falls. This trail is really pretty, and fun to walk on because it crosses over the stream several times before getting to the waterfall (which is nothing like Multnomah Falls, but still pretty cool for Hawaii).

What a workout :)

At this waterfall you can jump from 30, 40, and 50 foot heights. Zui jumped from the 40 foot several times (mostly because I couldn't get a good video or picture, so I had him keep redoing it:)

Here's a video of Zui's jump:

After Maunawili's we went to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. It still amazes me all the different fish you can see.

Too bad we didn't have an underwater camera...

We came back Sunday morning. When we came back we found out that Zion had been sick the entire time with the throw-ups! Poor Zion, and poor mom and dad who had to clean it all up! It made me even more grateful for my mom and dad watching the kids for 2 whole nights.

Mom also made a surfboard bag for Zui! Originally I was supposed to make it for Zui for Christmas, but when mom came down I asked her to help me...so I picked out the fabric and she sewed it all together! Thanks so much Mom, it looks awesome!
It has been super fun having them here. Next time we see them will be when the baby's born. Can't wait to have them back!