Birthday Weekend

On November 19, I turned the big 27! Daniel and Ava took me to eat at a place called Shabu Shabu House. My brothers-in-law and future sister-in-law joined us in this ethnic adventure. This was my first experience eating this type of food... apparently it's Japanese, and considering I'm Japanese and have never eaten this before, shocks me!  So what is Shabu Shabu you ask?  Well, they have a little pot of boiling water on your table heated by a small burner.  You are given an assortment of raw vegetables and meat, and you drop these into the water to cook it.  It doesn't sound very tasty since it's cooked in just boiling water, but after you cook it, you dip it into different sauces.  The sauces they had made it soooo yummy!  I loved it!

Daniel even made me a cake with the help of Ava.  It looks pretty interesting, but I promise it was delicious!

That weekend, we went to the beach for a b-day beach day with the Hastings Family.    

We were blessed with some nice weather.

Ava jumped off cliffs into the water... actually, got dropped into Daddy's arms in the water.

 Ava just adores little Tristan!

The splashing game  

After Tristan was done splashing Ava, she tried to get him back, 

but her splashing technique wasn't as great as Tristan's.  

He got her good this time.

Thanks to everyone who made my 27th birthday so much fun!

November Shenanigans

November came and went, but here are a few highlights of our month.

We visited the Laie Temple Open House! We are so glad the temple is now open again!

Ava had a great time running around the temple grounds.  She ran into Keali'i and his family and these two kept wanting to touch the water fountain as every kid does.

 
When I asked Ava to smile so I could take a few pictures of her, she decided to do this for me....

This little girl thinks she's a model with all her different poses!

On Thanksgiving we had two family parties.  One on the west side of the island in Mililani and one on the east side in Hawaii Kai.  It can get pretty tiring driving back and forth, but this year it wasn't too bad.  It's only about an hour drive, but for Hawaii, that's a long drive.  

The brothers

The Hawaii Kai Family

And over Thanksgiving break, Daddy taught Ava this.  She calls it "Man Fall Down Game".  

Happy Holidays!

Halloween Fun

A Pumpkin we will find...

Choosing the perfect one

Papa and Grandma endured the unbelievable heat at the Pumpkin Patch

Grandma taking Ava to see the farm animals

Ava loved petting the bunny... and the bunny loved getting pet!

And this is what we did with our two lovely pumpkins...

She specifically wanted triangle eyes and a triangle nose

It sure feels slimy in there

And on to the big pumpkin

Ava decided that we were going to carve a cat.

This year, we asked Ava what she wanted to be for Halloween. At first she was dead set on being a "Chicken Face". Then a few days later, she decided that she was going to be Snow White or Jasmine... but finally, she decided to be Tinkerbell and stuck with her decision. (Mostly because I was running out of time to make her costume. So she had to settle with Tink.)

Getting ready for the ward Halloween Party with Daddy...

and Uncle George

And Yes! She had fun playing games this year!

Eating yummy chili with rice and carrots with Grandma

On Halloween we went over to visit our family in Hawaii Kai.

Happy Halloween!!!

Visitors

Great Grandma Ann and Great Grandpa Rip came for a visit.

Ava is so blessed to have 3 pairs of amazing Great Grandparents alive and well!

Play Time

Ava has been into stacking her block shapes into what she calls a "tall building".

Whenever she is successful, she runs to tell someone or show them of her accomplishment. She is so proud of the tall buildings she makes.

Ava and Daddy hanging out when Ava was feeling a little under the weather

The Pineapple Train

We were invited to go on a Pineapple Train ride out at the Dole Plantation with Ava's little cousins. The ride is about 15-20 minutes long and throughout the ride, we were given a history lesson about the plantation and the pineapples grown there. It is more of a touristy thing, but I had loads of fun!

The Tam Family and Grandma Yomogida (can you believe she is 95 yrs old?!)

Ava doesn't look too excited, but she really did enjoy the ride.

Trying to get Ava and Chris to smile at me.

Finally got one....

And of course we had to have the pineapple ice cream!

Grandma Yomogida decided that her coffee would be better with some pineapple ice cream mixed into it.

Oh and by the way, the pineapple ice cream was delicious!

Thanks for the invite Joy and Jeff!