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!

Explorations of The Ava Bun

It was a really hot day so we decided to go outside and play.

Ava the explorer found a tiny twig...

She discovered that it would be fun to use that twig to dig

Ava had a great time exploring and playing outside,

But then it was time to go back inside.

Ava and the Tam Boys

Every week, Ava and her cousins Zach and Chris get together for a field trip day. So far, we've done days at the park, beach, visited the dolphins at Kahala Hotel, took a bus ride all the way to Moanalua from Kaimuki, and just hung out at Zach and Chris' house to play. Here are some pictures from a day at Ala Moana beach park where we had a picnic.

Lunch time!

Ava and Chris played under this tree together for a long time

Soon Zach joined in the fun

Where ever Ava went, Chris would follow

These two are so silly together.