Come celebrate our 20th Anniversary with us. YOU ARE INVITED! Kala mai, for short notice.
Place : Keokea Park Pavillion, Maui.
Date: Sunday 9th of July.
Time: Mid-day, 1-ish.
Hawaiian-style food, plus probably music/karaoke and an eggcream/ice-cream float station plus bouncy castle. Fun for all ages, no one will be turned away. So much going on with our families and we will take all opportunities to celebrate ohana and our lives.
The kids both love swimming and soccer. Lots of kicking in both, you will note. Kawena is getting good at freestyle and backstroke, and just passed into the “eel” group. Both Kawena and Mom love to dive and spend a lot of time practicing sitting on the bottom of the pool and retrieving objects. Nahele loves to swim around by herself and does not hesitate to jump.
Kawena has done so good swimming lately. Christina and I have taken him often/regularly to the Dodge YMCA pool, and he’s started his 3 to 5 y.o. swim class.
He has been jumping in and swimming, learned to hold his breath, and swim up. Seems like magic to us almost! He swims with no floats, and we just support him when swimming if needed, and also have him swim on his own for a few seconds, or as long as he doesn’t start going down and swallowing water.
Since Christina is due with no. 2 in the next month, she loves going to the pool as well. More swimmers!
Today he has basically learned to tread water, between 15 secs to a minute or more. It makes him happy! He couldn’t stop trying it over and over, even if he swallowed water. Near the end, he even floated in the upright position, face up! I didn’t even know that was possible, but he’s got the right boyancy right now.
I think that could be the secret of life: enjoying things and activities for their intrinsic value.
Sunday, Kawena went to the Cole Bros. Circus (his first). They were in Brooklyn for week, and they travel under the “big top”.
Cousin Hana was also celebrating her 6th b-day, and wanted to come out. Also there: Dasi, Hava, Lils, Sean, Sasha and lil Arun.
Wena’s favorite movie right now is “Dumbo”, so seeing the real circus in town was a must.
Kawena’s favorite was the “Elephants and Tigers”.
Dasi’s favorite was “the clowns”
Hana’s favorite: “the man shot out of the cannon!”
Today after his bath, Kawena went shi-shi in his potty without telling anyone. We just saw the results! Good thing, he nevah have any pants.
OK, so the kid is really strong. He grabbed the front of the metal rack, did a full pull up, then slowly placed his feet.
Since then, we have tried to avoid reminding him he can do this.
This was last month at 13 months of age.
mama
dada
out
bottle
uh oh
up
water
hello
open
all pau
hi
“ah doo” (no one is sure exactly what it means, but probably self-affirmation)
noodle
doo doo
on
down
radio
hana
katie
Also, he understands:
au au
kau kau
holo holo
moi moi (actually, i heard him say this the first time tonight, reading “hop on pop”)
nite-nite
telephone
round and round “fan”
out
teeth
auntie
uncle
dasi
grandma
grandpa
bye bye
be right back
opu
piko
We put together a mini baby luau in Prospect park, by the Picnic House and our little New York family and lots of friends came to say Happy Birthday to Kawena. Through the night before, we whipped up a batch of bite-size LauLau, along with Chicken Long Rice, fruit salad, Squid Luau, green salad and Haupia Cupcakes! Yum.
Lils and Sean brought cousins Hana and Dasi and Uncle Nick brough pal Jen Ku. Godmother Shalini and Berton rode their bikes through the park and we celebrated her birthday later that day too! Eiko, Sho and Saya came too, though Sho was pining for his soccer pal dad Charlie for a while but who came and saved the day! Viet learned how to make fire and use the tongs really well, with help from Dad Minh, while Quynh and daughter dug into the Long Rice.
After laying out the table, with help from Nick, we grilled a huge batch of Kal-Bi. Strangley, there were no left overs, especially after Alex, Susie, Jessie, and twins Wolfson showed up! Cathy Hoang brough some macaroni salad to balance out the spread and Maia Marinelli and Takashi brought some grownup conversation to balance out the talkstory. Luckily for us, Megumi and Jason brought some laughs and a few more items for the layout. With balloons and a ball, we celebrated all afternoon – through naptime and lunchtime, eating cupcakes though the late sun and into the warm spring evening.
