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katie

Maile Girl Goes to Disneyland, Day #1

by Papa K on December 28, 2012

On Wednesday, we hit the “big show” so to speak – we got up bright and early and drove over to Disneyland. It was definitely one of those times when I wished I could be inside Maile’s little head hearing/seeing/feeling what she was. We had talked up Disneyland a little bit, but there really is no way to describe it. When we entered the parking lot, she said “Is this Disneyland, Daddy?” Not yet Maile Girl, not yet.

We had a great first day at the park – hit some rides, wandered all over, smiled, laughed – all the things you are supposed to do at the happiest place on earth. And as you’ll see from the pictures, the day ended with Maile completely zonked – dreaming whatever little girls dream after their visit to a magical place…

Yep, Maile Girl is here. That isn't a fake castle behind me, it's the real deal! (Dad note: Well, technically, it is fake ... but we'll let it go...)

Coolest breakfast ever!

Who's that with Papa on the rocket ship? (BTW - This was Maile's 3rd time on this ride - Daddy went twice and then tagged Papa in as his head was spinning!)

Maile and Daddy on the Jungle Cruise. The look on her face is 1/2 what in the world is going on? and 1/2 get me out of here!

Maile and Daddy in line for Maile's very first roller coaster ride...

... whew, just made it!

Maile LOVED the roller coaster! In fact, she only cried when we got off because she wanted to go again and Daddy said the line was too long 🙂

Since Mommy is 36 weeks pregnant, the roller coasters were a no go, but she and Maile still had some quality time on the carousel!

Argh, I can't quite get this sword out of this stone. If only I had ...

... two cousins to help me out!

Maile at dinner - I think we can say that our day 1 mission was accomplished!

All in all, a great first day at Disneyland! Thank you Grandma Gail and Papa Cal!

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Maile’s Adventures in Legoland

by Papa K on December 27, 2012

On Wednesday, we headed down to Legoland to ease the girls into their theme park adventures. It was a great choice – Legoland gets two thumbs up from all of us – it’s kind of like training wheels for Disneyland. Smaller crowds so its easier to get around and the lines are much shorter. The rides are a bit tamer too – lots to do for the 5 and under set. Plus, legos are awesome.

Our first ride was a helicopter ride. It went up and down, turned a bit. Allowed Maile and I to sit together. Perfect way to start - and she loved it!

Let's go up again, Daddy!

Maile may not be afraid of heights, but she is NOT a fan of lego lions that growl at you when you stand next to them to take a picture.

Of course, we were joined by our cousins, Katie and Emily on our adventure to Legoland...

... and with them around, we can have fun just about anywhere!

We were walking by this stage show with 4 singer/dancers and Maile just walked over and plopped herself down on this ledge. She proceeded to watch the next 15 minutes of the show completely enthralled.

... and then she met the girls herself and was blown away!

Meet Hello Kitty Maile (thank you Grandma and Papa!)

This airplane ride that went around in circles was Daddy's ... er Maile's favorite - we went twice back-to-back (yep, I taught Maile the old, get off and run really fast to get back in line move. She executed it like a pro!)

Mommy, mommy, I'm flying!

Great times at Legoland – thank you Grandma Gail and Papa Cal!

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QT with the Cousins in Anaheim

by Papa K on December 26, 2012

On Tuesday, we traveled down to Anaheim with the whole family, Grandma and Papa Hawaii, Katie, Emily and Uncle Steve (Aunty Nao is meeting us in a few days). The primary purpose of our visit is to hit up Disneyland, but we are already having a blast before even getting to the happiest place on earth!

Grandma and Papa made sure that Maile, Katie and Emily will arrive at Disney in style with their very own Disney princess dresses. I'm told that Maile is wearing the Belle dress - in fact, Maile has told me that, many, many times.

Maile is old enough now that she is picking things up from her Japanese cousins - including the two fingers next to the face for pictures pose.

Yes, more princess dresses! The house that Papa Cal rented for the week is amazing. Everything is Disney and there is a great game room for the kids to play in - including a full Disney/costume warddrobe. I think Maile actually thinks this house is 'Disneyland' - wait until she sees the real thing!

Maile is a huge fan of air hockey - bring it!

The house has bunkbeds - Maile had a grand plan that she was going to sleep with her cousins in the bunk beds. This lasted for about 10 minutes. Maile is now sleeping in our room 🙂

Much, much more to come…

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Katie and Emily. Are. In. The. House.

by Maile Girl on December 23, 2012

Maile Girl here. GUESS WHAT?! Katie and Emily are here! Yes, in San Francisco! At my house! I showed them my room and my toys and we colored and played games and slurped noodles and ran around and cuddled and read books – and that was all in just the first couple of hours! We are already having so much fun and we haven’t even gotten to Disneyland yet! (Dad note: we are all headed there after Christmas.)

Sorry, Daddy, I guess I ruined the picture, but I just can't believe my eyes!

Katie and Emily speak mostly Japanese, but Candyland is a universal language apparently because we were able to play just fine!

(Dad note: Christine and I have been playing A LOT of Candyland since Maile got it for Hanukkah so we are very happy to add some new players into the mix.)

Can you guess which one is my lunch and which one is Katie and Emily's?

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Gingerbread House Decorating with the Cousins

by Papa K on January 5, 2012

Grandma Gail had a whole bunch of projects lined up for the girls. One of the favorites was gingerbread house decorating (although it’s unclear if the girls liked the decorating or eating part better).

Decorating the gingerbread house is serious business!

Each girl also decorated their own Gingerbread man - they were also cousins and all lived in the house together.

So we're done decorating, right? I can eat the extra candy now?

(Click here for the video.)

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Christmas 2011

by Papa K on December 30, 2011

Christmas with Christine’s family is a multi-day affair (and this was even before my Hanukkah-influenced “8 Crazy Nights” came into the picture ;). Christmas Eve is spent at Aunty Cindy’s house where Santa comes to visit and Grandma Gail coordinates a bunch of family games. Christmas Day is a big luncheon with the families of Christine’s grandmother and her 9 siblings (that adds up to A LOT of cousins!) And then on the 26th we return to Kauai and open up all the presents under Grandma and Papa’s tree.

The girls are ready to rock Christmas...

Waiting for Santa - as we'll soon see, not sure Maile fully understood what they were looking for - she was just following her cousins...

WHAT THE ...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Santa, I've got my eyes on you. No fast moves!

This is the best smile you are going to get out of me. (Dad note: Maile did great this year - she was nervous, but no tears!)

For me?!? So I make nice with Santa, take a few pictures, and I get a present? Now, I understand!

On Christmas Day, with the girls all dressed up, we decided to take some pictures…

Christmas Day family picture with Uncle Steve, Katie and Emily (Aunty Nao isn't arriving until the 29th)

Grandma Gail and Papa Cal with the girls

On the 26th, we headed home to Kauai to a mountain of presents waiting under the tree for all the girls. They had a blast opening everything!

I wonder what this one is...

SO AWESOME! I got a real doctor's kit!

One of Maile’s favorite presents is the doctor’s kit that Grandma Gail and Grandpa Cal got her. Mommy and I have had oh, about a dozen check ups each in the past couple of days. 2012 is going to be a super healthy year for us with Dr. Maile keeping tabs on us.

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Fun, Fun, Fun with the Cousins

by Papa K on December 28, 2011

By far the best part of our Hawaii trip has been seeing Maile and her cousins, Katie and Emily, together again. As soon as Katie and Emily landed the fun began – they didn’t skip a beat – you’d think they saw each other every week! Katie and Emily pretty much only speak Japanese (although they do understand English) – yet, it doesn’t matter. Maile, Katie and Emily communicate through shrieks and giggles and run around all over the place together…

(Hat tip to Grandma Gail for providing all the matching outfits!)

(Click here for the video.)

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Cross Post from Katie’s Blog

by Papa K on March 27, 2011

Katie bridge over Maile

Some of our long time readers might recall that the original inspiration for this blog came from Chris’ brother Steve and the amazing blog he’s been writing about his daughters (and Maile’s cousins), Katie and Emily, for the past 5(!) years.

He just posted some great stories from our time in Hawaii over Christmas and I thought I’d share them here as well.

Dancing – if you only click over and look at one of these, make sure it’s this one – the second video in particular is a riot!
New Doll House – amazingly no fighting…
Musical Exchange – Maile and Emily cut a deal
Goodbye Maile – Katie recounts what great friends she and Maile became during the trip

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A Holiday Tradition – Christmas Cookies!

by Papa K on January 6, 2011

To close out the recap of our Christmas trip to Hawaii, we thought we’d cover one of our favorite traditions – the making of Christmas cookies. This year it was all hands on deck, Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Nao, Uncle Steve, Mommy, Daddy, Katie, Emily and Maile Girl all chipped in on the fun.

First, Mommy helped the girls pick out their cookie cutters...

Then Grandma and Grandpa helped the girls cut their cookies - definitely the bravest of the jobs!

Then came the best part – the decorating! Maile Girl was an ace with the sprinkles…

A look at one of Maile's masterpieces...

I think it's safe to say Maile Girl had a blast!

(Click here for the video.)

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A jury of your peers…

by Maile Girl on December 30, 2010

Just a quick post tonight because we are out celebrating Mommy’s birthday (happy birthday Mommy!). Today we headed over to the courthouse. Last year, I got to try on Grandpa’s judge robe – this year, Katie, Emily and I sat in on a jury!