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!
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…
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?
by Papa K on December 19, 2012
For some reason Maile is convinced that her baby sister is going to have purple hair. Perhaps this is a premonition of the future that Maile is having. Or perhaps she just thinks baby’s are born with purple hair. Regardless, in a few weeks Maile is either going to be a bit disappointed … or Mommy and Daddy are going to be VERY surprised 🙂
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on December 17, 2012
A couple weeks ago Maile was at a friend’s house and became fascinated with these nesting dolls they had. Imagine how excited she was when she opened her Hanukkah present from her Cousin Donna to find her very own set – brought all the way in Russia no less!
Thanks Cousin Donna!
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on December 16, 2012
No idea where this “ribbon dance” idea came from – but it put a smile on my face … and this was one of those weekends where I was very thankful for that.
(Dad note: I’m very mindful when writing tonight that one day Maile and her sister will be reading through all of these posts – and it will likely be sooner than I think. I wrote some more words, but nothing that does my feelings justice so I deleted them. I doubt things will make more sense on that day in the future when Maile comes asking, but perhaps the context of what comes next will make the story a little easier to tell. That is my hope.)
(Click here for the video.)
Daddy often shows me dance moves (between you and me, some of them are kind of funny). The other night, I dressed up in my new princess gown and Mommy showed me some tips of how a real princess dances. I felt magical!
(Click here for the video.)
by Papa K on December 13, 2012
by Papa K on December 11, 2012
Grandma Jill and Papa Mike made Maile a VERY happy little girl tonight!
Maile Girl approves of her new princess dress up outfit. We may never get it off of her!
(Click here for the video.)
… Daddy got us matching jammies! Every year for Christmas Daddy buys Mommy and me matching jammies – they are absolutely my favorite things to wear! Last year, he bought a set for him too – so we have a whole family that gets to wear the same thing to sleep! This year, he switched it up and got Hanukkah jammies instead of Christmas jammies AND he also got a pair for my little sister 🙂 I can’t wait to wear them with her!
Mommy and I in our Hanukkah jammies - so snuggly!
The whole family - yay!
I can't wait to share with my baby sister - we're are going to match, match, MATCH!
