Da Yamadas-Our Webpage: July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Happy 5th Birthday Cade!

Whoop whoop! We have a 5 year old in the house now! Wow, hard to believe it's been 5 years!

Cade wanted this green backpack for school. Plain... green... that's all. Sorta like a ninja turtle I guess?

A garbage truck was also on his present list

A few days after Cade's actual birthday, we celebrated at his preschool! Pizza and cake for all! Happy 5th birthday Cade!

You know how I love to reminisce, so click here Cade for when he was born.. turned 1... 2...3... and 4!

4th of July...

I figured I better catch up on July happenings since August is just a couple days away!

We had a low key 4th of July here. Played some fireworks and poppers that were leftover from the New Year!

We also continued our tradition of watching the annual Makawao Parade. The kids got to use their chairs and had front row seats!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

We stayed at the Waikiki Parc hotel for 2 nights, then moved next door to the Sheraton Waikiki. The move was mainly for the pool. I've been fortunate to stay at the Sheraton with students for a competition and knew that the kids would LOVE the pool area! Cade couldn't wait to jump in and didn't care that it was lightly raining!

We got to hang out with Aunty Lisa and Uncle Brent all day Monday. He was a good sport and endured shopping with us, then we had a delicious dinner at Gyu-kaku. Daddy had eaten at a Japanese BBQ with Uncle Brandon and was eager for us to try it out too!

Cheesy smile with Aunty Lisa and Uncle Brent. They had to keep a close eye on her so she wouldn't touch the fire!

S'mores dessert!

Tuesday turned out to be a very rainy day all over Oahu, so our initial plans to hang out with the Wadas at Sea Life Park quickly changed.

We decided to venture over to Cinnamon's in Kailua for brunch!

Guava chiffon pancakes were sooooo heavenly!

Red velvet pancakes were a must too!

Hurry up and take our pic so we can EAT! YUM!

The butterfly exhibit at Pearlridge sounded pleasing to all, so we decided to head there and stay dry.

Free butterfly arts and crafts kept them entertained before our butterfly house tour

Pic with these cuties!

The butterflies landed on the girls!

Daddy and Uncle Shawn took the kids on the monorail while the mommies shopped! Thank you!

Later that night we had another party to go to: Thomas and Thao's 2nd reception given by Aunty Jocelyn and Uncle Les for more family and friends

While mommy helped set up, Daddy made sure to tire out the two monkeys! Awww, nice pic!

Their 1001 paper cranes in their custom design

There was a Chinese Lion dance and Cade was brave enough to feed it!

Our final day on Oahu couldn't end without a last minute trip to the pool!

Of course Daddy had to spoil them with resort priced floaties!

One of Cade's favorite things about Waikiki was seeing all the "whale buses"

How's this cutie- sporting free shades we found in the car and my first book of the summer! DONE! :)

So you'd think after 4 nights in a hotel we would be tired and just want to stay at our house, right?! NOPE! After flying home to Maui and spending a few nights at home, we packed up again for a night in Kaanapali!

Who wouldn't want to hang with these cool kids! We vacationed with Emma and Owen a year ago in San Diego to the zoo and Legoland. If you look back at one of the pics, Emma was just a little shorter than me; well, she now TOWERS over me! Geez... I won't tell you how old she is. :)

Ok, their parents are pretty cool too! :)

We had a so many good laughs with them and can't wait for our next get together!

Remember how it was my "special" 32nd bday. Garrett did a REALLY good job and surprised us with an overnight stay at our favorite hotel... and I got a massage too! GOOD JOB! Little does he know that he has raised the bar for future presents (I know he's shaking his head as he reads this blog later...)

Kenny stayed FAR away from the slides, but then decided she would try them both out... just once each.

Kenny made good use of her new floatie in the 1 foot deep side!

Cade getting very brave in the water!

Cheese!

We ate lunch at Leoda's Pie shop on the way out the Lahaina. YUM! Banana cream pie and chocolate macadamia nut. We had a strawberry tart too, but was gobbled up before we could get a pic!

Friday, July 5, 2013

A birthday, wedding, and vacation!

I have a love/hate relationship with July...LOVE that it's still summer and that we get to celebrate some pretty cool birthdays; however, HATE that it also means we're into the second half of summer and school is just around the corner! How is it possible for 30 days to just fly by!?

Anyways, just after Father's day was my 32nd birthday. In the Japanese culture, a women's 32nd is a special birthday and you're supposed to celebrate to ward off bad luck. With visitors and vacation plans ahead, we chose to celebrate the day low key. I hinted to Garrett that HE needed to plan things... not me!

Kendyll REALLY wanted to buy me a guinea pig or bunny from the pet store. Sorry sissy, not this time!

Aunty Lisa and Uncle Brent flew in and we go to spend some time with them on Maui before we all met up on Oahu for a wedding.

My cousin Thomas was getting married on Oahu so we decided to make a mini vacation out of it. My sister dropped us off at the airport, and as Kenny was waving goodbye, she walked into the light pole! AGH! The lump eventually went away, but a small bruise was left. Nothing is wrong with her teeth- she was just making a funny face!

We hardly stay on the Waikiki side of the island since my grandparents live on the opposite side. It was fun to play tourist! The view from their ceremony location was beautiful!

Kendyll practicing with the ring bearer, Riley. She was so bossy!

Kenny and Daddy checking out the Halekulani gym and ammenities

Rehearsal dinner with the soon to be married couple

We usually just stay on Oahu for the weekend, but since we would be there for almost a week, we made sure to meet up with some of our good friends.

Lunch with the Orokus and Uncle Brandon at the Counter was definitely a must!

My salad burger on the left, Garrett's on the right. It was really good!

As luck would have it, we were right around the corner from the Wada's new house... so we popped in on them and got a grand tour!

Hi Sydney! (How's Jake's photo bomb!?)

Kendyll was so cute around Sydney- I think she thought she was sort of like a play doll!

We ate a lot on this trip... that same day, we had dinner with the Wadas and Aunty Marianne and Uncle Hoku at a teppanyaki restaurant (they cook in front of you). Cade and Jake LOVED it!

Kenny... not so much. She kept hiding and saying she was done with dinner! Poor thing!

I love how the kids pick up and start playing with each other immediately... reminds me of our friendship with Joy and Shawn! No matter how long it's been... it's just like it was yesterday.

Walking around holding hands...

Hmm... I think you guys should consider buying something for your Mommies!

Alright, so the real reason we went to Oahu was for a wedding. Kenny and Garrett were both in the wedding party so we were a little busy on Sunday getting them ready and to the right place on time!

Look at this girl!

Kenny was loved by the bridesmaids and they were eager to share all their lipsticks with her

Gotta love a guy in a suit!

I know... cute huh! They were best buds in no time!

I made Garrett his own cuff links with the kids pics! He rocked them all night!

The ceremony was absolutely breathtaking!

My date for the night! He kept calling his tie his "necklace"

My Uncle, cousin, and Aunty

I know... another "AWWW"! Literally, the audience "AWWWWed" too when these cuties walked out!

Of course, Aunty Thao was gorgeous and got the audience to "OOOOHHH"! Her dress... her hair... everything was just right!

We were so worried about making sure Kenny walked down the aisle.. I didn't even think about how she was going to stand there for the ceremony. At first she was fine...

Then she got distracted by the view and people on the beach...

Next she realized there was flowers in her basket that she forgot to throw down!

She even waved and called out "Mom!" at one point, but good thing it wasn't too loud!

Hmm... and then she decided she was tired and sat behind the bridesmaids. At one point, she even decided to play peek-a-boo with their dresses. OH BOY!