Bye bye baseball...

Cade's baseball season is winding down- sorta thankful, but also sad. Thankful we won't have to sit in the cold, windy, rainy weather; sad because he's just starting to get the hang of it. For it being his first year, he did really well; it was definitely a learning experience as a parent. 

Top 5 things we learned:

5. Cade doesn't play Saturday morning games

4. Make sure to have snacks and distractors for Kenny

3. Cade doesn't play Saturday morning games

2. Be patient, laugh it off (Garrett coached them, and there were definitely moments he wasn't too happy)

1. Cade has a stubborn side, and doesn't play Saturday morning games. NOTHING. WILL. GET. HIM. TO. PLAY= not even a trip to Disneyland/Carsland! (Trust me, I tried!)

But on a happier side note, it was very rewarding and exciting to see supportive parents; seeing "old timers" come out and support this next generation reminds me how lucky we are to live where we grew up. 

Cade took a really nice baseball card picture! :) 

I couldn't help myself= I needed to document what the "unhappy, Saturday morning Cade" looked like so I can show him later. Half way through the season, we eliminated all the other variables and figured out it was the early time that threw him off. All the parents and family on the sideline knew as well; poor kiddo- you're not gonna hear the end of it when you get older!

Cade playing his last Saturday game! We begged him and reminded him of all his toys he's been waiting for. It worked! He's the little pitcher!

Our weekends have been busy with baseball, but not for long!

Kenny needed to be bribed to put on her little Girl's Day outfit

 The left side pic was last Saturday; the right side is about 9 months ago. Look how their faces have changed! 

Garrett went to Oahu for a weekend to attend a PT class, so the kids, Gammy, and I hung out.

First, Kenny caught up on her Netflix: Diego played non stop!

Then, Cade played with his pillowcases! 

We decided to get out of the rainy weather, and headed to a park to have a picnic. On the way, we noticed the Kula Country Farms was open. This is the same farm we come to and pick our pumpkins in the fall. On the way home from the park, we stopped in to check it out. 

Beautiful view!

Cade checking out the plants for Daddy to grow! 

Look at those sunflowers- we'll have to come back when they're all in bloom!

Riding the bull!

Goofy kiddos!

There was an area to pick strawberries, but we have our own little patch at home, so the kids weren't really interested. Plus, I think Daddy would've been a little offended! :(

Busy with baseball...

Ok, so baseball has been taking up quite a bit of our weekday afternoons and weekends, but we've still had some time to enjoy friends and family!

 Sweet Sarina (oh, and her mommy and daddy too) came to visit! ;) Haley and G are classmates from PT school and we lived with her for three years. They enjoyed a nice long vacay on Maui, so we had fun spending lots of time with them!

 

I had a cold for most of their trip, so I didn't hold Sarina til the end of the trip. Yes, what a cutie, huh!

 G's cousin, Dayne celebrated her 20-something birthday at the beach, so we headed out one day after Cade's t-ball game.

 

Chaz and Cade playing in the sand

 

The birthday girl with all the guys

 

The birthday girl with only the girls. We were missing Sherie and Shaina!

 

Kenny playing with Aunty Chansi's pretend glasses

 

Aunty Dayne and all the kiddos

Everytime we say goodbye, we always invite Chaz to come sleep over... this time he finally agreed!

 

Right before bedtime. The woke up on opposite ends!

 

 

 Name pancakes! Since Chaz had his hat on, Cade needed to also!

 

Cade's t-ball uniform 

 

This is how Kendyll entertains herself during Cade's games!

 

One of Cade's friend's mom sent me this collage of pics she made. She got some good shots of Cade playing! 

 Garrett has been playing baseball this season as well, so the kids and I have ventured to his games. Cade entertained himself by feeding the ants some crackers. He decided that was more interesting than watching his Daddy hit his first home run!

 

Kenny showing off her Valentine's treat from Aunty Liana's house. 

Busy, busy, busy...

 My cousin, Thomas, and his fiance, Thao, visited us at the beginning of January. We enjoyed taking them around Maui for a few days and showing them the beaches and food!

Cade making sand angels. This kid LOVES the sand! 

 Ululani's shave ice is a must after a hot day at the beach!

Cade officially started tee ball! It has been fun to watch him, but also a little frustrating because some days he refuses to participate. I had to bribe him a few times with Icees or lollipops. We've now resorted to a "goals chart" with stickers. We'll see if that helps...

Cade had fun one day practicing wearing his new helmet; reminds me of a hamster!

Cade's other adventure has been riding his bike without training wheels! We push him down the little hill in the front yard and he does quite well!

Can't leave out pics of the little princess. She continues to keep us on our toes with all her energy! She showed us that she's strong enough to hang on the bar at the playground for more than 10 seconds!

Here's Kenny sharing one of her favorite songs in Hawaiian-Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

This is Cade's 2nd day of riding bike, this time with Garrett

End of the Year and Welcoming 2013...

Sadly, 2012 had to come to an end. It was a great year of memories and good health. 

  

The kids and Lindsey; we headed to her house for the annual mochi making

 Cade getting a blessing of the powder

I wanted to get as many pics of the process this year... but still feel short.

 

Garrett's family has done mochi making every year since we've been dating/married. I know I didn't go the first year we dated (1995) but I think almost every year since I've gone. We do it using mochi machines; not the traditional pounding with the mallet. First the special mochi rice needs to be soaked overnight. Then Aunty Amy or Grandma Yamada is in charge of labeling names and how many pounds you brought. 

 

Then Uncle Glenn times the machines to cook and pound the rice so it comes out smooth. We use a very modern "cranker" to make sure the mochi comes out even and uniform. We've found that 7, 5, and 3 cranks are the best sizes! :) 

 

Some of the finished products

 

Kenny doesn't usually like Uncle Glenn because of his mustache. But, during mochi making, she didn't fuss at all! He took advantage and carried her too!

 

  

Silly kids with their oranges. They both ate sooo many!

 

After mochi making, we decided to hit the water for a bit.  Most times, heading to the beach on Maui in the afternoon isn't the smartest thing to do. But, we took a chance and boy were we lucky! The wind usually picks up and comes around the mountain on the Lahaina side, so the waves get really choppy. It can be dangerous to be out on the water when the wind suddenly picks up because you can get stranded out there and pushed out to sea! AGH!

Garrett had to work on New Year's Eve, and come home not feeling well. We decided to stay home that night and take it easy, knowing on New Year's Day we would be out all day. We both thought it would be fun to document the hours before midnight.

 

7:41  

Cade is VERY eager to start playing fireworks. He has become more interested in them this year and hears the neighbors all around us playing. We decided to watch some Netflix to kill some time, or else we thought we would've burned through the fireworks before midnight!

 

This is what $25 buys you: just right for us! Nothing too dangerous or loud

 

Kendyll was surprisingly very interested in holding some of the safer fireworks

Nice pic except for the closed eyes! Aiya! Our camera was having a hard time with the lighting!

 

We told the kids they could stay up as late as they wanted; I didn't think they would both make it! Still going strong at 9:24!

 

It was an absolutely gorgeous night- very mild temperature (probably in the high 60's) and very light wind. This was a little bad because the smoke lingered. Notice the waning gibbous moon! So beautiful! (Yes, Garrett had a small fire going! Sorry mom!) 

 

10:27

Still wide away and going through more fireworks! I was surprised they still had some!

 

Alright- a pic with  his eyes open!

 

In deep concentration...

 11:34

Now the kids were starting to get a little tired and cold outside. Decided to end the fireworks and take a bath. We had anticipated finishing the fireworks at my Aunty Irene's house the next night, but Mother Nature had plans of her own.

We ended up watching all of our neighbor's fireworks from the deck. It was really nice (and loud) and lasted about 20 min; all we did was keep moving around the deck to see more! Cheap entertainment at its finest!

 

12:11 

Happy 2013! As you can see- we are ready for bed. Kenny was already laying down in bed and I got her up to take the pic! :) 

Unfortunately, the kids didn't sleep in much on New Year's morning! Bright and early at 6:15 am, Kenny came running into our room. Oh boy...

After the annual New Year's lunch with the Miyamoto family and friends, we ventured off to the beach again. Decided to press our luck a second time... low and behold another beautiful beach afternoon!

 

The kids eating Daddy's snacks

 

This is how Kenny spends her beach time- away from the "dirty" water and sand she says!