Al-O-Ha (Part 2)

Here we are, Day 5 on Waikiki!  We weren't sure what to expect, navigating all the touristy spots downtown with two kidlets in tow.  But we ended up scoring BIG.

Drumroll please...Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls...I give you - TEDDYBEAR WORLD.  It's a relatively new attraction in Honolulu, and although it has nothing to do with Hawaii, oh MY was it a hit.  The boys were absolutely over the moon watching animatronic bears perform in dozens of exhibits...from pandas in China, to Time Square, to a life-size Elvis on stage. 

Next up (i.e. after tearing two ecstatic boys away from thousands of plush toys) was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. 

My three rockers. 

 Brett got quite a treat - our server was very taken with our musical little guy, and arranged for him to get some stage time during the live band's intermisson.  Yep, Brett has played his own little set at the Hard Rock.  That'll look good to the record companies, no? 

Day 6: Zack gets a little surfing practice before heading out on another excursion.

We hiked up to Waimea Falls and then snorkeled at Waimea beach. 

Day 7: Toured the Battleship Missouri.  Brett still talks about it 2 months later!

We are OH SO mature.  Planning to frame this one and hang in a special place in the bathroom.

Last night before headin' home - zipped back over to Waikiki to watch the fireworks at the Hilton.  Oh, and one last trip to see the teddy bears...:)

That's all folks!
Aloha everyone...

Al-O-Ha (part 1)

Last month we were blessed to take our first *big* family trip in many years...hadn't left the continental US since 2006, a year and a half before Brett was born. We've traveled a bit with the boys, but mainly to visit faraway family. This time it was all about having fun, just the four of us.  We spent eight days on Oahu...such a blast. Managed to hit just about every recommended attraction on the island, returning home to our little private house on the beach every night.  Here, finally, is a little snippet of our journey to paradise. 








Day 1:
Settled into our beach house, stocked up on food, and snuck into Disney's new resort to party down with Chip and Dale.


Day 2: Sea Life Park - lots of cool marine animal shows...and meeting a new very special friend (more photos below)

Why hello there, Mr. Dolphin!

Brett's first dolphin dance








Smooooch!
Brett was so tough in the chilly water.  He insisted on swimming out with the dolphins, although Mommy held on tight so he wouldn't go on any unexpected dorsal fin rides. 

Day 3: Beach bummin' at Hanauma Bay.  Brett and Daddy snorkeled together while Mommy watched Zack consume copious amounts of sand. 










Stopped for some larger-than-life ice cream cones after the day at the bay. 

Day 4: Toured the Dole Pineapple Plantation

Pineapple ice cream with berries on top...yes please!  Devoured before it could be photographed: a fresh chocolate covered banana.

Day 4, Part 2: Germaine's Luau.  I love this photo - umm, Zack, why aren't you looking at the camera?

Yep. This was the day Zack discovered pretty girls.  Ladies' man... He really hit it off with this little sweetie named Marley...who was sitting at the next table.

Da-da and Zacker-oo chillaxin' at the luau.  Both boys stayed up super late to enjoy all the festivities. 

In the interest of getting *something* published...I'm going to stop here and just give a sneak peek of Part 2.  Stay tuned because Day 5 rocked'!

Day 5: Waikiki 

Zack turns One - the movie

Just like we did for our first little sweetie (see here), we documented Zack's first year by shooting weekly five-second videos.  Soon I will replace this version with one that includes his birthday party, but for now, enjoy!  :)

 

Zack turns One

I cannot believe this sweet little peanut is already a year old.  Happy Birthday precious Zack! 
We had the best time celebrating our little Z man with family and friends.  Zack and big bro Brett both love Eric Carle's book, The Hungry Caterpillar, so we themed the party around the cute little critter and all his favorite foods.  It was SO much fun. 

The invitations were a blast to create - lots and lots of circle cutting, itty bitty brads, and copying the intro of the book = super fun pop-out invites!  The back of the red 'head' circle has a photo of Zack on it.

On Monday he ate through one apple...but he was still hungry.

Caterpillar punch - made with all his favorite fruits...for an odd combination it turned out surprisingly yummy!  Below is the table spread - I had fun presenting this.  I used clear glass cylinder vases filled with colored pom poms for that signature Eric Carle dot look.  Each food has a hole punched through, using skewers/drinking straws.  So much fun.

 

Zack just starting to enjoy his birthday cake.  This was his first real experience with sugar...oh boy, was he in heaven!  I used his favorite food, bananas, to make a fresh banana creme icing.  Of course we had to peel all the yummy marshmallow fondant off first...and then he just went to TOWN.

 An aereal view of the giant caterpillar poms in the kitchen.  I have to admit, it's been two weeks since the party and these are still up.  I love them.  They brighten my day...almost as much as Zack-a-pillar himself :)

Zack's first year, month-by-month banner.  Yeah, this is still up too.  How can I take it down?  That sweet lil' face...

Below - the kiddos played a caterpillar-themed version of bean-bag toss...using mini caterpillar-shaped beanbags and tossing them through a board with flip-up pictures of each day's meal.  Here you also see one of Z's friends donning her very own caterpillar antennae.  The kids also enjoyed creating their own personalized fingerprint-caterpillar bookmarks.  Somehow I didn't get any photos of these, but they are similar to the ones here. 

And, because I must be a total crazy person...I agreed to create a cake for another birthday boy on the.same.DAY.  Yeaaahhh, not the smartest move on my part, but they loved it and I was pretty proud of it!  This big baby serves 60-80 people...whew, that's a lot of sugar!  My fave part was the custom-designed "23-B" logo that replaced the "GT-R" for the birthday boy's favorite car, a Nissan Skyline. 

Such a fun, blessed day for our sweet baby boy.  So thankful for all our awesome friends who came to celebrate his first year!

Brett's 4th Birthday

Although the blog has taken a backseat to...well...everything else, this one's worth posting. Brett turned four on New Year's Eve 2011, and had a rockin' celebration.  

Our first not-at-home party venue...Sound Roots School of Modern Music
It was nothing short of spectacular! Highly recommend for any little rocker...or pop star...or diva...you get the point. The staff was awesome, the facility was cool and funky, and the catered pizza was delish. They customized everything to Brett's interests, played his favorite music throughout the party, and they even got him jamming to one of his fave tunes live, Shine, by Pillar. Need I say more?

We did up concert posters and used them to decorate the room. Love, love, love these. Ready to buy your tickets?

We made mix CDs of Brett's fave tunes for party favors. This is the cover. The inside is another rockin' picture of him standing in front of a giant stack of drums.  We also did up a set of VIP tickets on lanyards for each guest to have their very own genuine backstage pass.  Can you tell I had a little bit of fun planning this party?

My pride and joy…labor of love…the cake.  Three layers of dark chocolate mudcake, filled with candy cane buttercream (requested by the birthday boy), iced with buttercream and finished off with marshmallow fondant + lots of modeling chocolate decorations to create a flying V guitar.  And of course, and a generous sprinkling of shimmery disco dust. 

On the sides was a half-size piano keyboard.  It was actually a couple keys bigger than a real piano…91 in total I think.  Yeah, we had a couple extra Cs and Ds.  Just don’t try practicing your scales on it.
Brett also requested strawberry cake, so I whipped up some cupcakes in the shape of snare drums.  Half are vanilla cake filled with strawberry jam and half are mudcake filled with raspberry.  Butterscotch-coated pretzels masquerade as drumsticks.

*You'll have to cock your head for this one...no matter what I do it comes up sideways.  Thanks blogger.*
Post-party surprise!  We sent Brett to bed for a nap, and this is what he found…new bunkbeds and a whole stack of new cool rockstar things to adorn his walls.  Yep, that's Brett's hero Big Ducky (remember his party last year?) shreddin' it up on the electric guitar and pounding it out on a snare drum.  Both these images had to be rendered from online video clips!  Mommy feels very triumphant in her tech skills...even though I can't get a photo to orient properly, ha...
Brett loved his 4th Bday bash.  Hope you enjoyed it.