pumpkins!

A chubby Kuromi and Allie's scary rainbow-loving pumpkin!

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Pumpkin Carving!

Finally got around to carving our pumpkins tonight!

Allie and I decided we wanted a Kuromi pumpkin so I worked on that.  I used my dremel to carve out part of her head - my camera doesn't take very good pics in the dark so I'll have to post of pic of the pumpkin in light.  It came out alright, took forever and I was covered with pumpkin stuff when I was finished!

Jason helped Allie carve her own pumpkin.  He had her draw a picture of what she wanted - she said she wanted to make it really scary!  And then Jason carved it for her.

This is what she drew:

This is the end result:

Pretty awesome!  I just love the scary pumpkin she drew and then the rainbow she drew over it. haha

Pumpkin Patch!

On Sunday, Allie's Girl Scout troop planned to go to the pumpkin patch. The girls will earn a patch for ?? I don't know, they give patches for everything now. haha  I drove us out there without getting lost fortunately!  It's located in the middle of nowhere and the last time we went (two years ago) we got incredibly lost.  They had planned to meet at 11 am - we got there at 11 AM but then it took us 30 minutes to drive back the dirt lane and find parking.  It was craziness!  I think they only open the farm for 2 weekends for pumpkins.

Anyway, we didn't actually park until 11:30 AM, we saw one other mom from the girl scout troop and it sounded like the plan to meet at 11 AM didn't go as well.  Most people just split up to do their own thing.  I didn't really want to do the hayride, which isn't very fun when there's like 60 people packed on the wagon and you have to stand :( so we just wandered out in the fields to pick our own pumpkins. Since it was just Allie and I, we could only get small pumpkins! We picked up 2 smallish pumpkins and a colorful mini pumpkin for just $5.  It was hot, dusty and dirty, so we paid for our pumpkins and left! We haven't gotten around to carving them yet, maybe tonight! Also, we carved them a week before Halloween last year and by Halloween it was a big nasty moldy mess! gross! Pumpkins don't last here.

On the other hand, we're finally experiencing our "winter weather" which is nice because last week there were no tradewinds which made it really hot and uncomfortable at night.  It's been super windy and a little rainy off and on.  I can finally bust out my warmish clothes!

Girl Scout Halloween Party

On Friday, Allie's Girl Scout group had a Halloween party.  It was a lot of fun for the girls - the leaders do a really good job and go all out trying to put together fun things for the kids.

This year Allie wanted to be a Princess Fairy Kitty - trying to fit in as much as possible, I guess? She put the whole costume together herself out things she already had so we didn't have to buy anything this year! (so that was nice).  I did have to make her a kitty tail though!

Anyway, it was potluck-style and everyone made cute little treats for the girls.  I made a giant batch of brownies and put gummy worms in them (I was pretty lazy actually).  Some of the other moms went all out and made really cute treats. 

Hot dog mummies! 

Spider deviled-eggs!

We ate dinner and then the kids got to pick out little pumpkins and decorate with them with eyes/noses/mouths cut out from magazines. 

They also played a game where they wrapped each other up with toilet paper (like mummies). It was really cute.   The kids had a lot of fun, more of the girls are becoming friends and playing with each other now (or rather that Allie is becoming friends with more of the girls).  Its really neat to watch them bond and start helping each other out. It seems like their attitudes toward each other are different than if they were just in a class together.  Maybe its because its only girls or because its such a small group, but there's none of that bossiness or cattiness that seems to usually occurs between girls.  I guess that's what I liked about Girl Scouts too.

After the party Allie exclaimed "I love girls scouts so much!" 

Make new friends, but keep the old. . .

Purikura with Lauren & Karen!

On Monday, I spent the day with my friend, Karen.
I met Karen through my friend Lauren who met her while they were both interning a the Honolulu Weekly back in December or January. We all hit it off well and started hanging out. We donʻt get to see her too often though because she doesnʻt drive and lives in Wahiawa.  Sheʻs from Scotland orginally and has lived all over the place and spent a few years in Japan, hence why she has never learned how to drive (she never lived some placed where she needed to!). 

Unfortunately, her husband is leaving the army now and theyʻre going to be moving to Ohio ironically enough.  I think his mom lives there now.  Haha, Iʻm trying to set her up with Melinda so she has someone to hang out with when she gets there. I think they would get along pretty well. Theyʻre both the kind of people that arenʻt hard to get along with.

Anyway, I am sad that she is leaving.  She has been my hiking buddy and is always up for seeing and trying new things.  I'm trying to spend time with her before she leaves here in the next week or so.  On Monday she rode the bus into town and I picked her up and we drove to Lanikai and did the Lanikai pillbox hike (not much a hike really, pretty short!).  But beautiful views.  It was pretty steep though. Some how neither of us fell the whole time. . . until the very, very end when I fell on my butt and slid down the hill. haha After that we went ate fish tacos at Maui tacos (Iʻve been eating a lot of tacos lately, huh? Well, theyʻre cheap and about 1000 times better when theyʻre not from Taco Bell!).  and then we went to the beach at Lanikai and swam in the water.  

After that we headed toward town and stopped at the Pali Lookout. They make tourists pay to park there now!  Anyway, that got me thinking that she had never been to one of the lookouts that overlook the city so I took her up to Makiki Heights.  Makiki Heights is also where the Contemporary Museum is so we stopped there - they are closed on Mondays, but my friend was working and able to take us into the galleries for our own personal tour! :D

Pali Lookout

After that, I was going to take her back to the mall to catch the bus home, but then Karen asked me if I wanted to go get Taiwanese shave ice from this place that weʻve eaten at before.  I said "Yes!" (Itʻs goood!) and then we decided to pick up Allie from school so she could come with us!  Taiwanese shave ice is a little different than Hawaiian style - they pour a brown sugar syrup on top for one. And its all about the toppings!  They have about 10-12 different toppings you can choose from.  Allie went ahead and got regular rainbow shave ice, but I got Taiwanese style with pudding (that lovely little yellow/brown thing on top), mochi balls and coconut tapioca. I let Allie try it but I think the tapioca weirded her out - she did not like it! haha

Taiwanese-style Shave ice - yummy!

Since it was evening by this time I offered to take Karen home and also because I wanted to see her dogs before she moves!  They have two Huskies/Malamute mixes - one almost 1 yr old and the other is 5 or 6 months old.  So we drove through rush hour traffic to Wahiawa (which took forever, it seemed) and then we had to go through the scary process of going on base! (Since she lives on the military base).  Its not that scary really, its just a weird feeling - they check her ID, check my ID, ask us where we are going, etc.  

Allie & her new friend, Trotsky.

The dogs were sooo cute! Theyʻre very hyper, of course, but they seemed to really like Allie, especially the bigger one! I think b/c she was more down on their level.  She liked them too (she loves huskies) but she didnʻt like them licking her in the face.  She sat down on the couch and big one came sat right next to her. Anyway, Allie keeps saying she loves huskies and wants one, despite the fact "those dogs were crazy!"  After that we drove all the way home, had a Happy Meal dinner and Allie was ready for bed.  She got her flu shot that day at school and it seemed like it made her sleepy.

Day at the Museum

Sorry, tried to get this up yesterday but my brain wasnʻt in the writing mood!  Anyway, this weekend we hit up the Academy of Arts for their "family Sunday" - admission is free and they offer entertainment, crafts, etc for kids and families.  We hadnʻt gone in awhile but now that Allie is older she enjoys it a lot more.  They had a "Medieval Times" theme this month so there were all these nerds dressed up like they just stepped out of King Arthurʻs court. haha, It was cool.  They had displays of different kinds of armour (knights and samurai!) that you could look at and touch.  My favorite thing was that they had different weapons (I think they were made out of cardboard/plastic) and guy dressed up as a knight stood out there and let the kids wail on him. 

Allie made a "stained glass" piece using markers and then the black outlines were done with a paint/cornstarch mixture. 

They also do a museum "scavenger hunt" game - they give each kid a piece of paper.  The paper shows sections of artworks and notes in which gallery the piece is located.  It gives some information and then asks a question about the artwork. The kids have to go find the piece and then read the label to answer the question.  They get a stamp once they answer the question.  Allie just found the pieces and got the stamp.  She did really good at finding all the pieces on her own too. Once they find all the artworks they get a prize.

This is what Allie picked:

She said they make her look like a rockstar!

She also learned the first rule about museums. Donʻt touch!  They had a new exhibition of objects from Cambodia/South east Asia.  I went out around and showed Allie the different pieces and asked her what she thought they were and what materials they were made out of.  We were looking at an old statue and I explained to her it was made of sandstone which "is like sandy stone. . ." and anyway she reached out and touched it!  I think I scared her because I jumped and said "No no! Donʻt touch!" I had to explain to her that we couldnʻt touch the pieces because they were really old and if everyone touched them they would fall apart or be ruined.  She was still feeling badly so I told her it was okay since she didnʻt know and that I thought it was cool that she still got to touch something that was hundreds of years old and no one else got touch it. haha

Another picture from the Hello Kitty buffet that I forgot was on my phone! This was Jason's favorite. haha!

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Hello Kitty Buffet

So I dragged Jason over to the Makitti Buffet today (Hello Kitty buffet) which opened today (right across from where he works, I might add!).  haha, we didn't tell Allie.  But I also didn't want to pay for her meal when she probably wouldn't eat anything!  So maybe some day we'll take her there. We went for lunch which was only like $12.50 or so for kama'aina (Hawaii residents - learn that word Janie! You gotta get a Hawaii driver licence when you get here!)

"I'm so excited!"

Anyway, it looks a lot nicer than when it was the old Smorgy's buffet - the painted everything with shiny bright colors, added some new furniture, Hello Kitty graphics on the wall and a HK gazebo.  It's cute, colorful. . . not too overly awash with pink which is kinda what I was hoping for. I was actually hoping it would be a little ridiculous and over the top but it wasn't.  There were tons of old people there. haha  Anyway, since it was the grand opening and it was lunchtime it was really busy but we got a table without any problem.  They call it a seafood buffet but there was plenty of non-seafood also (we worried about Jason). The food was kind of hit and miss - some of it was pretty good and some of it was not so good.  Ugh, the oysters were terrible.  I've actually had oysters and liked them a couple times now, but these were terrible and tasted like the dirty poopy fish water I clean out of the aquarium. We liked the sushi buffet and the dessert buffet was pretty awesome, although we did have a couple desserts that were not so good.  Also the staff seemed really disorganized as to be expected on the first day. We were treated to a show of some crazy lady doing stretches and splits in the middle of the place for some reason. (Yeah, she was totally nutty).

Anyway, it was decent, definitely better than the old place. I liked that it was more an Asian/Japanese food buffet. This was the first day so I expect it will get better after its been open for a while. =^o^=

Waikiki Conversations.

Earlier this week when Allie was out of school we went down to Waikiki to have lunch with Jason (Allie's loves Denny's - haha). I parked on the street and got out and was putting about 100 dimes in the meter when some guy walks up to me. He looks like a total tool (think that guy from Ghost Adventures. . . Janie knows what I'm talking about).
He stops and says: "Do I know you? I think I know you from somewhere!"

Me:  "Mm. Nope. I don't think so."  go back to putting dimes in meter.

Dumb guy: "No, I swear I know you. Maybe I saw you out somewhere - do you go out?"

Me: "Nooo, I don't think so. I don't get out much." glancing at Allie standing next to me.

Dumb guy: "No, I'm serious. You look so familiar!"

Me thinking  "Yeah, okay buddy. . .whatever. "

Dumb Guy: "Are you from here? Do you work in Waikiki?"

Me: "No I don't. . . but my fiance does. . . "

Dumb Guy: "Oh, oh! Maybe that's it - yeah I think I work with your fiance!"

Me:  I turn and look at him for a second, worried I might have been rude to someone Jason actually works with. . . "um, where do you work?"

Dumb Guy: "I'm a stripper! Is your fiance a stripper!?"

At this point I bust out laughing!

Me: "Uh, No! Not even close!"

Dumb Guy: "Oh well, you look like the girlfriend of one of the guys I work with. . . "  He sheepishly walks away at that point but as he's walking away he keeps periodically looking back and mumbling stuff "I swear I knew you, I just got so confused. . ."

I think he was on drugs. It was kinda funny though. Oh, Waikiki! About to head down there again. When I get back I will have a full report on the Hello Kitty Buffet  which I am dragging Jason to today.  Don't tell Allie.

Boots!

I bought these awesome Hello Kitty Riding boots for Allie a loooong time ago. She was going to wear them to school today (they finally fit!) and then she changed her mind. Ah well. . . they're so cute though!

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Cleaning up my phone - or rather finding some never-before-seen pictures!

Pony ride at a friendʻs birthday party this summer.

Crepes! at the Crepe Cafe in Manoa.

We like to eat cute things.

I donʻt know if I ever shared these - there is a Hello Kitty cafe here now! Yes, you read that right, a HELLO KITTY CAFE!! (Well, itʻs Sanrio Cafe). It opened this spring in Pearl Ridge Center (mall). Actually, itʻs just alright.  I was hoping they would have this cute little sit down cafe with HK stuff everywhere, but its actually just a walk-up counter. Meh.

Jason can hardly contain his excitement to try to the new Sanrio cafe.

Anyway, Iʻve been there twice now - the second time I went (about a month ago) it seemed like they had a lot more selection.  The little desserts are pretty good, but Iʻll be more excited when they open an actual sit-down cafe (which is apparently part of the plan).

Hello Kitty face cake.  Needs more icing. MORE SUGAR!!

In other HK food news, there is a Hello Kitty Buffet opening in Waikiki!! Yes, where that old Smorgyʻs or whatever buffet used to be (I know Mom & Dad and I ate there once).  It closed down last year and now there is a cute little sign up with HK on it.  Itʻs called "Makittii" - I got the flyer in the mail the other day.

Just sounds like a regular buffet with some Hello Kitty stuff all over the place. Although, the dessert buffet sounds pretty exciting. I might check it out for lunch some day. Dinner is too expensive, but you get half-off on your birthday and a HK gift :)  I know where Janie and I are going to be spending one of our birthdays next year!!

More Artwork!

Some more Allie artworks!  We went and visited her teacher last week and she said that Allie is quite the artist still.  She showed us some of the things she had done in class - her attention to detail and perception is amazing.  She has a really good memory and can remember specific colors of things, minor details etc.  Anyway, it'll be exciting to see how her talent develops.  Everyone assumes that since I've done art before that I spent a lot of time "teaching her to do art" but in all honesty, I really haven't done anything other than expose her to the materials. She keeps telling us that she is an artist and that she's going to be an artist when she grows up.  Haha, Until she figures out that you can't buy many toys (or much of anything) if you're an artist.

Me & Allie with pumpkins, butterflies, flying chicks.

Kitty Princess & Prince getting a drink at the drinking fountain (on the right) and then going to the castle (left).

Sunset - note the reflection on the water (I asked her what it was and she told me it was "how you can see the sun on the water") 

I think this was her inspiration - we went swimming and got to watch the sunset over the water the other week. I think it was the first time she had really watched a sunset. 

Korean tacos!!!

We just a got fancy new Korean taco truck from LA!  I keep reading about these Korean taco trucks which have become a huge thing in LA and SF (basically everywhere on the West Coast).  I missed my chance to try them in San Fran - we had already eaten dinner and I just couldn't eat anymore. So I heard that we finally got a truck here and it opened on Friday. I actually can't believe it took them that long to open one up here. We went to try it last night and it is sooooo good!

K-tacos!

Yes, Korean tacos sounds pretty weird but it works. Basically they just use Korean-style meats (short ribs, bulgogi, etc). They had four different kinds so we tried one of each (spicy pork, short ribs, chicken & tofu).  Jason was pretty happy with the short ribs.  My favorite was the tofu - the tofu was super crispy on the outside so it gave the taco some texture and it was nice and spicy..  The flavors/sauces they use are really good!  We also tried their sliders (mini Hamburgers/sandwiches) which you can try with any of their meat choices.  We tried the spicy pork - they were really, really good too - they're on a super soft sweet bread type roll. . . mmmmm. .  . just thinking about it makes me salivate.  And then we tried the creamy kimchee fries!  Its really just fries covered with a creamy kimchee flavored sauce - Its nice and spicy and kimchee-y but I wish there was some real kimchee on top.  You could get meat on top but that seemed weird. Anyway, it was really delicious - I can't wait to go back! We couldn't get Allie to try anything though!

quick pic

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Children's Discovery Center

We spent Sunday at the Children's Discovery Center - I was a little skeptical before going to this place.  For one, I think the ticket prices are prohibitively expensive at $8 - 10 bucks a ticket (including children) so for a family of four to visit this place it's going to cost $40 which I think is way too much.  Anyway, they had free admission so I jumped at the chance to check it out.

It is really great actually and I might pay to go back (if it was just Allie & I).  They have 3 floors of various interactive exhibits - they're all educational and fun.  I think at least 2 of the areas have rotating exhibitions (so its not the same thing all the time). Allie and I liked the fun house mirrors they had set up.

The top floors has cultural exhibits - one is like you are visiting Hawaiʻi so there's a traditional Hawaiian home the kids can explore, a giant boat (like a shipping boat? I donʻt know what theyʻre called), thereʻs a plane with actual plane seats and an ocean area.  They also have different homes - ie. Korean, Chinese, Japanese houses with dress-up clothes, play food, etc, etc.  Pretty cool, fun place for kids.  Allie ran into her friend Anabel there which I think made it even more fun.

Grocery shopping!

Allie showing some Korean pride!

Various Pictures, school lunch

I don't remember if I shared these pictures already.  During the first couple weeks of school I went to help out with the kids lunchtime routine.  Made me miss school lunch - kinda. . . those corndogs looked pretty good too anyway.  Anyway, they have a cute little lunch room that's been painted to look fun and kid-friendly.  My favorite part is the fresh fruit/veggie buffet - they also have it for breakfast (just fruit).  The kids have to take at least one veggie and one fruit.  The kids grabbing one tiny carrot stick crack me up! Oh and the jello is really popular with the kids.  They get excited to see what color its going to be everyday.  They've ditched the chocolate milk in favor of just regular milk.  It's got Allie drinking milk again, so that's fine with me.

Also, Allie got a new school shirt (they all have to wear them when they going on field trips).  School colors are red & white?  School mascot is a wolf.  You know, all those Hawaiian wolves running around here. . .