December Beach Day

I realize there are places in the country,

where the residents could know what season it is,

without a calendar, just by looking out the window

and seeing the falling leaves or the snow-covered ground.

I'm sure the people who grew up in those places

are fond of those seasonal memories.

I, however, have never lived outside of southern California,

as far as I can remember but, I'm grateful for it.

I wouldn't mind visiting the snow,

but I'll take a 75 degree day

over a freezing-anything-under-50 degree day everytime.

So...

We celebrated the beautiful weather this past weekend by playing at the beach.

Now my intentions were to go to the beach,

run around a bit and snap some shots.

My ideas and Kainoa's ideas about going to the beach were quite different.

When I told him we were going to play at the beach, he asked

"Can I play in the water?"

"Well, No." I answered,

"The water's probably too cold to play in right now."

He didn't seem to hear or understand what I said...

and when we got to the beach,

he didn't seem to care how cold the water might or might not have been.

He inched his way into the water...

...until he was completely soaking wet...

But at least he was having fun.

We all had a good time

and we definitely enjoy our 70 degree winters

here on our part of the Golden Coast.

Easiest Way to get an Apple a day

Applesauce.... sooo easy!

An Aunty gave us a bunch of apples from her tree.

I've never made applesauce before, but I thought I'd give it a try.

1st step: Wash and Peel Apples

2nd: Chop up Apples

3rd Step: Add apples and a bit of water to a pot

Cook for 20-30 minutes

(No sugar, the apples were sweet enough)

Last step: Smash and eat...

So Yummy!!

"Skoopy" Halloween

I've found that at this age, Kainoa realizes and gets excited more about holiday activities. He understands that Halloween is fun and a bit scary. He told me we can tell "skoopy stories"... I'm assuming he meant 'spooky stories'... anyway, it made me laugh.

Kainoa wanted to be a super hero. He decided back in September, after researching costumes online with me, that Wolverine was the best pick. He actually got the costume for his birthday, so he was set. And lucky him, it was the kind with the muscles. I love how when he put it on and was waving around his invisible claws. I wonder if he really felt transformed into a mutant.

Meanwhile Oni needed a costume... Kainoa told me Keoni would like to be Batman. But no luck finding a batman costume, so we tried the muscle spiderman one. Oni was not about all that fluff on him... he has his own fluff, thank you very much. So we took the spiderman costume back and tried another store. There we found the perfect one. 'Super Why' is one of Keoni's favorite shows on PBS, about little super heroes called 'Super Readers', who use their powers of spelling, reading, and the alphabet to solve problems. So we got Oni the main character's costume, called Super Why. He wasn't as excited as Kainoa, but he looked so cute, it would be fine.

We weren't actually sure he would want to put it on for Halloween, but when the time came, he got dressed up just like his eager brother. I took Wolverine and Super Why to the church Trunk or Treat. Kainoa was very anxious to go, meanwhile Keoni didn't really know what was going on. I don't think he recognized anyone in their costumes and I imagine he was wondering why everyone looked so wierd. While in line for the costume parade, he kept starring at this kid behind us that had a scary mask. He didn't appear too frightened and wasn't crying... He just didn't want to let him out of his sight.

So the boys played games and walked around the cars, trick or treating out of everyone's trunks. Keoni again wasn't sure what was going on, why we were walking around in the dark of the parking lot and why people were filling up his bucket with stuff. He wouldn't let me carry him or let me hold his hand, so we walked at a snail pace. Eventually their buckets were full enough where they were starting to complain, so that was the cue to go.

Luckily I made the two of them take a nap earlier, so they weren't cranky or wiped out by 9 o'clock. Although I couldn't stop them then from trying to eat all of their candy right when we got home. They ate, got a quick sugar high, ran around, then crashed out.

Even super heroes need sleep.

Falling into Avila

Avila is one of our favorite places to go at anytime and definitely one of our favorite parts of living on this part of the golden coast. Now the seasons aren't really as pronounced in our section of Cali as they are in other parts of the country. Okay I'll admit it, I really don't know anything about seasons or weather... But it's good to fake it. So we go about 15 minutes northwest and we're at a barn 5 minutes from the ocean. They have some trees that are kind of changing colors, too many pumkins to count and yummy apples. Avila barn is great at anytime but it's the best in the fall. Warm cider, roasted corn and fresh baked apple pies...that's fall, right?
They have homemade ice cream and although it's autumn, it's still 75 degrees out, so ice cream is acceptable. Luckily my boys don't particularly care for the cold treats as much as they do the rock candy. And believe me, I enjoy not having to clean up messy chocolate drippings off of clothes.

So it was again another good trip to the barn filled with friends, food and fun... and lot's of good photos.

Adventures in Cutting Hair

We took Kainoa to get his hair cut at a kid's salon, when he was 1 year old. He didn't do quite well. He cried almost the whole time, so we didn't do that again. So after almost 3 years of myself having the privilege of cutting Kainoa's hair, we've been trying to convince him to go to the kid's hair salon in the mall. The place is called Whipper Snippers. It's decorated super cute with colorful polka dot walls, fun car and airplane chairs and videos on cute furry TVs. So much fun, you'd think any kid would be excited, but not Kainoa. He's been turning down our suggestions to go for months now. So today while visiting the mall, again we were prodding Kainoa to go. We were layering on the "You'll look so good"... "It's so much fun"... "You'll get a lolipop". Yes, we resulted to bribes and finally he gave in. He hopped up in the airplane and his eyes ere glued to Toy Story 2. He actually did great, not a fuss or peep out of him. Not a peep... even when asked polite questions by the hairstylist. Yeah he's a shy guy, but we survived the professional haircuts and it was worth the money. It looks better than anything I've ever done. So good day until we got home... With one haircut down and one to go, I figured we might as well cut the other one's hair. I'm sure the ladies at Whipper Snippers were wondering why clearly both my kids were in need of a haircut, but only one was actuallly getting it done. So we decided to bite the second bullet and just cut Keoni's hair too. Um good idea in theory... Not that Keoni ever really enjoyed haircuts, but he never put up much of a fight.... until today. That kid screamed from beggining to end, even with a lollipop in his hand. Ugh! It was a nightmare and couldn't be over faster. We were both relieved and now both boys look sharp and no more haircuts at least for a couple months :P

BEFORE

and

AFTER

Today's the Day

Today is the day that I will start posting on this blog I created a while ago. My goal is to post on a regular basis... We'll see how that goes.



The focus in our little lives right now is POTTY TRAINING everyone's favorite two year old of the house... ONI!!! So Keoni is in a clothes and diaper revolt. He refuses to wear anything but underwear (we call them 'chones'). So my patience is being tried, dealing with accidents two seconds after asking "Do you have to go potty?"... Lots of laundry... but the end result will be worth it. The extra effort now will pay off in the end, literally, this will save us money (diapers are expensive). Meanwhile we're handing out the encouraging high fives, cheers and occasional congratulations treats. Keoni is on his way to being a big boy. Wish us luck!