So we just got a new camera for Christmas, thanks to Keola's Mom, Uncle Mel, and Aunty Berta. No, we were not brave enough or skilled enough to get a fancy SLR camera, if that's what they even call it. It's still a compact digital, but a much better quality camera - a Nikon s8100. So I couldn't help but just play with it for a bit tonight. I know, I'm not the best photographer, but hopefully time and practice will help.

Here's the posing beauty!

Trying a different mode on the camera. It's called the "party/portrait" mode. It apparently catches the "ambience" of the indoor, low light room, while still focusing and giving enough light to the subject. Frankly, just words for now, but hopefully it will actually mean something someday.

I gotta say, the flash works well! It almost looks like I took this in the middle of the day.

When clearly you can see it was late at night.

Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas All!! I hope this Christmas found everyone happy and excited! I know Lillie was! So, as most of you know, we have gone home to Hawaii every Christmas since we adopted Lillie...except for last year. So with the FABULOUS Christmases Lillie received when we went home, we felt bad for her last year when we planned for a home bound Christmas in Maryland. So, some CRAZY person thought that we should have a present left for Lillie each day before Christmas starting on December 1st. Well, about two thirds of the way in, we decided the CRAZY person was completely nuts!! We got through it and Lillie had a GREAT Christmas last year. Well, 2010 rolls around and Keola and I just laughed at the chaos that was last year with 25 gifts from Santa and the elves. We told each other, "We'll NEVER do THAT again!" November 29th came and Lillie started talking about December 1st and how she couldn't wait! I just thought it was because of the hype from all the talk at school. November 30th strolls by and even more excitement from Lillie. Then, the morning of December 1st finally comes. Lillie is super thrilled, very excited, can't wait to get dressed for school. I still kept thinking, "Wow, they must be doing something big at school for the 1st day of December." Then, it HIT! We go down stairs to eat breakfast, and the first thing Lillie does is checks under the first Christmas tree...nothing. Then she runs to the next Christmas tree...and nothing! She comes to me with obvious disappointment in her face, and says, "I wonder when Santa will bring my first gift?" OH MAN!! We got through breakfast and I dropped Lillie off at school, and then I quickly called Keola at work. "We need to start looking for gifts for Lillie!" So now, with a bit of a wince from her parents, Lillie has found a new tradition for Christmas. Hmmm, maybe it IS cheaper to fly to Hawaii!! ha ha

The Sakais were up and ready to open presents...well, not until about 9:30am, but that works for us! As before mentioned there were lots of gifts to open, and here are a few pics from the stash.
The day before Haliaka left, I took Lillie out of school early and we headed to the movie theater to see Tangled. She LOVED the movie, so of course, a number of gifts were Tangled related. In this picture, Lillie got the Tangled book and ear muffs from Haliaka...I mean the Kauwe's.

So for anyone who doesn't know the movie, Tangled, it's the story of Rapunzel. We found this gift that we thought Lillie would LOVE. I wish you were all here because it is HYSTERICAL!!! Hold on to your seats, because here comes...Rapunzel!
Long, stringy, SHEDDING blonde hair EVERYWHERE...you know who's loving this more than Lillie...KEOLA!! ha ha

Clothes for the school girl.
"Ooooh, what did Nana and Papa get me!!"

"Fancy Nancy!! Yea"

The cutest Hello Kitty clothes from cousin Katie!

Daddy got a nice shirt for bedtime!

More cute clothes

Trying to channel her inner model. Seriously, she's frowning on purpose to pose. Lillie is a riot!

Two new movies from Papa!

One of MANY games from Santa- Perfection, Connect Four, Don't Break the Ice, Tic Tac Toe, and Hungry, Hungry, Hippo.

When all was said and done, Lillie did WELL for Christmas 2010

Last note about Christmas, we kept asking Lillie what is her favorite gift this year. Her answer...her box of JEWELS. Whenever we go to a store, Lillie almost ALWAYS comes out with something in her hand or pocket that she found in the store. It's usually a round plastic thing stores put on hangers to show the size of clothes, or some kind of shiny jewel-like rhinestone that she miraculously finds while shopping. So Keola and I, while trying to find inexpensive gifts, thought we could "make" Lillie a little decorated plastic container filled with these large rhinestones we found at a craft store (By the way, the box is in the picture above. Top step on the far left). It turns out, it's her favorite gift!! I told Keola, it's like China - we brought all these toys for Lillie to play with when we got her, and the one thing she kept playing with was the plastic water bottles we drank out of!!

We wish everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Well, it went WAY too fast, but the time came for Haliaka to go back home. Wouldn't you know it, the day she left, it decided to snow! We got a few inches and school was closed for Lillie. So what does that mean...SNOW FIGHT!!!

As you can see, Lillie only plays in the snow in full dress!
And it only got more fun when cousin Haliaka joined in the fun.

Here's the action shot!

It was SO much fun to have Haliaka here for a few months. We sure enjoyed having her over on weekends! We miss you Haliaka!!

Happy Turkey Day...New York City!

So, kind of on a whim, we decided to take Haliaka to NYC for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving day we awoke and started on our road trip. It took us a little over 5 hours, which we thought was good timing since it was a holiday weekend. We stayed at the Doubletree Inn in Chelsea.

Before dinner we decided to take a walk to see the outside of the temple. It's such a funny location, in the middle of bustling New York City, and BAM, there's Moroni and the temple spire.

Then we walked to the Porter House restaurant where we had reservations for Thanksgiving dinner. Before dinner though, we had to stop to see the light show with music and these wonderfully large stars dangling from the very tall ceiling of the mall.

It was time to dig in! If you can't really see, Keola is the only one who actually got the traditional Thanksgiving meal - turkey, dressing, potatoes, cranberries. Haliaka and I decided to go with the dish the restaurant is known for...steak! Boy, was it scrumptious!! What did Lillie have, you might ask...oh our dear daughter stayed true to her little 'old palette and had what else, pasta with butter.

Cheers, All!

More of the light show extravaganza.

Lillie couldn't decide what she loved more, the twinkling star lights, or the blue lit trees outside.

The next morning we headed to a bakery/cafe we had read about online - Clinton St. Baking Co. We had a little bit of a wait, and then were seated in this quaint little cafe. We ordered, waited a little more, and THEN...the most delicious pancakes and honey smoked bacon we have EVER had! Wow! So delish!

We were pretty smart to have brought Lillie's stroller, as we walked quite a bit on this trip. Here she is hanging out while we waited for our table.

Subway rides are always an adventure, and the NYC subway didn't disappoint. Let's just say, the stroller proved to be the 4th person on the trip and very difficult at that! ha ha

Well, we couldn't let Black Friday pass without some shopping in NYC. First stop, FAO Schwartz! What fun we had in this well known toy store. As you can see, it WAS Black Friday and the crowds were out, but it wasn't as bad as we had expected.

A little photo shoot before we took a dive into all things toys!

This was a little tower they had that people could climb a spiral staircase to and take a view of the store. You would have thought this was the best ride ever, according to Lillie.

Can we say "Candy Bar"

Typical toy soldier you say...hardly! This large gem is constructed ALL of candy!

"PLEEEEAAAASE!!!"

After the toy overload, we decided to go a little more sophisticated. So we took a stroll into Tiffany's. So BEAUTIFUL! Although I will admit, we got a few funny looks from ACTUAL customers. But if you look behind us, you can see there were MANY others who were there to just window shop!

Next stop, Saks Fifth Avenue. Look at the decorations! It was even more beautiful in person.

I could REALLY kick myself for not taking a picture, but you'll just have to ask Haliaka about her experience in the lime light.

Then it was off to Rockefeller center.

We went to see the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular. Of course, they took my camera, so no pictures. Lillie absolutely LOVED the show - from the 3-D show, to dancing Santas, to the Rockettes dancing, and the finale of the live nativity story with live camels and sheep. Such a fantastic show! After, we went to see some of the decorated trees in the lobby, but as you can see, the lighting didn't quite work.

Saturday, we took some time to see the Statue of Liberty...from afar. We had all seen it before, well, all of us except Lillie. My poor baby kept saying, "I can't see her crown. Can we go and see her crown!" But, as you can see, the crowds were out in force, so a picture was the best we could do. Not to mention it was FREEZING with blowing winds. Maybe next time, Lillie.

We spent the rest of the day shopping at the pier, going to Macy's, visiting Chinatown and having delicious dim sum, and then resting for our trip home. What a GREAT trip!