Our August 2011 Hawaii Trip

Like I said in a post before, our flight arrived at 3 in the morning. Only Dane's sisters knew we were coming into town. We slept for a couple of hours and surprised his parents around seven. Dane's mom was in the kitchen and just kept asking us what we were doing there. Ha ha. Dane's dad was in the bedroom. It was great to finally meet Kili and have them meet Kiele.

That morning Ani received a get well package from my parents. It was a balloon and chocolate covered strawberries from Edible Treats. I think it made her feel pretty special. Thanks Mom & Dad.



Our first couple of days there were actually filled with a lot of phone calls. Dane was busy with work stuff in the morning. American Airlines was calling us and we were constantly on the phone with doctor's offices and our health insurance company. It wasn't exactly how we expected how our trip would start out, but we just wanted to make sure Ani's finger was healing right. No specialist would see her because we were out-of-state. It was very frustrating. The only place that took our insurance was an urgent care off of nimitz. We were instructed by the ER doctor to get it checked out in two days so we took her there. They mainly service injured workers (tough men) and so we thought the doctor was a little rough with her finger. Especially since Ani & I didn't really see it yet. At least he was able to tell us that the finger was healing correctly so far. He referred us to a specialist in Hawaii but it didn't matter what we said, no one would see us. A couple days later we were going to my "distant" cousin who is an orthopedic for feet. He was great because at least he was able to tell us how to care for her finger and what to look watch for such as infections and color changes. That definitely made us feel a little better that she was getting proper care.

Our first friday night we went out to dinner with our college friends. It was so fun and so good to see everyone. It has been so long since we've gotten together with everyone. I think it was smart to just do adults. It would have been CRAZY with all our kids. We met at Assiago's at Ala Moana. The food is a bit pricey but it was really tasty. I think Channy got a picture of the whole group but we only have the boys & girls pics.









Some couples had to leave to get back to the kiddies. We walked to Orange Julius to get dessert and took it to the food court so we could sit and chat. We got kicked out after a little and more couples had to head home. About four couples remained and we decided to go to Ward. We ended up at Dave & Busters playing pool. It was a lot of fun. We broke up in two teams. It was Ka'u, Gemma, Dane, and I against Channy, Chris, Amber, and Buddy. I think we played a couple of games and we ended up tied. Dane and I left after that. We were still on Utah time and so worn out. Thanks Amber for planning this fun night!

We went to the beach a couple of times. It was hard with Ani since she couldn't go into the water. She was a great sport and would just sit on the beach with a plastic glove and ziplock bag over her hand. So sad! We did a pool in the driveway too a couple of times. It was just hard to be there and not let her swim!


First time heading to the beach. We have to take two cars now!


The older kids in the truck. Ani is taking her medicine.








Wading pool and blowing bubbles

The body boarder, Brayden.




I took the two girls to the Aquarium one day with my friends and Dane took Bray body boarding. HE LOVED IT! The first couple of time we were just pushing them on small waves. The day Dane took Bray they went out to bigger waves and take let him take a couple by himself. It was all Bray talked about when he got home. No more beaches without waves for us!

Sunday dinner was at my Grandma's with the Pane'e side.

We have so many pictures of Uncle Sean holding our crying babies. Kiele was the first one to smile when he held her!







Our kids with Tutu and Tutu man

Lunch with the fam and Aunty Robin








Kahala mall with the Tupou's

Amber came to Manoa with the kids for a visit. We took the kids to Kahala mall to play at the Arcade. Arcades are expensive! After letting them play we went to eat Sushi at Kuru Kuru. So YUMMY.



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Little Ryder. He is so good!


She did pretty good in the stroller too

The next day we went to the Aquarium with Corie and Nai. That was the day Dane took Bray bodyboarding. Baby stayed home with Grammie. We all had two girls and they had fun together.


Looking at fishies




Mika wouldn't hold her hand under water so she just got to hold a seashell


Corie & Mary (Don't get mad Corie. You look great in this pic! :)



After the Aquarium we went to Zippy's to eat. After Zippy's we went to Waiola's for shave ice. Mika kept trying to shoplift the candy down her shirt. Where did she learn that?



Dane grilling some Kalbi

We went to the "Made in Hawaii" Expo at the Blaisdell. We thought it would only take us an hour to walk through. We were practically running to finish and hurry back. I wish we would have had more time. They had some great stuff but we only bought flowers for the girls. Junkie. I want to go back next year.

Mika loved the flowers




Bray brought all his pokemon cards


We drove out to Mililani one night to visit the Kim's. Wish we were meeting at the beach or something but maybe next time.






Mika spilled watermelon on her shirt and wouldn't wear it anymore. That is why she is shirtless.


We told each girl to grab a kid or two for pictures!

It was over a week after we arrived before we were able to spend time with the Owans. So crazy. The kids kept asking every day too but never worked out. Amy watched the kids in the morning so Dane and I could do some errands. Then we went to eat plate lunch at a place nearby. Dane ran to get the flowers for the party at Costco and Amy & I attempted to shop at the HIC outlet. We only had the girls (and Nakoa) since the boys went with Dane. It was a little crazy but we were still able to find stuff.











After HIC we drove back to town to drop off the flowers at home. The kids were so good not to ruin the surprise party the next morning. We got ready and headed to the beach. We were going to get to the beach before everyone so we stopped at Waiola's first. We knew it would be closed by the time we finished at the beach. We got to Waikiki right when Amy got there with the kids and Tiff came with Brandon and Maile. Perfect Timing. Tiff had gone out to Waimanalo to buy the party favors. We stayed at the beach until the sun started to go down and then went to eat at Teddy's Burger, I think? We ran into Amy's sister, Ashley and her fiancé, Justin. Dane and I shared a burger and it was really good! We said our goodbyes to Owans that night. It was nice to spend an entire day with them.

The next morning was the anniversary party. Our cover for leaving the house was that we were visiting my Grandpa Takamoto. We got the kids ready and left to help set up at Willows. Dane's sisters did a great job planning and there really wasn't much for us to do except the centerpieces. Everyone arrived before the parents so that was good. Dane's parents thought they were coming to Willows for Dane's cousin Ea's engagement party. When they walked in everyone yelled, "Surprise, Happy Anniversary!" I think it took them a couple seconds to register that the party was for them. The food was great. They organized games, music, and we had a great time. The kids were itching to run in the fountains right outside our banquet room. As soon as the party was over, they were in there getting wet!




Dane's Aunty that was in my ward growing up. She still remembers me.




All the family pictures we took were blurry. Too bad. Britt bought the girls matching dresses and found out later that it was the same pattern as Mike & Tiff's outfits. You can't tell in sepia, but it looks like they are a matching family!


It didn't take them long to get soaking wet! Ani had to sit on the sidelines.

After the Anniversary party we went to a Mission farewell party. The house was beautiful and sits by a stream that the kids wanted to play in with the other kids. We only let them get their feet wet. The food was delicious Hawaiian food.



Our last morning there we took the kids for a drive. We usually do this drive the first morning we arrive in Hawaii but it didn't happen to our last morning. We drive Waikiki out to Kahala and look at all the big homes. It started to rain on the way home and there was a double rainbow.



We went to visit Grandpa Takamoto after. He seemed to really enjoy having us there.



After Grandpa we went to Moanalua to visit with Aunty Susan. The last time we went to see her was when we only had Bray. It was long overdue. She is 92 and doing well. When we saw her she was dealing with this eye disease she's had a couple of months. She told us that getting old sucks! She still looks great,





We came home to cruise with the family for awhile. I started to pack and Dane went with the kids, Tiff, and Britt for snow cones. Tiff had wanted to take them there before we left.



Looks like they went to say goodbye to the beach ones last time too!



That was our trip and we can't wait to go again!