Epiphanies

J was an absolute darling on every plane ride. He made it really easy. No #2’s on the plane so it was great. He slept most of the time. So it makes me less leery of traveling with him.

Our plane ride out was kind of annoying. They called to let us know that our flight was delayed but we were already on route via taxi to LAX. But get this, when we got there, it was all of a sudden back on time. Their courtesy call could have really screwed us up if they had called while we were home. We would have definitely left later. Where do they get off doing that? So we had to rush to get our dinner but it turns out they served us dinner anyway. I ate it regardless ha. When we arrived in Oahu, the long line for taxis at the airport was a bit annoying because we were pretty tired. I really just wanted to go to the hotel asap but I guess “you get what you pay for” which was nothing. We didn’t plan for anything so we had to wait like all the other joe shmoe’s. The hotel was nice. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village (recommended to us by our good friends Linda and Will). A definite good call.

We were disappointed in the “super” pool. It wasn’t so “super” after all but in the grand scheme of things, it was a slight minus. Perhaps age and experience has led us to have a higher expectation. In this case, we expected a slide. The many resorts that we’ve stayed at in the past have had some sort of slide thing for the kids. Isn’t that what a resort is all about? We have many nice pools in Socal. Why would we have to go all the way to Hawaii for just a regular pool. I suppose it’s all about having drinks and lunch served to us by the pool. Oh well.

We walked around at night but it was pretty nasty with all the roaches scurrying about so we cut that short. Besides, by the time we got out, all the cute stores we saw opened were all closed except for of course, the requisite ABC store on site. We had just missed the friday night fireworks at 8pm. Just our luck.

On the 19th:

I had read that the food at the Hilton sucked and was overpriced. Everyone said to go to the coffee shop across the street so we did. A long line greeted us so I guess we weren’t the only people with a clue. It was called the Wailana Coffee House. I ordered the loco moco which was a hamburger with eggs on it and rice. And the kid’s menu was so cheap. Lots of food for less than $3 (I can’t remember exactly how much but it was cheap). I think Dh had some portuguese sausage or something, maybe spam too. Spam seems to be big over there.

Dh and the kids went on Atlantis Submarine. I couldn’t go because they don’t allow babies to go. They don’t have the life saving certification for babies or something like that. Maybe one day I’ll get around to going. The kids liked it. They got to see tons of fish, simulated sunken ships and planes. Then we went to the pool after they got back. J was ok with the pool since it was mostly deserted this time and no kids splashing him. We also went to Waikiki beach and the kids loved racing the waves and playing in the sand. We bought sand toys there. For lunch, we ate at the Tapa Cafe and had subpar sandwiches that were really overpriced. For dinner, we ate at the Rainbow Lanai at the Hotel. Also subpar but convenient. Think Dh ordered the ahi tuna and I got the mahi mahi. The kids fell asleep at the table.

On the 20th:

Pearl Harbor Day. It was a tour. From Brandon’s travel journal: “Today I went to Pearl Harbor. It is where the U.S.S. Arizona sank. It sank on December 7, 1941. I also got a jr. Park ranger badge because I filled a ranger manual… Most of the people on the U.S.S. Arizona died. I even saw the remains of it! Japan planned a surprise attack on America. Many vessels sank on December 7, 1941.”

On another note, Justin rolled over for the first time. He’s not even 5 months yet. The younger they get the faster they seem to be reaching these milestones. I guess having older siblings really does influence their growth.

We tried the ramen at the Hanajuban Noodle Shop. Beach and pool again with a hula show. Round table pizza for dinner.

On the 21st:

We ate at Wailana Coffee shop again and got ice cream at Lappert’s ice cream. Then we walked to the International Marketplace from our hotel. It wasn’t too bad of a walk. We cut across a park and there were interesting things to see along the way. It’s on a block that is pretty much equivalent to a mix between New York’s fifth avenue and broadway. There were lots of department stores and small mom and pop type stores. The International Marketplace is really just a bunch of stalls and a food court. We ate at the food court – meat on skewers and also shared shaved ice with lychee, red beans and fruit. We decided to spend our last night in Oahu at the hotel and we ate at a Japanese restaurant Hatsuhana. It was pretty good. We had all sorts of sushi and I think Dh especially liked some mayo shrimp dish. Our conclusion: Hilton really only does Japanese food well.

On the 22nd:

The kids fed the penguins and turtles in the morning then we flew to Maui from Oahu (about 30 minutes). We stopped by Lahaina Street and ate at a food stand. Good eats. I had some ahi tuna salad. Divey food stands but the food was really good. We finally made our way to the Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas. We had a studio but the kids really loved it. We got a discount rate as long as we sat through a two-hour time share presentation. We walked along the beach and noticed the waves were a lot rougher here. B lost his sunglasses while sitting in the ocean. A huge wave overcame him and took his new sunglasses as payment.

We had dinner at the Ocean Pool Bar & Grill. Best kid’s menu deal (with a purchase of an entree) – kids under 5 eat free always and from 5:30-9pm all kids under 12 eat free. We had prime rib and the kids had spaghetti and chicken tenders.

On the 23rd:

We went to the Whaler’s Village and had breakfast at McDonald’s. It has a lot of shops and a small museum. Dh was happy with his discovery of a map store. The skeleton of the sperm whale was cool. We also saw people parasailing at the Westin Maui nearby. Dh tried to get the kids to sign up. No deal this time. I try to think about whether I would have done it at age 4 or 8. Not sure but I think I would have. We stocked up on Passion Orange, Passion Guava and Passion Orange at the ABC store. No calpico here (a staple while we were in Oahu). Our hotel has one pathetic general store and one restaurant.

We met another family on vacation and they also had a 4 month old (born a week after J). The mom wasn’t too happy about her baby though lol. Says he’s really fussy and cries a lot. Anyway, we went back to the hotel and the kids had a lot of fun on the water slide.

On the 24th:

We went to Lahaina Street again and ate at Bubba Gump’s. Was a cute restaurant. Had little “Run Forrest Run”/”Stop” signs to let waiters know whether or not to stop and help you. We walked around afterwards since parking was validated. Usually parking is expensive. I recognized a lot of the stores and restaurants there. Guess it hasn’t changed all that much in 11 years. Later, we went to the pool/beach again and then got ready to go to the Hyatt Regency “Drums of the Pacific” Luau. It was a long line (more than 300 people) when we got there but in the end it didn’t make much of a difference. I think if you were super early it makes a difference but who wants to waste a couple of hours just to get a few seats to watch a show you’ve probably seen many times before. Girls and guys hula-ing many different hula dances – ho hum. The flame throwers are cool though but that’s at the end. The kids enjoyed it. All you can eat buffet with kahlui pork, poi, taro bread, pineapple, watermelon, ahi tuna, mahi mahi, chicken, beef, fried rice, noodles, salad and limited open bar. The kids got to eat for free – yay.

On the 25th:

We had to sit through a time share presentation which was a total waste and annoying use of our time. I don’t think I ever want to sit through another one again. After that, we relaxed by the pool and beach as we have every day. All in all, a pretty relaxing vacation. I don’t really need a vacation from my vacation like I usually do. I didn’t like the beach here as much though because of all the trade winds. Everything blew everywhere. We had to anchor all our stuff down. People’s stuff kept flying into our faces. J’s sun hat kept flying off. Someone’s baby tent even flew away. The beach part sucked here as compared to Waikiki. But the pool was better. Guess we can’t have it all. Back to Cali…

I would have called it dim sum (“name of the Chinese cuisine involving a light meal or brunch served with Chinese tea“) but Dh and I had a long discussion about the meaning of yum cha (“custom of eating small servings of different foods while sipping Chinese tea“) versus dim sum. So I will now call it by the correct name since wikipedia backs up his statement . Interesting translation: “Dim Sum is a Cantonese phrase (點心), literally “touch the heart” (order to your heart’s content) but meaning “morsel/snack”. It may be derived from yat dim sum yi (一點心意), meaning “a little token”.” And the meaning of yum cha is exactly what Dh said, literally means drinking tea. When I asked him why people call it dim sum, he said he thinks it’s because americans probably wouldn’t get “drink tea” so I guess it’s the americanization of a chinese tradition. I try to think of what my parents called it when I was young and I think they did call it yum cha but ironically I always thought that was the mandarin way of calling it versus dim sum which I thought was the cantonese way to say it. How little I knew.

Anyway, we wanted to try out a yum cha place we’ve never been to. I told Dh about Russell’s Seafood Palace which he then recognized as a place his friend Walter had once recommended. I read that this place wasn’t all that crowded compared to China Garden and Sam Woo’s. Those lines can be insane on a Sunday morning so I didn’t want to bother trying for yum cha there. This place opens at 11am and it was more crowded than I thought so it’s not the isolated dive in the wall that I had envisioned. Lots of Asians. I think word of mouth really DOES count for a lot if this place was more crowded than I thought. My in-laws thought the food was pretty decent although they did send back one dish (thought it went bad) and they thought another one was bad too but didn’t send it back. I tried those dishes myself and I thought it was fine. He must have some refined palate. He made the manager try it and they thought it was fine too. I wonder if maybe he’s losing his sense of taste like that father from “Eat, Drink, Man, Woman“. Loved that movie. Anyway, bottom line, this restaurant is a definitely “must come back” place. The lack of long wait time is a huge factor.

Afterwards, we made our way up to Huntington Library. We were taking advantage of the BOA free museum passes in May. These places can get very very pricey. This was a beautiful place, lots of foliage and garden themes. They even had a Japanese garden which included a zen garden and bonsai trees, koi pond and bridges. It was very cool. Anyplace that has a rose named “Jocelyn” rates an “A” in my book

Today was a very nice way to spend Mother’s Day.

I had begun questioning the merits of the Fisher Price Ocean Wonders Aquarium swing but after a couple months of J not liking it all that much, he now falls asleep in it in the morning. Even though it’s only in the morning, it really gives me a much needed break. My baby is not a fan of me putting him down to sleep. As long as I hold him, he’s fine. Once I put him down, he wakes up about 10 minutes later. The only time he’s awesome at sleeping is when he goes to sleep for the night at 9pm (wakes up at about 6-7am). We asked Dr. Abelowitz how many hours he should be sleeping. He told us about 12-15 hours. *Sigh* We seems to raise children who don’t sleep all that much.

C: Mom, have you ever seen a real skeleton?

Me: Er… ( contemplating seriously)

C: I don’t think you’ve seen a real skeleton.

Me: No?

C: No. I’ve seen a real skeleton.

Me: You have?

C: Yeah, on (insert internet game name here). The skeleton took off his head.

Me: Sweetie, that’s not real. That’s a cartoon. (*ignoring the fact that her 4 year old is watching such a gory act* *must investigate that issue later*)

C: Cartoons are on t.v., not on computers.

Me: Um, they’re pretty much cartoons honey. You know what cartoons are, right? They’re many drawings that make it seem like the characters move.

C: Cartoons aren’t drawings.

Me: Yes, they are.

*Silent pause*

C: Well I saw a fake skeleton move. He took off his head.

Me: Ah.

We went to eat at Chick Fil-A. Actually the kids did. They have a kid’s area so I figured the kids could expend some energy while Dh and I could have some time to have adult conversation. So we bought sandwiches at Panera Bread at the Woodbury Town Center and went over to Chick Fil-A to buy kid’s meals. The sandwiches were quite yummy. We must do that again. J gets a bit antsy at real restaurants so I think this is the best method for us now. He was quiet and taking in all the kids’ activities.

For about a month, I’ve been losing massive amounts of hair. I kind of ignored it for a bit because I knew it was related to the whole postpartum thing. But after vacuuming today, it really freaked me out as to how much I’ve lost. My poor roomba. I’ve always had thick hair but this was getting ridiculous. Babycenter findings: “During pregnancy, changes in your hormone levels cause your hair to stay in a resting phase for longer, so you lose less hair on a daily basis…After you’ve given birth and your hormones have settled down — usually at about 12 weeks after delivery — more hair shifts into a shedding phase…after delivery, you may be losing about 500 a day. This can be very disturbing, but try not to worry too much — you won’t go bald!… Within another six months or so, your hair should be back to its normal pre-pregnancy thickness…” Phew.

I guess life got the best of me. I really meant to post almost every day.

Let’s see, highlights of the past few weeks:

1) B did “Take your kid to work day” and missed school.

2) We registered C for kindergarten (gosh he’s growing so fast!!). The process was a bit tedious because noobies didn’t fill out papers correctly. (It’s not rocket science, not sure why they couldn’t fill it out correctly). Bumped into a bunch of people there (Julia who had kids in swimming too), (Lisa, Stanley’s mom), (Evan’s mom – don’t remember her name), (Mahtab – Niloo’s mom), (Bunnee).

3) C went to Julianna’s bday at Chucky Cheese.

4) We went to Spring family picnic. Al did the strawberry pie eating contest. B did the sack race. B and C did egg hunt and bounce house and some crafts. I met Wendy there, Kirsi and Carol. Also met Windy’s hubby and Sandi’s hubby. Was pretty funny. We ate at California Fish Grill and bumped into someone from Indian guides (forgot name).

5) Went to Tustin to check out Cream Pan. Overrated. It’s good but not a place I would go out of my way to go to because I absolutely craved it.

6) Played Mousetrap for Family Night. It was pretty fun building it. The kids had fun (I think). We also played Littlest Pet Shop Game. That was really up C’s speed and fun also.

7) Dh went to K1 speed with his work buddies. He says he had fun.

8) My grandmother (Dad’s mom) died on May 4th. Supposedly their old caregiver left and they hired a new one and she was feeding her milk, but because she didn’t know what she was doing, my grandmother choked? and died. She was 97 I think. The only thing I can really remember about her was that she would spit out these Binlan aka Betel Nuts onto the floor, leaving all this disgusting red stuff on the floor. It used to scare me when I was a child because I thought it was blood. By the time I met her again later when I was in my twenties, she just didn’t engage me in anyway or even attempt to. I feel sorry for my dad but as for myself, I can’t really say I knew her.

9) We went to Kidspace Museum which turned out to be much cooler than I expected. We took advantage of the free museum admissions on BOA May promotion. I want to take my nephews there when they visit California again. This time we’ll be more prepared and do a picnic at the park afterwards.

10) Zoo Tycoon Complete Collection addiction. I’m addicted – this game rocks so much more than I thought it would. The kids have fun with it too as well as Dh. Fun for the whole family. It’s fun building a zoo and trying to figure out how to draw people, how to redirect traffic so that one area isn’t so congested, how to keep animals happy, what habitats are suitable for them, how best to layout the zoo. It really is challenging.

C: Mommy can you help build some homes for some animals when I’m at school?

Me: Sure. Which ones?

C: Kangaroos, rhinoceros, and cantelopes.

Me: Cantelopes?

C: Yes, cantelopes, the ones that look like deers.

Me: Oh ok, sure. (adorable).

11) Tried out swimming with J at the pool up on the hill. Think the pool is called Valley View. Can’t quite remember. We put him in the Body Glove Infant Water Carrier. It worked great in that it was the right height for the water. J wasn’t happy though. Think he was too cold and he kept crying. Maybe we’ll try it again when we go to Hawaii. Saw Cathy and Duc and the kids there. She told me the am teacher for K is strict. Oh no. Hope C has a good K year. Also met Taras and his mom Julia there. Taras took tennis with B before. We planned for a playdate.

12) Took J for his 4 month check up. He’s about 15 lbs – wow. He’s healthy so no worries so far. He had to get his second set of shots. The few days after that was hellish because he had a fever and was really cranky. I was quite worried. We gave him infant tylenol but it’s still worrisome. Dh went out to dinner too that very night so it was kind of hard.

13) Finally got out of our TKD contract (5/9 – last day) at a monetary loss too but what can we do. It’s the breaks.

14) Fisher Price Kid-Tough Digicam for Boys lasted all of a few hours. Sucked. Just wouldn’t power on. Tried to call Fisher Price but it’s difficult to troubleshoot because J has been cranky cause of the shots. Think they’re going to have me reformat the camera. Hope that works.

15) Went out with my gfs. We ate at Corner Bakery because it was a friday night and the Spectrum was packed as usual. Wasn’t too bad. I had some kind of chicken pesto sandwich. Bought some kind of pitching toy for C and B to practice baseball at Target. C recced it. Hope it works.

16) Met up with Dh to go to the post office to get a passport for J. We needed expedited service (an extra $60) but it’s a 10 week wait now because of the unusually high volume of passports apps this year. She was out to lunch though so we went to eat at Champagne’s Market, near where we used to live at Newport Bluffs. We split our sandwiches. Dh had a salmon one and I had a chicken grilled one. He had it on some kind of squaw bread. In the words of Dora – Delicioso!! Mmmmmh, just thinking of it now make my mouth water.

17) Played Risk for Family Night. 3 letters – UGH.

18) I think we’re going thru some bad karma the last few months. Things have not worked, or are damaged, we’ve gotten hit with a bunch of fees, we’re losing money here and there. Must think of something to get us out of our slump.

19) B walked the dog and he went for a long time so I had to run out there and see what was keeping him. (That’s the overly protective side of me). He was hanging out with the blond kid who lives right by the park. B told me they got bullied by some older kids (12 yo) on bikes. They were taunting the other kid calling him a scaredy cat when he ran away from their bike. They tried to taunt B too but Sammy barked at them and so they left him alone. They were trying to “run them over” according to B. His friend was on a scooter. One of the bullies was brown and one was white, says B. I’m definitely going to say something to them if I ever see them. B says they live in the neighborhood. Anyway, B tried to tell them off about not bullying kids younger than them. He asked them “Do you want someone trying to run you over?” They replied “Yes!” B said they answered like that because they were embarrassed at their behavior. I’m glad B can stand up for himself.

20) Met a new mom Yumi (her kid’s name is Takumi). He’s on second grader in Liam’s class. She seems nice. She also has another son who is 4 but going to turn 5 in Dec so she’s going to hold him back.

Anyway, those are the highlights. Back to your regularly scheduled program…