Happy Easter!

secret island beach

It didn't surprise me that Christian's work planned another fantastic work party. In 2008, his Christmas party was held at the historic Mission Houses Museum with white tents outside and all the fanciness that goes with it. In 2009, they rented out The Liljestrand House (check the link for pics) designed by Vladimir Ossipoff. We were obsessed with this house!! We didn't want to leave. The 2010 Christmas party was pushed back till yesterday and was held at Secret Island Beach. A fun-filled day for the whole family. The beach was so beautiful and the weather was perfect.

Unfortunately, our family is a little crippled right now so we didn't get to enjoy everything that was offered. Christian is still recovering and wasn't interested in trying to hold conversations with people because he couldn't hear them anyways. I'm a beastly pregnant lady, trying to hobble around. And Tristan just caught a bad head cold, just to make things more exciting for us. Anyways, I wanted to share pictures of this beautiful place. It still amazes me that we live here.

While waiting for our shuttle boat, Tristan and I watched the fish jump in and out of the water.

I attempted to smuggle a beach ball over there. I think they were on to me. 38 weeks! Woo hoo!

Our ride over on the boat. Breathtaking.

The beautiful beach. There were kayaks and stand-up paddle boards to play on. A ping pong table and volleyball net. The water was super warm and felt so nice to swim in.

Christian spotted this cute beached turtle sunbathing.

Dad teaching his son to respect the wild life and watch from afar. The turtle was a little nervous with us being around. He was really cute.

He made his way down to the water to cool off.

There were a few hammocks on the beach, (my favorite part). Tristan loved it too!

After swimming and visiting, we had to leave soon after lunch was served so we could make it to Ezra's 1st birthday party at Waimanalo Beach.

With chocolate left over on his face from the dessert eating contest, Tristan swore that he saw a few "shocks" (sharks) in the water.

I was a little nervous that I would somehow go into labor while being stuck on this secret beach, but I was told that there was a doctor in the group, and that their boat could get me pretty close to a hospital at top speed. Thank goodness baby girl stayed put!

miss this boy?

We've been a little occupied this last month or so. Christian has caught some sort of bug that has kept him out of work for almost a whole week. Throat, nose, conjunctivitis, ears, neck pain (having an MRI this Friday). Since having congested ears (one visit to the ER thinking he ruptured a drum), C has lost almost complete hearing in both of his ears. He will be seeing an ear specialist this week. Tristan's terrible twos have escalated beyond terrible and his tantrums are getting more difficult to manage. He's still adorable and fun, but cruuuazy. I can't keep up with the boy. Why is that? Because I'm 9 months pregnant, and this past month I had hips twisted in different directions, which felt like my legs were falling out of their sockets, with shooting pain in my lower back. I've been in physical therapy trying to fix myself because I wasn't able to walk without wanting to cry. Trying to man the house from sun up to sun down in this condition is not easy. Taking care of a sickling and a stubborn little turd (a cute turd) makes it a lot harder. This is what we've been up to the last few weeks. Things are a lot better now. I can walk again! Well, I waddle. But whatever, I can get around now. Christian is back at work now but has had to warn some of his co-workers about his hearing problem. I hope that he can get his hearing back soon.

On a fun note, I saw my doctor today and it looks like baby girl could arrive as soon as next week! I'm so excited to meet her. I'm also freaking out a little. I'm nervous about surviving the baby schedule again. I'm nervous about going through labor again and feeling that pain. I pray that everything goes smoothly. So we will be adding pictures of baby girl very soon, but until then, here is what this crazy little kid has been up to;

Watch out! He's a triple threat. He's got the looks, and we've all seen him dance, but we've discovered that he is a singer as well. He loves to sing and perform. His all time favorite song right now is "Pool Party" by the Aquabats. He requests (demands) to hear this song allllll day long, even while driving in the car. Other songs; Twinkle little star, and Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.

He loves to bake (or pretend bake). It's to the point now where I have to hide when I bake, or he freaks out and gets upset for not including him. I was making banana muffins the other day with my hand mixer, trying to hide the mixer from his view, when I heard him sneak up on me and yell "Hey!.....chair!". And he ran over to his "blue cooking chair" and pulled it over. The pictures above are of him making a creation on his own. He peeled the orange and was pouring it back and forth, in the pans that he got out all by himself.

Don't judge me on this one. We received a new baby present on Sunday and I made the mistake of trying it on Tristan, just for fun. Here he is, adoring himself in the mirror. He didn't want to take it off. opps. It was funny watching him play with his cars on the ground in this dress. The next morning he ran and grabbed it and asked me to put it on him. I had a little talk with him so I think we're ok now.

The obsession with Woody and Buzz continues. Sometimes he combines the characters into one, (as seen in the picture on the right).

Some of his favorite words:

• Mama and Dada have evolved into "Mommy" and "Daddy". I LOVE it.
• Apple Juice
• Bubbles side = Let's blow bubbles outside
• Watch dis = I want to watch a show or movie
• Socket = chocolate
• Mummy = food is yummy mom.
• Anch = Ranch dressing
• Fi Trah = Fire Truck
• Menamine = Megamind
• George = Monkey (or Curious George movie)

holga

I recently got a 120 mm film holga. Fun to have a different camera from our digital that forces you to look at things differently, also fun to have the mystery again of what the pictures will turn out like.

Only taken one roll so far, so have much to learn and experiment, but here are two of my favorites:

pecha kucha night

Some of you may or may not know this about Christian, but he is incredibly talented. When he's not working at his architecture firm, he's moonlighting as a designer. There's not much designing going on at his firm right now because most of the work is just restoration projects, so Christian's creative outlet is through Arkotec; his underground t-shirt design company and Products for People line (homemade goods).

Christian signed up to present at this past Friday's Pecha Kucha Night; it's an event that happens every few months where designers can meet, network, and share their work with the public. 20 slides/20 seconds each slide. On top of that, he decided to be a part of the hifi fashion incubator, and display his stuff at Ala Moana Center for 10 days. Pecha Kucha was held at hifi's space at Ala Moana on the opening night so it was the perfect opportunity to introduce the public to Arkotec.

I wanted to post about this because I am so proud of my Christian. He did an awesome job presenting; he's a natural when it comes to talking about one of his passions.

Christian had some fans shouting for him from the audience. :)

Some highlights from his presentation;

But his number one fan was waiting for him off-stage. He's so proud of his daddy.

the contest is on

"The contest is on." That's a statement Shandra has come to know well over the years. It means one of the world tour contests has started somewhere in the world and it's gonna be streaming live on the internet. It means that I'll be posted up watching it, night or day, potentially for long periods of time. Meals enjoyed at the computer, alarm set at random times during the night to catch a heat. About the only reason I wouldn't be watching is if I had the chance to be surfing myself, and it would have to be worth it to miss a contest.

We don't watch the Super Bowl or even the commercials during it. We don't watch the World Cup or Final Four or any playoffs. We don't even really pay attention to the Olympics. No American Idol either. In our home, surfing is all there is.

The first contest of 2011 just finished yesterday and I'm just so happy that another season has started. To celebrate, here are some photos from last December's Pipeline Masters we went to:




Tristan dogging while uncle Gavin looks on. He didn't feel very well after we got to the beach but was a champion. Didn't complain at all and even took a nap for a while in a makeshift tent.




Always an honor to see Kelly surf in person.

Dane Reynolds:








Dane recently posted a video with some contest footage on his site and I spotted myself in the crowd. Here's the same wave as above:






After the contest we went to a little spot I know and Gavin and I went out for a surf while our loving wives chatted on the beach. Young Ice T was still feeling bad and slept some more...hate seeing him like that.


Fun

two

This sweet boy turned two last month. It makes me so sad that he's not my little baby anymore. I know that I'm pregs and extra sensitive right now, but I had a really sad moment last week thinking about how fast he's growing up and that our world will be changing so soon with this new baby. It was just another reminder to enjoy every moment with this boy. Before we know it, he will be a teenager and may not even like us. That will be sad.

Tristan is probably one of the happiest little boys that I know. It's not hard to make him smile or laugh. I love that he is so high on life. A ball full of energy. He is very social and becomes instant BFs with anyone. We just adore him and love watching him grow and become his own person.

For his birthday this year we decided to take him to Chuck E Cheese for the first time. He invited a few friends and they all had a blast. If we were there any longer, it may have given his mom and dad a seizure with all of the flashing lights and craziness, but the kids loved it. When it was finally time to leave, Tristan cried hysterically for 20 minutes on the way home, and then finally fell asleep. My plan to wear him out worked, which is extremely hard to do. After naps we opened presents, went swimming at the beach, had burgers at Teddy's and then ice cream at Bubbies. Fun-filled day.

Chuck E is kind of creepy to me, but T was pretty stoked on him. This is Tristan trying to give a shaka. We're still working with him.

The little ones waiting patiently for me to light his candles.

He practiced blowing out candles for weeks. Nailed it!

The aftermath.

Two year old stats:

• 5th percentile for height and weight. 50% for head. :)
• He insists on having hot foods for lunch, no cold sandwiches for him. He loves tomatoes right now, his all time fave.
• He still thinks he's Buzz Lightyear. He makes his dad (even his very pregnant mom) pick him up and fly him around the house or down the stairs to the car, as he puts his fists out in front of him and scrunches his face, or else...
• He will climb anything. No matter how high, no matter how danger. He'll do it.
• He dances on command. Even if he's throwing a tantrum, we say "go dance", and there he goes.
• Favorite movies; any Toy Story and now Megamind