~monaloca~

Long before Nalani was born, our friends the Yamadas gave us a couple free passes to the SF Zoo. They expired at the end of June but with at least eight months to spare we figured we had plenty of time. As human nature usually dictates, we waited until the last minute to finally trek over the bridge and to the coastal, wind-blown corner of my favorite city.

Melina’s highlights from our visit included two ant eaters as big as her and a polar bear – neither of which we have at the Oakland Zoo – and the flamingos, probably because they’re pink. I always love to see penguins, also something we don’t have in Oakland.

Nalani slept through most of the outing. One day soon she’ll start to enjoy zoo visits, too!

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Joey and I finally had kids-free getaway weekend! It’s only the second since Melina was born, and will likely be the last for at least another year, til I’m ready to leave baby with my parents overnight. But it was fantastic.

We dropped Melina off at my parents’ on our way down to Carmel. She was somewhat prepped for what was going to happen, having known for a few days we were going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house, and even having understood from our conversations with Kai that Mommy and Daddy were going “to the beach” and without them. (It’s always questionable how much to reveal directly to a two-year-old.)

But earlier that morning she’d told me “I’m going to GrampaGrammas with Kai Kai” and I’d had to say “Ummm, noooo… Kai’s going to Jen’s. And you’re going to Grandma and Grandpa’s.” Her face dropped and she screamed “No! I don’t want to go!” Luckily, she was fine when we got there, and did great all weekend.

For our part, Joey and I stayed at a little inn right in Carmel, dined in style for two nights and two mornings in a row, and lucked out with fantastic, sunny weather smack in the middle of weeks of rain. Besides strolling in and out of fancy village shops, we took in a few new sites. Point Lobos was the perfect spot for light trail walking along the coast, and in driving out to Carmel Valley I got to live vicariously through Joey while he did a bit of wine tasting. He claimed it wasn’t that good, but I wouldn’t have minded joining him. Something for the next getaway!

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Last Sunday we headed down to Capitola to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa plus cousins Lucas and Noah and family. (The Hams were spending a few nights in a condo, but unfortunately we had to get back to work. Next year we’ll plan to stay a few nights.)

Though only one day, it was a glorious getaway. The weather was absolutely perfect, with a bright blue sky and light breeze. We got to sit on the beach and play in the sand during the early afternoon. A thick mass of stinky, fly-filled seaweed along the surf made water play a little daunting, but we did walk the kids up to watch the waves. Only Noah chose to dip his toes in.

Then we headed to our favorite ice cream spot on the corner of Capitola’s main drag. All three kids got mini cones w/ chocolate, and I tried yet another cinnamon variation: coconut cinnamon. YUM! We topped off the evening with pizza from Pizza My Heart and a little more play with Lucas and Noah, then jammied up the little girl and drove back to Berkeley. As a side note, Melina had huge potty success: Dry panties and a dry swimsuit (sans swim diaper) all weekend long!

The cousins all had fun together. Just watch all the silliness.

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We returned from our long-awaited Alaskan cruise on Friday. We traveled with my parents, my sister and her family, and some long-time family friends through perfect weather (sunny nearly the whole time!) and some crazy kid (and adult) moments.

We took loads of photos. I’ve posted some here, but be sure to see our full album of favorites.

Our Favorite Trip Memories, Verbatim

Kai – The plane ride. (Really?? It took us over 12 hours to get from San Jose to the ship in Seward!) The “moving” dining room. Getting dessert every day. (Big surprise.) Spending time with my family. (Yay!) Oh, and the glacier was pretty cool.

Melina – Big ship. Big ice. Play. Cows. (Me: But we didn’t see cows in Alaska.) Oh, no cows. (Pause) Why not?

Joey & Me – (It was so cool we’d be hard-pressed to find a different highlight.) Kayaking near Hoonah alongside a baby humpback that literally played peek-a-boo with our whole kayaking crew for over 90 minutes. At one point he slapped his flippers on the water, over and over, for a good 10 minutes. Even our Hoonah-native guide said she’d never seen such a show.

He also got as close as 50ish feet from us and burst his huge open mouth out of the water, straight towards the sky. Watch the video. (And yes, we were a little nervous that he might accidently hit one of the kayaks.) Another whale moment: A few days later we, along with my sis, German, and Melina, saw 2 orcas jumping gracefully in the waters just below our balcony. Our parents were jealous.

Some Funny Moments

After we put the kids to bed in our teensy cabin each night, Joey and I would usually hop the balcony railing to my parents’ room, where we hung out with Stacie and German, and usually a bottle of wine and extra desserts. On one of the first nights, Kai saw us head out to the balcony after he was in bed. 30 minutes later he decided he “needed” something from us so went outside, and we weren’t there! We heard him crying in the hallway from two doors down. As usual, he hadn’t listened when we said where we were going. He thought we’d fallen overboard.

One night our parents offered to keep an ear on the kids so all four of us could go “out” on the ship. After a few cocktails Joey and I headed back to the room, where the kids were sound asleep. But when Joey leaned down to cover Melina with a blanket, he saw her bare naked butt staring up at him. Apparently she’d decided it was a bottoms-free night. We did wake her to diaper and jammie her up again. She just looked at us blankly and didn’t say a word.

All in All

Alaska itself was fantastic. Spending time with my extended family and the Hindmarshes – and getting to see Uncle Bob for a full day in Juneau – was loads of fun. Traveling with two little kids in such tight quarters, and without a ton to entertain them (especially Melina, who didn’t have a little ocean camp she could attend) was tough.

And cruising wasn’t really for us. It’s probably one of the most reasonable ways to see Alaska, which has a ridiculous amount of land but very little road system. But I felt like we spent the majority of our vacation on a big floating hotel (because, well, we did) and not immersing ourselves in and amongst the land and people we had come to visit.

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After a brief spout of April rain I think (or hope) that spring has arrived for good. Meli loves her new sundresses, even though Mama makes her wear stretch pants underneath when she’s running around the yard or a park. And I’m sure the dresses won’t stay springtime clean for long.

Kai and Meli both had fun seeing what the Easter bunny brought, though Kai more than Melina. He was convinced the Easter bunny had arrived after he woke up and was watching cartoons in the living room. “He snuck in so quietly I didn’t even hear him!” Melina was more interested in putting her blankie in her basket than looking at the little toys and Teddy Grahams she’d gotten.

Last week we had our last (for now) in a series of wine tasting adventures. This time we headed over two hours northeast to Amador County with our friends the Zarlings. Peter’s a big fan of Amador zins, and belongs the Vino Noceto wine club. Wine tasting with four kids (ages almost 1, almost 2, 4, and 6) was definitely a challenge, but the bigger ones had fun running around the various picnic grounds and feasting on pizza in small town Plymouth before we headed home.

Finally, Melina can count to 10! She got a kick out of counting “1, 2, 3″ before jumping into the warm pool when we swam on Friday. This morning she made it all the way to 10.

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Who says wineries aren’t fun for kids?

We’ve visited several, in both Livermore and Napa, in the past few weeks, and Meli and Kai both found plenty to entertain themselves – including a number of things we don’t get to see every day in urban Berkeley.

Mid-month we visited two Livermore wineries with our friends Jenny and Pat and baby Kanoa. Kitt also came along for the ride, and, based on some great Yelp reviews, pointed us in the direction of a more back-country than usual Livermore winery called Boa Ventura. Turns out they’re only open one weekend each month, so we got lucky. The grounds were rural and funky, with a sign to “Watch for dogs: One old, one young, one stupid.”

Meli immediately spotted two of the dogs (turns out the third was hit by a truck earlier in the week), but was then side-tracked by all the chickens running around the yard. She spent a good 20 minutes following them, saying “chee-ten, chee-ten, ‘ere chee-ten.” The proprieter, who had a three-month-old strapped to his chest, even showed us a freshly-laid egg. Melina was fully underwhelmed by what to her looked like something she’d find in our own fridge.

Last weekend we made a quick trip to Napa to pick up some wine from a club we joined last fall. This time we also had Kai in tow. He and Melina both loved the majestic Artesa grounds, especially the cows and sheep on the roadside as we neared the winery and the long series of fountains flowing down the front hill.

The rest of the winery wasn’t quite as toddler-friendly as Boa Ventura (though they did have crayons and a coloring book for Kai), so we soon headed off for lunch at a nearby, uber-yuppy deli and picnic grounds. It was a gray and gloomy day, so we had nearly the whole picnic area to ourselves, including the two bocce ball courts. Kai learned to play a real game, while Meli took over the other court to knock the balls off the ledge then pick and line them up, over and over and over again.

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Last weekend we headed to Tahoe with my sister and her family to take the four kids on their first trip to play in the snow. They all liked it, Kai so much that he told us he wished it snowed in Berkeley. (My response: “I used to say the same thing about SJ when I was growing up. Then I did live in the snow. It’s better to visit.”)

Melina liked it so much that she’s wanted to wear her snow boots every day since we’ve been home. I let her get away with it the last two days. After all, shoes are shoes and she looks kinda hip in her own toddler way. She did not like wearing her gloves, though, even when her hands were near popsicles as she sledded down a hill in the middle of a snow flurry.

We had snow highlights both full days of the trip. On the drive up the little ones were so excited none of them napped. We stopped at a state park near Donner for a traipse through deep powder – and for Melina, a ride in the sled that her brother pulled. The next day, we knew a slush storm was on its way so headed out fairly early and followed signs to “sled hill” from the main road in Kings Beach.

Wet snow was falling by the time we arrived so we ended up with the whole hill to ourselves. The three older kids flew down on saucers (Lucas and Noah with an adult), and Melina had a blast sliding over and over again in a baby/toddler sled we’d borrowed from her friend Lily. As Auntie Stacie put it, she never said a word, not a single “wheeee!!!” but just sat their smiling until the sled stopped, then said “mo… mo…” which in the end says it all.

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We posted an album of our favorite Hawaii and holiday photos on flickr. Enjoy!

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We’ve been back on the mainland for several days now, adjusting to colder weather and real-world commitments. More trip photos coming soon (we took well over 500), but in the meantime, I’ll share a few of my favorites plus some highlights of the second half of our trip.

Thanks to Joey’s Auntie Yvonne we all got to attend a Christmas luau at the Mormon community center in Waimanalo. Melina even tried poi, and made a face so funny that Grandma told the story to everyone she talked to on Christmas day. Since Meli was on my lap I didn’t see the face, but I did hear the hacking, just like a cat with a furball stuck in its throat. Poor thing.

We spent one morning hiking up to Makapu’u lighthouse with Nancy, Maya, and Zeke. The walk up the hill usually takes about 30 minutes, but with four little kids took almost an hour. We all enjoyed a windy view and snacks at the top before a much quicker trek back down. A few days later we celebrated Christmas day with Joey’s brother Wayne (aka Nancy’s dad) and his extended family. Kai got to play Wii and Meli got to explore a new house while trying to escape Zeke’s incessant kisses.

Ever since my first trip with Joey to O’ahu, I’ve never felt like our vacation is complete without a drive to the North Shore. It’s a nice drive, if we’re lucky we see 13+ foot waves once we’re there, and we top off the day with renowned Matsumoto shave ice in Haleiwa. This year the waves were so small that the kids and I dipped in our toes, then full feet, and within 15 minutes Meli’s shirt was soaked (she’s so short, those “small” waves were high!) and Kai was covered in wet sand from jumping and rolling around. Note to self that I vaguely remember making last time we visited with Kai: Always bring spare clothes to the North shore, even if we swear we won’t play in the waves.

We ran into pounding rain on our drive home from Haleiwa, which didn’t seem like a big deal until we sat down to dinner in Kailua that night and the lights went out… which also didn’t seem like a huge deal until we turned on the radio and heard people from all over the island calling in to say they had no power. Yup, an island-wide power outage on O’ahu, all due to four downed power lines on the island’s center. In Kailua it lasted from 7pm until around 5:30am, but we heard stories of residents in other towns not having power for close to 24 hours.

On our last day, Joey and I had an almost-Obama sighting. We were walking to the end of Kalama beach, near his mom’s house and in the direction of the Obama vacation compound, when we hit a small crowd blocked from going further by two Aloha-shirt and sunglass-clad men. Several paparazzi had cameras – with lenses over a foot long – staked in the sand. In the distance we saw two little girls walk from a house down to the sand and sea. Perhaps the Obama daughters?

On a final, non-island note: Melina’s first molar (lower right) appeared the night before we left. Her second lower molar started to show a couple days later, and today we saw a top molar poking through, plus two top eye teeth heading down. All very good news for our little meat-eating fiend, who so far is handling all that teething pain like a champ.

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While our family and friends are shivering through uncommon rain and cold on the mainland, we’re happily enjoying a mellow Kailua vacation. Melina has taken to Grandma Rapoza very well. It helps that Grandma has a big lab, Samson, that Meli adores and likes to help her feed. She’s also become an expert stair climber thanks to the small steps leading up to the front porch and down to our room.

We’ve had a couple beach visits and would have had more but the weather’s been off-and-on rainy or windy, which brings out the Portuguese Man o’ War (we saw one wash up the other day). Kai and Meli both love running in the waves and carrying bucket-loads of water back to a sand volcano that Daddy builds. Unfortunately for us, Melina’s still a sand eater. She also likes ocean water. Must be the salt.

Joey’s niece Nancy and her family now live just a few blocks away. Her kids, Maya and Zeke, are close in age to Kai and Melina so we’ve been spending a lot of time with them. Kai and Maya act like old buddies. (They are, really!)

Zeke is obsessed with “Mina.” He follows her around, gives her hugs and kisses at every opportunity (as if she doesn’t get enough of that from her brother), and will even pull her picture off Granny’s wall to stare at up-close. It’s pretty cute. Maybe by the time we leave Meli will return his affections.

Other random highlights:

* A Matthew Fox (from “Lost”) sighting in Kailua town our first afternoon here.
* A visit to the Honolulu zoo.
* A trip to Ala Moana mall and visit with Santa. (Kai smiled politely. Melina screamed. The photo is fantastic.)
* Following Barack Obama’s own Kailua holiday on the local news. We drove up to the private lane where he’s staying the other day, but only saw clusters of American flags and Honolulu police cars as evidence he was staying nearby.
* And of course, oodles of unscheduled time!

The fun continues so we’ll have much more to come. In the meantime, happy Christmas Eve to all!

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