Oahu: Sunday and Monday
On Sunday, we walked about a mile to Rainbow Drive-in for brunch. It was 10:00 am so it was hard to decide what to eat. In the end, Jes got spam and eggs while I got teri beef with mac salad. It rained off ad on but not enough to actually impact our morning.
We then headed over to Waikiki Aquarium. on our way there, we passed a fire station that had a sign offering free blood pressure testing as long as firefighters were in the quarters and not having a meal. I’m glad they have their priorities straight.
At the aquarium, we saw lots of fish and it was actually worth taking Kumquat. She could see the fish and tracked the big fish back and forth. At one point she seemed delighted by all the activity and it was so much fun to watch her smile and kick her legs.
Jes and I have always enjoyed visiting aquariums and this one is one of my favorites. It was wonderful to see our little girl enjoying it too.
Afterward, we headed back to the hotel and spent some time at the pool bar before heading to Yoon’s condo. She picked us up and we BBQ’d on her 9th floor patio and I also took Kumquat into the pool for some floating time.
It must have taken all her energy because she slept for quite a while afterward. Unfortunately, she woke up suddenly and cried and cried for a good 20 minutes from being either overtired or super hungry or both.
When nothing was working to calm her down at the pool, I decided to take her up to Yoon’s condo to figure it out and as soon as I got up there and placed her in the car seat, she passed out.
I stayed up there with her and ended up falling asleep to the beautiful sunset and Women’s Field Hockey on tv.
On Monday morning, we were up relatively early so I dressed Kumquat in some beach clothes and we took her down to the beach one last time. I love Waikiki Beach in the morning because it’s shady, super empty, and quiet. We spent some time playing in the sand, watching and listening to the waves, and just enjoyed our last morning in Hawaii together as a family.
After a quick bath for Kumquat and some last-minute packing, we were off to the airport by 11:30 am. Getting through security was pretty easy and the flight was an amazingly short 4.5 hours! Luckily, Kumquat was on her best behavior and she slept for most of the flight and downed two bottles of milk. Good baby.
Overall, our first trip to Hawaii with Kumquat was a success. It was so neat to see our favorite place through a little baby’s eyes and I feel so lucky to have had such good flights with her. This was truly a bittersweet trip for me since it was something that I had looked forward to for a few months now but it was also the mark of the end of my maternity leave. Oh boo. Can’t wait for next year’s trip. Who’s coming with us?!
On Friday afternoon (7/27), we went to Jes’ favorite ramen place of all time. Jes also made sure to run across the street for a couple tall boys for the meal. I had the cold ramen and shared kimchi fried rice with Yoon. 
Kumquat also enjoyed watching the ceiling fan above us.
In the evening, we took Kumquat to the pool for her first dip. She looked a bit confused but didn’t cry. That was all I was hoping for so I consider it a success.
On Saturday (7/28), we went to McDonald’s for the spam and eggs platter.
Then we hung out at a coffee shop until it was time for Jes to go sailing.
Yoon picked him up and they sailed all afternoon in a local race. They came in 2nd place and Jes had a good time but the water was much choppier than Yoon had anticipated.
Meanwhile, I went shopping with Kumquat and went to Yogurtland for my Tuxedo Sam spoon. Looked like Kumquat wanted a taste of the frozen yogurt that day.
For lunch, I picked up Yoon’s favorite kimchi fried rice and there was a special that included spicy pork and mac salad. Yes! I took it back to the hotel bar, ordered a mai tai, and enjoyed the live music under the banyan tree with a napping baby in the stroller. Perfect.
Back at the hotel room, I needed to tidy up and Kumquat started to fuss. I set her down on the bed and turned on the Olympics and she stopped right away! So much for the No TV Rule.
Later that day, I took Kumquat to the pool by myself. We hung out in the pool together for a while until it rained suddenly. It got kind of cold so we got out and I wrapped Kumquat up and took her out to the beach. It was still sunny and warm out there so it was a good place to warm up. As the rain stopped, Jes arrived and a rainbow appeared! So cool!
On our way to dinner, we saw the sunset. We went to our favorite Japanese place that’s hidden in an obscure hotel near the zoo. Kumquat was in a pretty good mood at first but then needed to be soothed to sleep. Luckily they placed us in the the tatami room so she slept on the cushion next to me.
She slept through most of the flight and I even got to enjoy a Mai Tai. She just had a bit of fussing 20 mins before landing but no one really gave us a hard time about it.
When we arrived, Yoon picked us up and took us to lunch at Nico’s. I had a yummy furikake pan-seared ahi with mac salad.
When we checked in, we got upgraded to an Ocean View Room! Woohoo!
I unpacked and washed Kumquat’s clothes while the two of them took a nap. She had a blowout in the plane and Jes just threw all her clothes in a bag.
It was quite a sight seeing Jes return from the lavatory with a naked baby (diaper only).
By the way, the new plane had a changing table over the toilet and a USB charging station on the seat!
We’re leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning and it’s going to be Kumquat’s first plane trip. We’re staying at the Moana again (pictured above) for 4 nights and we get to see our favorite Yoon!
Check out this ensemble! The spf 50 watermelon bodysuit came from Jes’ cousins in Vancouver and it was perfect for this trip. The bathing suit on the right is from H&M. It was on the sale rack for $7, which I was pretty happy about but then when the lady rung it up, she said it was $1!!! Sweet. I bought the terry cloth cover-up from Old Navy. They were having a big summer sale and I snagged this one from the sale rack. I bought the hat from Target and it also has spf 50 protection. The pediatrician recommended that we have Kumquat wear sunglasses so I pick up this nifty pair that will make her look really silly. Lastly, I ordered sunblock through Amazon and hope that Kumquat will cooperate with the application process. I hate sunscreen but hope she’s going to be ok with it. I also got Kumquat a floaty thing for her to sit in while in the pool and got a pack of swimming diapers on sale at Amazon. So I guess we’re set! She might cry on the plane but once we get to our destination, she’ll be fully prepared for some fun in the sun! Wish us luck!!
On Sunday, it was Father’s Day. We spent the morning at church and Jes’ dad got to show off his prized granddaughter. Kumquat was pretty good during service but had a minor poopy blowout in the middle of it and I forgot the changing pad that has her diapers in it! So, I had to go downstairs to the nursery and put on Size 3 diapers on her little butt in the meantime (she wears Size 1). Oh well, it was better than a stinky baby!
In the afternoon, we hung out at the Magical House with Brother and Joy until it was time for dinner. This was Brother’s attempt at soothing the baby. He’s gonna need some practice.
My mom gave Kumquat a bath while we went to lunch and even trimmed her nails!
Later that afternoon we found them napping together.
Before dinner, we went back to Buena Park to video chat with Jason and Jia. They got to wish Dad a Happy Father’s Day and saw Kumquat very briefly.
Dinner was at a Japanese restaurant and Kumquat got to sit next to me in the booth.
On Monday morning, I stopped at McDonald’s to introduce Kumquat to the McCafe crew.
They were in the usual corner and finally got to meet the little baby that my parents have been raving about for the past two months.
Afterward, I met up with Patty and Patti for some coffee and breakfast at Panera Bread.
The rest of the afternoon was spent hanging out at The Magical House. I brought home Chik-fil-a for everyone and Kumquat got to smell my dad’s tasty chicken sammich.
Later that evening, we took Kumquat to Downtown Disney for the first time. All four grandparents came along and we had a nice evening stroll with the baby.
By the time we got home, we were all so pooped. The baby fell asleep and Jes and I finally got some time to veg out in front of our laptops. My mom took this photo and I didn’t even notice.
As soon as we got to Cerritos, we dropped of Kumquat and Koa and got some tasty Mexican food and margaritas at Don Jose. That really hit the spot.
On Saturday, it was filled with family festivities. For lunch, we had dim sum at Capital Seafood in Irvine. Kumquat was the star of the show and got to wear her purple dress again.
While we waited for our tables, we went next door to 85 degrees bakery to try their famous iced salted coffee and it was pretty good! There was a good turnout and we took up two huge tables in the middle of the restaurant.
For dinner, we had a Thai feast with the cousins at Thai Nakorn as we always do when we’re in town.
Marie and the gang got to meet Kumquat for the first time and so did Pish and his clan.
We all stuffed ourselves silly and even got to snack on Peking Duck-flavored Lays potato chips.
Later that evening, we stopped at Ti and Thilan’s house to visit our “third family”, The Tranandos. They were having a party for Elise’s birthday and they invited us over to join them. All the kids got to meet Kumquat and Makenzie still remembered her friend Jesse. It was so cute when they all swarmed the baby.
I also forgot how fun it is the sing the second verse of the “Happy Birthday” song.
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