Throwback Thursday. Family Vacation Honolulu, Hawaii 2013...

Since it is June, I thought this weeks TBT could come from our family vacation we took also in June, just a few years ago. We usually take a family vacation every summer and it's usually to Hawaii. This was the year 2013 and our family once again hit the island of Oahu for some much needed rest and relaxation and some family fun. And this time was super nice, because my mom flew from California to spend the week with us in Honolulu. Back to the pic. Just about to head from Japan to Honolulu. The seats in first class to Honolulu are these really big slanted type seat configuration. The window seats... just have 1 huge seat and it is slanted. The seats fold all the way down to beds or comfy recliners. They're so comfy. And a huge screen for watching on demand movies and a nice side table with reading light and plugs to charge tablets and stuff. Of course we book ended the boys. Noboru was in the first seat, then B, then Noah and I was last. That way we always kept a watchful eye on the kids. : ) 

Enjoy your flight kids. And I will do the same. And I'll also be keeping my eyes on you guys. : ) 

Dessert cart. Yum! After a full course meal. They wheeled the dessert cart around. There are a few desserts to choose from and also a huge cheese and fruit platter.

I picked a strawberry sundae and watched Oz the Great and Powerful. And a whole bunch of other movies too. 

We spent many many days at the beach. Fave beach? Kailua! : ) Noah and also Bran boogie boarded. I did too. My mom enjoyed the beach a ton and so did Noboru. 

We always bring a lunch and plenty of drinks with us. And a whole lot of sunscreen.

What lucky kids! The luckiest! : )

My mom doted on both Bran and Noah most of the days and in between eating her salad, she also found time to sit and drink her Perrier and read her book of the month. That time it was Fifty Shades of  Freed. Those are her reading glasses. 

Summer vacations are for eating meals slowly. Creating lots of fun memories. Eating, talking and laughing! And enjoying some very fluffy blueberry pancakes, crunchy bacon, eggs and hashbrowns and sipping good ol' American coffee!

Going to touristy places...because you can! : ) And it's fun! : )

Because grandma gave each of you a disposable camera and told you 2 to takes lots of pictures from your vacation. And you both did. And there is Noah taking a picture of his lunch that he was just about to eat! I love this! : ) 

With hat...

Without hat and both wearing their new shark tooth necklaces...

Dole Whip pineapple deliciousness!

Anyway that's today's TBT from 2013! : )

Happy New Year 2016!!! The Year of the Monkey...

Happy New Years everyone! Good bye 2015 Year of the Sheep, hello there...Year of the Monkey!!! We sent out some very happy...very mellow in color... soft yellow ones this year! The pics obviously came from our summer vacation, this past July in Hawaii. Hopefully everyone can sorta get a general idea from the little picture collage we sent out.  I did white out our last name and address, just in case any of you are Terminators sent from Skynet, from either the past or present and are hunting for us. Okay...I'm kidding...I'm kidding. : ) 

Happy New Year's dear family, dear friends and dear and lovely readers. I hope all of you have the best most wonderful year, this year. I sincerely hope you all stay happy, healthy and wise.

PS, Happy New Year Andria, thank you for getting in touch with me! You made my day! Have an awesome year this year and right on about Korean beauty products! Yay. : )  

Kailua Beach tropical fun!!! Morning to evening spent at the beach, boogie boarding nonstop, making sandcastles, snorkeling and our picnic lunch on the beach! Kua ‘Aina for dinner...

Gearing up for our 2nd day in Oahu! The plan, spend the entire day at Kailua Beach. Go home after a full day of beach fun, shower, get soapy sudsy clean and then dinner at Kua 'Aina to end the already amazing day! So that was the plan and that's what happened and how we spent Tuesday, July 21st! Noah patiently waiting, he got ready super fast, way faster than everyone else, he even got dressed put the bed back into a couch! Noah being my magnificent 10 year old proclaimed..."mama our couch, is a Transformer!!!" "Yes, it is Noah, you are totally right!" : ) 

Noboru and Branny Mc B, putting lots of ice into a bag to keep our cooler and drinks cool!

One of the things, we also totally loved about the condo we stayed at, is there were 4 colorful beach chairs and 4 huge and brightly colored freshly laundered beach towels. There was a whole beach section/area in one of the huge closets and you could borrow anything you wanted, including this cooler! This just made our beach time even better, with having this stuff already at the condo, ready for us to use. This aspect, we totally appreciated.

Snorkel gear and flippers and everything was available and ready for us to use, it was just nicely in the closet. 

A huge amount of ice for the cooler. And because we didn't want the ice, to melt and make a huge disastrous mess in the cooler we kept the ice in a bag. Just easier to clean up afterwards, but still kept all the drinks icy cold!

My sweetie pie, packing up the drinks in the cooler. Meanwhile I grabbed the 5 bottles of sunscreen I brought from Japan, yes I'm excessive like that. Plus the bottle are super small anyways, but... I don't want us to run out of sunscreen while there. I also applied 1 coat to Branden before we left the condo and applied a coat to Noah as well, as to myself. Noboru said he didn't want any sunscreen. A fact he regretted later, because his entire face peeled super badly. @_@ Hahaha. 

And yep, more beer left from past guests, huge amounts. Super kind, but again we're not drinkers. So, we just kept with our vitamin waters and bottled water the whole trip. : ) 

And we're all in the car and we are heading out of the condo, the landscaping was gorgeous!

Bye super nice security people, we're off to spend the day at the beach. Have an awesome day, ya'll.

On the highway. Listening to some jams on the radio! Funny how music can make you think of a certain space in time. Last year 2014 when we were in Hawaii, summer of 2014 we listened to Rude by Magic and All About the Bass tons, we couldn't help it, it just played nonstop on the radio while there last year. So those 2 songs sort of make us think of summer Hawaii trip 2014. This trip though, Hawaii trip 2015, on continuous play on our fave radio station played. "Post to Be", by Omarion, Chris Brown and Jhene Aiko (she's amazing and gorgeous and half Japanese half African American and her voice is amazing, we love her) that song is the jam! "Honey I'm Good", by Andy Grammer is so catchy, we heard that tons and know all the words. "Can't Feel My Face", by The Weeknd and we also heard "Bad Blood" by Taylor Swift tons and lastly AlunaGeorge, "You know You Like It" constantly during our vacation so those 5 songs... were on constant replay on the radio while there. I now have those 5 songs on my phone and have been playing those non stop, since we've been back home in Japan. So yep, we jammed to tunes all the way to Kailua Beach, Tuesday July 21st.

Drinks check!

We each had a yogurt for breakfast and we arrived at the beach by 8am. We played and played and then around 11am, Noboru asked what everyone wanted and he hopped in the car and went to the shops about 5 mins away and brought back some lunch. The 2 N's had Subway sandwiches. Noboru had a footlong meatball sub and Noah had a 6 inch meatball sub. And B and I had a personal sized mini pizza from Papa John's. Our pizzas came with a free soda each, so that's how we ended up with 2 sodas in the cooler, I gave my soda to Noah. 

By lunch time, we were starved! I had a pepperoni and mushroom pizza.

Bran and Noah were so hungry! 

Yep, Noah's always been a good eater. A skinny Minnie, but a real good eater nonetheless. : ) I reapplied some waterproof sunscreen on the kiddos and myself. Offered some to my sweetie pie, yet again, he said, no thanks.  : ( Okay...well... if you are sure then. : ) These beach chairs were so awesome by the way. : ) 

One of the most gorgeous and prettiest tropical beaches ever! A gorgeous turquoise blue color and the white sandy beaches. Watching my 3 out there... having a blast. 

Yes, that is our silly Noah, actually leaping and diving into the ocean with a snorkel mask on! Bran was meanwhile, just kicking it with the boogie board. 

My guy! I sure do love my guy! He just munched his footlong meatball sub. He drank some drink and we sat watching our boys for a bit. "Gosh haven't they grown", we said. "Gosh, aren't they amazing", We asked and replied..."oh the absolute best".... Him..."I love you".... me..."I love you too." We held hands for a bit and watched the boys. Do snorkel dives. Boogie board. And then...then... we joined them yet again! 

Hi Noah!

Riding wave after wave.

Noah's homework was long done.... before we ever left to Hawaii (that's just how we have always rolled at our house), so he has absolutely no stress...no worries. Just restful and fun days ahead! The kids go back to school in September. So Noah's truly just in summer break mode. Love that swimsuit!

Ride that wave B. Love you kid!

The amount of homework the kids in JHS get in Japan, makes the amount the elementary kids in Japan get... look like... peanuts, nothing, nonexistent tiddly winks in comparison! Yep, the amount is crazy insane. Poor JHS kids! I think B got 5 huge thick workbooks to be done in each main subject. Oh and the answers are not easily given like in elementary school. You get the answers *if* you can show the school you have done/finished 3 and a half of those workbooks. And the amount is insane. However Kumon study skills... got him prepped for it. And Branny B kicked out 3 and a half of those workbooks, before we ever left to Hawaii. He studied his ever loving brains out, before the trip. And so...he had no stress or worries about homework during our trip either. And he did return to JHS the one day that he was supposed to...to show his completed 3 and a half booklets were in fact done and he then got the answers for the rest. So Bran is done now. And he got the brunt done before Hawaii. Proud of you kiddo, I'm not crazy about the amounts of homework given here... to kids in Japan...hardly seems like a vacation or break from school considering the amounts of work they give to kids...so I am glad both the boys kick it out fast.

I am so proud of you Branny B. And wow look at that color of the ocean! It puts me in awe!

This kid could boogie board forever, every single day of his life. Go Noah Go!

And right back out again...

A genuine smile. Noah having an amazing day!

And right back out, yet again... And papa in the background, keeping a watchful eye, over the loves of our lives... our boys.

I can see all the fun you're having, by all the smiles, Noah!

Noah's mouth wide open in this pic...he was cruising in very fast and loving every minute of it...he kept going...ohh ohhh ohh! Hahaha. Cracked me up!

Keep having fun, my gorgeous boy, we're not going anywhere, we're here for the whole entire day!

Love you kid!

Gee, I can honestly not even guess how many times Noah boogie boarded, back and forth all day long. 

And yet again.

And yet again, Noah riding another wave in. I myself, boogie boarded for at least an hour and a half myself too. I also played the whole day away in the ocean with my family. Chatted with fellow families near us as well. Just had a great day.

Time for some sandcastle making fun, Noah! You can see our 4 beach chairs, beach towels and red cooler in the background. We had a perfect spot, for all our stuff and that way, we could keep an eye on the camera and car keys and stuff, while we were playing in the ocean together.

Tuesday, July 21st, was *such* an awesome and amazing day spent at Kailua Beach, with my family!

We arrived at the condo. Good grief it's super high in the sky. Our car from way up, looked super tiny. Hahaha. We all super quickly took turns showering and getting soapy clean. I went first, only because I take longer, then the guys do. I zipped in, showered, shampooed, conditioned my hair, washed my face and body and zipped out. Towel on my head, I got dressed while the boys took turns showering. I then put my makeup on, in the luggage area with help from all the mirrors. That way I didn't have to use or hog the bathroom, it was free for the rest of them. I put my makeup on. Blow dried my hair and was done. Put on some fresh clothes and by that time, the 3 of them, had all showered, were squeaky clean and we were starving for some dinner, by that time. Only thing Noah ate that day was 1 yogurt for breakfast and 1 half a sandwich (6 inch) and a drink. Same for Bran, except he had a tiny pizza. Same for me too. Noboru had a footlong, but the amount we swam and moved in the water, we were super hungry. 

We had a Kua 'Aina Sandwich right near us, near our condo area, so we went there for dinner. I had the chicken teriyaki sandwich only. The rest of the family had chargrilled cheeseburgers only, meaning no combos and we all shared 1 small order of fries (which was gigantic and way more then enough for us all). I disliked the fries at Kua 'Aina in Hawaii. They tasted really weird. And so I ate, only 1 fry. Branden didn't like the fries, either at all. And there were other small tiny differences...definite differences... in the Kua 'Aina in Japan versus the original in Hawaii. For starters, it's Kua 'Aina Sandwich in Hawaii. I'm pretty sure it's Kua 'Aina Burger in Japan or maybe just Kua "Aina. Also, in Japan we have onion rings, in Hawaii there are no/ zero onion rings. And given, I always order mine with onion rings, it was sorta obvious....at first I was thinking...What, no onion rings, how sad????  Again...is it enough to ruin the day?...hell no! Come on...we're lucky enough to be in Hawaii.. a freaking tropical paradise...we're on vacation...we just spent the whole entire day at the beach happily...we're also staying at the best condo ever...Believe me...I can gauge things quite well and in the grand scheme of things in life, believe me...this is nothing to get upset over. Didn't even register on the meter, in fact!.....Lack of onion rings are definitely not make or break. No big deal. Wish they would have had them, granted...but eh. Live and learn and move on.  But as far as the restaurant goes...it was a bit different. I would say I prefer, the restaurants in Japan for sure. A tad surprised they had no onion rings, also Kua 'Aina in Hawaii does not offer guava juice either, which was different/weird because the one in Japan does, but again it was no real...deal breaker...we shared 2 huge sodas and that was more than fine with us. Again the little differences were noticeable, if you frequent/ go to the one in Japan as often as we do and then go to the one in Hawaii, you'd notice. @_@ And the kids love the fries in Japan at Kua 'Aina but again they tasted really weird in Hawaii. Like...not a good flavor...definitely not a good tasting fry. However the people working there were super friendly. My sandwich on the other hand was delicious. And the boys and Noboru loved their burger. Just some interesting observations...about the one in Japan and the one in Hawaii. : ) 

Noah enjoying his burger. And we talked about our fantastic day of fun at the beach during dinner. We talked about our plans for the next day. And we talked about going to Target after leaving Kua 'Aina to get some extra yogurts and breakfast stuff. So we finished dinner and headed to Target, which was in the same parking lot as Kua 'Aina. And then we headed back to the condo, but we did stop and pick up, 4 bean and cheese burritos at the Taco Bell drive thru though, and that's only because neither of us had a combo with dinner and we didn't want the boys or ourselves to be hungry later and so the 4 cheap in price bean and cheese burritos in the fridge just meant in case anyone was hungry later...that was okay. We were ready!

This pic was taken at the Taco Bell drive thru. Look at their breakfast menu. Cinnabon delights for breakfast? OMG! But the best thing, I saw was Cap'n Crunch Delights with Crunch Berries. OMG, that sounds so yumm! We did not have these on our trip, however if they have these in Guam, I will make a point of getting them for the kids to try!

Yogurts and breakfast biscuits. 

This was my fave for the week. I restocked this one, all week long. The kids meanwhile tried every kids yogurt on the American market, hahaha : ) The breakfast sandwiches were...meh. So so. The biscuits were not flaky at all, not even tasty and the bacon was weird.

And sure enough after an hour of us all... just relaxing and watching America's Got Talent on TV at the condo, we all nuked ourselves 1 bean and cheese burrito. We all already took showers before dinner. Although, I did go and wash my makeup off thoroughly. We all just relaxed and enjoyed the end of our Tuesday, July 21st. Swimming from morning to evening sure makes people exhausted. But happily tired... is probably a better way to put it. We all slept like logs that night. We all slept very deeply, that night. It was an amazing day. : ) 

Good night. : ) What was the next days plan? It was shrimp eating day...and also mama's big shopping day (I only used 1 day for that) and not even a whole whole day even. And movie #2 in the evening (had to keep each day fun for the kids too, which is why I slipped in the movie on the one and only shopping day). That post... I'll try and get posted as soon as I can. : )

Noah's huge swim meet/competition is this week. His final practice is tomorrow. And I'll be packing and bringing a lunch for our family, for that. Friday that just passed (July 31st) was the haunted night at the school, plus fireworks celebration, which I tried my best to take as many pics as I could. I think I only snapped about 20 pics? At most. But yep...I am about 5-7 posts behind and then... fun stuff keeps happening and so then... I get another post to post about...but...no time to get it up.  So, while I know I am blogging at a snails pace. Just know..I am trying my best to get this stuff up and posted. : ) And sorry...I know... this goes out in left field but...please say Ben Affleck did *not* cheat with the nanny! I mean, REALLY!!!.... REALLY? OMG. And she (the nanny) seems to be *loving* the spotlight, she even tipped of the paparazzi? That's what I read....saw her smiling away like a flipping Cheshire cat yesterday...her pics all over the internet and looks like she's loving every second of it. Blech! If you are married, keep all good looking and attractive people away if at all possible (I know it's impossible... but try your best or don't keep them under your roof, let's put it that way and so not ...so easily accessible). If you *must* hire a nanny or babysitter...please hire a nanny... that looks like...Mrs. Doubtfire. Or...Nanny McPhee or someone like 80 years old, a nice grandmotherly type would be perfect. Certainly don't hire a young hot, 20 something year old, then leave her in the house with your equally hot husband and leave for the day. Just my opinion...but..that's just.. never a good idea. I adore Jennifer Garner. And I am so sorry she's getting divorced. I always thought Ben Affleck was a good guy. And now that this whole nanny thing has come up. Ugh! I just hope...the media reports are wrong. I hope this is just tabloid gossip. But you know what...the way she (the nanny) is all smiling away...like that....I sorta think... it's sadly true. : (  Anyway...I am sorry my posts are getting up at a snails pace. But I am trying my best. : )