Left little Vincent with Grandma Jerrie today and went to hang with the Aussie crew. We decided to hike Diamond Head, which is a touristy thing to do but hey we are tourists and Jeff or Glenn folks have never been.

Weather was a bit “voggy” from the volcanoes on the Big Island so visibility was not as great as it could have been but still decent.

It’s a relatively easy hike. Half paved, lots of stairs. Even saw one Japanese tourist do it in heels. It was overcast so not too blazing hot.

After the hike Uncle Jeff treated the munchkins to some shave ice. (we never got a chance to go to Matsumotos! Booo).

And after that we all headed to Buca di Beppos for dinner. They sat our party in the pope room! We ordered a couple pizzas, couple pastas, salad and calamari.

We found a photo booth and tool some pictures. It was a cool hip booth cuz u could upload your pic instantly to Facebook and even view a video of it.

Here is a picture of Vinny with his Hawaii “loot” — clothes and toys from me and his hawaiian family!

I wanted to get some shopping in during the trip so I planned for Jeff to hang with Jill and the Aussie crew while Susan and I went to Kahala mall. We dropped Jeff off in Kailua where they were having lunch at the Shack, then Susan and I took off from there, so it was a long drive!

After stopping for some burgers ourselves, we drug Vinny around to several different stores.  First we went to a local kids store called Kahala kids. Bought a couple hand made shirts — a yoda shirt and a cars shirt. Then we went to Gymboree and bought some cute stuff there too. Oh and as we were leaving we saw another kids/surf store with bob marley and grateful dead baby clothes which of course we had to buy!

Vincent scored some really cute blue sunglasses!

Yesterday Susan took me to Mililani shopping center where the have another local kids store called Ohana Daze and we bought a “miso happy” onesie and an “ichiban” all stars onesie. I also bought Jeff some tshirts from Hawaiian Island Creations. So this whole trip I didn’t buy anything for me! Well except some snacks!

My good friend Tehani has a family beach house on the south shore of Oahu in Ewa beach. She invited us (and the whole Aussie crew) to come over and hang out for the afternoon.

The beach house has a nice view of Waikiki and Diamond Head. Right outside her door is the sand and ocean, mostly reef but just a few yards down a swimming area and best of all a little breaker area for lil babes to go wading. That’s where we took little Vincent for his first dip in the ocean!

Had to buy the little swimmer diapers for him from Longs.

He looks really excited doesn’t he? I think he liked everyone (Mom, Dad, Tehani, Aunty Susan, Aunty Jill, etc) making such a fuss over him. We lathered him up with sunscreen and topped him off with a hat.

So Jeff scooped him up and sat down with him  in the ocean.

Initially he didnt seem to like it.”Help Dad i’m drownin’ over hear!”

Then Jeff and I switched out, and I sat with him. He was just kind of was ok with it.

Tried to get him to “splash” around but he just didn’t seem to care that much. No smiles, but no crying either. Kind of indifferent.

We didn’t spend very much time in the water. Maybe 5 minutes. Then he pooped! So out we went.

We went back to the beach house to change him. Tehani found a cool shell that led to this cool photo op. LOL! We hung at the beach house for a while, ate some zippys/Napoleon bakery Napples and other desserts and snacks (check!).

Vincent had fun just laying around and chillin with everyone, including Uncle Glenn!

It was great to have everyone there with us, including my silly sister Susan who thinks wearing long pants to the beach is acceptable (she lives in Hawaii, too).

How true is this lil saying?!? Thanks Tehani for a memorable day!

Jill and Glenn’s wedding was held bright and early at 930a in Nuuanu at Nichiren Mission. My parents got married here over 30 years ago! It’s been remodeled a bit since then. The grounds are really nice.

Susan and I arrived at the church just in time to help Jill with final touch ups and take photographs.

Susan and I were bridesmaids and my sister’s friend Renee was the maid of honor. Kiara (Glenn’s oldest daughter) was also in the wedding party. Talia (Glenn’s youngest daughter) was the flower girl.

Jill looked gorgeous in her dress.

Glenn before the ceremony. Look at how happy he is that the day has finally come!

My dad walking my sister down the aisle.

The ceremony was a pretty traditional one with a little bit of Buddhist prayer mixed in. The reverend from our Wahiawa church did the officiating though technically my sister and Glenn got married in a brief ceremony in Australia back in October since that’s where they both live.

The kiss!

After the ceremony we took some pictures outside with family and the wedding party. The photographer was Malia, a friend of Jill’s. She did an excellent job.

Our new family.

Parents of the bride.

A wonderful lookin’ Aussie clan!

Photographer got a good shot of all the important men in my life!

A lunch reception followed the wedding. It was held at The Willows which has awesome buffet food!! (check!)

This was most everyone’s first time meeting Vincent. He behaved really well and everyone commented on how smiley he was. Everyone also said he looke haole. Lol!

Glenn’s son was his best man. He gave a 5 min speech that included a brief history of Australia!

The favors and invitations were designed by me. Inside the favors were Tim-Tams, a dessert snack available down under. It kinda taste like a kit kat.

The cake was delicious!!! Even though we didnt serve it at the reception (?!?!) We had took it home and ate it up.

It was a great day! I love our new extended Australian family.

We visited my grandparents today who live in Wahiawa. (Don’t mind the weird orange light on our faces, its from another person’s camera!) My grandma hasn’t been feeling well ever since she fell off her bed in October and bruised her ribs really bad. My grandpa, despite being in his 90s is in relatively good health. He was the most excited to meet Vincent. He loves babies!

My cousins Sandee and Candace were there as well as my sister Susan, Jeff, and my parents.

We got some great pictures. We had Korean BBQ for lunch and Leonard’s malasadas for dessert. Checking off all my favorite things to eat in the islands!

Earlier in the morning, Vincent hung out with Grandpa Don and Grandma Jerrie who gave him a few old toys from when my sisters and i were young.

Later in the evening we had the wedding rehearsal at the church. Our old piano teacher (and my dads cousin) Aileen played the keyboard and helped direct us all. After rehearsal we went to Pietros for dinner. YUM! (another check!) they have amazing Japanese-Italian fusion food. I ate shoyu pasta with sausage and mushroom. Poor Vinny was so tired and didn’t get to sleep until the car ride home at about 930. His normal bedtime is 700p.

Our first trip with Vincent started with an hour long car ride to the airport and a five hour plane ride! Actually it started at 6am in the morning with a big poop blowout when Vincent woke up. Haha! Poop number one. We parked our car at a hotel near the airport and took the shuttle to the terminal. Vincent looked really excited! Once we boarded we put his carseat in the airplane seat and gave him some toys. He was awake the whole time and only took a 1/2 nap in the middle and during landing. He had two more blowouts in the air and two other poops! Geez. That part got old quick! But overall i would consider it a success.

When we landed we got our bags and hopped on another shuttle to rent a car. We drove to Mililani and was greeted by my mom and cousin Sandee who were busy getting ready for an engagement party for Jill and Glenn.

Tehani came to say hi and meet Vincent for the first time. Smiles all around! No stranger danger crying yet! Even on the plane people were coming up to him and he just smiled which surprised the heck outta me. It was just last week that we were at a birthday party and he kept balling his eyes out over anyone that looked at him.

The party started at 6pm but by the time everyone showed up Vincent was already in his (my) crib sleeping. Jill and Glenn both got a peek of him though.

I didn’t swaddle him at first so he was waking up like ever half an hour. Finally I swaddled him like I normally do and he stayed asleep for a few hours like he normally does. I was so exhausted that night and didn’t get to bed till 11pm Hawaiian time.

Vincent all of a sudden grabbed his bottle and starting holding it all on his own!

He continued doing it, even when i started to hold him — this time holding it from the bottom.

It’s the day after Christmas and Vincent’s 5 month birthday! I almost forgot that is was his month mark, with all the holidays! Just 1 more month till he is 1/2 a year old! Here are some shots from out photoshoot today.

He can FINALLY lift his head up off the ground pretty good now, though he still grumbles from time to time and buries his head on the floor!

It was actually pretty weird that while i was taking these photos he was trying to rollover from his tummy to his back, which he hasn’t done yet. I’d never seen him try to do that before. You can see how far his legs are leaning over. He was laughing up a storm and wobbling all about.

Look a this precious face! He has some pretty bad eczema still on his skin, especially some bad patches on his face. You can see a web of drool on his hands! He’s been drooling pretty good for a couple months now, but no teeth yet.

His shave ice growth pic! I actually measured and weighed him today — he hadn’t grown any inches since last month but he is still in the 75 percentile (he was 90th last month), and he now weighs 17 lbs.

Haha, this month he wanted to grab the shave ice and put it in his mouth!

He looks a lil chubby in this picture, doesnt he?

We like to sit him in the corner of the couch, since it can support him. He still needs support to sit up, but pretty soon he should be able to sit up on his own.

He loves to grab his toes! Especially when we are changing him. Just before he “discovered” his toes, he would always grab his “pee cloth” (what we use to cover his peepee when we change him so he doesnt pee pee all over us). So we would give him a toy to play with so he didnt do that. But now it seems he is happiest to grab his toes.

Other milestones — he tried to “sit up” when he is in his swing (semi-reclined position). He lifts his head up. He also reaches for his pants legs and stretched out his pants. He loves to scratch his head, despite that being a terrible thing to do for his scalp and cradle cap. He also constantly itches his ears and face, especially when he is tired.

He can screech really loud and mostly prefers to do this while he is being changed or is in his swing. He can sure “talk” when he wants to! He also likes to laugh when we make silly sounds or lift him up in the air. He is still scared of strangers! Poor guy. For being so happy around us, he sure can turn on the “cry” fast when its someone he doesn’t know.

This is all of Vincent’s christmas presents! He got lots and lots of books, lots of clothes, a few toys, couple pictures frames, couple ornamants, and some other things. See for yourself! His Nana gave him the yellow butterfly that sings songs and vibrates. The red an blue puzzle ball is from his Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Mike (that is the one he was trying to open in the red package from my Christmas post). The portrait is from Taylor – what a neat idea! She stitched his initials at the bottom of it as well.

Here is a shot of all of my gifts. You can’t see it in the picture very well but i finally got a saucepan with a lid! Lots of kitchen and food related stuffs!

Ah!! What a wonderful day to be sick with a cold! Felt like crap yesterday and was hoping to feel better today but not really the case. Oh well. Vincent got up at his normal time around 730am. I left his “First Christmas” jammies on instead of dressing him for the day since you always open presents in your pjs! While we waited for daddy to wake up I took some pictures.

Once dad got up around 930am we started in with the stockings. We placed him in his Bumbo so he could take pictures in front of the fireplace. He still isn’t very good at sitting in it. He always leans way too far forward.

We put Vince in the corner of the couch and he watched us open the stocking stuffers. He got some books, a teether toy, and an Aloha shirt.

I got a foxtail that was apparently very popular in Japan last year when we visited.  Do you like Jeff’s clever box he wrapped it in? Haha! Also I got lots of candies! Twix, hi-chews (also from japan), gummy worms among other things.

I got Jeff some candies as well– Almond Joy and Reese’s. I got him this cool keychain that looks like a key but is a knife, screwdriver, bottle opener, etc.

Here is Vincent hugging Jeff’s Reese’s Candy cane. One of Jeff’s favorite photos from the day.

Once stockings were emptied, we moved to the sunroom where the Christmas tree was along with all the presents.

Vince looked so cute sitting up by himself — with the help of some Christmas presents.

We put Vinny in his bouncer and gave him a present from Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Mike to unwrap. He liked the way the crinkly foil paper sounded when he scrunched it with his hands.

One of the presents i got Jeff was a custom made McGirr Pub shirt that he can wear on St. Patrick’s day!

Butters even got a toy from Lisa and Mike that he had a lot of fun chasing around.

Vincent actually helped us figure out the cat toy! I was telling Jeff – “I think it does something, feel it” and then Vincent pulls the tail and it jittered! (There is something about us and not knowing things jitter because Vince has a few other baby toys that jitter and I kept forgetting that they did that until i saw the same toy at the store with a big sign on it that says “pull me i jitter!” and was like, oh yea, it can move!) Vince is so smart.

Vince also got a cool whale puzzle from his Uncle Pat. (pictured above with Butters)

After we were done opening presents, i changed Vinny into his clothes — but i stayed in my PJs cuz i was feeling sick! His shirt says “My first christmas”!

One of my favorite gifts from the day was a handmade bear rattle from Taylor. So cute!

In the afternoon we video chatted with the grandparents. Vincent showed off what he can do during tummy time.

Then later that evening we had Torie, Orlando, Amy and Victor over for a ham dinner. We exchanged gifts and ate some pie for dessert.

Torie made Vincent a Yankee’s blanket with his name stitched in it, and we got an owl ornament, stitched with our name in it as well.

I love handmade gifts! I wish i had the time, talent, and patience to do that.

And Christmas wouldn’t be complete without dressing Butters up! I am still so surprised at how lax he is when we put him in hats and clothes. Meet me under the mistletoe!