International Day Performance

On Dec 1st, Kk's class performed at International Day at their school; they performed to a disney song (sorry forgot the title).  Each child was asked to dress up in an international costume and for weeks, I tried to look for a filipino costume for her with no avail.  We ended up going with a japanese costume.  Here's a couple of pics from her performance:

Keaolani Turns 5!

Oh my, how times flies! Our little girl is 5 years old and to celebrate this special birthday, we threw her a picnic with a jump house, games, lots of food, and lots of family and friends.  An extra special treat for her was that my sister, mom, and dad flew in for the special occasion.

Birthday cakes made out of rice crispy

My sister made, not one, or two, or even three, BUT FOUR cakes.

Her special request - a jump house, a princess jump house

She invited all her knew friends from school. Adorable kids!

Duck, duck, goose!  One of the fun games her dad prepared for her.

Mummy Mommy - another fun game.

She has the best daddy in the whole world!

Cake time!

Keaolani's First Day of School

Today was one of those days that I will never forget - Keaolani's first day of school!

She was excited, I was nervous, and her dad didn't want to face it (her growing up, that is).  Actually we were all excited for this day!  After uniform and school supply shopping, the only thing left was to actually go to school!

Mind you, this was not only Kaykay's first day of school - so was mine.  I prepped days in advance in her meal planning and schedule.  Prepped both her lunch, snacks, and drinks the night before and ironed out her uniform and laid out everything she needed for school, including her back pack.  I set the alarm at 5:30 am and fought to go to sleep.  She had no problem sleeping as she fell asleep soon after dinner.

Woke up today and as I was getting ready, I hear a sweet voicing coming from her room, "Good morning! It's my first day of school!" Surprisingly enough getting all 3 of us ready was uneventful and fairly easy - praying this will be the case every morning!

Kk getting ready for school

 We got to school with several minutes to spare; so while waiting for everyone to arrive, Kk had some time to play around the playground.  When were first greeted by her teacher Mr. Morton, who we hear is one of the the best teachers.  Keaolani ran up to her and greeted her Hawaiian style - with a hug and a kiss.  She then received her temporary ID badge (shown around her neck below.)

In her cute uniform with her temp school ID

I'm glad I got a chance to take a picture of her coming down the slide because I was told by her dad, who teaches at the secondary school (building right next to Kaykay's building), that sliding down the slide was her favorite.  During lunch time, he sneaked a peek while her class had a break and saw her countless times going down the slide.

Her most favorite school activity, for the moment!

I did have a harder time focusing at work bec I often thought about her and wondered if she was doing okay.  I wasted my time worrying because about 4:30 pm I got a call from an excited Keaolani asking she she can go back to school - not sure if she knows for the next 19 years (Lord willing!).

It's Official!

Keaolani has been accepted to Island Pacific Academy!  We received her acceptance letter last week and are very excited!  Now, we're just going to take advantage of her time at home before she goes to school.

What's Jr. Kindergarten you ask?  Yeah, I had that same question.  What I found out is that, at least at IPA, Jr. Kindergarten is similar to kindergarten with just the age differences.  JK is for 4 year olds, as kindergarten is for 5 year olds.  It's not the same as preschool either as they stay in school for 7 hours and within those 7 hours, are actually learning.  They even start a foreign language at that grade - I believe Hawaiian is the first.

One of the benefits that Mike has as a teacher at IPA, is that he's allowed one-tuition free enrollment, so Keaolani gets to go to a private school for free!  Chee-Hoo!!! If you ask Keaolani, she's very excited to commute with her daddy!  Praising God for answering our prayers!

Firsts

In Keaolani's young life she has done more and been to more places than many do in a lifetime. She has been to Hawaii 4 times, San Diego twice, and racked up thousands of miles both in the air and on land. It is hard being a David baby. There are many firsts that Keaolani has had, to some they may be monumental, to others mundane, but to us they are all amazing, a miracle, and a blessing. Here is Keaolani sporting the best skin she has had since she was around 3 months old. The next picture is the first time that she is sporting a rubberband in her hair AND letting it stay there without her taking it off! This is kk sitting in a car attached to a shopping cart. She had a blast and turned many heads with her laughing and quick "Hi's" followed with an even quicker "Bye bye."

To end this post, here is Keaolani for the first time, at least captured on camera and her actually staying for the entire meal, sitting in a booster seat at IHOP. She is growing up too fast. :(

"Close mama, close."

Praise God! Keaolani's skin has been improving. In fact her skin right now is the smoothest its been since she was 4 months old (when she started to get skin problems). We attribute it of course to answered prayer. We are just holding our breathe right now. Has God just given her a break beacause we have only given her formula, or is she growing out of it? Either way we give God the glory because today she looks great, is not scratching much and is very happy.

One day while Bessie was dressing Keaolani, she put shorts on her. Keaolani looked down at her exposed legs and said, "Close mama, close." She was trying to push down the pant legs on the shorts. Keaolani has not worn shorts, or had her legs exposed in over a year. She was not used to it. The only time she exposed her legs was to scratch it and we scold her everytime as we do not want her to get another infection. She even allowed us to place a clip in her hair and my personal favorite, flip flops! Thankfully she has nice toes like dada. Here she is with her friends from church. She just loves to share her food.

She's Growing Up!

Can't believe how fast Kaykay is growing up; not only has her confidence and independence grown, but also her vocabulary. I can't even keep up in logging her vocabulary bec she's picking up words every second. I think she's picked up reading as well.....

She's also quite the socialite as she attended yet another wedding this weekend. It was my cousin's wedding and boy did she have fun with her Papa and Mama (my parents). But, she is still daddy's little girl. (Of course!)

D&P Expedition: Day 3 Bye-Bye Portland

With the rate Kaykay is vacationing, she should have over 100k frequent flyer miles, not to mention all the hotels she's conquered. This trip, we stayed at the Sheraton Four Points (near Gresham). With the name Sheraton, you would think luxury - however I would consider this particular hotel 3 star quality. Even the beds that Sheraton is infamous for were a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, the rooms were still nice and the staff - very friendly. Just didn't equate to the Sheraton "quality." Kaykay decided she wanted her own bed - not a crib - because she's such a big girl now.

"Dada, no moy wawa!"

"Ah Oh!!"

(As the plane experienced some turbulence)

D&P Expedition: Day 2 (Wahkeena Falls)

You would think that after a couple hours from one fall, then we would have had our fill. Not us. Right down the street was yet another fall, Wahkeena Falls. It is not as big, but it was beautiful nonetheless. You be the judge.











The walk to the falls for this one was not as strenuous. It was just a couple minutes and we were there. It seems as if the falls on this was not as big, but the pictures does not do it justice. You have to be there to see what I mean.


Not only was the falls amazing, but we even saw weird creatures such as this. If anyone knows what this is please let me know. If it is an undiscovered species of insect/amphibian I may name it after me. Then again, I would like to reserve it for a better, or cooler looking creature.

D&P Expedition: Day 2 (Multanomah Falls)

After a really short drive, we went to Multanomah Falls. I was the semi tour guide as I was the only one that had gone here before. Funny, I thought that this place was bigger since the last time I came here when I was in choir 14 years ago! One thing that hasn't changed was the absolute beauty of this place. Once again I am awed at God's ability to create such beautiful things. How much more beautiful must God be!



This was the view from the bridge. It was amazing the amount of water that flows from this place. I guess it is good that Oregon sees rain 75% of the year.


Walking this beautiful place reminded me of Jurassic Park. Everything was so big if a dinosaur walked by it would not have suprised me.


I would love to say that Keaolani was amazed. But the only thing she kept saying was, "Mo moi wa wa mama, mo moi." She thought we were going to give her a bath. However, being in this place, her skin actually got much better. Well, medically speaking, if Hawaii don't work out then we can always live in Oregon...naw!
That huge rock that you see on the top left picture of this four fell and created a 70 foot splash. It reached all the way to the bridge that I was standing on and the parking lot below. The rock is about the size of a mini van and weighs as much a three school buses. This makes me feel more dumb as many of the youth choir members, myself included, jumped the fence and swam in that same pool of water. Boy was that dumb!