More Pics in Hawaii

The first day we were there, we went on a hike up ummm.... I don't even remember the name of the little mountain but it was to a lighthouse. It was very windy. I didn't even bring shoes or comfortable clothes to Hawaii thinking that we wouldn't even have time for something like this. It was a nice hike and such beautiful scenery.

There's the lighthouse. At one point, there's an area where you could whale watch if you're lucky. The whales didn't want to play while we were there, just our luck.

Although this is not a good picture of the little tikes that came on the hike, I just wanted to show the beauty of the scenery in the background. This is at the very top.
I loved looking at the beautiful ocean that was different shades of rich blue and the white sandy beaches.
Here's another picture of us three (or four!) at the viewing/funeral.

It was such a treat to see green, green, green, everywhere! I love places that are full of plant life.

Off to Hawaii

This is Granite with his Grandma Tano in Summer 2004. We went to Hawaii that Summer and this was the only time I met her. She sadly left us on Feb. 18, 09 at the age of 95 and so the whole reason we went back to Oahu was for her funeral. At first it was just going to be Granite's parents as well as him and his sister Pebbles (Azha) going. Bahii (Tazbaa) and her husband already decided they were going to go. After receiving the offer from Granite's sweet parents to help us with the tickets, we could not refuse. So the whole family was fortunate enough to go.
Beatrice Yoshika Kono Tano is her full name. And so that is how Kono got his name. It's her maiden name. She is full Japanese but was born in Hawaii and lived there until she left the Earth. She definitely had the "aloha" style with the way she treated others. This woman was so talented at making sushi and sewing so many things. She sewed all her life, making clothes for her own children while they were young and many quilts and bags for her grandchildren and friends. She did everything by hand too! That's the part that really amazes me. Ever since she became a convert to the church with her husband Benito Barlaan Tano, they never stopped going to church. They have always paid their tithing even when Grandpa Tano was only making 5 to 10 cents an hour while working in the pineapple fields. This was a long time ago when he was earning this much. They raised their family in the gospel and because of this, most of their posterity are active members in the church. This is so neat to me and and such a blessing to be part of the Tano family. Beatrice and Benito had 8 children, 57 Great-grandchildren, and 1 Great-great granddaughter so far. I never got to meet Grandpa Tano since he passed away when Granite and I were engaged. It was fun to be around Grandma Tano though because she always said funny things (without meaning to) and was so cuuute and nice. My sister Celeste went with us on that trip and she asked her "Are you married yet?" (She was only like a sophomore in high school). Celeste said "No" of course and Grandma's reply was " Oh no rush, no rush, you're still young." She asked her again another time (this was when she was starting to get forgetful) and after Celeste told her "No" again, she said "Oh, you need to find yourself a husband." I loved the way she talked, it was slight pigeon. One of her grandsons, Derek, talks pigeon "to the max" and she could understand him. This made Celeste and I laugh because we could barely understand him but I guess it makes sense, she grew up in Hawaii all her life. We shared a room with her one night and when she was asked if it was okay if Celeste shared the air-mattress with her she said "It's okay, just as long as she doesn't steal my blankets". :) She asked a few times if Celeste and I were twins and she also said we were pretty. Celeste said one thing she remembers is seeing he kneel for prayer even at the age of 90, what a great example she showed.
Her funeral services was the best I have ever been to. This was because it was an LDS funeral where everything was gospel based. This meant that there wasn't extreme emotions of not knowing where she is, where she'll go and wondering if you'll see her again. It was not a service where you'd get bored or tired from sitting. It was interesting, uplifting, and planned well. One of her famous quotes was "The church is true, so don't make me late!" It was said that she always made it to church on time but was mostly early. She will be greatly missed and remembered by so many.




















Kono at the airport, excited to be boarding the plane soon.














It was Kono's first time on the airplane. We were seated at the tail of the plane making it very bumpy during turbulence. Kono was laughing the whole time from feeling "butterflies" in his tummy. Others felt either sick or scared but not Kono.















Kono just had to hold Miya before take off.














This was Kono's first time at the beach. I felt so bad that it wasn't a good experience for him due to the windy weather which made it very cold and not pleasant to be at the beach. The water was a little bit warm but you had to be underneath it and moving to stay warm.














I took Kono and Nahoa back to our rental van because they were both shivering. I've never seen Kono so cold before, it made me feel so bad for him. I put him in dry clothes and wrapped him in a blanket and he was still shaking and shivering so much. Whenever Nahoa or anyone else mentioned the beach, he would get upset. Poor guy, next time we take him, I'll make sure it's in the summer. You can't really tell from the picture, but the water is such a beautiful blue color, it's sooo pretty to see the beach here.














I love Kono in this shirt he is wearing.















This was at the "viewing" before services. I love these guys.





























Kono is so handsome in his white shirt and "aloha" tie.



















Here is a picture of the Tano family years ago. Both the white and pink and purple and pink traditional Hawaiian quilts were made by Grandma Tano.














Kono gave me this tiny flower to wear in my ear. He says I'm a princess.




























This was at the burial. She was buried right next to her husband. It's too bad it was a cold day. It was actually quite cool (but nice) the whole time we were there. It was nice to not see and get bitten by mosquitoes though.















Granite drinking a poi flavored bubble tea. It's not made from tea, it's just a sort of smoothie almost with these gummy textured mochi balls that you slurp up. I got a mango one. I wasn't too crazy about these drinks but Granite loved them.














We eat at this place called Genki Sushi where there is a Sushi cheif in the center of the restaurant. He makes all different kinds of sushi and places it on a a fancy conveyor belt the circles the restaurant. So all you do is sit at your booth and when you see one that you want (and are willing to pay for of course) you simply grab the plate off and eat it. The plates are color coded so you know what the prices are. It was yummy sushi. I didn't try a big variety only because I am pregnant and can't be eating raw fish and unknown things. Kono kept wanting to grab one and I didn't want him to because I didn't think he would like sushi. But he did like this egg one that had a slightly sweet taste.














Kono was so proud of himself when he was finally told he could grab one off and he did it successfully.















Granite is having a grand time trying different types of sushi.















From my chubby cheeks, it looks like I eat a ton, but only had like three plates worth. (And the sushi rolls aren't very big). This was probably from being in Hawaii a few days of doing mostly eating at family gatherings. It's a good thing I don't live here, I'd probably would have gone to the weight gain limit by now. Hahahaha!















There were eight of us adults there and a few of them were competing to see who could eat the most plates (which aren't very big). All together we ate 64 plates! Granite's good cousin Keao was kind enough to pay for us all!















Granite's cousin Amy acting so full from the food. Bahii was there too but had left the table when we took the pictures.



















We made it in the nick of time for the famous and authentic Matsumoto's Hawaiian Shave Ice.
Kono loved it but we were cold when we ate it.






























We then went to this beach (I forget the name) to go see if we can find these giant turtles that often hang out on top off the rocks on shore and eat the algae. They weren't there at the time. Too bad, Kono would have loved to see them.















There's Amy looking for those turtles.















We didn't even take a picture at the beach on a sunnier day. (It's just like me to do something like this). This was taken in the evening.














Cute Kono with his hands on his face.



















Kono wearing Local slippers. He looked sooo cute in them and loves wearing slippers.















On our way back home. Kono got to sit by the window this time but he was so tired that he fell asleep before take off. He was awake before and during landing though so he got to see all the lights from way up on top of Las Vegas. Kono didn't want to take another picture. I have few more pictures to post (from other family members cameras) so I will be making another post soon.
Oh yes, if you are ever planning on going to Hawaii I recommend going with Hawaiian Airlines. The stewardesses are so kind and they serve a free meal (most airlines now charge).

Kono Loves His Cousins

Here's Kono and his two cousins Alyzabeth and Julianna (you can barely see Julie in the background). They came for a short visit a couple weeks ago and had fun despite the fact that it was kind of a crazy weekend and having to play with "boy" toys. Kono says Lizzy is Batgirl. Kono is wearing a Batman mask too if you can't tell. It looks more like an Egyptian mask to me. But hey, he likes it, I'm glad, that silly thing was expensive. It's amazing and quite frustrating at times when the toy market can invent such cheap things and yet sell it for so much.
Kono and Nahoa just had to take a bath together. They had so much fun splashing everywhere.
They both just got a hair cut and look as cute as ever.

Kono will surely be excited to see more of his cousins this coming weekend.

Dishwashers

If you're the main dish washer of the family, and you see this, it's a real treat! Boy was it a lovely sight to see this after dinner last night. I get so tired of the dishes, it's a daily thing that cannot be ignored. I never wanted a dishwasher until recently. I feel like I'm ALWAYS in the kitchen either cooking, cleaning up or doing the dishes. Kono wanted to help, it was so cute to see him trying to scrub the dishes.
Now if only they could stick to this more often...
Thank you Granite and Kono!

Look at that belly!

I finally had Granite take some pictures of me the other day. These are the first pictures I've taken of my growing belly. My belly button really sticks out now. I got a new hair cut finally. It's been 8 months since I've cut my hair last! Azha (Pebbles) did a great job!

Valentine's Post

Valentine's Day came so fast. I wanted to do some sort of craft with Kono but just never got around to it and it didn't help that we didn't go shopping this month until Valentine's Day. Oh well. The only "romantic" thing that Granite and I did was eat at Red Lobster (with Kono). I told Granite to buy me nothing else but chocolates. Roses die and are a waste of money even though they are so pretty and fragrant. Years ago, Granite wanted to do something extra special so he got me two dozen roses. When I found out how much he spent on them I told him to never buy flowers for me again and rather use the money for a reasonable gift, a nice outing, or something like a spa.
We did do one activity and that was making sugar cookies. The boys had fun. This was Kono's first time making sugar cookies but he already knew what to do since he rolls and cuts out shapes with his play dough. The cookies look yummy don't they? They surely were. Kono didn't want anyone to take his pictures. I forgot to take my camera with us when we went into town and we were too tired for pictures when we got back so Granite and i don't have any pictures together this year. :(

It's A........

Well, I found out what the baby is today. You can't tell from these pictures since it just shows the profile but it's another BOY! Yep, I'm not kidding. Granite thought I was, but I saw the proof myself. I amazingly smiled and laughed when I saw it even though the whole time before this day and even before I was pregnant) I wished for a girl. I even prayed that I would not feel sad if it was. I always thought it was so neat to have two kids of the same gender especially after seeing my two sisters kids (one has three boys and the other has two). It's just that I thought, well, if the baby is a boy, I have to wait for a long time again to have another try. And every time I see little girls and girls clothes and such, I just yearned for my own little girl. I've even been collecting adorable girl's clothing but I'm just going to have to sadly put it away and save it for sure, I'm not giving it away. Anyway, I am still so happy!!! I am very grateful that the baby is healthy and just the fact that I'm having another precious one in our family. That is such a great great blessing in itself. Funny thing is, Granite wanted another boy for the longest time until Kono hit the terrible three's and then he wanted calmness and a break for a while. Another funny thing is that early in my pregnancy, I had a dream it was a boy (although I didn't see the baby in the dream). But I thought, dreams don't always come true. Whenever we asked Kono what the baby was he'd say both a boy and girl ( I think this was when he didn't know how to make a choice). But lately he's been saying brother. It's funny he knew. I think he would've still been happy if he had a sister since he is obsessed with his little girl cousin, Miya. But he'll have so much fun to have a playmate and someone to play sports with. He asks daily for me to play Batman with him and I get bored with it right away. It's cute though, he'll change his voice for the characters.

The ultrasound technician said the baby had long femur bones and big feet. She asked me if Granite was tall and I said "No, normal height, but my Dad was tall." Well, this isn't for certain that he'll be tall but I'm guessing he'll be taller than Kono. He's about 14 ounces right now. I've been feeling him move, stretch and kick since Jan. 30th which makes the pregnancy so much more real.