Moanalua Gardens and dinner at Buzz's

Another great day in paradise! Today, we met up with my friend Renee and her son Ashton at Moanalua Gardens Park. I had actually never been to this park before, but when I looked up the directions it was described as an off-the-beaten-path spot in Hawaii with beautiful large canopy trees. It was stunning!

Alexa and Ashton had fun playing. And check this out... Alexa got her first kiss! They were so cute. Alexa took Ashton's hand. Then Ashton kissed her on the cheek. And then they hugged. So cute!

After the park, Alexa took a long nap. And then we headed to check out grandma and grandpa's condo. Alexa had fun watching the ducks in the pond right outside the balcony!

Finally, we ended the day with dinner at our favorite local spot: Buzz's Steakhouse. Yum!

Lanikai beach with Kamakoa! More pool!

We had a great day at Lanikai Beach today with my friend Cheryl and her son Kamakoa! Alexa was pretty fussy at fist, but she eventually warmed up to the sand. She even started chasing birds around and using her bucket to scoop sand! We also got her into the water by playing games. When we said goodbye, she gave Kamakoa a hug. It was so cute!

After Alexa's loooong nap, she enjoyed some afternoon pool play with Daddy and Grandpa Tom!

A foodie trip to the North Shore!

Even with a toddler in tow, we did it all! Daddy, Grandpa Tom, Alexa and I stopped at Chinaman's Hat, then drove to the Dole Pineapple Plantation to see the koi fish and enjoy dole whip cones, followed by lunch at Pizza Bob's and shave ice at Matsumoto's. We finished the day with shrimp at Giovanni's White Shrimp Truck, where Alexa got a new book and met the author! What a great day. We were stuffed -- and super tired when we got home!

Alexa feeds ducks! Plus more beach & shave ice!

Another great day in paradise! Alexa got up early again, so we took her for a walk on Duck Lane to see, you guessed it, ducks! We saw a few, but when we started feeding them, more ducks started high tailing it over from all over to get scraps of bread! We also saw some baby ducks. Alexa was mildly amused.

After all the fun with the ducks, we headed for Kailua Beach Park. Daddy set up the umbrella and mat and we had a great time hanging out. Alexa tried chips for the first time and, big surprise, decided she liked them. She also tried on Daddy's sunglasses. Around noon, she got tired and we headed home for a nap.

After Alexa's nap, we headed out for some more shave ice at Island Snow! Yum! Alexa has started calling it "Purple Ice" because that's the color of shave ice Daddy had the first time she tried it. Ha!

Alexa visits the Honolulu Zoo!

This is the zoo I grew up going to! I have so many memories at this zoo. So naturally, I wanted to share my zoo with Alexa. Unfortunately, as usually happens, the zoo today is very different from the zoo of my memories. But we still had a great time! After looking at all the "ah-molls" we had a picnic lunch under a banyan tree in the middle of the zoo. Now that I'm getting the hang of slide shows, here's another!

Alexa's visits Kailua Beach & Island Snow!

Alexa got up early, so we headed to the beach! She was admittedly a little upset when we first got to the beach. Maybe it was the wind? She didn't want me to sit down, or put her down. Finally, we coaxed her into sitting on the towel. Then we got her to play with her toys. She ended up having a great time!

The same scenario repeated at the pool. Alexa loved her swim classes last summer, but cried when we took her in the pool! She finally calmed down and had fun playing next to the pool. Silly girl!

We ended the day with some shave ice at Island Snow! This is one of my favorite places in Hawaii. It's only about five minutes from where I grew up. And, as you can see from my collage below, it's also frequented by President Obama, who has spent two Christmases in my hometown. Cool!

Alexa's 1st Easter Egg Hunt!

Daddy helped Grandpa hide a TON of plastic eggs all around the yard for Alexa to hunt. Once we showed her what to do, she was off! She loved picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket. She also loved opening the eggs to discover the chocolate and goldfish inside! Yum! We enjoyed that part too! Anyway, I took way too many photos, but she was so cute! Note the adorable dress that she's wearing, handmade by Grandma. Here is a slideshow of my favorite photos:

Alexa arrives in Hawaii and gets a lei!

We got lucky again on our 5-hour flight from LAX to HNL and got another extra seat for Alexa! Here she is having fun in her own seat as we wait until our plane gets to the gate. We're in Hawaii! Yeah!

Alexa's grandma and grandpa met us at the airport with leis! Awesome! My favorite thing. Yeah!

Alexa meets her other great grandmother!

We had a great day in Los Angeles. As soon as Alexa was up, we had breakfast at our hotel and then picked up a rental car to drive south so she could meet her other great grandmother! Alexa is very lucky. She has two great grandmothers! She had a good time visiting with her California GG. Here we are hanging out at her house. While exploring, Alexa discovered our wedding photo and eagerly pointed out "Mama! Dada!" Nothing gets past her!

Alexa also met her Great Uncle Manual and Great Uncle Danny, who joined her on the swing set at a park nearby. Alexa had a good time playing with the little kids there. She was very friendly and ran up to them right away. I think she's starting to miss her friends at daycare!

On our way back to our hotel in Los Angeles, we stopped by my cousin Mike's home to visit baby Mason! Alexa got to meet her Cousins Mike, Ashley and Marcus, and baby Mason. It was really hard to take a photo with Mike and Mason since she was so squirmy! Then Aunt Ashley broke out the bubbles and Alexa was in heaven. Whew!

Alexa enjoys our hotel at LAX

We crossed our fingers. How would Alexa do on a cross-country flight? We lucked out and she got her own seat on the 5-hour flight from Washington to Los Angeles! So we took her car seat on the plane. She napped in her seat and played, which made it so much easier on us since we didn't have to wrestle her on our laps! Here she is checking out our hotel in Los Angeles. We had a view of the airport! And even though she got to bed late, Alexa slept the whole night in the hotel crib. Yeah!

Updated Monthly Photos

Here is an updated look at how much Alexa has grown since last September when she turned 1! The last two photos are of her at 19 months. Which do you like better? 

As to what Alexa can do at 19 Months... Stay tuned for a long list next month. Her vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds! And she's now forming sentences and able to tell us what she wants. Sort of. This is both a blessing and a curse... :-)

Alexa's 2nd Passover Seder

We weren't able to go up to New Jersey to spend Passover with Daddy's family this year. But thankfully, some friends of ours from Alexa's daycare invited us over for 2nd Night Passover. Alexa was pretty squirmy and very loud. She banged her plate, was only mildly interested in the Haggadah, refused to eat her charoset or matzah ball soup, and only munched on a few pieces of matzah. Oy vey!

At least she had a good time playing with her friend Avery! My favorite part was when the two girls were rocking on Avery's glider. Alexa was cracking up! I suggested that she give Avery a hug and she did. It was the. cutest. thing. ever. Adorable!

Adorable Alexa in cousin Samantha's overalls!

When Alexa's Aunt Missy first gave me these overalls, I have to admit that I looked at them and thought there was no way my teeny tiny baby would every fit them. So I put them away for a time far, far away when she would grow up and be a big girl, big enough to fit the long legs of these pants.

Well, as everyone warned us, time flies. I was going through her bins of clothes this past weekend looking for things she might fit when I came across these. Hmm, I thought, these don't look quite as bit as I remember them... And sure enough, they fit her perfectly! I'll have to get a photo of cousin Samantha in them so we can do a side-by-side. In the meantime, here she is coloring in her new overalls, looking as cute as can be!

Lunch date with Avery on a beautiful day!

Today was a beautiful day. It was even better because we had lunch plans with my friend Blythe and her daughter Avery! We tried to push the high chairs together for a photo, but Alexa protested! I tried so hard to get photos of them together, but to no avail! This is the best I could get. Next time!

After lunch, Alexa took a nap in her stroller so Daddy and I took a long walk. Alexa insisted on walking most of the way home! She enjoyed looking at the pretty flowers and sitting in the back yard with Daddy. It was a beautiful day and we all stayed outside as long as possible. We can't wait for Hawaii!

Play date with Kaitlyn on a rainy day!

What a perfect day for a play date! It rained and stormed all day. Luckily, Alexa's friend Kaitlyn came over to play! At this age, it's normal for kids to do what's called "parallel playing," where they do their own thing and only interact occasionally or when they want the toy the other is playing with. Alexa was better than expected at sharing, I was very proud of her!

The girls also interacted a bit, which was hilarious! My favorite was when Kaitlyn tickled Alexa's feet. At first, Alexa was like, "What are you doing?" Then she started giggling! It was so cute. The two were also adorable trying to sit in the same chair together. Then they would look at each other and crack up. What a fun day. Alexa and I can't wait for our next play date!

And now, some rainy day photos for you to enjoy... Alexa loved looking out the front door at the rain falling. She also had fun playing peek-a-boo with the front door! Finally, what better to do on a rainy day than color with crayons! Thank goodness they are washable. :-)

Alexa has news!

Expected arrival is Sept. 30, or so. We're so excited!

And now... You've seen the big Facebook announcement. Here are the outtakes! See if you can spot the photo chosen. Do you have another favorite? Let us know! Honestly, it was very hard to choose. Alexa is cute in all  her photos!

Who's a silly girl?

Alexa is! Here she is playing with stickers. And wearing Daddy's hat! She was making faces and giggling. Too cute!

Aunt Chimmy comes to visit

Daddy is away on a business trip, so Aunt Chimmy came over to hang out. We put her right to work reading Alexa books! Looks like they both had a fun time. Before long Alexa was cracking up!

Alexa models Aunt Sara's sweater!

Just look at this adorable outfit! It's Alexa's favorite color too. I kept asking her what color her dress is and she'd smile and proclaim: "Purple!" The dress and pants were a gift from Aunt Sara and Uncle Mike. They match this gorgeous sweater, which was handmade by Aunt Sara. Thank you for such a great gift! Alexa looks too cute for words. And everyone complimented her on the sweater!

Click photo to enlarge

Daddy's little girl

It's up on Daddy's shoulders Alexa gets to go! It was so cute watching them walk down the path after lunch yesterday. Daddy kept telling her to hold onto his head, so she would say "head?" and then pull his hair. Alexa was clapping her hands and laughing. Plus, check out her rufflebutt pants. So cute!

Hummus and ice cream, oh my!

We had a good food day today! We have been trying to get Alexa to try hummus FOREVER. Today, she finally did. And she liked it! She saw us dipping the pita bread in the hummus and copied. Yum!

Also today, we FINALLY got Alexa to try ice cream! Not necessarily a nutritionally beneficial thing. But exciting nevertheless. But she would only try it if we gave her the spoon and let her feed herself. She won't let us feed her! So, yeah, it got a bit messy. Oh well!

Baseball or the Masters?

Luckily for Alexa and Daddy, they can watch both! Alexa wasn't even carded. She had a great lunch and gobbled up her fish sticks and apples. Yum! She even got desert but she wouldn't eat the ice cream. She has no idea what she's missing! Silly girl!

Alexa loves her trike

More photos from Daddy and Grandma E... Alexa loves her trike! She had them push her around the house. And around the neighborhood. Every day. All day. Yay!

Goodbye Grandma E! Thanks for coming to visit!

Awwww, this has got to be one of the cutest pictures ever! Alexa has become an expert hugger. It's so great! Love her hugs!

Zebras at the Zoo!

Daddy and Grandma E took Alexa to the Zoo today. Apparently, her favorite animal was the Zebra! She kept staring at them. She also got to see the new baby lion cubs! So fun, wish I was there!

More fun with Grandma E!

Looking for something to do, Daddy remembered the Sunday Fun Day events that I've taken Alexa to in the past. Since tickets were still available and it happened to be about a book featuring Alexa's FAVORITE color (Harold and the Purple Crayon), he signed her up! Yay! Looks like a lot of fun!

After lunch and a long walk, Daddy and Grandma E took Alexa to our neighborhood park. Alexa then insisted on walking all the way home! That was fine with Daddy. He was hoping to tire her out!

Alexa loves the bookstore!

Daddy reports that today was very rainy, so the crew headed to a local bookstore that has a kid-friendly play area. Looks like Alexa had fun reading books! Grandma E even bought her a book! Awesome!

Grandma E comes to visit!

Daddy saved this outfit for Alexa to wear because he thinks it's cute and he wanted Grandma E to see how cute she is in it! That's right, with Momma away on a work trip, Grandma E took the train down from New Jersey to hang out with Daddy and Alexa. Is it because I'm far away, or does Alexa really look bigger?!