More Kauai vs. More Winward Mall

After a nice breakfast and walk around the grounds, Daddy and I enjoyed our last day on Kauai at the pool, relaxing and doing nothing. It was fabulous!

Meanwhile, back on Oahu, Alexa spent another morning playing on the Winward Mall waterfalls and toy cars. Looks like she had a blast!

We got home in the afternoon and took Alexa on a walk to Kailua Beach to see ... DOGS! It was windy, but she enjoyed playing in the sand and yelling "Hi!" at all the dogs she saw. So cute!

We sat outside for dinner and Alexa had another ice cream bar. Uh-oh, what have we started here?!

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!

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 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!

Parties! More parties!

We had a busy day of parties today. First, holiday brunch at Aunt Elizabeth's house! We brought cookies. And enjoyed all the yummy food! Alexa enjoyed eating a muffin, one of her favorite foods. She also had fun seeing the other children there, including her daycare buddy Zico!

Next stop was Jen's house for Nate's 1st Birthday Party! Nate was born a preemie, so when Alexa first went to visit him, he was tiny! He's grown up a lot since then. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of Alexa with the birthday boy. He's in one of the shots below. Alexa had fun playing with her friend Kaitlyn. She also loved the slide and a nylon crawler tube. And she loved Nate's ride-along train that has BALLS you can put under the seat and they shoot out! The only thing she did not like was meeting Elmo. Oh well!

Shopping: From Petsmart to the Mall

I stayed home from work today to play with Alexa and Grandma. And guess what happened? It snowed! Our first snowfall! Luckily, the snow did not stick on the ground. But Alexa had a good time watching it fall from the window. She also loved putting on (and taking off) her new hat from Grandma E! Plus, doesn't she look adorable in this pink tulle skirt from Grandma Lil? So cute!

After the snow stopped, we went shopping! First, we went to Michaels to look for materials to make mitten clips. And guess what was right next door? Petsmart! Remembering how Grandma E had taken Alexa to pet stores, I jumped at the chance. What a great idea! As another mom put it: Pet stores are like FREE aquariums and zoos! Alexa got to see bunny rabbits, mice, guinea pigs, fish and birds. But her favorite part was looking at all the books about DOGS!

After Petsmart and a quick trip to REI to look for mittens and fleece jackets for Alexa, we headed to the MALL. It wasn't as bad as we had feared. Grandma and I enjoyed some free single-cups of coffee while Alexa munched on a soft pretzel. Then we headed to Ann Taylor and Banana Republic, where Alexa had a good time "shopping"!

Alexa spends another day with Grandma!

Alexa got to stay home again today and play with Grandma! It was cold outside, so we were glad that she was able to stay inside and play. But Grandma said Alexa wanted to go outside and went to get her jacket! They went for a quick walk to the park, but it was too cold to stay out for long.

Later, when I got home, Alexa thought it was time for a dance party in her high chair. She kept shrugging her shoulders, her new thing. And then she would giggle and waive her hands in the air! So we'd say "touchdown!" and she'd laugh and waive them some more! When she went to bed, Grandma and I made a bunch of cookies... Yum!

Alexa gets a shopping cart & a pocketbook!

Alexa is really warming up to Hanukkah! At least she's enjoying all the gifts. Tonight, she admired the pretty Christmas tree, then played with her new shopping cart, a Hanukkah gift from her Aunt Missy, Uncle Rich and cousins. She loved it! And what made it even better was that my mom surprised Alexa with a Hanukkah gift of her own... A pocketbook in the shape of a DOG! Perfect!

More holiday fun, including a party!

We walked around downtown Bethesda today and Alexa enjoyed looking at the balls on the pubic Christmas tree. How pretty!

Then we met Alexa's friend Michaela at a bookstore to play! Alexa wasn't interested in the train at first. Then she loved it!

Finally, we got dolled up and headed over to the home of Alexa's friend Brandon. His parents threw an awesome holiday party! Alexa dressed up in her holiday dress and loved walking around with the adults, playing with the other kids and checking out the tree. She especially liked Brandon's slide!

Alexa picks out a Christmas tree, then lights Hanukkah candles

Yes, Chrismukkah has begun in our house! And begun in earnest. Daddy and I took the day off and we all bundled up and headed out to a farm to cut down a Christmas tree! This was a big adventure for my family. Since I grew up in Hawaii, we always BOUGHT our tree. We never cut one down! Grandpa Tom was over the moon excited.

Here we are checking out the trees... Alexa liked a small one her size. But we wanted a big one for our living room! We finally found one and before I had time to change my mind, Daddy and Grandpa chopped it down! Way to go!

Back at home, we lit the Hanukkah candles, lit Shabbat candle and enjoyed some yummy Challah. Check out our beautiful menorah. Thanks, Aunt Missy!

Finally, after dinner, Alexa got a Hanukkah gift from Grandma E and Pop! She immediately dumped out the books and wanted Daddy to read one. How cute! She also got a piano from Grandma E and Pop. Stay tuned for some photos of her playing it... She loves it!

Another blustery day, so more shopping!

We woke up to another blustery day, so Alexa spent the morning playing in our beach house. She especially loved the large coffee table with a bunch of drawers. We put different toys in each drawer and she had a good time opening and closing them all!

Finally, when the rain stopped for a few minutes, we headed outside to the deck. Was the rain really gone? As we got ready for a quick walk to the beach, Alexa and Grandma Lil enjoyed some play time!

Alexa was so excited to go outside, she was practically running to the beach. Here she is showing off our beach house in the background. We made the now-familiar walk to the beach... 

Unfortunately, even though the rain stopped for a while, it was WINDY! Holy WIND!

One good thing about rain is that with no beach to hang out at, the only thing to do was go SHOPPING! We found this nice outdoor waterside shopping center that was filled with lots of cute stores! I got several things... Some tights for Alexa at the Lilly Pulitzer store, some cute frames and a doggy puppet book for Alexa. She immediately loved the book! Yay!

Click on photos to enlarge!

Beach! Sand! Surf! Shopping!

Yes, it was a busy day! To start off, I got in a good 5-mile run. It was nice to check out the town. I found tons of shopping areas that we could check out later! Here is Alexa after her nap sitting on the deck with Daddy. The rain let up and since it was warm out, we got ready to... Head to the beach!

Like yesterday, Alexa insisted on walking to the beach on her own. She also insisted on carrying her own bucket of toys too! Stubborn little girl she is. Even though she dropped her bucket, she put the toys back in, picked it up and kept on trudging toward the shore...

Finally... Beach! We only had about 30 minutes and the sky was overcast, but Alexa had tons of fun playing with her bucket, water, toys and sand. Yay!

Back at the house, we went for a quick dip in the cold pool... Alexa didn't mind, she loved it!

Finally, after another nap, we grabbed the stroller and took off to explore some of the shops that I had run past earlier. I found this cute yellow duck that says (duh!) Duck, NC!

Back at home again, Alexa helped Grandma cook dinner... Yum! Another home-cooked meal!

Click on photos to enlarge!

Alexa's first Christmas!

After a nice breakfast and a nap for Alexa, we got ready for Alexa to open her presents! Not surprisingly, she had the MOST gifts under the tree!

Mommy and Daddy with Alexa on Christmas morning.

Alexa's first present...

A Bumbo chair from Mommy & Daddy!

Alexa's second present...

A stocking from Aunt Kelly -- with Alexa's name on it!

Another present -- Pink bunny booties from Aunt Jen and Tio Dani!

Look at all these presents!

What's next?

Aunt Kelly helps Alexa open a gift... A pink hat and princess footie!

Yes, Alexa, girls can wear blue too!

Oooh, check out this hair bow!

It came in a cute pink suitcase with other hair bows, a polka dot bird bib, burp cloth and blankie! Thanks Aunt Chimmy!

Yum, bibs are good for eating!

Wait, I'm not supposed to EAT the bib?

I'll just find something else to eat! Like... this rattle!

Look at all these things I can eat!

Click HERE for a video of Alexa's first Christmas!

But the best part of Christmas is seeing my family, like Aunt Jen!

What a great first Christmas!

Earlier in the day, while Alexa was napping... The adults opened gifts!

Here is Daddy opening his gift from Alexa!

And here is Daddy and Grandpa with footprint mugs that Alexa made for them!

And here I am opening the best gift ever...

A adult sized footie! Of course I had to try it on...

It came with a matching footie for Alexa! Holy cozy!

Later in the day...

We enjoyed Christmas dinner!

And took more pictures. Here is Alexa with Mommy and Aunt Jen!

And her is your final Christmas picture... Alexa with her stocking!