From the monthly archives:

May 2016

Grandma and Papa Boston flew in to town for the long weekend and we packed in lots of fun while they were here. They arrived Saturday afternoon and left Tuesday AM, but along the way we went to a BBQ, played some bocce with our old neighbors, ate some delicious meals, went to the new SF MOMA (more on that trip later), went to the park with some old friends, went bike riding, walked all over, read, introduced Grandma to Totoro and just had a blast. Whew, I’m tired just thinking about it. And that doesn’t even count Grandma and Papa’s visit to Lauren’s classroom on Tuesday morning, which by all accounts, was pretty epic!

Grandma and Papa Boston with Maile (almost 7) and Lauren (3.5)

Grandma and Papa Boston with Maile (almost 7) and Lauren (3.5)

It was definitely enough to tied us over until later in the summer when we all get together again!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

We’ll miss you GG Kiyoko

by Papa K on May 30, 2016

On Saturday we received the sad news that Great Grandma Kiyoko had passed away. GG Kiyoko was Papa Cal’s mother and a staple of our visits to Kauai. She was a part of every visit and always loved seeing the girls. I can still hear her voice every time just saying over and over: “Oh my, so beautiful!” and then Christine would often say something like “And they are smart too, Grandma!” and she would say, “Yes, yes, but on my, so beautiful!”

Yes, my skin is quite soft. What do I use? Nothing special - I just make sure I moisturize every night.

GG Kiyoko was always admiring our beautiful little girls...

Both girls met Great Grandma when they were about six months old – Maile on December 30th, 2009 and Lauren on June 27th, 2013…

Great Grandma Murashige, Mommy and Me

Great Grandma Murashige, Mommy and Me

Great Grandma Kiyoko, Mommy, Maile (almost 4) and Lauren (almost 6 months)

Great Grandma Kiyoko, Mommy, Maile (almost 4) and Lauren (almost 6 months)

Great Grandma Kiyoko lived in a assisted living home – but seeing the old people needing help around never phased Maile and Lauren. They always went right up and gave GG a big hug and spent some time with her before racing off to the pool. The pool was definitely their favorite part of the visit. For Daddy it was always a little bit too cold (for some reason it was built in the shadows of the building or something – never seemed to get direct sunlight and was always freezing!), but the girls never cared – they absolutely loved being in that pool.

It's kind of hard to get a 1 year old and a great grandma to both look at the camera at the same time...

It's kind of hard to get a 1 year old and a great grandma to both look at the camera at the same time...

When we were talking about GG and the girls on Saturday night, Christine was remembering how on our last visit, GG had moved to a more directly assisted part of the home and Maile noticed that GG’s slipper had fallen off, so she got right down and helped her put it back on. Needless to say Maile took the news particularly hard. Lauren was mainly concerned that Mommy was upset, but Maile felt it and was quite sad. She sat down and wrote a card about GG…

Maile's note to GG :(

Maile's note to GG 🙁

We then talked about how we could remember GG and we decided that we would think of her whenever we went swimming because we love to swim and swimming was a bit part of our visits to see her. That felt right to all of us.

Swimming is fun, but horsing around with Daddy is even better!

We'll always remember GG when we are having fun in the pool...

We love you Great Grandma Kiyoko and we will miss you always!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

The Great Maile-dini!

by Papa K on May 25, 2016

One more from the Maker Faire.

We found this booth that had this cool puzzle game based on Houdini. Basically there are 40 different ways to setup the puzzle and you need to help Houdini “escape” each time – each level gets progressively harder.

They had a life-sized version and Maile gave it a spin…

(Click here for the video.)

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

One of our favorite weekends of the year is when Maker Faire comes to down. On Sunday we headed down with the girls and had an amazing time exploring. We spent a few hours, but easily could have spent the day – I feel like we barely dented things…

Maile's first project of the day was to make a flashlight out of a popsicle stick...

Maile's first project of the day was to make a flashlight out of a popsicle stick...

Maile used these repurposed fabric samples to make this really cool eye design

Maile used these repurposed fabric samples to make this really cool eye design

This was awesome: a life sized Mouse Trap game (Lauren's all time favorite) - the girls were blown away :)

This was awesome: a life sized Mouse Trap game (Lauren's all time favorite) - the girls were blown away 🙂

Maile meets R2D2 - home made by the R2D2 Club

Maile meets R2D2 - home made by the R2D2 Club

Milestone - Maile's first VR experience

Milestone - Maile's first VR experience

Mommy and Lauren doing some building...

Mommy and Lauren doing some building...

Family picture - we had an awesome day!

Family picture - we had an awesome day!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Ukus

by Papa K on May 22, 2016

What are ukus? The Hawaiian word for head lice.

Despite this look, Maile was a good sport and followed all the steps needed for treatment...

Despite this look, Maile was a good sport and followed all the steps needed for treatment...

Yep, another milestone has been reached – Maile Girl came home from school with lice last week.

The word went out from the school on Wednesday that we should be on the look out. We checked the girls Wednesday night and thought we were all clear – even making a joke about sharing combs on Thursday AM (of course we did).

The girls went off to school and we thought all was well. And then the dreaded call just before lunch – the outbreak was bad enough they had brought in the experts and Maile was found with some of the little buggers. Lauren was clear, but we picked both girls up, headed over to the Hair Fairies for some gear and then came home and started the treatment and doing a ton of laundry (hat tip to Christine for taking the brunt of that one).

Luckily, it was a pretty mild case for Maile and after going through the treatments a couple times, she was all clear Friday AM and headed back to school. All in all, could have been worse, but we can check this life experience off the list…

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Hard to believe another year of dancing is in the books. On Saturday Maile and Lauren had their dance recital at Nagata Dance. We continue to really enjoy our time at Nagata Dance – they do a really nice job of making dance fun and relaxed – the girls love it!

Maile went first performing to Bear Necessities…

And then it was Lauren’s turn – doing a little Love Bug…

Yes, it was a million times cuter in person 🙂

(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

We had a fun filled weekend out here in SF with dance recitals, great progress in swimming, and lots of other fun. But before we get to all of that, there is this…

Maile and Lauren got some slime stuff at a birthday party we went to today and they used it to create a fart instrument. They were quite pleased with themselves.

And I had nothing to do with it.

Seriously, they did this all on their own.

(Click here for the first video.)
(Click here for the second video.)

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

#tbt 3 years ago…

by Papa K on May 12, 2016

Talk about cuteness overload…

Sure, I got a smile for you.

Sure, I got a smile for you.

Have a great weekend!

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

On Friday, our old nanny, Kelly, watched the girls since they didn’t have any school. She was making some lunch for the girls and when she came out she caught this cute scene of Maile reading to Lauren.

Maile and Lauren in their natural habitat ;)

Maile and Lauren in their natural habitat 😉

Just something about the picture I really love – I feel like it captures the best part of being sisters or something. (And it is true that Maile’s reading is good enough now that she often reads to Lauren.)

{ Comments on this entry are closed }

Mother’s Day 2016

by Papa K on May 8, 2016

We had a pretty fun Mother’s Day weekend here in San Francisco. The girls treated mommy to some home made cards, massages(!) and a new outfit picked out by Maile Girl. Daddy delivered on a pretty nice dinner date (if I do say so myself) on Saturday night and a great Sunday brunch at a new Hawaiian spot (aina – check it out if you are in SF).

Mommy by Lauren

Mommy by Lauren

Massages by Maile

Massages by Maile

At brunch I wanted to take some pictures of the girls – at first Lauren wanted nothing to do with it…

IMG_1621

But, of course, once she saw Maile having fun, she changed her mind – and we got some fun shots…

IMG_1631

IMG_1626

IMG_1632

I’m a lucky guy 🙂

{ Comments on this entry are closed }