December 31, 2007

It's New Year's Eve 2007! We spent the night together as a family, just the three of us.

Here's Papa lighting fireworks for Gianna and me. We sat on the porch while Papa handled the pyrotechnics.

Gigi was a bit scared by the loud noises made by the fireworks, but she made it through the show just fine.

I know Gigi doesn't look very happy, but once all loud popping stopped she was fine. After our mini-firework show, we watched the big firework show at the Kahala from our back porch. It was beautiful! There were quite a lot of people in our neighborhood who had some nice fireworks of their own.

Gianna and I both fell asleep around 10 PM, but Papa woke me up at midnight to light our 20K firecrackers and to watch the fireworks from Waikiki. We drank a bottle of champagne and toasted to a great year!

December 29, 2007

Today Gianna and I went over to Wahiawa to see Grandma and Grandpa, but we stopped over at Auntie Tyra's house to play with Hailey and Mason.

Gigi and Mason were busy playing with his toys, but they didn't play together. Gigi's wearing some Mickey ears that Hailey put on her. I was surprised that she left them on her head. I think she's ready for Disneyland!

Auntie Tyra and I tried to get Mason and Gigi to sit still for a few pictures, but Gigi was just not cooperating.

Auntie gave her a stuffed animal to play with to keep her still, while Mason played with the remote.

We never got a picture of the two of them smiling, but everyone did have a great time. Hailey and I played games on the Wii, while Mason, Gigi, and Auntie Tyra cheered us on. We also got a tour of the Uncle Rick's "farm". He has a pretty impressive collection of animals. Gigi got a kick out petting the cats and seeing all of the birds outside.

December 27, 2007

Gianna had her 15-month doctor's appointment today. While we waited, Gigi played with the toy in the waiting room. Another baby came up to play on the toy, too.

Here she is checking out the other baby.

Gigi did play nicely; she shared the toy with the other baby.

December 26, 2007

This morning Gianna and I stayed in and tried to clean up the mess from all of the presents we opened yesterday.

Here's Gigi wearing an outfit from Anma Bernice in Taipei. She sent Gigi more cute clothes, but they were being washed. This outfit was from a while ago, but it still fits.

Gigi was grabbing my g;asses. so I took out her sunglasses to wear.

Here she is reading with her shades on.

For dinner, we met Griffin and his parents at the Plumeria Cafe. It was a buffet, so it was easy on everyone. After Griffin and Gigi ate, they sat together to read some books that I brought along with us.

Gigi tried to sing the Alphabet song to Griffin.

They were both engrossed in the book.

I think Griffin's dad was giving him some tips...

Here's Griffin making his move...slipping his arm around Gigi. ;)

She was surprised! She thought Griffin was trying to point out something to her on the ceiling.

Griffin seemed pleased, though. :)

When we got home, I changed Gigi into the pajamas that Aunty Suzanne gave her...super cute Hannah Anderson pj's!

I read her a story, then it was lights out.

Gigi fell asleep pretty quickly. Then Papa and I played our Wii till 1 AM in the morning! :)

December 25, 2007

It's Christmas!

Here's Gianna making her thank you list. What a good baby she is! We waited for Papa to wake up, and then we started to open up all of our Christmas presents.

It was a chilly morning, so Gigi's wearing her swimsuit coverup. :)

Here's Gigi with the present that Aunty Susy sent her. It's her own suitcase with a stuffed monkey.

She really liked how the handle went up and down.

In the afternoon, we went to Wahiawa to have dinner with Grandma and Grandpa. Gigi took a nap, while Papa finished decorating the gingerbread house that I started to decorate last week.

Here's Gianna at the dinner table, well actually she's in her high chair, but we are all at the dinner table. Grandma whipped up a delicious dinner for us!

Here she is finally flashing me a smile. I think Papa slipped her something sweet to eat.

Here is a picture of Gigi at Christmas last year. Look at how she's grown!

December 24, 2007

We are on our way back to Honolulu today. We already dropped off Papa at the airport this morning, since he had to go to work today. :(

Here's Gigi reading her book at the Kona Airport.

She wouldn't smile for the camera.

December 23, 2007

Hurray! Today Papa arrived in Kona. As soon as we picked him up, we headed straight back to the hotel and to the pool!


Here's Gigi having fun in the water with Papa.

Gigi is also pretty good at getting around with her water wings!

I'm not sure what Gigi is doing here. I think she was trying to climb out of the water to be with me.

Papa told me to jump in and swim with Gigi while he took pictures. Here we are horsing around.

Gigi had a bit of Papa's late lunch, then we headed back to the hotel room to get ready for Granduncle John's party.

Uncle John rented out the luau grounds at the Mauna Kea resort for his party. Here we are at the imu to watch the men dig up the pig.

They are lifting the pig out.

And the placed it on the cart.

One of Grandaunty Amy's friends put this hat on Gigi. She's an elf.

Here's Gigi walking around the party.

At the end of the party, the whole family got up on stage to sing. Gigi is with cousin Sam at the far right. Sam was a great playpal.

December 22, 2007

Happy 15th month Birthday to Gianna!

Here's the happy baby kicking back at the hotel.

Yikes! It's a naked baby!

This afternoon, we went with Grandma to the King's Shops, and we stopped off at Starbuck's. Gigi had a nice cold cup of milk with her Japanese baby wafers.

After being reenergized, she toddled off and Grandma went to get her.

Gianna really enjoyed looking at the fish.

One of Gigi's favorite things to do is to read. She began watching DVDs from a program called Your Baby Can Read when she was 6 months old. When she was 10 months old, she actually began recognizing certain words by doing the action of the word. I finally took a video clip of her reading. I carry this little notebook around with me, and I add new words when appropriate. We review the words daily.

December 21, 2007

Here we are at the piano lounge to listen to the music with Grandpa.

December 20, 2007

Today we flew to Kona with Grandpa and Grandma. Papa will join us on Sunday for Granduncle John Tanaka's party.

Here's Gigi playing with the tray table. Luckily, there wasn't anybody sitting in the row in front of us. I know how it feels to have a rowdy baby sitting in back of you on a plane. :(

The weather was BEAUTIFUL in Kona. As soon as we checked in to the hotel, we changed into our swimsuits and headed for the pool.

Here's Gigi playing with the palm fronds on the pathway to the pool.

One of the fronds tickled her face.