October 31, 2007

Today is Halloween, and it was Gianna's first dental appointment. Here we are with our dentist, Dr. Bordner, who's on the far right.

Gigi was a bit scared, but after the quick check-up, she was fine.

In the afternoon, I had a hair appointment, so Papa watched Gianna. He said that she literally fell asleep while he was feeding her lunch. Here she is asleep in her highchair.

Since Papa had to work tonight, Gianna and I went to Wahiawa to sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Unfortunately it was pouring rain, so we didn't get to go out trick-or-treating. But, it was cold enough for Gianna to wear her Halloween costume. It was quite chilly in Wahiawa.

October 28, 2007

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

October 27, 2007

Today Aunty Taira, Hailey, and Mason came to visit. We were going to go to the Punahou football game, but Gianna and I were still suffering from a little jet lag.

I'm embarassed the Gigi was just in her diapers. She is usually dressed, but it was SOOO hot and humid. Oh, well. Here she is playing with Hailey.

Here she is sharing her word cards with Mason.

Here's Mason riding the G's car. Can you believe that he is already walking?!

October 26, 2007

Here we are in the Red Carpet Club at LAX. We are going home to Hawaii today.

Here's Gianna trying to take a bite out of an apple.

She didn't like the skin of the apple, but she manage to eat quite a lot of the apple's flesh.

Now she's eating from a plum.

The plum was pretty sweet.

Gigi also tried to take a bite out of this orange!

She didn't know that you are supposed to peel it first.

We made it home safely...well almost.

October 25, 2007

Today we went out with Papa. We went to eat at Molly's Trattatoria.

Here's Gianna eating some bread.

She really likes drinking from a straw.

Here we are with the owner, Molly. We ate some of her famous meatballs. They were quite spicy!

After lunch Gigi fell asleep, but Papa and I still took her to Bakar to have a look around the place.

We stopped off on State Street and strolled around. Here's Papa and Gigi in a toy store.

When we got back to the house, Gigi had a photo shoot with Anma and Yeh Yeh.

She had fun trying to squirm out of Anma's arms. Silly, Gigi!

October 24, 2007

I couldn't fall asleep, so I stayed up past 1 AM reading a book Anma lent me to read. It was called The Glass Castle. After giving Gianna a bath, I read a few books to her, and she passed out. I decided to just stay in the bedroom and read. I took this picture of her to send to Papa.

In the morning, Gigi was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. What a silly expression. She was raring to go, but I was a bit sleepy.

I brought out her cup from last night's dinner to see if she could still use the straw. She could.

I think Gigi was really thirsty, because she pulled out the straw...

started to lift the cup...

and drank straight from the opening at the top.

In the afternoon, I backpacked Gigi and we went to the beach. The beach access is only a half block away from the house. I walked down several flights of steps, since the house is on a cliff. When we got to the beach, Gigi didn't want to come out of the backpack. She was very clingy.

I put her back in the pack, and walked a bit to the other beach access from the park. Along the beach we saw many dogs and birds. Gigi loved it! After climbing back up to the park, I packed her to the playground. She played on the swing, the jungle gym, and in the sand with some buckets that I brought. The bad news is that she decided to "taste" the sand, despite my objections.

We began to "walk" back home, but Gigi wanted to crawl instead. She got FILTHY! The dust storm this past weekend covered everything with a thick layer of dirt! I ended up putting her back in the pack and carried her home.

For a treat, we ate a mango outside, then played on the lawn. It was a great day!

October 23, 2007

Grandpa Yuan came back from Texas today. He took the girls (Anma, Gigi, and me) out to dinner at a seafood restaurant. Unfortunately Papa was at work. :( He missed a great lobster dinner!

The big news is that Gigi used a straw for the first time! I've tried giving her water using a cup with a straw before, but she had always just chewed up the straw. This time I demonstrated how to use a straw, like I usually do, and she copied me! We were all amazed!

I think the difference was that the straw was actually a piece of plastic tubing, so you really couldn't chew it out of shape. She loved drinking from the straw. I was a new toy for her.

Although we were having lobster, Gigi didn't want any. She enjoyed the bread, clam chowder, fish sticks, and fresh strawberries, instead. It was a fun and tasty meal for all of us!

October 22, 2007

Gianna is 13 months old today!

She started the morning off by reading books with Anma.

When Papa woke up, the three of us went out for a late lunch at the Shoreline Cafe. It is a restaurant that is right on the beach. You can even sit on the beach, but we opted for the indoor seating. Gigi was saying "hi" to everyone there.

After lunch, we stopped for a bit to watch the birds. Gigi LOVES spotting birds. She points to them and says, "birh." It's pretty cute.

Papa had to leave for work in the afternoon. :( Gigi and I hung out at the house and played outside. We saw this beautiful sunset. Too bad Papa couldn't be there with us.

October 21, 2007

This morning Gianna wanted to check her e-mail. By the way, her e-mail address is babygianna@gmail.com.

Uncle Ted helped her log on to her account. Gianna was surprised to find that she had several messages waiting for her in her inbox. Although this was the first time she got to see her own mail, I am the one who takes care of her correspondence. I'm Gigi's personal secretary until she can write and type for herself. :)

Since we've been in Santa Barbara, Gianna has been having trouble staying seated during meals, because she doesn't have a chair that straps her down. Anma is showing Gigi how well Mr. Bear can sit at the table.

She seems to really be listening to Anma. I think Gigi knows that it's in her best interest to sit at the table. She give Mr. Bear a hug for showing her how easy it is to sit nicely at the table.

October 20, 2007

This morning Gigi got up to say good morning to everyone, but Grandpa Yuan had already left for Texas.

Uncle Ted was on hand to entertain Gigi.

Uncle Ted was trying to show Gigi how to SIT in her chair. Since we've been in Santa Barbara, Gigi has been standing up, since she doesn't have a high chair with straps.

After breakfast, Gigi went to greet her friend, Mr. Bear.

Auntie Charlotte was also up to play with Gianna. She was showing Gigi how to sort her toys.

It's Saturday, so that means football! Here's Gigi and Papa in the library watching some games on tv.

For the Cal vs. UCLA game, Gigi showed her spirit.

Gigi and Mr. Bear cheered Cal on, but they unfortunately lost. :(

For dinner, we went to Olio et Limone restaurant. I was suprpised that Gianna was fussy. She didn't want to sit in her high chair. :( I had to break out the DVD player almost immediately. Gigi ate her duck ravioli with cream sauce while watching her reading DVD. We were lucky to make through to the end of dinner, but we all passed on dessert. The restaurant got very crowded. By the way, Gigi DID NOT drink the wine. Papa and I only let her sniff the wine to train her nose. :)

October 19, 2007

Today we went for a long drive to visit our very special friend. Gigi did pretty well on the trip, although we had to listen to her CD for most of the trip. :

We had a bite to eat at this little hole in the wall Mexican place. It was REALLY good! Gianna liked their veggie tamal!

Tonight, the whole family arrived in Santa Barbara. Uncle Ted, Auntie Charlotte, Om Marcel, Anma Bernice, Grandpa Yuan, Papa, Gigi, and me. Anma bought a cake to celebrate Gigi's 13-month birthday, since everyone was present.

Gigi was thrilled to be the guest of honor.

Grandpa lit the candle.

Papa helped Gigi blow the candle out.

The cake was delicious!

Here's Gianna...under the dining table! What a silly baby!