We just got back from a trip to New York.  Mike’s cousin got married, so we went up to attend the wedding and visit his family.  We’re all doing great. Kazuo’s walking around and got to eat a bunch of naughty food on the trip, so he loved it.  Mike and I liked the weather in New York since it was usually a lot cooler, but agreed that we prefer Hawaii because New York has scary, bitey bugs.

 Last week was so crazy;  Kazuo was born on April 10, and he weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces and was 20 inches long.  He had stuck poo and got sent to the NICU, but the doctors unblocked him so we got to bring him home on Wednesday (normally he would have come home with me on Sunday).  He’s fine now, though, and we’re happy. 


Here are some pictures!

My husband’s grandma is very independent and lives by herself in a three story house — the garage is on the bottom, then the living room and kitchen, and then the bedrooms and bathroom are on the top.  She does have a little trouble with stairs, though, so my father-in-law is planning to install two stair lifts: one from the first to the second floor, and a separate one for the second to third floor stairs.  There are companies that will install these for you, but my father-in-law is saving a lot of money by installing it himself.  He’s really good at that kind of thing!

Last night, Mike and I had dinner at a nearby Japanese restaurant we both really like.  However, I’ve decided that, when it’s just the two of us, I only want to eat there if we can sit at the sushi bar (as opposed to a regular restaurant table).  The last couple of times we went (prior to last night), we got to sit at the sushi bar and we got fantastic service — our food came super fast and our tea was constantly refilled.  However, when we sit at the regular restaurant tables (like last night), the service is comparatively bad — we barely see our waitress, our food takes a while to arrive, and we don’t get any tea refills unless we flag someone down.

If we go with other people, though, I don’t mind sitting at the restaurant tables there — it’s more important to be able to talk to the people you’re with than to get tea refills. 

You know how Foodland gives you those coupons for 5% off your next shopping trip or a free gift?  I have a ton of them in my wallet and keep forgetting to use them when I have a larger shopping bill.  Last night I finally remembered to use one, and when the clerk saw how many I still had left, she told me that if I come back on Wednesday, they’ll be giving out two of their reusable shopping bags for the free gift from those coupons!  I love reusable shopping bags!  We use them as much as possible now, and it’s really fun seeing the nickel bag credits some stores give on my receipts.

When I was little, my mom used to sew blankets and doll clothes for me, but I didn’t really appreciate it –  I wanted store-bought doll clothes and preferred to use other blankets.  But now I think back and I feel awful that my mom spent so much time sewing those tiny doll clothes and all those blankets, and I wish I could have them back!  (My mom hates clutter, so gave all those things away.)  I wish I could go back in time and make my younger self appreciate my mom’s effort.

This Sunday I went Christmas shopping, but ended up buying an awful lot of things for myself.  At one store, I chose a knit purple shirt that was gathered and poofy at the bottom — I liked it because it gave my tummy room to expand for when I go out to eat.  :>  However, when I was paying for it, the clerk looked at the tag and said, “okay, purple dress!”  I’m still going to wear it as a shirt, though. 

My friend (who’s originally from San Francisco) pointed out a trait of Hawaii people: that we love food so much that we’ll often talk about the next meal we’re going to go out to eat while we’re eating our current meal.  Once he pointed that out, I noticed that it’s absolutely true! 

I went to Clay Cafe in Aina Haina with my sister yesterday.  She was trying to finish up a present for her husband, and I just kept her company because I didn’t feel like painting anything.

A young couple was throwing a birthday party for their six year-old daughter while we were there.  Even though the party was boisterous, the store owners must like little kids best because they make the most money off kids who only spend twenty minutes painting figurines, as opposed my sister and me, who spend the whole day (or more!) painting one thing. 

I finally found a crockpot recipe that had lots of flavor… it’s tasty because it’s just pork chops cooked in shoyu, sugar, chicken stock, garlic, and chili-garlic sauce (the one that seems like it’s related to sriracha sauce).  You can’t go wrong with anything that’s cooked in shoyu, sugar, and garlic.