Mother/Daughter Time!

Katelyn was sad to say good-bye to her Pandas classroom friends.  She has been with this group of kids since she was one year old.

She will miss her best buddy, Daphne the most!

On her last day of pre-K, Teacher Karen gave Katelyn a big hug and gift.

She couldn't wait to go home and open it.  Inside was a panda piggy bank.

Mommy decided to take her sabbatical in August to help Katelyn transition to Kindergarten and have bonding time with Katelyn.  Often times Bella only wants Mommy and is pretty needy when it comes to Mommy's attention.  Mommy wanted to make sure Katelyn knew she was just as special.  Mommy took Katelyn out of her Pre-K class before she started Kindergarten.  The days Katelyn and Mommy hung out together were called "special days." On their first special day, Mommy and Katelyn got their nails done.

Katelyn chose the purple with sparkles.

Katelyn enrolled in a hip-hop trial dance class.  She was pretty shy and wanted Mommy to come into the room with her and the other students.

 She picked up the steps, but decided she wanted to try other activities to see what she liked best.



Katelyn and Mommy ate at different restaurants for lunch.  Katelyn got to order chocolate chip pancakes.

One afternoon she went to an art studio to paint pottery.  She picked a heart shaped box.  She will come back in a week when the piece is all fired up.

Katelyn had a trial gymnastics class and loved it.  She had fun hanging and going across the high bars. Unfortunately there is a long wait list to get into the school.

Katelyn went to tea with Auntie Stef, Auntie Lilian and Kalina.  She called it a "real" tea party.   She loved using the teapot.

Lastly she tried a ballet class.  Katelyn loved seeing all the costumes on the wall.

It was pretty cute to watch all the girls in their little tutus dancing. 

Katelyn and Mommy also went shopping for new shoes.  Mommy hopes Katelyn knows how much special she is and how much she loves her!

The weekends have been busy.   The girls went to Happy Hollow.  Katelyn thought this pony was so cute!

The girls saw Nicholas and Julia one last time before they headed off to school.  Ethan and Nicholas put Katelyn and Ashley on their shoulders and did squats!

The girls went to CuriOdyssey and got to pet a tortoise.  Bella asked why he is so slow when he walks.

The two love each other so much when they are not arguing over toys.

Aloha!

Since Mommy is on sabbatical, the girls' went on a second vacation to Hawaii.  A car service picked the girls up from the airport.  Katelyn and Bella were each greeted with a lei.

We stayed at Hilton Hawaiian Village again.  It's convenient with the beach next to the hotel property.

The girls wanted to hit the beach when they arrived.

Bella liked putting sand into her bucket.  She dug a hole for herself to sit in.

There was a design your own flip flops stand at the hotel.  Katelyn asked every day if she could make one.  Finally Mommy gave in.  She picked out a lavender sandal.  There were many decorations that she could choose to put on her shoe.

This is what she designed.

The shoe didn't come in Bella's size, but of course she wanted to do what her older sister was doing.   Mommy said Bella could design a shoe, but she needed to wait until she was older to wear it.  She said, OK!

We had a nice dinner at Roy's one evening.  The girls loved the butterfish.

Daddy rented a car for a few days, so we could go into town to get some of the local treats.  We picked up some poke and malassadas and ate them on the balcony of our hotel overlooking the view of the beach.

The weather was in the 90's and luckily no rain during this trip.  The girls cooled off with some shaved ice.

Daddy drove to Kailua beach.  Katelyn got her float and wanted to immediately go into the water.  If she had it her way, she would love to be in the water the whole day.  She especially loves swimming pools.

Family selfie!

The girls experienced their first luau.  The hotel had a luau each evening on the roof top of the hotel.  Before the performance started, the dancers let the audience try the shakers and made flower wrist leis for the guests to wear.

After the show, the hula dancers stayed for photo opportunities.

Bella was excited to take a picture with one of the fire dancers.

We got a souvenir picture to remember our trip by.  Until next time...Hawaii!

Summer Time Fun

Nicholas and Julia who live in Japan are attending high school in the US.  They stopped by for dinner at Tao Pao's house before starting the school year.  We only see them during the summer, but hopefully they will visit more during the major holidays since they are in the same country now.

It didn't take long for the girls to warm up and act silly with their cousins.   Bella and Nicholas pulled the rope attached to the bike while Katelyn pedaled and Ashley rode on the back.  Julia supervised.

Uncle Dan hung out with the girls' a couple of weeks ago.  He read them stories.  He changed his voice for the different characters in the book.

Bella got a hold of Mommy's straightener and pretended to straighten her own hair.

Uncle Mancheuk saved a bottle of wine named "Bella" and gave it to her.  The first thing she did was try to drink out of it!

Mommy picked up Katelyn for lunch to meet up with Daddy in his cafeteria.

Uncle Brian joined Katelyn for lunch too.

Bella has been really testing her limits lately and not listening.  She was asked to only use markers while sitting down at her table.  She would walk over to the couch with the markers and Mommy repeatedly told her to sit down with her markers.  Bella ended up drawing on the couch which resulted in a time out.

Her naughty side comes out again when she put stickers on the couch when asked not to.

Arianna celebrated her 4th birthday at a park.  There was an activity to make super hero masks.

The girls love Christian and Josh and always tire them out.  They say it's exhausting watching them given how active the girls are!

The girls wanted to help Mommy pack for their upcoming trip to Hawaii.  Instead they climbed in the suitcase and made funny faces.

LA Road Trip

Katelyn and Bella took their first road trip to LA last week.  Daddy decided to drive at night to avoid the traffic and was hoping they would sleep through the entire ride.  We left Po Po's house around 10pm.  The girls slept until 2:30am.  Bella woke up crying for Mommy and wanted Mommy to hold her hand.  We arrived at the hotel at 4am and everyone went back to sleep.  That morning, the girls met Auntie Jill and Millie at Pretend City, an interactive children's museum.  Bella and Katelyn visited the grocery store and weighed fruits and veggies.

Katelyn liked cooking in the kitchen.

They both loved pretending to go to the dentist office.  Katelyn was the dentist and Bella was the patient.

It was so nice to spend time with Auntie Jill and Millie!

The hotel had bunk beds. The girls were excited to try it out.  In the evenings, Katelyn slept on the bottom bunk while Daddy slept on top.

The girls had breakfast with Mickey and friends.  Bella was scared of most of the characters especially Stitch.  Whenever he walked by, she would be terrified and cry.

She loved Minnie though and held Minnie's hand.

Bella warmed up and smiled for Mickey too for a nice family photo.

Po Po bought the girls' autograph books on the trip.  Katelyn was obsessed with getting as many autographs as she could.  Bella would nap at the hotel while Katelyn stayed at the park with Daddy to find the princesses.

She saw Mickey several times and waited in line each time to see him.  She saw Minnie, Goofy and Pluto too.

The girls love to watch the Doc McStuffins show.  Bella was so excited when she spotted Doc and screamed Doc's name when she saw her.

The girls visited Elsa and Anna.  They watched the new Frozen Live Show at the Hyperion Theater.  The line was really long to get in which resulted in sitting at the very top of the theater.

Bella didn't want to say hi to Olaf.  Katelyn wanted an autograph and picture with him.

At Bug's Land, Po Po, Daddy and Katelyn rode the ladybug boogie ride.

Bella loved Ariel the Mermaid ride, It's a Small World and the carousel.

We ran into Uncle Van, Auntie Lisa and Ellie and rode a couple rides with them.

We met Uncle Fred, Auntie Jenn and Hannah at the Anaheim Packing District.  There was a great selection of foods.  The girls loved the watermelon popsicles at Popbar.

Here's 3 generations.  There was a bench swing at the Packing District while customers waited for their food order.

Katelyn is becoming quite the poser. This is how she posed when Daddy asked to take her picture on  the Tea Cups ride.

Mommy had fun driving Katelyn on Autopia.  The day before Mommy drove Bella.  Bella didn't like the ride and would not want to go back on it the next day.

It was so hot in LA- high 90's.   It was great to cool off going down the water slide and playing in the sprinklers.

Daddy got Katelyn a Fast-Pass to Radiator Springs Cars ride.  She is tall enough to ride it this year.  For the most part she liked the ride, but thought some parts were a little scary.  Although she said she would go on the ride again.  The ride was really fast towards the end and Daddy wasn't able to hold the phone steady, so you can only see Daddy during the last part of the video.




Katelyn loved the Paint the Night electrical parade.  She watched it 6 times and it never got old. Sometimes twice in a day.  The girls got to stay up late every night watching it.   We survived our car ride to and from LA and look forward to future trips back to Disneyland!