Watch us grow!
I got this photo from Mirian this morning. They celebrated a friend’s birthday with cake and party hats. Mirian said she wasn’t mad or sad this morning and enjoyed singing “Happy Birthday” and had some juice. I love how this expression is very similar to the one her Daddy had in a lot of his pictures when he was a kid. That scowl is here to stay.
Janie took a road trip down to Southern California today and spent a lot of time in the car seat. Luckily it’s super comfy and allows her to see the road ahead.
She also sleeps quite well in the seat too. Here she is with GG and Big GG. She managed to take a 90-minute nap.
This is what she looked like when she was done. Still pretty groggy and stone-faced. I think she was just ready to get out of the car.
We didmake a couple stops. This one was half-way there and she got to run around a bit.
Convenience stores are so much fun. There’s so much to look at.
The fountain outside was cool but it was SO HOT outside.
We went straight to Rose Hills for the viewing service. We waited in the car for a bit while people were arriving.
Janie also got a big hug and an almond cookie from Ankong. So lucky.
We renewed our zoo membership for another year today. Janie totally understands now when we tell her we’re going to the zoo. She starts naming animals that she’ll see there. When we arrived, she immediately saw the baby giraffe and zebra right up front and was so excited. She also saw a giant stork and said “big bird”.
Here she is squeezing herself through the crowd of people to get a better look at the gorillas.
She did a lot of running today and happily yelled “running!!”
We also rode the train for the first time today. As we waited for the train to start, she kept saying “vamanos”. This girl really wanted to get going.
As the train zoomed around the park, she was a little unsure of how fast we were going and the tunnel was a little scary. She clung onto Daddy’s shirt the whole time but seemed to enjoy the ride at the same time.
She was also happy to be able to walk on grass this morning. She smiled and said “grass!” We had a little lesson (and tantrum) yesterday about scooters not belonging on the grass. I guess she was reviewing it in her head or something because she also said “no scooter”.
After the zoo, we had pho for lunch. She enjoyed the soup and bean sprouts over the noodles today.
Here’s a little movie about today’s trip to the zoo:
For lunch, we headed down to Sausalito.
We all sat outside and Janie got to enjoy some tasty clam chowder, noodles, fries, and pickles.
She was also confused by this new little toy that Daddy was playing with. It took her a while to figure out it was a video camera staring at her.
Janie had ramen for lunch and loved it.
She said hello to Mr. Ocean but was still not sure of him. There weren’t any tears but she still didn’t touch the water. 
Janie also tried out the pool and that was a hit – especially the 1/2-foot wading area. 
She tried to join us for dinner but fell asleep. It was 10 pm PST after all.
The morning started pretty early and Janie was in the backseat whining and saying “all done”. It had been about 30 mins in the car when she threw up all the milk and raspberries she had eaten for breakfast. Poor baby.
When it was time to board, she began to cry out “Mama up! Mama up!” She was almost hysterical and wouldn’t walk down the jetway. That was one of the most stressful moments we’ve had in a while. Luckily she calmed down once I got her in her seat. She was entertained by all kinds of things that I packed for her. She even took a nap on her own!
These window stickers were a big hit and so worth the $1 I paid for them!
She was so happy to get off the plane and ran around the baggage claim like a happy puppy. She also got a kukui nut lei from the shuttle company.
Riding the shuttle bus on Daddy’s lap was also a fun treat. She was so happy and kept saying, “Mama, bus!” with a big smile on her face.
When we arrived, we found Uncle Dayantha and Auntie Krissy in the lobby.
I think Mirian taught her that it wasn’t nice to scowl at people. A while ago, I was scowling at her for fun and she wagged her finger at me and said “no no no”. She’s perfected the little finger wag to the point where she can isolate the finger movement without waving her whole hand like she used to. Funny girl.
Janie and Alice went to the beach this morning and Janie started crying from the moment we opened the car door. Oh well, so much for forward progress.
She clung tightly to me for the first 20 minutes while she cried and pointed away from the ocean. When I put her down, she ran as fast as she could back to me.
Eventually, she was able to sit calmly on the blanket and play in the sand for a bit.
She even put her sunglasses and cautiously watched the waves go back and forth.
These two look bundled up and ready to go outside to play!
Don’t mess with these tough cookies!
Here is where they ended up this afternoon – the library!
Cousin Alice, Uncle Johnny, and Auntie Joy arrived today so we took a ride on Muni to Downtown to find them.
Janie rode the escalator up from the train station with Yai and walked part of the way up Powell to the hotel.
In the hotel, Janie gave Uncle a big hug in the lobby.
He took us up to the room and we found Alu sleeping on the Heavenly Bed.
It was a good thing because it looked like this kid needed a nap too so she snoozed for about an hour there while the grown-ups hung out for a bit.
On the way back home, Janie sat next to Yai on the train like a big girl.