Category Archives: Hawaiian

Super Simon, Cheers!, Climbing Simon, Simon Sick

April 3 through 8, 2011

Morning bread and milk (4/3/11)

Super Simon! Ready to tackle the day (4/3/11)

Wasabi poke bowl from Pacific Catch in the Marina. Lunch with friends. (4/3/11)

Pooped out Super Simon (4/3/11)

Simon playing with his fire engine (4/4/11)

Simon sporting his new long sleeved T-shirt with sewn on tie (4/5/11)

The BRAT diet seems to be working. I’m glad it wasn’t lactose intolerance. Simon loves his milk… with a little bread stuck up his nose (4/5/11)

Mommy’s lunch of a NorCal burrito, made with french fries! It was way too much, never again.

Simon watching Sesame Street. Look at that happy face! (4/5/11)

Simon learned how to raise his glass and what to do when you say “Cheers!” (4/5/11)

Simon has learned to climb on our small couch inside his playroom. When he sees us sitting there, he wants to sit with us too. (4/6/11)

He tries to get his knee on the couch (4/6/11)

Then cries when he knee slips off (4/6/11)

But he perseveres and gets himself up (4/6/11)

My free lunch today from management from Da’ Pitt BBQ. Brisket smothered in medium BBQ sauce and a side of mac and cheese. The brisket was tender but pretty fatty. The BBQ sauce was sweet but spicy and vinegary, I kept on wanting to eat it but it got too spicy. The mac and cheese was hard and kind of gross, maybe because it was cold since our order came really late. It was a large portion of meat and pretty smokey, I had half to bring home for Ron for dinner. (4/7/11)

Simon trying out a spoon to eat with… not really, he’s really just playing with the spoon and bowl. Now that he is over his stomach bug, now he has a runny nose and cough so isn’t sleeping well at night. I hope I don’t catch what he has as I’ve already been not feeling very well this week myself. I’m starting to finally feel back to normal and I hope it stays that way! (4/7/11)

Little Simon stayed home with Ron today instead of going to daycare. His nose was running like a drain this morning and he kept on coughing so it was best not to expose him to the other kids again. There are some babies now at his daycare so he’s no longer the youngest. Simon was all exhausted and fell asleep on this comforter and Ron covered him with a blanket. His eyes popped open as Ron took the picture (4/8/11)

His little nose is all red and his cheeks are chapped from all the moisture. He used 3 bibs at daycare yesterday and is on his 4th one tonight. What makes little kids’ snot so yellow and thick in the morning yet so clear and watery during the day? and why do little kids hate having their nose wiped? Sigh, I hope this means he’s building up a strong immune system! At least he’s not feverish and he’s still eating and drinking normally… get well soon my baby!

Kauai Day Five

Day 233

I’m always entertained when I see Simon’s sleeping position during the night.

This morning Ron went for some scuba so Simon and I stuck around the hotel and went to the pool. We stayed in the kiddie pool for about an hour before Simon got a little tired and went back to the room. Isn’t he a cutie?

Ron brought home some food from Dani’s Restaurant. Here is the deep fried seafood platter (mahi mahi and scallops) with fries and mac salad.

Kalua pork with rice and mac salad and a small side of lomi lomi salmon.

After our lunch, we all decided to take a long afternoon nap, including Simon.

When we finally woke up from our naps, we went to the Koloa Rum Company Tasting Room. They offer a tasting every 30 minutes (on the hour and on the half-hour) but no children are allowed in the tasting room itself (so Ron and I had to switch off). Each person is only allowed 1 oz total of rum. They are very strict, likely because the state laws are very tough. But it is a short and sweet presentation and they also offer their chocolate rum sauce and rum cake at the end of the tasting. Here we mixed our dark and gold rums with their mai tai mix. It’s pretty potent stuff.

We did not end up buying any rum but did buy a small rum cake and some buttered rum flavored coffee.

After the tasting, we went to find dinner and ended up at Mark’s Place. Open Monday through Friday 10am-8pm. Closed weekends.

Simon waiting anxiously for our dinner.

We ordered the famous mix plate with chicken katsu, beef teriyaki, and beef stew served with rice, chow mein, and mac salad. Very yummy.

Also, we had the loco moco (mini serving without the salad). Sauce was delicious.

Plus 2 freshly made SPAM musubi for tomorrow.

Simon is resourceful in using us to help him stand up.

He is also slowly getting better at crawling on all fours.

Here he is moving a few feet. Notice how his ankles and legs cross each other? Not sure why he does that but that is also how he “walks” sometimes when we are helping him stand up. It seems like it slows him down (which may be a good thing)… maybe something he’ll grow out of.

Kauai Day Three

Day 231

Today we decided take a drive through Waimea Canyon. Simon got dressed up in his Hawaiian shirt and jeans and we went on our way.

We stopped in Eleele for some breakfast at Grinds Cafe and Espresso. It smelled delicious when we walked inside, kind of like roasted garlic, so we were hoping for a good meal.

Simon fell asleep in the car and slept through our breakfast.

I ordered the Portuguese sausage skillet with potatoes and 2 eggs over easy. The potatoes also have green bell peppers and onions and some melted cheese. The sausages were thick and plenty of it but the potatoes were a bit burnt and very greasy.

Ron had their fried chicken cutlet (like chicken katsu) with rice and scrambled eggs. It was sort of like chicken fried steak except Japanese style and chicken. I guess what I mean to say is that the white gravy is similar to the chicken fried steak gravy.

After breakfast, we stopped by the Kauai Kookie Company for some free samples and picked up some cookies for home. They have delicious flavors like guava macadamia nut, mango mac nut, haupia mac nut (although sold out so we could only sample), lavender mac nut, etc.

Then we dropped by a grocery store to pick up a bottle of water for our drive through Waimea canyon. Simon’s first ride in the seat of the shopping cart.

Our first stop was at the Waimea Canyon Lookout. We put some sunscreen and a hat on Simon since we didn’t want his delicate skin to get sunburned.

Then into the Ergo Baby Carrier to go exploring.

They had white hibiscus plants at the lookout point. Very pretty.

Hello from Waimea Canyon!

After that lookout point, we decided to drive all the way to the end to the Pu’uokila Lookout. We came too late though so the fog started to roll in and we didn’t really get any good pictures.

Once the fog rolled in, you basically couldn’t see anything else but the fog.

We tried to hike down the trail a little bit but Simon was being really fussy. He was really tired so we ended up turning back and heading to Kalalau Lookout. Simon fell asleep in the car so Ron stayed with him while I ran out to check out the view.

Apparently they do some missile testing and research in the area. I wonder if this building is part of it. Looks like a big golf ball.

We stopped at one more look out point, Puu Hinahina Lookout. I was greeted by this rooster.

There is a view of the private island Nihau where visitors are not allowed so you can only see it from afar.

It’s that flat thing in the distance.

The other side has a view of the canyon. Lots of different colors and interesting shadows. I wish I had my dad’s DSLR but it’s so cumbersome to carry now especially with all of Simon’s stuff.

On the drive back to Waimea the city.

We stopped by Shrimp Station Restaurant for lunch. They have sauteed shrimp, fried shrimp, shrimp tacos, and a shrimp burger.

I had their coconut shrimp with fries. It is served with a papaya ginger sauce that compliments the shrimp well. I really liked these as it was really fresh and the coconut was nice and toasty.

Ron had the shrimp burger which also had the same papaya ginger sauce. The patty was chopped up shrimp pieces with some binder to make it into a patty.

After lunch, we stopped by Jo Jo’s Shave Ice and ordered two of their “favorite combinations”, #2 and #4.

Simon checking out #2.

Ron’s partially eaten #4.

The mac nut ice cream on the bottom was the best part. I could have probably done without the shave ice actually… but not to say that the syrup wasn’t good and refreshing. There was just too much of it. Also, according to Yelp, the location we went to on the main highway is not the good Jo Jo’s… the good one is the one in the alley around the corner called Original Jo Jo’s Anueanue Shave Ice. Apparently the one of the main highway was sold by the original owners but the buyers didn’t keep the quality up to par so the original owners reopened a shop in the alleyway by customer demand. Not sure if it makes much difference as I’m not sure what really good shave ice is supposed to be like.

We still had a good cool dessert break.

and we ran into the gentleman Lionel who told us all these places we should eat at. Ron started chatting with him on the plane from SFO to HNL and got some good tips on where we should eat. We ran into them at Hamura Saimin on Day 1 and now again at Jo Jo’s on Day 3.

And upon his recommendation, we went to Da Imu Hut Cafe in Hanapepe for some takeout dinner. We actually tried to go there this morning for breakfast but they only open 10am-2pm and 5pm-8:30pm. So we decided to try our luck and go there again. We had about an hour before it was going to open for dinner so we drove through Salt Pond Beach Park, hoping to see some salt being made but I guess we are out of season since it seems like they do it only in the summer when it was warm. Apparently salt water is pumped into large vats and the water is allowed to evaporate then more water is pumped in until the vat is super concentrated with salt. I guess it makes sense it is done in the summer when the sun is warmer so that the water can evaporate faster. But we drove by anyhow just to take a look before heading to get our dinner at Da Imu Hut Cafe.

Their menu is on the entrance.

We ordered a combo plate of teri fried chicken and fried chicken served with rice and mac salad. It wasn’t as crispy when we finally got back to our hotel but still pretty tasty. The batter has something sweet in it, kind of like mochiko rice flour.

We also had their saimin noodles which has a shrimp based broth. The noodles were a little soggy since it probably soaked up the broth on the way home but the wontons were interesting as they had fish paste as a filler (at least that’s what we think since it wasn’t pork).

The noodles also came with a teri chicken stick. Extra protein if the noodles weren’t enough.

End of Day 3. Tomorrow we will be exploring North Shore.

Kauai Day One

Day 229

We arrived safely in Kauai today without too much trouble although we were all exhausted and did not do any exploring this evening.

We didn’t have the best night of rest since Simon woke up around 3am and wouldn’t go back to sleep until he had some milk. He seems to be waking in the early morning again since he hasn’t been eating much dinner. He looks so peaceful here though at 2am.

Thank you Dan for giving us a ride to the airport this morning. At the airport, the Hawaiian airlines counter was a bit disorganized and we weren’t able to print our boarding passes online or at the kiosk so we were directed to wait in another line. While we were in the line, they told us we needed to wait in the other line. We stayed put and were eventually helped. It was basically because our connecting flight was overbooked so they wouldn’t let us print out those boarding passes. But the attendant that helped us eventually printed us priority boarding passes for our connecting flight and handed them to us at the gate. I thought that was great customer service that made up for the disappointment earlier.

We had a bit of coffee and a pastry while waiting for our flight to board. Simon still in his PJs to be comfortable for the flight.

On the plane, Simon checked out the luggage trucks outside loading our plane.

On take-off, Simon didn’t even let our a whimper.

He fell asleep shortly into the flight.

Then continued to sleep in my arms for about 2 hours.

He woke up as there was noise in the cabin during the meal service. The complimentary meal was a spinach frittata.

Upon arrival in Honolulu, we had to take a bus over to the interisland terminal and check-in at the gate to get our seat assignments. We ended up being seated in the very last row of the plane but at last we got onto the plane.

Then arrived safely on the island of Kauai! It was a really short flight, maybe 45 minutes end-to-end. Simon got a little fussy though since I’m sure he wanted to stretch out and because we were in the back, it was really noisy and he couldn’t hear himself.

Upon exiting the airport, we were greeted by the famous Kauai chickens… why did the chicken cross the road? To avoid getting run over by a car of course!

On our way to our first lunch in Kauai.

Ron met this gentleman on the airplane who recommended this place called Hamura Saimin Stand. Here is their menu.

We had a teri chicken skewer and a teri steak skewer.

This is their special saimin with won tons.

The won tons were different than what we are used to since it had chopped pork instead of ground pork. It gave it an interesting texture while eating.

The noodles were nice and chewy and the broth light but rich. Either we were just really hungry or it was really really good since we finished our bowls quickly.

We also ordered a slice of lilikoi chiffon pie to go. It was very light and airy with a crunchy light crust. The lilikoi flavor was very light though, it almost just tasted like lemon chiffon pie but there was that hint of passion fruit flavor as well.

Afterwards we did a little shopping at Kmart before heading to our hotel for the evening. Simon got to finally change his clothes and stretch out. He showed us his card tricks with our hotel key card.

Simon had some playtime in the crib provided by the hotel.

Then we basically all konked out for the evening. Ron fell asleep at 6pm. Simon fell asleep at 6:30pm. I fell asleep at 7pm. Ron and I eventually woke up hungry for dinner around 11pm but not much is open that late here so it was off to McDonald’s which is open 24 hours. Simon will probably wake up soon too so it might be a long night for all, including our neighbors.

For traveling mommies who exclusively pump breast milk, don’t read if not interested… or read if secretly interested but don’t want to admit it 😛 … since Simon won’t take milk from the boob anymore, I’ve been solely pumping and bottle feeding him. It brought up some difficulty while traveling though since there are no electric outlets on the plane and my pump does not use batteries so I had to pump before I left home and find a place in the Honolulu airport to pump. In the interisland terminal, there was supposed to be a family room but there were no signs directing me to where it was and the employee I asked had no idea where it was so instead I got stuck in the ladies’ restroom, standing at the baby changing counter (which is a basically a tiled table), pumping with my nursing cover on. I’m guessing newer model pumps can run on batteries or if you don’t have one, invest in one that does. I’m grateful to my coworker who gave me her pump but it doesn’t do well for long plane rides. Also, I’d check online to find out the location of the family rooms (if there are any) at the airport. The Southwest terminal at SFO, has a family room with a nursing chair, a changing table with a sink, and a foam bouncy house and all you need is the code to get in.

Little Kaylee

Day 223

Today is our last day in Southern California. Simon was itching to go, “let me out!”

We went to find ourselves some Taiwanese breakfast so ended up at Ye-May Restaurant which was recommended by a local. Ron loves his Taiwanese breakfast foods so was excited to try it. We ordered the egg crepe served with an actual sauce that was sort of like sweet soy with garlic. Very unlike our last trip when we went to Yung Ho and they gave us soy paste.

Ba-wan, my favorite. The minced stuff inside was yummy and much easier to eat than some places that use large chunks of bamboo and meats.

I always forget what this is called since I don’t like to eat it… it’s one of Ron’s favorites though.

He also liked it because it was “stuffed”, usually the ingredients are on top or a bit is distributed but this actually had a large amount of filling.

This was an interesting “sandwich” with preserved vegetables, peanuts, and meat. It seemed like they microwaved it though so wasn’t as fresh as the other stuff.

We ordered some rice rolls to go, one savory and one sweet. They are made fresh so are hot when you get them. Ron couldn’t resist and had to take a bite right away just to see if the fried dough stick inside was crunchy. The sweet one is a fried dough stick covered in sugar then wrapped with the rice.

This restaurant is much better than Yung Ho so visit Ye-May if you’re ever in San Gabriel and craving some Taiwanese breakfast.

After our breakfast, we drove over to Manhattan Beach to meet up with our friend Lynne and her daughter Kaylee. Simon look a little nap in the car with his Winnie the Pooh seatbelted in, safe and sound.

Little Kaylee is 2.5 months old. I’ve already forgotten how small and seemingly fragile babies are at this age. She was really well behaved during our lunch and super cute in her sleep. She would make the mouthing motions of sucking to show mommy she is hungry. “Baby smell” at this age is softer and sweeter than at Simon’s age. It was fun to meet her and chat with mommy Lynne. Don’t you just want to pinch those chubby cheeks?

We had lunch at a place called Islands at the mall which is sort of like Hawaiian Mexican (?). Tacos with Hawaiian seasoned insides.

We had a quick dessert of seasonal pumpkin cupcakes filled with cream cheese frosting.

Then had to rush to return our rental car and catch our flight home. We were almost going to be late but it ended up our flight was delayed so we made it on time. We sat next to the wing and engine again and Simon slept through most of the flight. He woke up during landing when we hit a bump but that was all. I hope flying is always this easy with him.

Simon is not eating much solid food these last few days. He only likes to eat puffs he can pick up with his own hands and avocado that I feed him. So tonight we finally decided to try some peas and corn. He didn’t enjoy pureed peas but we thought he might like picking up and eating an actual pea. He seemed okay with it but still wasn’t quite sure how to eat it. This is only a video of the peas (and sorry it is sideways, I forgot to flip the camera) and we added corn kernels later.

After our weekend away from home, Simon fell right to sleep in his own bed, hugging is pal Pooh.