My Stars & Poor Kona

While in Hawaii we bought Mia a ukulele which she refers to as her "target" which is how she usually says guitar. She wants to be just like Papa and play her "target". She even dug through her toy box for her microphone. Sometimes Mia gets it right and calls her toy a ukulele, but I think it's pretty funny when she calls it her "target". Here's a video clip of Mia and Papa.

POOR KONA Last night I took Kona for a potty break. Unusual because she usually does not need one, but I had taken her out earlier in the afternoon than usual so I thought she might need a break. I also needed to get our mail. We walked out to the tot play area and the next thing I know our neighbor's dog is charging for Kona and is off leash. This is the second incident with the same dog. I dropped my mail and started yelling, "NO! NO! NO!" But the dog got Kona on the back before I was able to pick her up and before the owner came out. Kona has some bruising, but no puncture wound. She was so scared, she yelped a very high pitched yelp for about 30 seconds after it happened. Papa was and still is mad and wants the dog put down. We'll see what happens. I left things very cordial and our neighbor was very apologetic, but at the same time that dog should never be off leash. It's against the city's codes and our townhome's rules and regulations.

Post Vacation Blues

We returned from Maui on May 16th, then took off for Boston to attend a wedding on May 20th and returned on the 25th. Life on the road is exhilarating and lots of fun for me because we're all together as a family 24/7. Of course I can't deny that it is nice to get freshly laundered towels and an expertly made bed to mess up each day. I love vacations. I'm always bright eyed and bushy tailed upon waking and rarely snooze. Have to soak in each minute and not let it go waste. We were fortunate to spend some time with friends while in Maui though it was very unfortunate for the Bae-Lees that their kids came down with some GI disturbance that resulted in a not so fun vacation for them. We're so sorry that we could not spend more time together. We also go to see Esther, Kwan and Elijah which was fun.

Not sure when we will next get to vacation the way we did in Maui, but I'm already looking forward to it. I'll post more about our trips and pics soon, right now I'm just sad that I'm not catching the breeze in Maui.

Happy 4th Birthday Kona!

Today is Kona's 4th birthday! She's my special first baby and although she did not have a birthday party as she did when she turned one, I did bake her biscuits which I've done every year on her birthday. Mia sort of helped me. It's a really easy recipe that involves only 4 ingredients, flour, baking powder, peanut butter and milk.

Mia and I also took a trip to PetCo this morning to pick out some presents for Kona. Our PetCo has mini shopping carts and Mia loves going there to see the rodents, birds and fish. The girl would really like to have a pet mouse since they are featured so prominently in many popular children's books. There's Maisy, the mouse in Goodnight Moon, the mouse in If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the little mouse in Goodnight Gorilla, etc. Sure they are cute, but not for me.

It was nice to watch Mia pick out toys for Kona that she found interesting. In the end, I had her narrow it down to two. We also bought her new toothpaste and some rawhide to keep her teeth clean since she recently had a tooth extracted. I told Mia to keep the presents a secret until Papa came home. She put her finger on her mouth and said, "Shh!!" when I said that. It was so cute. We gave the presents to Kona after dinner and Mia helped Kona open them. I think Kona knew it was her special day. She waited by her bed in the kitchen while the biscuits baked. Maybe she remembers the smell from last year. . .

Baby News

Little kumquat appears to be healthy and developing normally. I had a feeling the baby was a boy and during the May 1st ultrasound it was confirmed. We saw the evidence from many different perspectives so Mia will have a di di (little brother) this September. During the ultrasound the little guy was very active, he played with his feet, flipped around and tried to suck his thumb. So far he seems far more active than Mia in utero. Then again, Mia is a pretty active child now.

The name debates begin. Ken doesn't like the names I love yet offers no suggestions. UGH!

Recently I've been craving random things, but nothing that I need to have all the time.
blue cheese, especially burgers with blue cheese
oreos (TJ's carries an all natural kind that tastes pretty good)
olives (kalamata, which I usually do not like)
salami and other italian cured meats
icey drinks
lots of fruit
cookies
butter, bought some Irish butter, really yummy
french pastries like croissants, tarts
some additions i just thought of:
grape juice, welch's concord grape juice
mayo, always love mayo