Zoë Turns Four!

OMG she's four! It's so crazy how fast she want from teeny tiny infant to walking talking sassy toddler. Watching her personality shine through as she's grown has had it's ups, downs, goods and bads, but all so worth it! Happy early birthday baby girl. Hope you enjoy your Moana themed celebration at the beach!

Jeric had to get to the beach at the crack of dawn so that we had a pit for a bonfire once the sun went down. Meanwhile, I needed to get everything packed into my car along with Zoë a few hours before the party was set to start so that we can setup.

While setting up, Zoë plopped herself right down onto the sand and had a few snacks.

Meanwhile, I was totally trying to get the hibiscus paper flowers to hang on the outside of the canopy, but with all the wind blowing, it wasn't looking so good. I was about to through myself a hissy fit or something because I've been working on these cute flowers for quite some time now. And they were pretty! I really wanted them up. Luckily, I found out they might stick if I hang them from the inside of the canopy where the canopy might be able to shield them a bit from the wind. Which, they certainly did! The still blew around a bit, but it worked!

Mom, Dad, Denise, Ray, Liz and Marky also helped out a lot with packing stuff up and taking it to the beach, which I am very thankful for! It was a shit ton of stuff and we didn't have wagons. Doh!

Denise, Ray, Dustin, Liz and Marky arrived not far behind I did, so that was cool! That also meant Zoë had a playmate! Her and Dustin dove right into playing in the sand.

Once Mom and Dad got to the beach and everything was pretty set, we were able to get a cute girl pic together with the guest of honor!

I also brought a giant Pua stuffy with us, but Zoë totally didn't want any pics with it. *sigh* Oh well, it's her birthday! And at least we got these cute pics of her down by the shore!


And a few shots with Mommy and Daddy.

While hanging out by the shore, Denise and Ray helped catch a ton of sand crabs. Of course the kiddos wanted to take them back to our spot, which they did. They were certainly amused with them for a good long time.

All of Zoë's friends were starting to arrive, so I went to work and put together some cute little goodie bags.

And while the kiddos all played together, the adults (minus me of course) had a few drinks together!

Once mostly everyone had arrived and before we started to lose people, we brought out baby girl's cake...

And the kiddos gathered around her and we all sang her Happy Birthday!

And then we were left with just a few of the kiddos who, not only eyed the frosting, but got some on their noses and dug on in! Hahaha!


Mommy and Daddy hope you enjoyed your birthday at the beach!

Quick Stop at the Beach

After our anniversary brunch, Zoë wanted to hitup the beach for awhile. Since Newport Beach wasn't that far, we decided to head out over there.

We really didn't wanna go because we were pretty tired, plus it was super hot. Buuuut, I mentioned it the night before, that if we wanted to, we can head to the beach and walk around for a bit. I guess Zoë overheard me and remembered.

So, to the beach we go!

Baby girl is definitely a beach bunny!

And there you have it. The end of our anniversary!

Anniversary Fun

It's our anniversary! *cue Tony! Toni! Toné!*

I've been dying to try out Bosscat ever since it was a proposed spot for a bachelorette get together. Well, what better time to head out there then our anniversary, right?

The place was really chic and cute. It was an open walled restaurant with a full service bar and their own Whiskey room. Here's the menu and the table decor.

We came here for brunch, but of course, no bottomless mimosas for me.

We knew we wanted to order what people raved about on Yelp, but not everything was available for brunch, so we ended up ordering their Fruity Pebbles French Toast, Short Rib Chilaquiles and some Tots.

While waiting for our food, we took the time to take some photos!

The three of us together

Daddy and Zoë and Zoë by herself on the cute bench with pillows.

And here's me and Jeric together. Zoë actually took the photo of us!

Now the food!

Fruity Pebbles French Toast

Short Rib Chilaquiles

And the Tater Tots with a fried egg on top

The food was all good, but nothing spectacular TBH. The Fruity Pebbles French Toast also got too sweet after awhile. Even Zoë was over it. Hahaha. Luckily, this mama was famished with her growing baby and all, so all the food was eventually devoured!

On the way out, I stopped by the bathroom and Zoë wanted to come with me. Which was perfect because I got a few shots of her in the very chic bathroom.

And here we are outside

Not bad for our anni! Tried a new foodie spot that had an awesome atmosphere. We definitely want to come back, but for dinner instead.

Goodbye Hawaii

And here we are. All packed up and ready to go home. Zoë is excited to go home. She misses the family, her room and all her toys. Me and Jeric? Not so much. We wish we were on permanent vacay. Lol. Totally not excited at all to get back home and back to that Mon - Fri 9-5 grind. But, we gotta do what we gotta do.

Gotta admire our beautiful view one. last. time.


Then, we hit up the mall to pickup some last minute souvies for the fam. At one of the spots, Zoë looked pretty bored. Lol.

In the middle of one of the mall walkways, they had a cute Koi pond. Zoë was excited to see all the pretty fishies.

And here goes our very last meal in Hawaii. We got a quick Spam Masubi snack at the mall's food court, then stopped by Ono Seafood for poke for me and Jeric and then a spam and eggs meal from McDonalds for Zoë.

And we're done. Waiting at the airport for check-in and boarding.

Didn't take many photos on the way home. None of slept much either since it was still pretty early in the day. I did get a photo of the sky transitioning from day into night though!

And here we are, back in the mainland.

The runway was pretty backed up with a bunch of incoming planes, so we had about a 30 minute or so delay in getting out. And of course, that's when Zoë decides to knock out. Lol!

Jeric pretty much had to carry her as we waited for Mom and Dad Samoza to pick us up.

Haha, poor thing must've been really tired. And there you have it. Vacay over.

Hawaii Day 6

Our last full day in Hawaii. We still had a few MUST spots to hit up. Since Hukilau Cafe and Helena’s were closed on Sunday/Monday, we just HAD to hit both spots up today.

We headed on out to Target first for cash back since both spots took cash only. We also did a bit of shopping since Hukilau Cafe wouldn’t start serving lunch until after 10 and Jeric really wanted to try their teri burger. We missed out on that when we were here the last time.

We drove straight away towards Hukilau Cafe. During the car ride Zoë mentioned that she missed home again. She said she misses Lola, Ninang Marky, Ninang Liz, Papa and Ninang Iban. I took a vid and sent it to them. She was super home sick and the only way we eased her discomfort was by letting her know we were heading to the beach. That got her excited and she never brought up missing home again.

And here we are! Hukilau Cafe.

Jeric got his teri burger and I ordered the loco moco with mushrooms. Mostly because I know Zoë would definitely eat the egg, mushrooms and rice more so than teriyaki meat.

I did get to try the burger too and it was sooooo good!

On the way to the car, a little local girl waved at Zoë and Zoë waved back. So cute! The girl had a little kitty who was basking in the sun. When the kitty saw us, though, he started to follow us. Zoë was happy and wanted to pet or kiss the kitty. But, the kitty was super disheveled, so I was like, uhhhh, no baby girl. The kitty kept following us though and the little girl was starting to get anxious. She stomped her feet demanding the kitty come back. But, the kitty followed us all the way to the car. Once Zoë and I got in the car though the kitty walked back to the little girl.

Of course, now Zoë begain whining and pining for her own kitty cat. It took a lot to get her to understand that she couldn’t take that kitty because it was the girl’s and also we had to convince her that we couldn't have our own kitty cat. Lol.

And off to our next stop. We really didn't have much left on our list except for just a bunch of spots that I wanted to scope out if time permitted. A few were on this side of the island, so we thought today's a good time to throw them in since we were already here and the only MUST SEE spot left was Helena's and that was closer to the hotel and saved for later tonight. Plus, these were just quick stops for photo ops. So that still left plenty of beach time for Zoë.

The first stop was Lāʻie Point State Wayside. It was just a scenic spot with a great ocean view that I found randomly off of spots to check out in Oahu.


Definitely worth the stop.

The next stop was Chinaman's hat, but on the way there we passed the Polynesian Culture Center and I wanted some snap shots of their tiki statues, so we literally drove in the driveway, stopped, I hopped out to snap the photos and then we took off. LOL.

Now off to Chinaman's Hat. Lol. Zoë was so bored of these view points, so she and Jeric just ran around the grassy areas that were before the beach sand while I went down to the sand and got my photo.

I don't recall it looking like this the last time we were here though. But maybe we were at a different view point. Who knows? That was like a decade or so ago.

And finally, Lanikai Beach! This is mine and Jeric's favorite. The waters warm, waves are calm and it stays relatively shallow far out.

This is the second time we've been here this trip and last time, Zoë wanted nothing to do with the water. This time, she loved it!

Even after Jeric was done swimming, she wanted me to stay with her and play in the water. Hahaha. So cute!

We did eventually get her out of the water and she was shivering. So we covered her with towels and that was it. Goodbye beautiful beaches of Hawaii.

Once we neared our hotel, we finished our last stop, Helena's, and got our short ribs!

We also passed by Liliha Bakery, which was also on the list, but I totally forgot about it. Definitely gotta stop in and get some Mochi Donuts!

The have other baked goodies too, but we decided just the Mochi Donuts.


We were all pretty tired and wanted to shower, so we just took the short ribs and donuts back to the hotel and devoured them there. The short ribs were aite. We really weren't impressed by them much. The Mochi Donuts though, those are sooo good! I wished we got two whole boxes full of them!

After eating and showering, we all got ready for one last night of strolling around Waikiki.

And here's the baby girl in her pretty dress, spinning around the lobby. Perfect way to end the night!