Arizona Aloha Festival

This past weekend Phoenix held it’s annual Aloha Festival at the park at Tempe Town Lake. Woo and I had gone last year (in fact, I danced last year, hard to imagine it’s been a year!) and it was actually even more crowded this year. Evidently this thing has been getting bigger and bigger since it started, which is awesome! So Jin had his first full Polynesian experience, which is a shame because he slept through most of it (haha). Woo and I had some Samoan food, or I should say we got duped into paying $12 a plate for some palusami that wasn’t very good at all, but eh, oh well. I know there were some really great food vendors and we just stumbled across the wrong one and were hungry enough not to care too much.

Of course, as with any event where our people are gathered by the thousands, we ran into friends close enough to be considered family. We grew up with Sonny Stevenson and his family back home; his sister Laurie was my college roommate and a dear friend of mine to this day. Sonny and his beautiful girlfriend Michelle were hanging out listening to the bands play on the main stage when we ran into them, so Jin got to meet his Uncle Sonny and Auntie Michelle for the first time.

Turns out I just missed Sonny’s Dad and his other sister Paula who was also a great friend from back home. Gotta love being Polynesian. I feel at home with my people even this far from home.

It was such a great day out! We ate shave ice, got some really cute t-shirts for Jin and his first ever aloha shirt, isn’t it cute?

And these are huge on him right now but I couldn't resist getting him these two as well, even though next year's Aloha Festival will probably come and go before he even fits into them.

 

The red one is a little Maori warrior doing his pukana face. As soon as Jin is old enough to learn, I'm gonna teach him how to pukana. ;)

We also watched just a little bit of the dancing, but we weren't nearly as involved as we were last year. I miss that, but I'll get back on it next year. Been a little busy lately! Here’s are a couple of throwback photos of me dancing last year with Kilali’s Polynesian Revue.
This is the connection that landed me the gig dancing at two resorts in Florida last summer. I had a blast and I’m glad I got to dance again before having babies…even though I found out when I got there that I was actually pregnant! I’m four month pregnant in this photo…

Not bad, huh? I actually look more pregnant now than in this pic, and I’ve already had the baby! Ugh, time to start dancing again. ;) And it doesn't hurt to have a nice tan, so come on summer!

I LOVE this festival, and it comes around just often enough to keep us from getting too homesick. Hope you had a great weekend as well. Aloha and Alofa!

Jin is Two Months Old!

I can't believe our little Jin hit the two month mark yesterday, because it really did fly by. What's even harder to believe, however, was seeing how much bigger he is than in his 1 month photos. I'm not sure I like how quickly this is all happening!

Here's a decent side by side comparison:
And in both shoots, he sneezed and fell over. Like Woo said, Sock Monkey 2, Jin 0...
Here's a few more of my favorites (with his diaper hanging out - oops, my fault):

His face in this one cracks me up.

Back to Work!

I’ve been back at work for two weeks now (since Wednesday, February 22nd) and it’s proving to be just as difficult as I worried it might be, as is evidenced by the fact that I have not blogged since then. To all working, breastfeeding mothers worldwide: I commend you. I have no idea how you ladies do it. I mean, I’m doing it, but I’m just barely doing it, ya know? And to my MOM – my hats off to you. I don’t know how you did it alone. I’m exhausted!

On the other hand, I am liking having a real schedule. I’m a creature of habit and I’ve really come to know that about myself in these last couple of weeks. It’s nice to have a definite deadline for when you’ve got to crawl out of bed and actually wash your face and get out of your pj’s. I thought I was better than that but the jig’s up, I’m not. :p

Also, Woo has been a Godsend! I’m not a good sleeper at all, takes me half an hour minimum to fall asleep even when I’m exhausted, so he helps with Jin even on my shift. And I don’t react well to a lack of sleep. I’m taking gross things like headaches and canker sores. Ugh.

Anyhoo, yesterday in the middle of my work day, Woo texted me this photo with this caption:

“Halfway through building our fort, he passed out, before the second wall went up.”

Cracked me up to no end and had me smiling for the rest of the day. And yes, that's my hello kitty blanket under him. I know. Like one of my coworkers said, I'm so fired as a mom.

This is why we do it, ladies. This is what makes the canker sores worth enduring, isn’t it? Now who can’t smile about that?