Pregnancy Weeks 15 and 16: Hawaiian Vacation Part Two

Dear Nakasone-Chan,

I wanted to share with you some of the pictures of your first trip to Hawaii. Since you weren't technically able to see what was going on around you, here are some of our favorite moments.

Your dad loves to body board. Even though he didn't get a chance to brave the rough waters of Makapu'u (Oahu's premier body boarding beach), he did catch a few smaller waves at Waimanalo Bay Beach or Sherwood:









Here I am at Sherwood scooping out the Portuguese man o’war. I wanted to make sure there weren't many of them in the ocean in fear of getting stung and potentially hurting you. Unfortunately, there were quite a few floating around that day, so I didn't get a chance to swim:












One of our favorite things to do in Hawaii is EAT! Jon dearly misses the local cuisine, so we always have to stuff ourselves silly when we visit the islands. I read that you begin to taste food I'm eating around 16 weeks, so I hope you also got a nice sampling of the local food.

Here's Dad eating a Portuguese Malasada from Leonards. Malasada's are deep fried dough about the size of an egg covered in granulated sugar:

On a drive around Oahu with your grandparents, we stopped at the Dole Plantation where your Dad indulged in Chili Hotdog:

Another stop on our drive around Oahu was at Giovanni's shrimp truck in Kahuku where we enjoyed their world's famous garlic shrimp:

Here's your dad again before he devours a bowl of saimin. Saimin is a noodle soup dish developed in and unique to Hawaii. It is a soup dish of soft wheat egg noodles served in hot dashi (stock from Japanese fish or shrimp). Sorry Nakasone-Chan, I'm not a fan of Saimin, so you didn't get a chance to try the soup. Maybe another time when you're older.

Here's your Aunt Val and Dad at the Banyan Bar enjoying a Chi Chi:

During the trip, we had a major craving for nachos. I finally satisfied our cravings at the Banyan Bar:

Yay, we found a Yogurtland in Hawaii! Yogurtland is our favorite treat at home:

Here's your dad standing in front of a bus your grandfather designed. Yep, your grandfather Nakasone is a talented artist and designer. In fact, you can see much of his work all around Oahu, including this tour bus which was everywhere:

Last but not least, we got a chance to visit a Japanese Buddhist temple. It's tradition to light incense as you pray. Even though we aren't Buddhist, we thought it would be nice to light incense for you:

Love,

Mommy