Lani's 1st "Owl" Birthday Party

Lani had a great time celebrating her birthday in Hawaii and at home with her friends.  She had such a blast she's been trying to become a night 'owl' (hoot hoot!).  We hope to celebrate many more birthdays with you and your little ones. 

Emma was the belle of the party; the perfect hostess and the loving big sis. 

Special thanks (and kudos) to:

Dad aka Chef Toguchi -  for the spectacular Hawaiian spread.  We had way too much leftovers and will be stuffed for days

Mom aka The Decorator - for organizing the Hawaii trip and forever being our guiding light on all things fabulous

Pau Pau and Gong Gong aka The Cleanup Crew - making our tiny place spotless before and after the party, teaching the kiddos Chinese, and being our anchor

Mary aka the Party Sidekick - the photographer, setup crew, and everything in-btw.  Thanks for flying out here to be the glue that held everything together

Betty aka the Creative Juice - I heart you!  You are amazing - wouldn't have been able to put the Owl theme vision into reality without you.

Hau`oli Lā Hānau

Lani's 1st Hawaii and Emma's 3rd Hawaii trip a success!  We stayed on Waikiki at the Wynham vacation rentals and the location couldn't be better.  We were walking distance to the beach, restaurants and shops!  Although it was not the most relaxing vacation, it was all worth it to see the smiles and hear the laughter from the kiddos.  

On Lani's actual birthday, we went to Tonkatsu Ginza Bairin which was an authentic tonkatsu restaurant from Tokyo.   The food was truly to die for!  We had brunch celebration at the Orchid restaurant within Halekulani.  The brunch was authentic Hawaiian with variety of poke, crispy whole pig, and two kids of haupia cake.  We joined Tamashiro's Sunday BBQ for family gossips and mingling with cousins.   Then we ended the trip at our favorite Hawaiian restaurant - Side Street Inn - for kim chee fried rice, fried pork chops, fried chicken, and poke.  

Roger and I did escape for a couple of date nights.  One of the places we tried this time was Imanas Tei which was a izakaya that had really fresh sushi.

Mahalo to Mom and Dad for making it all possible!