Mia's 1st dance recital

Calling it a recital is a bit of a stretch, it was more like the parents and families were invited to watch the last class. How did Mia do? You can judge for yourself...

Performance anxiety...

At least she's WITH the other girls...

Okay, now she's warming up...

End of class bow and thank you (they were really just excited to be jumping on that mat).

More mug shots

Well, Mia and Wai Wai couldn't be the only ones with mug shots...

Donut buddies

Gung Gung took these two to a donut shop this morning. Here they are enjoying their donut holes and being just plain silly.

Gung Gung's in town...

...so that brings the whole gang together. Uncle Randy took these shots and some of them are quite hilarious!

The boys being silly and the girls being sweet.

Uncle Jason comes up with the most creative games to keep the kids occupied (and quiet!). He got them to make letters...they got all the way up to "D".

Jason also makes them do some crazy things to make the adults roll on the ground laughing! (We don't know what the paper says, it was just the closest thing Jason could grab.)

Okay, here's the real Mia.

The witching hour....kids going crazy on each other.

And not to forget the lil' ones, here's cute Kailey drinking soup.

And Susan carrying baby Justin.

So, there ya go, a regular evening in the Chan household.

More pool time

Along with using the noodle, Mia learned to blow bubbles and dunk her head in the water.

Fashionista in the pool...

Bubbles in action and singing in the pool...

A local favorite!

You can take the girl outta the village, but you can't take the village outta the girl...we love our saimin!

Making eating interesting...

Maui Ocean Center

The Maui Ocean Center was smaller than I expected, but it was really well laid out and the exhibits were amazing. The jellyfish exhibit and the water tunnel were personal favorites.

Mia liked the touch pool.

After walking through the first exhibit, we went outside and I noticed something strange about Mia's shorts...of course her dad dressed her...do you see the problem?

Maui Sugar Cane Train

Long day...after the photo shoot, after the beach and after the pool, we headed to Lahaina to catch the Sugar Cane Train (a real steam engine train) and have dinner at Pacific'O. The train was a nice break to playing in the water and towards the last half of the ride, the view was amazing. And, what kid doesn't like trains?


Mia is pretty good at keeping herself entertained. Spencer caught her talking to herself while on the train. I think she is pretending to feed the birds.

On the beach in Lahaina after dinner.

Mia lovin' the pool

Mia took to the pool immediately. It helped that the pool had an area that was 3ft. deep. She felt very comfortable walking in the pool and getting around on the noodle. She even starting being the "shark" to "get" daddy. She's come a long way!


Look at those lil' legs kicking!

Photo shoot on Kamaole III Beach

Suz surprised us with a nice gift...a photo session on the beach for Mia! Mike Sidney is the photograher and we got some great photos. Here's a few of the 180 pictures he took!

Here's his website so you can see more of his work...if you're ever on Maui, call him up! http://www.mspmaui.com/

Grand Wailea Beach

We had to check out the Grand Wailea resort...definitely amazing. We ate in the Bistro and had a beautiful view. Afterwards, we headed to the beach. By now, we've been on Maui four days and Mia hates the beach...lucky us. But it was pretty dark when we hit the GW beach, so she couldn't see how far the water went out and the waves were not crashing too loudy, so Spencer made-up a game to walk up to the water and run back before the tide came in. It worked and sure enough, after the first tide "got" her, she couldn't get enough of splashing in the water. She stripped down to her undies and loved every minute...good job, Spencer!

Scenic potty training!?!

One of the major things that happened on this trip is that Mia got potty trained! It's true what people say...when a kid is ready, they'll let you know. As most mother's would agree, no sane person would try to potty train their kid while on-the-go during a vacation. But, of course, my Mia decided the day before we left that she was ready. So I ran to the Right Start for a portable potty and after a couple of accidents, she is now potty trained. She did great and hopefully she won't mind this embarassing shot...

Susan met up with us for dinner at Sansei. It was at Tina's recommendation from a friend that we go there and it was the best meal we had on Maui. It was the only place we ate at twice, but beware, whether it's 5pm or 9pm, there is always a line to get in!

Breaking in the condo

We got to the condo and relaxed a bit. We instantly felt at home when Mia got up to boogie to some music. I think we BOTH need dance lessons!

Maui Botanical Gardens

Since it was a work day, we left Suz and Scot to their business and headed to the Botanical Garden near their home. It was beautiful...like most of Maui.


Mia creates her own excitement wherever she goes:



We went back to the house to say goodbye to Suz, Scot and Tia before heading to the condo in Kihei. Tia is a sweet dog who won Mia over, hopefully this is the beginning of her overcoming her fear of dogs.

Mia and Maui

We arrived on Maui today and the flight went very well for having a 2 1/2 year old in tow. So many great things about this trip that I will try to highlight in the blog entries. But one definite great thing for Mia was being with both her mom and dad for 8 days...she loved it!

Our first day in Maui was all about catching up with Scot & Suz. Mia had a blast with this exercise ball and she loves playing with Auntie Suz...who wouldn't?

Mama Mia

Mia has been very loving towards her baby penguin. She has three "babies", but the dolls just don't do it for her...she loves this penguin!

Mia breaking in a new dance outfit with her own unique singing and dancing style.

Stickers & Tennis

Virginia was making dinner, so she happily let the girls quietly do their new favorite activity. Can you guess what it is?

After dinner, Wai Wai showed us his tennis skills: