Bella celebrated her 2nd birthday in Hawaii, so we decided to make it a tradition. Thanks to frequent flier miles and my sister (Aiyi), the travel agent, we were able to visit the islands again for her 3rd birthday. The title of Bella’s blog is “It’s All About Me, Me, Me!” which seems to be a constant mantra and it is no different when we are on vacation.

Since my sister is a travel agent, she likes to photograph our hotel rooms. The Hilton Prince Kuhio in Honolulu was recently renovated. It is a very nice hotel with breakfast, afternoon pupus (hors d’oeuvres) and 24/7 business center.

We got an oceanview room! It was quite lovely. The weather was a little rainy.

I tried to photograph her during breakfast in her Hello Kitty shirt, but she hates being photographed and said, “Stop it. I’m eating!” Apparently, nobody disturbs Bella while she’s eating.

She wanted to go swimming, even though it was raining. What’s a little lightning strike, right? Well, even after we took swimming lessons this summer, her idea of “swimming” was sitting on the steps.

We’ve been to Hawaii several times, so we don’t hit many tourist spots - usually, we just relax at the pool or the beach. We also have our favorite eateries. However, after lunch at Sam Choy’s, we went to Hilo Hattie’s, the ultimate tourist shopping destination. After receiving our customary shell leis at the entrance, Bella ran by the largest aloha shirt in the world.

“Mommy, look who I found!” It was a Hello Kitty emporium! The saleslady thought she would look cute in the flower headdress. She said it made her head itch. Complain much?

It was wall to wall Hello Kitties and, of course, she had a lovely tan.

Bella loved “swimming,” as she calls it. She occasionally kicked around the pool and blew bubbles, as we learned in her class, but sitting on the steps seemed to be the preferred activity.

She especially loved the “bubble pool” or jacuzzi because all that is expected of one is sitting on the steps.

The Hilton had a beautiful courtyard with a fountain and koi pond.

Bella liked looking at the fish. She carries her own stuff in her backpack - snacks, water and more snacks.

We went to the Ala Moana Shopping Center, which had a great Sanrio store. That Hello Kitty mosaic would look fabulous in our bathroom!

Bella’s in the lobby getting ready to go to Waikiki Beach. The sun finally came out, so she’s got her Hello Kitty cap on and is anxious to hit the ocean.

She liked playing in the sand, which I think is kind of yucky, but I guess you’ve got to let kids be kids.

Someone leaving the beach offered us their air mattress. Whoa! Bella thought it was fun to sit on the “pillow.”

The beach must have been exhausting because she slept right through our sushi dinner.

It’s our last day in Honolulu, so we stopped in the courtyard again to say goodbye to the fish and visit the gazebo.

It was a short inter-island flight to Maui. She was fascinated by the view out the window.

Again, I made Bella drag all of her own stuff around. Her suitcase was full of toys and her backpack contained - you guessed it - snacks. Looks like she’s got her eye on the lei stand.

We stayed at the Royal Lahaina Resort on Kaanapali Beach. The rooms were recently renovated and the public areas were still under construction.

We got another oceanview room. It certainly pays to know someone in the industry! It looks a little windy.

Bella met her friend, Melissa, at the pool. Melissa is just 1 year older than Bella. Perhaps those Chinese gymnasts weren’t underaged afterall, just extremely petite like you-know-who. She got a beach ball and a goodie bag of toys from Miss Geri in the guest relations office. Oh, look! She’s “swimming” again.

It was the day before Halloween, so we encountered a harvest festival at a local church by chance. Days before the election, “Governor Sarah Palin” was face painting in Hawaii. No wonder they lost. What else would adorn Bella’s face but Hello Kitty?

She won a goldfish at one of the carnival games. OK, let’s not squeeze it to death. She certainly enjoyed all the candy she collected, but only 1 per day!

The hotel offered hula lessons that are usually held on the beach. But the weather forced us indoors. We learned the Hukilau. Bella wants to sing it now, but I have forgotten all the words! I guess we will just have to go back.

Our hula teacher was Miss Harmony, who has little girls of her own. Mahalo, Miss Harmony! We’ll try to be better students and remember what we learned.

These are cheap shots I took of Bella with her Hello Kitty toys during her 3 hour nap. That’s her HK etch-a-sketch and HK compact (free with McD’s happy meal!)

Good thing she took a long nap because there was a big night ahead. We went trick-or-treating at the Cannery Mall. It’s her first time because last year, she pee-pee’d in her costume and we ran out of time and didn’t go out. She was a U.C. Berkeley (Cal) cheerleader. Go, Bears! There were a lot of Bears fans in Maui.

There was a Longs Drugs at the mall. Bella was estatic at the site of the Hello Kitty aisle. She didn’t know where to start!

She got new slippahs for a mere $5! She wanted to try her hand at photography. Hmmm…not bad…she got it all in the frame.

This one is another story. That’s Bella’s portrait of Mommy.

We returned to the room one day and discovered that her goldfish, Fishy, had had babies! Aiyi helped her separate them and discarded the dead ones. There were quite a few babies - 30 perhaps, but some of them were not fully developed.

Bella photographed Fishy and her family. The babies were so tiny, they were barely visible.

The Royal Lahaina had a private beach. Where is everyone? I guess it’s not a busy tourist season, because it’s always raining!

I would normally NEVER be photographed in swimwear, but we make such sacrifices for our children! Well, at least I’m far enough away so that I don’t appear that huge. Bella is having a great time and that is most important because remember - it’s all about her, her, her!

Look at her little feet! Little feet make little prints!

Who’s that waving at me? Is it my Baby Girl? “Hi, Mommy!”

The Kaanapali hillside.

We were on the windy side of the island.

Back at the beach, Bella was having a great old time in the yucky sand again. Well, at least it’s cleaner there than here at home.

It was time to leave for the Wailea side, where Aiyi got us another hotel deal. We couldn’t take Fishy’s family, so we left them with Miss Geri, who promised to take good care of them. Mahalo, Miss Geri!

The Banyan Tree was on the way out of town. It was planted in 1873 and marked the 50th anniversary of Christian missionary work in Lahaina.

Hawaiian singer, Raiatea, was signing autographs at Walmart. We bought one of her CD’s.

In Wailea, Bella threw pennies in the fountain. Perhaps she was wishing for a return trip or is that only true in Rome?

Our room at the Maui Prince Hotel in Makena only had a partial ocean view. What’s with that?

We sneaked a picture in this canoe until we were kicked off!

“Mommy, look at the boat!”

“Mommy, I want to ride the boat!”

“Bye-bye, boat!”

The Maui Prince had a courtyard with a fountain and koi pond. Do I sense a theme here?

The hotel gave Aiyi some fish food.

Bella literally started a feeding frenzy!

We spent our last night watching the sunset on the beach.

While waiting for her order at Cheeseburger Island Style, Bella decided she needed to wear her sunglasses…at night…indoors. Well, as long she keeps occupied with her “Hello Kitty in Hawaii” purse and calculator…

Boo-hoo! We were packing to go home and I snapped this photo of our matching shoes.

“Hellooo, we’re leaving now! May I get some help with my bags please?” Bella will never lose her luggage, identified with her Hello Kitty luggage tag - besides, it’s carry-on. You can’t trust just anyone with her toys.

Aloha, Hawaii, until next year…A hui hou - till we meet again…

SanrioTown’s Travel the World Event(http://blog.hellokitty.com/traveltheworld)

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 4th, 2008 at 3:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.