Rebekah's {Finally!!} 5th Birthday

Today is {finally} Rebekah's actual 5th birthday, and we headed to the waterpark for an awesome day!! The girls were so excited because they had seen on tv when Bert the Conqueror came to this park, and they couldn't wait to conquer the Shaka themselves!

Again, this is one more post where I had ton of photos I would have loved to include. I had a hard time deciding what to leave out...

Rebekah is getting pretty confident in the water. She can almost swim on her own, but not quite. She keeps reaching out for my hand. If only she realized how much easier it is to swim when you have use of both little flippers.



The girls had a blast all.day.long!



And on every.single.slide!



As Rebekah and I stood at the top of this slide watching Emma go down, I thought Rebekah was going to change her mind about going herself...



But she didn't, and while she preferred the slides that weren't quite so fast, she did this one at least a five or six times.



Ka'iulani splashing on the same slide.



Dave took the two bigger girls on many of the rides that Kamele was still too little to try. They had tons of fun, even the biggest kid of all enjoyed himself :-)












I love Rebekah's offer to catch Alyssa on this slide (from approximately 20 feet away from the bottom of the slide).












One of Alyssa's favorite slides.



And one of Emma's favorites. I didn't get to watch too many of their slides as they were actually happening so when I saw all the photos it made me happy to see them so happy and excited as they splashed in the water.






Me and Emma on the infamous Shaka. It was fun in a scare you silly kind of way, and yes, I felt like we were as high as that airplane you see next to us in the photo. I had told both of the girls I would go with them, since I was afraid that the two of them together would not be enough weight in the raft (plus I think Emma needed an adult with her anyway) and all I could think when I got up to the top with Alyssa was great, no matter how badly this goes, I have to do it at least one more time! It wasn't too bad, but twice was definitely enough for me.

Thank you so much to Granddaddy for bringing the girls here on Rebekah's birthday. They didn't think we were going to have a chance to visit the waterpark and it was the perfect and funnest way to spend the baby's birthday!!



When we got back from the waterpark, Aunty Ku'ulei had decorated the house so beautifully and the kids sang and ate cake together. Thank you very much, Ku'u!



And a little birthday note for Rebekah to read one day:

Dear Rebekah,
You finally made it ~ and can now officially say you are 5 years old! Hard for me to believe, but long awaited on your part, so I celebrate with you, even if it makes me sad to say that my baby is 5.

When I told you today that you are 5, you immediately asked when you will be 6, then later in the day asked if you could be 12. Hold on! You'll get there before you know it, and long before I'm ready. You make me want to grab the hands of the clock and make time stand still more than anyone in the world. Maybe because you're the baby everything seems so final with you.

There are so many things I love about you, but I'll try to list just a few:

I love your sweet-natured spirit. So carefree, always skipping along, singing a quiet song to yourself.

I love the crazy mismatched outfits you put together...you're either very fashion forward or you inherited someone's {who shall remain nameless :-)} propensity to put multiple patterns together and call it perfect.

I love how you watch your sisters when you are learning something new. And the little pout that usually comes when you try to convince them to just do it for you.

I love your jokes and I love how you tell stories. You have a very silly sense of humor, you are always saying the funniest things and you laugh really hard at yourself.

I love your tiny voice and your frequent use of the word "ginormous."

I love how you think you are so big, and have everything figured out, yet you still like to be babied. You're not too big to ask to be held until you fall asleep and you almost always make one of your sisters buckle your belt the car.

I love how when you don't know I'm watching you play at recess, you skip and run around happily in dizzy little circles until you can't walk straight anymore. And you chase kids who are much bigger than you...you're ambitious!

I love your big brown eyes that clearly show every emotion you're feeling.

I love {at least most of the time} how nothing is ever quite the same with you. Something that is super easy one day can be a huge ordeal the next ~ you definitely have a mind of your own, and it keeps me on my toes!

Thank you for being so sweet, gentle, kind and funny. We love you more than words can say!!

Happy 5th Birthday!! Finally ~ 5 is here at last, but I insist that we aren't celebrating your 12th birthday any time soon!

A Birthday Tea Party Fit For A Princess, or make that 5 Princesses!!

I always feel like time passes way too quickly in terms of how quickly the girls are growing up. I still feel like we have a baby when I think of Rebekah, and I know that's how I'll always feel about her. That being said, she has waited a really really long time {at least in "kid time"} to turn five years old!

As soon as Rebekah started school last year, her friends started celebrating their 5th birthdays, and since she had just turned 4 two weeks before the school year began, she had a long wait ahead of her before she was going to celebrate another birthday. Before this year, Chuck E. Cheese was the biggest birthday request we have ever gotten out of her, and now suddenly having a birthday meant a lot more than that. She didn't ask for any specific gifts, she seemingly just wanted us to acknowledge that it was finally her birthday and she wanted to be able to say that she is 5. By the time her birthday actually started getting close I had answered the am I 5 yet? question approximately 1,143 times and I knew her birthday would be really special, but before arriving in Hawaii, I didn't know how we were going to celebrate. Thankfully, someone other than me had that covered :-)

Today, two days before her actual birthday and the day after returning to Oahu from the Big Island, Dave's mom planned the most perfect and cutest Princess Tea Party for all 5 of the girls (and for handsome little Kekane too, had he wanted to be a part of it...he saw all the princess attire and accessories and high tailed it out of there! He is so precious and just completely a rough and tumble little boy, even though they had knight stuff to wear he knew he did not want to be near all the princess glitter.) Anyway, here are a gazillion pictures from the sweetest 5th Birthday party ever, and all the little girls who LOVED it so much....

When we arrived at the party, the first thing the girls had to do was pick an outfit from the dress up clothes. Our niece Ka'anela, wasted no time at all! I think we had been there a total of 3 minutes when she found this very fairy pink princess dress. She was dressed and ready long before the other girls. She looked so cute and her no nonsense approach to the task at hand was inspiring to the rest of the girls who looked at dress after dress after dress on the rack.



After choosing a dress, the girls had manicures and make-up. They were so excited, and it was fun to watch them presented with a palate of colors and see what they would choose!






Our beautiful niece, Ki'inani in the mirror as her nails were being painted.



Eye shadow for my sweet Emma.



Kahiwalani's hair had never looked so good. Anyone who has ever so much as brushed it, knows what crazy hair the poor child has. I've tried to replicate this look to no avail.



Ka'iulani loving her manicure.



The entire place was designed to look like a doll house. Every single decoration in each room seemed well planned out. It was nearly impossible to click a photo in which the girls weren't perfectly framed in tiny details of the dollhouse decor.



A small detail that I wanted to be sure to document before I forgot all about it was Kamele's choice of nail polish color. The other girls picked the typical shades of pink and purple, and she would usually be right on board with the standard princess colors, but today she went with a tangerine color. She was so proud of it, and it actually complemented the gold in her dress very well!



Such a grown up little princess getting her hair done...and the nail polish can be seen here too.



Completely oblivious to all the giddy princess excitement of his sisters and cousins, Kekane played video games with Uncle A-O {our nephew's sweet pronunciation of his name, Ka'eo}.



Dressed head to toe as perfect princesses, the girls were ready for a Fashion Show Extraordinaire...I loved how each of the girls picked a dress completely fitting to their personality, and their facial expressions in the photos below, as the fashion show is being explained to them are just so funny...



A fashion show? Well, we think we might like the idea of a fashion show...



Ki'inani: I am getting so excited about this fashion show!
Emma: I am completely confused.
Rebekah: I have no idea what you just said. So I'll just stand here looking cute for as long as I can get away with that.



Alyssa: Okay, if you say so.
Ki'inani: Wait, now I'm confused.
Emma: I think I like this fashion show idea.
Rebekah: I don't know why I'm suddenly upset, but I'm on the verge of my pout face.



Ka'anela: I hope this will be more fun than running around the house yelling, "C'mon Kamele." (I must hear her sweet voice say that about 50 times everyday)
Alyssa: What? This old thing? It's just something I found in the back of my closet.
Ki'inani and Emma: These are our most polite smiles!



The girls in unison: We are all feeling a little sheepish and shy right now. Who goes first?



Everyone beginning to have a change of heart.



Everyone together again: Yep, we definitely can't wait to get this fashion show on the road!!



Kamele: Who me? You called me? Okay, I'll go! Let me just muster up enough sass to put my hands on my hips.



Kamele: I am rockin' this runway {and the whole birthday girl thing}!

Okay, that's enough of my speculation on their sweet inner dialogue. I just heard a sigh of relief from all 4 people who actually read it :-)



After the fashion show, the girls were brought to their Tea Party. It was the most princess-like occassion in every way. The girls were served delicious finger foods on the prettiest china. They absolutely loved everything!!



Mable, Mable, elbows on the table.



Happy princess laughter.



Serious princess conversation over tea. These two girls together...let me tell you ~ they sure are something! Two peas in a pod.



The happiest birthday princess.



Kamele was given this bell, and whenever any of the girls ran out of something, she had to ring the bell and the party hosts would bring in a cart full of goodies. The girls thought the service was amazing!



The party hosts listening to her request..."Your wish is our command, Sweet Princess." Fortunately, the bell only works there in the dollhouse tea room.



Also listening to Kamele's requests of the hosts, and marveling at the response.



Time for cake!!



My wonderful sister in law, Ku'ulei and sweet Kekane enjoying his cupcake.



Emma playing with Kekane at the end of the party. I had to get some pics of him in here too, even if he didn't so much want to dress up with the girls :-)



A hug from Kamele thanking him for sharing in her princess celebration.



It was the sweetest birthday party ever ~ thank you so much to Grandmommy for everything that went into the perfect day!! It was without a doubt something she will always remember and exactly the celebration she could have only dreamed up for her long awaited birthday!