I never would have thought that this could happen. My breastpump broke today. The suction just isn't working properly, even though the pump is still pumping. I opened up the faceplate area (where the tubes go into) and saw that there is a whole in the diaphram area which I assume is the problem.
I'll have to call Medela to see what can be done about this. Just hoping that they can repair it, rather than having to buy a new pump. I guess timing-wise, it's not so bad since I am leaning towards quitting pumping anyways. Julia will be 1 years old in a few weeks.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Hawaii Day 10 - Last Day, Richard's Birthday and Kailua Beach (video)
Today is the final day in Hawaii; we'll be boarding our plane back to Vancouver tonight. Because our flight is at 9pm, we have an entire day to enjoy. The owner of the house rental was nice enough to allow us to check out as late as we wanted. To take advantage of this, we wanted to head to a beach close by and then come back to shower, clean up, do laundry and pack up.
We decided to go to Kailua beach, a 5-minute drive from the rental house. To our surprise, this beach was the nicest one we went to on our entire vacation. This beach had a parking lot, nice sandy beach area, not crowded, washrooms and showers and natural shade so you didn't need to bring an umbrella.
Both Julia and Jasmine loved being in the water and playing in the sand. Jasmine almost fell over from a strong wave pushing her! In this video, you can hear Jasmine reciting a poem from one of her favorite books: Out and About.
Note - it is Richard's birthday today so I had to be extra nice to him (not that I'm not nice to him usually). We will celebrate his birthday again once we get back to Vancouver.
Our flight home was a red-eye flight leaving at 9pm and arriving at 5am. When we boarded the plane, we were happy to find out that the middle seat between Richard and me was left empty (so now we have more space). Julia did fall asleep on the plane ride home and we were able to put her down in the empty seat when there was no turbulence (when there is turbulence, I had to carry her in my arms). The below pic was taken at 4am:
We decided to go to Kailua beach, a 5-minute drive from the rental house. To our surprise, this beach was the nicest one we went to on our entire vacation. This beach had a parking lot, nice sandy beach area, not crowded, washrooms and showers and natural shade so you didn't need to bring an umbrella.
Both Julia and Jasmine loved being in the water and playing in the sand. Jasmine almost fell over from a strong wave pushing her! In this video, you can hear Jasmine reciting a poem from one of her favorite books: Out and About.
Note - it is Richard's birthday today so I had to be extra nice to him (not that I'm not nice to him usually). We will celebrate his birthday again once we get back to Vancouver.
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Our flight home was a red-eye flight leaving at 9pm and arriving at 5am. When we boarded the plane, we were happy to find out that the middle seat between Richard and me was left empty (so now we have more space). Julia did fall asleep on the plane ride home and we were able to put her down in the empty seat when there was no turbulence (when there is turbulence, I had to carry her in my arms). The below pic was taken at 4am:
Monday, January 24, 2011
Hawaii Day 9 - North Shore beaches and Dole Plantation
Today is the last full day we have in Hawaii (we leave back to Vancouver tomorrow). As a final day, I packed in alot of things to see, a drive into the North shore to see all the different beaaches, a nut factory and a pinapply plant.
On our drive through the North Shore, we passed by the Chinaman's hat (a rock that looks like a China man's hat, thus the name). We also passed by the Macadamia nut factory (well known company that packages those yummy nuts with chocolate. We bought several boxes home with us to share with family.
Chinaman's Hat, Macadamia Nut factory
While driving, I noticed there were several small shops located on the side of the road called shrimp trucks. And most of them had line ups beside them so I got curious and wanted to try some. We stopped at Romy's shrimp truck and bought 1 pound of fresh prawns for $16. The box contained 7 large prawns steamed fresh with garlic and butter. Yummmm. It was a nice treat although there wasn't enough to go around. Next time we'll have to try some of the other shrimps/prawn dishes.
I've heard alot about the North shore beaches, that if we had time we should definitely check them out. Most of the beaches were for surfers, due to the strong waves. These were the beaches we passed by:
Sunset beach - lots of waves with sandy beach, good for surfing
Pupukea beach - lots of rocks, had a circular structure near the shallow end so it is good for snorkeling
Laniakea beach - also called turtle beach (we drove by and didn't stop)
Waimea beach - calmer flat beach.
Jasmine had been looking forward to playing in the sand and water today, and was finally able to take a dip at Waimea beach.
The last stop of the day was the Dole Pinapple Plantation Tour. We got there just in time to get onto the last tour, via a 20 minute train ride. It was pretty neat. The kids loved being on the train and looking at the plants. It was pretty informative (although I don't remember much of it now).
On our drive through the North Shore, we passed by the Chinaman's hat (a rock that looks like a China man's hat, thus the name). We also passed by the Macadamia nut factory (well known company that packages those yummy nuts with chocolate. We bought several boxes home with us to share with family.
Chinaman's Hat, Macadamia Nut factory
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While driving, I noticed there were several small shops located on the side of the road called shrimp trucks. And most of them had line ups beside them so I got curious and wanted to try some. We stopped at Romy's shrimp truck and bought 1 pound of fresh prawns for $16. The box contained 7 large prawns steamed fresh with garlic and butter. Yummmm. It was a nice treat although there wasn't enough to go around. Next time we'll have to try some of the other shrimps/prawn dishes.
I've heard alot about the North shore beaches, that if we had time we should definitely check them out. Most of the beaches were for surfers, due to the strong waves. These were the beaches we passed by:
Sunset beach - lots of waves with sandy beach, good for surfing
Pupukea beach - lots of rocks, had a circular structure near the shallow end so it is good for snorkeling
Laniakea beach - also called turtle beach (we drove by and didn't stop)
Waimea beach - calmer flat beach.
Jasmine had been looking forward to playing in the sand and water today, and was finally able to take a dip at Waimea beach.
The last stop of the day was the Dole Pinapple Plantation Tour. We got there just in time to get onto the last tour, via a 20 minute train ride. It was pretty neat. The kids loved being on the train and looking at the plants. It was pretty informative (although I don't remember much of it now).
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Sunday, January 23, 2011
Hawaii Day 8 - Waikele Outlet Shopping
Today we decided to do some shopping at the Waikele premium outlets (similar to the outlets just over the border) since we were leaving in a few days. We wanted to buy some gifts for family/friends and pick up some deals if any. Richard and I ended up buying a few pieces of clothing but the inlaws didn't buy much. Nothing much to mention here.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Hawaii Day 7 - Byodo-In-Temple and Scuba Diving (video)
Today was a scheduled relax day, with not alot of things planned. (Actually, Richard and I planned to do scuba diving in the afternoon so we were leaving the kids with the grandparents). Anyways, in the morning, we went to visit a Japanese temple located in the Valley of the Temples (it's actually hidden inside a cemetary).
The Byodo-In Temple is a replica of a 900-year-old Buddhist place of worship at Uji in Kyoto prefecture of Japan. Inside the Byodo-In Temple is a nine-foot (3 m) Lotus Buddha, a wooden Buddha. It is covered in gold and lacquer. Outside is a three-ton, brass peace bell. Surrounding the temple are large koi ponds that cover a total of two acres). There were tons of fish in the ponds surrounding the temple and they even sold fish food for the little kids to feed the fish. Jasmine loved it.
In the afternoon, Richard and I enjoyed a few hours alone to take a scuba diving excursion. This was my first time scuba diving so I was kinda nervous (Richard took a course previously so he already knew everything). I had to learn how to use the equipment in 5 minutes (including how to clear out the goggles underwater and how to re-capture my regulator in case I lose it). Sounds easy enough but it's not as easy as it seems when you are 40 ft in the water.
The diving company took us on 2 dives (there were 6 people on our tour). The first dive, we went down to 30 ft below the water. Unfortunately, I had trouble adjusting my ear pressure (one side hurt every time we went deeper into the water) so I didn't get to enjoy it much. It took about 15 minutes for me to learn how to pop my ears correctly and when I finally did, everything was A-ok but we had to go back up for more air already. On the second dive, we went down to 45 ft under the water and we saw turtles, tropical fish, an eagle ray and even a small shark! Yikes. (we were told that the sharks usually do their hunting at night so during the day, they are mostly sleepy). Below is a video taken of us by the diving company (Oahu Diving):
The Byodo-In Temple is a replica of a 900-year-old Buddhist place of worship at Uji in Kyoto prefecture of Japan. Inside the Byodo-In Temple is a nine-foot (3 m) Lotus Buddha, a wooden Buddha. It is covered in gold and lacquer. Outside is a three-ton, brass peace bell. Surrounding the temple are large koi ponds that cover a total of two acres). There were tons of fish in the ponds surrounding the temple and they even sold fish food for the little kids to feed the fish. Jasmine loved it.
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In the afternoon, Richard and I enjoyed a few hours alone to take a scuba diving excursion. This was my first time scuba diving so I was kinda nervous (Richard took a course previously so he already knew everything). I had to learn how to use the equipment in 5 minutes (including how to clear out the goggles underwater and how to re-capture my regulator in case I lose it). Sounds easy enough but it's not as easy as it seems when you are 40 ft in the water.
The diving company took us on 2 dives (there were 6 people on our tour). The first dive, we went down to 30 ft below the water. Unfortunately, I had trouble adjusting my ear pressure (one side hurt every time we went deeper into the water) so I didn't get to enjoy it much. It took about 15 minutes for me to learn how to pop my ears correctly and when I finally did, everything was A-ok but we had to go back up for more air already. On the second dive, we went down to 45 ft under the water and we saw turtles, tropical fish, an eagle ray and even a small shark! Yikes. (we were told that the sharks usually do their hunting at night so during the day, they are mostly sleepy). Below is a video taken of us by the diving company (Oahu Diving):
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Friday, January 21, 2011
Hawaii Day 6 - Pali Lookout, Iolani Palace and Waikiki Beach
Today was kind of a "rest" day, where we still wanted to go out but did not want to do anything intensive. So we went to see the Pali lookout, Iolani Palace and checked out Waikiki beach.
The Pali lookout is located off the Pali highway above some tunnels on the mountain side where you can see a panoramic view of Kaneohe town. It was super windy that day so we were there maybe 15 minutes. Besides the view, there isn't much there to see. The view was gorgeous although not worth the $3 parking fee.
Next stop was Iolani Palace, the official residence of King Kalākaua and Queen Lili'uokalani, who were the last in a long line of ruling Hawaiian royalty. Richard really wanted to see this place because of the show called Hawaii FIVE-O TV series. Actually, he was interested in seeing the Court that was located across the street from Iolani Palace instead. So we got a pic of both of these places.
After Iolani Palace, it was already past 1pm so we wanted to go eat somewhere. It was hot. Because we were in Waikiki and we didn't know our way around, we wanted to eat somewhere that had air conditioning. We drove around and around and around... then decided to get out of Waikiki downtown (because every restaurant we drove to, there was no parking!). We ended up eating at Jack-in-the-Box close to the zoo. There was free parking, air conditioning, real washrooms...phewf.
After eating, we challenged ourselves to find parking as close to Waikiki beach as possible. We drove for about 15 minutes and actually found free parking 2 blocks away from Waikiki beach. We were lucky.
When we got to Waikiki beach, my first thought was "wow, it is super crowded here". The water seemed a bit dirty too (probably from everyone going into the water). Jasmine and Julia both had a grand time though (anything with sand and water can make them happy). Personally, as a beach, this isn't my first choice, considering how Hanauma Bay looked like. But I guess if we had a hotel righ next to door, walking down to the beach would be such easy access.
The Pali lookout is located off the Pali highway above some tunnels on the mountain side where you can see a panoramic view of Kaneohe town. It was super windy that day so we were there maybe 15 minutes. Besides the view, there isn't much there to see. The view was gorgeous although not worth the $3 parking fee.
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Next stop was Iolani Palace, the official residence of King Kalākaua and Queen Lili'uokalani, who were the last in a long line of ruling Hawaiian royalty. Richard really wanted to see this place because of the show called Hawaii FIVE-O TV series. Actually, he was interested in seeing the Court that was located across the street from Iolani Palace instead. So we got a pic of both of these places.
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After Iolani Palace, it was already past 1pm so we wanted to go eat somewhere. It was hot. Because we were in Waikiki and we didn't know our way around, we wanted to eat somewhere that had air conditioning. We drove around and around and around... then decided to get out of Waikiki downtown (because every restaurant we drove to, there was no parking!). We ended up eating at Jack-in-the-Box close to the zoo. There was free parking, air conditioning, real washrooms...phewf.
After eating, we challenged ourselves to find parking as close to Waikiki beach as possible. We drove for about 15 minutes and actually found free parking 2 blocks away from Waikiki beach. We were lucky.
When we got to Waikiki beach, my first thought was "wow, it is super crowded here". The water seemed a bit dirty too (probably from everyone going into the water). Jasmine and Julia both had a grand time though (anything with sand and water can make them happy). Personally, as a beach, this isn't my first choice, considering how Hanauma Bay looked like. But I guess if we had a hotel righ next to door, walking down to the beach would be such easy access.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Hawaii Day 5 - Hanauma Bay and Halona Blowhole (video)
Today, we visited Hanauma Bay, one of the most popular spots for snorkeling in Hawaii. This bay was formed within a volcanic cone on the southeast coast of Oahu island.
This bay is now a national park (you have to pay a fee to get in) and you have to watch a short film (protecting marine life) before you go to the beach. After the film, you either walk down a steep path or take a tram down to the beach (costs $0.75/person). Because of the kids and the 2 elders in our group, we took the tram down to save us the hassle. Well worth it!
Richard and I set up our cool sun tent, put all our gear in the tent, left the kiddies with the grandparents and we took off into the water. There is a coral reef right next to the shore, making snorkeling awesome. There were lots of fish and we even saw a huge turtle (we didn't want to scare it away so we kept our distance).
With the hot sun shining on us, we stayed there for about 3 hours only. I was so tired (the sun sucks up so much energy). Or maybe it's all the swimming and snorkeling that used up all the energy. Pretty much everyone was tired and hungry so we were happy to go home.
While driving back home, we passed by the Halona Blowhole so we stopped to check it out. A blowhole is a lava tube under the water and when strong waves crashes into it, the pressure shoots water straight into the air. (it looks like a whale blowing water out). I wasn't able to get a pic of it.
This bay is now a national park (you have to pay a fee to get in) and you have to watch a short film (protecting marine life) before you go to the beach. After the film, you either walk down a steep path or take a tram down to the beach (costs $0.75/person). Because of the kids and the 2 elders in our group, we took the tram down to save us the hassle. Well worth it!
Richard and I set up our cool sun tent, put all our gear in the tent, left the kiddies with the grandparents and we took off into the water. There is a coral reef right next to the shore, making snorkeling awesome. There were lots of fish and we even saw a huge turtle (we didn't want to scare it away so we kept our distance).
With the hot sun shining on us, we stayed there for about 3 hours only. I was so tired (the sun sucks up so much energy). Or maybe it's all the swimming and snorkeling that used up all the energy. Pretty much everyone was tired and hungry so we were happy to go home.
While driving back home, we passed by the Halona Blowhole so we stopped to check it out. A blowhole is a lava tube under the water and when strong waves crashes into it, the pressure shoots water straight into the air. (it looks like a whale blowing water out). I wasn't able to get a pic of it.
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Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Hawaii Day 4 - Polynesian Cultural Center
Today we visited the Polynesian Cultural Centre, located in the Northern side of the island. This is a theme park concentrating on 8 cultural villages where performers demonstrate different arts and crafts, starting a fire, climbing trees, dance, drums and singing. We knew that we wanted to go to this when planning for this trip so we bought Entertainment books which has a $45 coupon. We bought the pass that includes admission, dinner buffet and the Ha Breath show. With the $45 discount, it worked out to $55/person (kids were free). Pretty good deal.
It was pretty interesting. We spent all day there and watched the Ha Breath show. I was so prepared for this (had the milk and baby food all packed) but I actually forgot the bottle nipples at the house. How could I be so forgetful? Because it was a 45 minute drive to get there, I really didn't want to drive home to the nipple. We tried to buy a different type of bottle to see if Julia would drink her milk. NOPE. Julia won't budge. She kept smiling and putting the bottle into her mouth, chewing on the nipple but won't drink anything. Sigh, so I ate dinner really, really fast, then made my way back to the house. I actually made it back to watch the Ha Breath show (missed like 10 minutes of it). As soon as we gave Julia her regular nipple and bottle, she drank the entire thing in 5 minutes! She was so hungry... sorry baby!
It was pretty interesting. We spent all day there and watched the Ha Breath show. I was so prepared for this (had the milk and baby food all packed) but I actually forgot the bottle nipples at the house. How could I be so forgetful? Because it was a 45 minute drive to get there, I really didn't want to drive home to the nipple. We tried to buy a different type of bottle to see if Julia would drink her milk. NOPE. Julia won't budge. She kept smiling and putting the bottle into her mouth, chewing on the nipple but won't drink anything. Sigh, so I ate dinner really, really fast, then made my way back to the house. I actually made it back to watch the Ha Breath show (missed like 10 minutes of it). As soon as we gave Julia her regular nipple and bottle, she drank the entire thing in 5 minutes! She was so hungry... sorry baby!
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Hawaii Day 3 - Pearl Harbour and Chinatown (video)
Today, we visited Pearl Harbour USS Arizona Memorial and then Chinatown afterwards.
Pearl Harbour was the American naval base that was attacked by Japan during WWII on Dec. 7, 1941. The battleship USS Arizona sunk during the air strike. A total of 1103 men out of 1400 crew loss their lives. The ship was declared a national shrine in 1962.
We arrived there around 11am and didn't think that we'd get in. I read reviews on this attraction and was told that on busy days, tickets get sold out by 10am! But we were lucky; we waited only 45 minutes for the next tour. The tour includes a 20 minute video and then a boat ride to the memorial area. It was really interesting to find out the history on this part of the war and see the video clips of it.
After Pearl Harbour, we went to Chinatown for a walk. It wasn't very big and not much to see. What we really wanted to do was buy some vegetables and fruit. I didn't realize how expensive healthy food was in Hawaii, because everything has to be shipped here. Fast food, on the other hand, was very cheap. You can get a burger at McDonalds for $1. We bought some veggies and lots of papaya. Yummmm, so good and cheap. Wished that I could bring some back with me.
Pearl Harbour was the American naval base that was attacked by Japan during WWII on Dec. 7, 1941. The battleship USS Arizona sunk during the air strike. A total of 1103 men out of 1400 crew loss their lives. The ship was declared a national shrine in 1962.
We arrived there around 11am and didn't think that we'd get in. I read reviews on this attraction and was told that on busy days, tickets get sold out by 10am! But we were lucky; we waited only 45 minutes for the next tour. The tour includes a 20 minute video and then a boat ride to the memorial area. It was really interesting to find out the history on this part of the war and see the video clips of it.
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After Pearl Harbour, we went to Chinatown for a walk. It wasn't very big and not much to see. What we really wanted to do was buy some vegetables and fruit. I didn't realize how expensive healthy food was in Hawaii, because everything has to be shipped here. Fast food, on the other hand, was very cheap. You can get a burger at McDonalds for $1. We bought some veggies and lots of papaya. Yummmm, so good and cheap. Wished that I could bring some back with me.
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11 Months - Julia (video)
Julia turns 11 months today... she is growing up so quick! She is definitely enjoying her time in Hawaii, always crawling and climbing around. She loves the beach, sticking her feet into the warm water and digging her toes into the sand. And yup, you guessed it... she ate sand too!
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Monday, January 17, 2011
Hawaii Day 2 - Diamond Head Crater and Honolulu Zoo (video)
Today is our first real day in Hawaii (Day 1 was when we arrived into Hawaii). There is a time zone difference of 2 hours. So when it is 8am in Hawaii, it is 10am in Vancouver. Because of slight jetlag, everyone woke up pretty early. I have schedule "excursions" for each and every day we are on vacation and today, we will be visiting Diamond Head Crater and the Honolulu zoo.
Diamond Head Crater - this used to be a volcano; the last time it exploded was 13 million years ago? It is now a national park. In order to get to top of the crater and see the view, one must hike 1.5km on a winding trail. It really is a trail with dirt, gravel and rocks so families must carry their little ones (can't bring stroller). That was a challenge but we were determined to see the view at the top.
I carried Julia with my Baby Bjorn and Richard/Lo Ye carried Jasmine whenever she was tired. It wasn't an easy walk. There were steep stairs and tunnels. It took about 45 minutes to hike up to the top and a little less than that coming down. Luckily it was a semi-cloudy day and not scorching hot. Once you were at the top, the view of Honolulu and Waikiki made the entire hike worth it. So beautiful.
The next stop was the Honolulu Zoo. The zoo is located right in the middle of Waikiki (weird) and they had their own parking lot. Too bad the parking lot was all full with like another 20 cars waiting to get in. So we looked for street parking found a free spot about 2 blocks away. Very lucky.
I really wasn't expecting much but was surprised to see there was pretty much every animal you can think of at that zoo (zebra, rhino, hippo, elephant, monkey, tiger, giraffe, turtle, birds, fish). It was actually pretty hard to get pictures of the animals (they were moving all the time) and add on the moving Jasmine/Julia so we ended up taking lots of videos and not too many pictures. Jasmine loved it there, running from one area to the next. She tried to chase down a peacock!
Diamond Head Crater - this used to be a volcano; the last time it exploded was 13 million years ago? It is now a national park. In order to get to top of the crater and see the view, one must hike 1.5km on a winding trail. It really is a trail with dirt, gravel and rocks so families must carry their little ones (can't bring stroller). That was a challenge but we were determined to see the view at the top.
I carried Julia with my Baby Bjorn and Richard/Lo Ye carried Jasmine whenever she was tired. It wasn't an easy walk. There were steep stairs and tunnels. It took about 45 minutes to hike up to the top and a little less than that coming down. Luckily it was a semi-cloudy day and not scorching hot. Once you were at the top, the view of Honolulu and Waikiki made the entire hike worth it. So beautiful.
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The next stop was the Honolulu Zoo. The zoo is located right in the middle of Waikiki (weird) and they had their own parking lot. Too bad the parking lot was all full with like another 20 cars waiting to get in. So we looked for street parking found a free spot about 2 blocks away. Very lucky.
I really wasn't expecting much but was surprised to see there was pretty much every animal you can think of at that zoo (zebra, rhino, hippo, elephant, monkey, tiger, giraffe, turtle, birds, fish). It was actually pretty hard to get pictures of the animals (they were moving all the time) and add on the moving Jasmine/Julia so we ended up taking lots of videos and not too many pictures. Jasmine loved it there, running from one area to the next. She tried to chase down a peacock!
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