Odenton Visitor's Bureau

We have been blessed to have had so many visitors come out to see us in the time that we have been in Maryland! Our niece, Destiny, flew down from Michigan to stay with us for a little less than a week. It was so nice having her here!

For me, it was a chance to really get to spend time with Destiny and get to know her better. Whenever we have gone home to Michigan, it's usually been for a big holiday and while it's always a blast, there are so many people to mingle with that one-on-one time is a rarity! It was nice to be able to just hang out and talk story. We spent time going on a few walks, playing with Uriah, cooking (and eating!), getting our nails done, and going to the gym! It was awesome girl time, and Uriah did really well with her! We also were able to go down to the Baltimore Harbor where Destiny tried her FIRST raw oyster! She was a good sport, but it was her first and last oyster. (they were super delicious!)

We are already looking forward to her next visit :)

Our NEXT visitor was TAHANI! 

She came out for a few days because Shani was coming here for training in Virginia. Tahani came all the way from San Diego to spend Sunday with Shani, then drove to Odenton to spend some quality time with me until Wednesday night! It was SUCH a pleasant surprise; she on a whim had decided this just a few days before! I was so glad that our schedules were open and worked out! Now, what did we do? A lot of RELAXING!!! Since Tahani has moved to San Diego, her visits home have always been so busy, as she has so many people to see and things to do in such a short amount of time. We typically only got one dinner group date together, so it had been so long since we really got a chance to just BE and enjoy one another's company. We took it back  to the old days, and sat around and talked, ate, and watched some TV together. It was SUCH a good time, and was very renewing for our friendship. Don't get me wrong - we did take time out of our much ado about nothing schedules to enjoy some grinds!

Shani's training in Virginia happened to finish on her birthday, but there were no flights out to Hawaii that day. Rob and I drove out to Shani (it was maybe an hour half drive - not bad at all!) because:

1. Who wants to spend their birthday alone, in a random state?!
and 
2. IT'S SHANI!!!!! In close proximity!!

We picked her up and got to eat dinner together. The food was SO YUMMY! we had lobster poutine fries, oysters, and crab cakes! It was good food, and good company - just how I like it.

Rob's fave flavor - superman!
Now Uriah's favorite flavor, too. LOL

We are so fortunate to have friends and family willing to come visit us! We definitely appreciate it, and feel the love! 
  

Braddah Kimo and Aunty Normal take MD/DC!

In the beginning of May, Mom and Dad were able to come up for a few days to visit. It was pretty hard to coordinate their work/church/grandma/grandpa schedules, so they were only able to visit for 5 days (HNL-NY, where Hawaiian flies, is a 10 hour direct flight, then they had to drive about 4 hours to get to us in MD). Even still, we were grateful that they were able to come up, and had such a nice time! Mom and Dad got the only two standby seats on the flight to NY! This trip obviously was so meant to happen!

One thing that was enjoyable while my parents were here was that since they were both out of state, they had no other obligations or responsibilities to run off to. My parents are some of the most hard-working and busy people I know! It was nice to force them to unplug from all of that and really just spend some quality time with us :) It was also good for Uriah to get some one-on-one time with Grandma and Grandpa, particularly since it'd been a few months since they last saw him. 

We were able to maximize our time by spending our time sightseeing in D.C., organizing the house, and of course EATING! (It would not be a Kimokeo trip without the eating part!) I'm actually amazed at how much we were able to accomplish in the short amount of time! 

The first day was a half day due to the travel time, so we relaxed, went on a little walk to show Mom and Dad where we live, and ate dinner at Olive Garden. 

The second day, we went down to D.C. and were able to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial site, as well as the Holocaust Museum. The grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. site were beautiful, and peaceful. There was a wall that went through some of his most famous quote through the years, given at various sermons or gatherings. He was a brilliant man who did great things for humanity. His words still ring true and profound today.

The walk to the Holocaust museum was long, but so worth it. Parking in D.C. is CRAZY, and we lucked out and were able to secure a free parking spot along a curb (when Kelli and I went, it was $26.00 for one structure that we we were there for a few hours) so we just decided to walk. The Holocaust Museum was very sobering, as expected. I didn't quite get to explore the museum as much as I would like, as Uriah was starting to get fussy at that point. Even so, I was still able to see a lot, and feel the somberness of the space. There were two holocaust survivors who were scheduled to speak to a later group, and Mom and Dad were able to meet them. The one woman on the left of the photo really took to Uriah, and explained that she  has great-grandchildren, but that they live very far away. It was clear that she missed them. 

The following day, we had a productive day at home. Mom helped clear out our spare room that we had essentially been using as storage. We went from a place that had much more storage space in Hawaii, so downsizing has been hard for us! Our biggest problem is that we just never can seem to find the time to set aside for that type of project because:

1. we have an active, dictator/tyrannical baby
2. Who WANTS to do that stuff in free time?

She cleared out and made so much room and organized it so that our guests can actually sleep in there now! My mom was like a major home organization fairy that graced every room with her homemaking pixie dust. The bathroom got organized, the kitchen got organized, she forced me to go through bags of baby clothes boxes, and DVDs, and other types of terrible ghastly things. I AM SO GLAD SHE DID! While we still do have some work to do, the work is much less daunting and not overwhelming. She was such a huge help! 

We did another D.C. day the following day. D.C. has so much to offer in terms of sightseeing. Since my parents were on a limited time schedule, they chose what they would most like to see. We went to the Lincoln Memorial, as well as the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The museum was so interesting, and HUGE! It's the kind of place you could literally spend all day in - if you didn't have a little baby that gets bored after awhile. We were able to see everything we wanted to, though, and had a very successful day!

Uriah's first time on the grass. He was not a fan.

It wouldn't be a Kimokeo trip without some major GRINDS! We took Mom and Dad to Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse (Dad's favorite - the honey butter and dinner rolls are amazing!), Rita's Frozen Custard, and the grand finale - Fat Boy's Crab Shack! We got the hot crab dip (our favorite) and we all shared a dozen medium Maryland Blue Crabs. It was so fun! It was messy, and we were somewhat clumsy, but it was amazing!!

Dozen Maryland Blue Crabs

Broiled Crab Cakes

Despite all that grinding, me and Dad were able to get in a workout together! My Planet Fitness membership allows me to bring any guest that I want, so me, Dad and Rob all got a workout in! It was really fun!

It was so great having Mom and Dad here! It's crazy how home doesn't have to be the physical house you grew up in, or even the same state; we can find "home" in the familiar. Mom and Dad brought "home" to me :) Looking forward to going HOME home next month for REAL, though!

KJP in da HOUSE! Another visitor = fun, fun, fun!

Things have been happily busy for us here, as we have had a steady stream of company since April! Kellijoy Perriton made a spontaneous decision to visit since she had a few days off! (She works as a flight attendant) She came down for three days, and we were able to do two days in D.C., as well as to enjoy some YUMMY crab, of course! We went to the white house, Lincoln Memorial, WWII memorial, and Vietnam memorial.  Day 2 we went to the Air and Space Museum, and the museum of natural history. We had a blast! (photos detailing blast below)

I was so excited to see Kelli; Kelli and I were on the same softball team in 4th grade, and then ran into each other all the time in high school at church functions since we were both in the Kaneohe stake. I haven't seen Kelli in years, so it was so nice to be able to meet up again, just talk story, enjoy ono food, and explore!

yes.
That is a bee that flew that close to my nose, unbeNOSEst to me. lol

 

 

pilot control center

 

 

 

 

I don't remember why we were doing this,
but it was really funny at the time. National high five day..? lol

 
 

 

  

I thought this would be fun. I was wrong.