I’m sure a Santa visit doesn’t warrant an entire dedicated blog post, but I’ve been planning the kids’ outfits for a year so I’m going to write one anyway 🙂
So, last year we decided to forego a Santa visit. Jack was a rather volatile 2 year old, Caroline was a tricky newborn, and I knew it would just be a disaster. Then one day last December I was walking around our local mall and I saw a cute pair of siblings in matching red, green and white Hawaiian outfits, on their way to Santa. As soon as I saw them I knew that we had to do something similar in 2018. These outfits have seriously been in the works for that long. Last month I decided it was finally time to track them down since I still hadn’t found what I’d been looking for, and store after store left me disappointed. I seriously visited 10 stores all over the island and couldn’t find anything that could even remotely work. Then, on December 9th I ran the Honolulu Marathon, which ends in Kapiolani Park (the end of Waikiki). We stayed in a hotel about a mile and a half away, so after running 26.2 miles I then had to walk 1.5 miles more to get back to our hotel room and car. As I was walking Kalakaua Avenue (Waikiki’s main road), I decided I’d run into a couple more shops since I had my credit card with me. The first two shops were more of the same, but at the shop that was my very last hope (Hawaii Beachwear and Fashion) I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. The perfect red, green and white floral sibling aloha outfits, and Caroline’s dress even had an adorable Peter Pan collar. I got the pair for $23 total and ecstatically hobbled back to the hotel to finally take a shower and rest.
The kids are both wearing Sun-San sandals, my favorite leather sandals because they’re really cute but can also get wet and are extremely durable. I have a pair of the Salt-Water sandals (the adult version of Sun-Sans) that I wear all the time, Jack is wearing the (unisex) Surfer sandals (which will be handed down to Caroline), and Caroline is wearing the Sweetheart sandals, which have small cutout hearts on them.
Our Santa visit went about as predicted. Jack threw himself on the floor screaming the second he saw Santa, and then Caroline lost her mind when we tried to sit her in Santa’s lap. They were not having it. Tom and I finally decided to get in the picture because it wasn’t going to happen any other way. Jack had been bribed with cupcakes so he managed to whip out a smile just in the (St.) Nick of time, but poor Caroline could not regain her composure. She cried for the next 20 minutes off and on! While the photos didn’t turn out exactly how I’d been planning for over a year, the story is pretty comical and it’ll be funny to pull this photo out year after year.
I’m wearing the striped paper bag shorts I shared in my recent H&M try-on session, and paired them with my favorite style of sweater from J.Crew Factory (here is the current version and here is an option with more sizes available). I threw on my red Jack Rogers (the boating kind…way cheaper ($49) and more comfortable than the traditional kind!) and button pearl Lisi Lerch earrings and felt festive and pulled together. I used my favorite basket backpack which is such a versatile bag to carry, especially if you have little kids and traditional basket bags aren’t all that practical. This look is a little more bold than I typically go (and Tom said I looked like a box of popcorn haha) but it was a fun outfit to wear, especially at this time of the year!
The Santa we saw was at Ka Makana Ali’i, which is a mall in Kapolei. For you local folks, this Santa always wears aloha shirts so he’s a pretty unique one to go to! After photos we went for an early dinner at Limón Rotisserie, which is a delicious Peruvian restaurant at the mall. I always get the quarter white chicken with yuca fries and green beans, but the civeche is really great too. We ordered the empanadas this time too and Caroline, Tom and I devoured them. After dinner we made our way to Kapolei City Lights, which is at the Kapolei Hale (satellite city hall). There were tons of Christmas trees all decorated and the kids had a fun time running around and looking at all of them. After that we made our way to the Aqueous installation which is set up over in Kapolei Commons. It’s a colorful lighted pathway that you can run around on, and both kids had a blast. Many of the tiles weren’t working but it was still fun. It’s only here until the end of the month so if you’re in the area it’s a fun place to stop by.
The next few days we plan on baking my grandmother’s iced sugar cookie recipe, visiting with some friends who came to visit from NYC, and then we’ll celebrate Christmas with breakfast casserole, mimosas and presents. This will be my very first Christmas away from family but I’m excited to celebrate simply at home with Tom and the kids!
Anyone else have a dramatic Santa visit this year? I’d love to hear your stories!
