Get to know us

Aloha kakoū!

Welcome to our family blog! We are a family of three from the Bay Area, CA documenting everything from the mundane to the monumental.

We recently moved to the island of O‘ahu in January of 2021. Our philosophy is memories over materials & we always welcome a new family adventure. Nurturing relationships, faith, and quality time together are priorities in our halē.

It's our hope that you might find some encouragement or even just relatability through the experiences we share!

Meet the ‘Ohana

Nick

Nick has been a cook/chef in his family catering business since he was a teen, and became a co-owner in his adult years. If you've ever been to a Renaissance fair or the Dickens Festival in California, you might've had his famous fish & chips.

He also owned a poké food truck in Solano County for several years called Raw Kine. The pandemic put a damper on his industry, but his resilience, renowned work ethic, and broad range of skills has set him on an exciting, purposeful, hopeful new course! Stay tuned...

Beyond work, Nick is an outdoorsman at heart. He loves to fish, hunt, play paintball, golf, watch rugby, race/drift, and the list goes on. Seeing Kai take interest in these things just melts his dad heart & he loves teaching him what he knows. He is the most loving, hardworking, and present father and husband and a jack of all trades.

Obviously, Nick is also a major foodie and his #1 hobby is EATING OUT! He is also a connoisseur of beer and liquor, so always expect him to show up at an event with something fun or fancy. He was born on the Big Island of Hawai‘i but raised in Vallejo, CA. This is why O‘ahu was the perfect balance, there is city life, endless amounts of good restaurants & he can still live out his island country boy dreams.

Keila

Keila here!👋 If it isn't obvious enough already, I'm the main writer/photographer behind this new blog and our social media. Pre-marriage life, I went to cosmetology school and started my beauty career at MAC Cosmetics as a freelancer, and moved on to Sephora as a makeup artist and beauty class instructor.

Nick & I got married on November 1, 2015 and had Kai on October 30, 2016. After becoming a mom, all I wanted to do was be home with my baby! I became self-employed so I could make my own schedule, offering lash extension services part-time in a salon and shortly after I also launched a home-based health and wellness business. Due to the pandemic, I stopped lashing but am blessed to be able to continue working from home and going to school online while caring for my Kai Kai.

I'm a major clean and organizational freak so living with two boys keeps me pretty busy. Aside from home and work duties, I enjoy almost any creative outlet! Pinterest is my BFF, so anything you can DIY is my jam. I love curating digital content and taking photos of the beauty that surrounds us everywhere we go. I'm usually reading a personal development book or listening to 90's music on volume 10, if Kai hasn't objected and asked Alexa to change it to the Blue's Clues and You soundtrack.

On a normal day you'll find me bare-faced with a mom bun and glasses on, but I'm still just as interested in the beauty realm as I've always been. Though, I've progressed from just luxury, trendy, artsy products to clean, ethical, and eco-friendly products. My makeup style has become more minimalistic versus my colorful/dramatic MUA days and it was initially because as a new mom, I had so much more to focus on than getting ready. I eventually learned to feel confident in whatever I was comfortable in, dolled up or not, and I hope all moms get there too!

Malakai aka Kai

Kai is the ultimate adventure boy. He began walking at only 9 months old, and it's been a wild ride ever since! He is like his daddy in many ways, he loves fishing, swimming, body boarding, playing with animals, collecting shells/rocks/pinecones/etc., racing, drifting, and riding his scooter.

As much as he loves the outdoors, rough play, and being independent, he is also a sweet, sensitive homebody. If you ask him what he wants to do for the day, his answer is often, "just stay home!". His family and friends are precious to him and he is extremely affectionate, at least with his mama (major mama's boy vibes). Usually without being asked, he tries to help out around the house in any way. We've got that house-training on lock (not really though😅).

Because of the state's cut-off date (July 15), he won't be starting kindergarten until the 2022-2023 school year, but he is actively learning at home. He enjoys "practicing letters" aka playing learning games on his iPad. Reading is one of his favorite hobbies and he is frequently bringing home new library hauls. As of now, he is less than 50 books away from completing the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten program!

We want to hear from you!

Mahalo for taking the time to get to know more about us. We can't wait to share more and get connected with all of you! Where are you reading from? Do you have any O'ahu excursions to recommend to us? What are some topics you'd like us to cover?Let us know in the comments!

Mālama pono!

take good care