"THIS IS POLYNESIA"

This was the theme for May Day for the Elementary school my Boys attend. The Islands featured in this show were FIJI, TONGA, TAHITI, SAMOA, COOK ISLAND, AOTEAROA(NEW ZEALANDS), and HAWAII. It was a truly magical and amazing event.

Samoan Warriors

Nate is FIERCE!

The Kindergartener's were AWESOME

Maori Warrior

Strong and Proud

Isaac is a very sick warrior but continued with the show.

Nate showing off the only tattoo, he'll ever have.

Check out the EARRING. He couldn't wait to take it off because he said it HURT.

We truly enjoyed watching the boys perform. It's an experience of a lifetime that we will never forget.

WHAT WAS I THINKING?!

May Day is also known as Lei Day in Hawaii and it is a BIG DEAL! Most of the schools, no all of them celebrate it by putting a cultural performance. The school come up with a theme and each grade would perform a dancing number on it decided culture. Then the school perform this production for the children's parents and extended families. More details about this production in future post.

My ordeal started of my impromptu visited to Nathan's Kindergarten class. When I arrived the children were practicing their dance for May Day and the teacher wanted me to watch it from the beginning. This class is performing a dance from Samoa. It was very endearing to watch them perform for me. Afterward, the teacher asked me if I had a sew machine and can I sew. I told her that I did have a machine and I can sew, curtains. The next thing I know I have a pile of fabric thrust in my arms and was told good, you'll be in charge of the costumes of this class. WHAT?! was my reaction but she told me no one had step forward to make the costumes and May Day was in two weeks. I was shown a drawing on the board like this:

and was told this is what we want. Also, could I make an example for my daughter and bring in a couple of days. Oh, did you see that the girl's dresses have to have two slits on each side. Okay, can anyone can say FREAKED OUT, because I agree to do it. What the heck was I thinking. Here I am, a PUERTO RICAN trying to sew a native Samoan dress. I don't really know how to sew and I'm was trying to study for my finals for my classes also. Nevertheless, after two nights of no sleep because I was beside myself with worry about making these costumes, I made the example and was prepared to tell the teacher, to find someone else because I just couldn't do this. So, I brought this in:I just had to have Mya model the dress, so you can see how it looks. Isn't she cute!

The teacher and the dance instructor loved it. So, I told them, what was my decision and was told " No, you can do this" and I did! I learned so much about doing the correct measurements to make the dresses, doing seams and those DARNED SLITS. I would look at any clothing I had, that had slits and study how it was made. Then I was able to duplicate it to the dresses. As for the lava lavas( which is wrap a round) for the boy, I was able to cut up all the fabric and the straps. Then the Kindergarten teacher's Aid volunteered to sew the seams. Then I was able to get a friend to sew the top seam and attach the straps. I made 9 girl dresses and handed out the 8 lava lava out and our goal was to have it done by Monday the 28th. After many early morning and late nights, we MADE IT!

Sweet, the finish product

I was so happy and relieved to be done. But NOOOOOOOOOOO, I had to stop and offer my help for Isaac's 2nd grade costumes. I am LOSING IT! I would say a resounding YES! So, I had to stray paint a stencil on the boys lava lava.Most of the Polynesians men and boys wear lava lavas

Insert the elastics in the top seams and sew on the tassels.

Blake told me, NO MORE, enough is enough. But I had already volunteered for tomorrow to help drive the Kindergarten to and from the Polynesian Cultural Center because that's where our school is performing their May Day program. Also on Friday, I'm to help the Kindergarten change in their costumes and put on makeup.

I have decided I have forgotten how to say NO!, because before I never had a problem with using that word before. With all this volunteering for May Day, my life has be hectic and overwhelming. I have learned to appreciate the challenge and learn that I am more capable to do more than I realize. I been truly BLESSED!

Stay tune for the next post of MAY DAY!

A Love of Music

After months of long practices and rehearsals. We were able to see Isaac performing with the Jubilate Choir with the other keiki of our small town.

He was pretty excited about performing but once he's on the stage, he's STAGE SHY!
As we watch him, we just chuckle because it's so obvious but according to him, he was great.

Come and watch this cute video of the keiki performing.

Fun In The Sun!

Getting ready for my run on the beach at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday morning when I decided it would be fun to take the kids with me and explore the beach. I also thought it would be nice to let Blake sleep in.
We had such an AWESOME experience. We explored the beach for 3 hours!

So, come and join us and see what we did and found in the slide below:

WE DID IT!

We woke up early to participate in this event and we had a SWEATY and FUN time.

It was a 2 miles trek with at least 500 members of our Stake participating. It was an AWESOME way to start out our Stake Conference weekend.

We were shown a map of the path to take and had people to guide us in the right direction. There were a couple of stations you had to participate in and were given different items to prove you had been there. I especially enjoyed the station that you had to do FIVE KICKS before continuing the run. As you near the end of the run you can hear the the music BLASTING encouraging you to finish.




I placed 2nd in our ward to finish the race, Isaac placed 4th, Nathan placed 10th, Blake and Mya placed 11th and 12th.

It was a great way to start a day with FAMILY and FRIENDS.

SPRING BREAK!

We had many fun adventures on our two weeks break.
These are some of the things we did;

• Visited the Honolulu Zoo with friends
• Went Whale Watching
• Snorkel at Shark Cove
• Visited the Hawaii Temple Visitor Center
  
• Went Boogie Boarding
• Went to an Neighborhood Egg Hunt
• Night Games( hide and seek in the dark and search for each others with flash lights)
• Went to the Beach.
• Also drove mom CRAZY with their arguing

By the end of the break, I couldn't wait for school to start AGAIN!

Good Recipes?

So, I have been Tagged by Becca in the search for better ideas for DINNER! (click on her name and it would take you to her blog)

Well, if you speak to Blake, he would testify that I'm not the best of cook but I am getting better.
I do agree at time I'm at lost for "What to have for Dinner"!?!? but when I have those moments we have Breakfast for Dinner, like homemade Waffle, Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon. (Usually made by my hubby!)I'm a little spoiled because my husband cooks all the meals on the weekends and I just do the week's dinners.

But Usually we have;

• Chicken Enchiladas

• Pork and Onion-Roasted Pototoes

• Chicken Tortilla Casserole

• Teriyaki or BBQ Meat with Rice

• Pasta either with Poultry, Meat, Sausage or Seafood with red or white sauce.

• Roast Pork or Steak and ARROZ CON GANDULES with is Yellow Rice with Green Pigeon Peas ( When I'm feeling Spanish)

• Puerto Rican Fried Meat Pies (Empanadas)Not very often!

• Cooking Bananas with Fried Portuguese Sausage with saute onions

So, we live in Hawaii and Spam is very BIG here!

• BBQ Spam and Pineapple and Rice

As for vegetable a ton Tomatoes because we belong to a Tomatoes Coop. The recipes above varies for week to week.

Becca I hope this help. I also look up recipes on the web.
I thought this tag was fun, so I decide to tag LIZ.
(click on her name and it would take you to her blog)

So how the tag works is... you pretty much just do the same thing that I did. Blog your usual dinner meals for a week. I am hoping that you will be inspire to do and try something new! If you see something yummy that you want to try, just post a comment on the persons blog asking for the recipe.

WHALE WATCHING

In March Humpback whales migrates through the islands of Hawaii to give birth to their calf. So, one Sunday afternoon we decide to see it we can see it at the Point and we DID! It was truly an AMAZING experience. There were a couple of whales near to the Point and we could see them clearly without the binoculars. In one instant a whale jumped out of the water and we were in AWE! We didn't take any photos of them because we recorded with our camcorder but we had a MISHAP and ended up deleting everything we had recorded. DARN! But I was able to find a photo on the internet to illustrated what we saw. Here are so photos of us enjoying our whale watching.

Happy EASTER!

We went on a EGG HUNT and what did we find, but THOUSANDS of EGGS for us to FIND.
We went to a Egg Hunt the day before at the Neighbor's and had a BLAST. The reason for the Halloween pumpkin is because Mya's cute Bunny Easter basket was way too small and we wanted to collect more eggs.

HAMUANA BAY

What an AWESOME time we had snorkeling at Hamuana Bay. It's truly an beautiful place. Just standing on the shore and you can see the fish. Not just the little ones but the big ones too. There were some equipment failure when Tiffany and Leslie went snorkeling together but it was because they would bump in to each other and laugh causing leakage in their masks. This was Nathan first time truly snorkeling and had a BLAST. All he could talk about was the fish he saw especially the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a the unofficial state fish of Hawaii.

NOT SLEEPY!

After a long day of playing at the ocean and missing her nap, Mya just couldn't keep her eyes open at dinner that night. The funny part is she said "not sleepy". After this semi nap at the dinner table she caught her second wind.

Visiting Hawaii

My Sister Tiffany came to visit us in Hawaii for two weeks and we had a BLAST! We got to be tourist and explore the island. We crammed many great adventures through our her stay.

*Jogged on the beach.
*Watched the sunrises on the beach.
*Hiked to Mahuka Heia State Monument, Monoa Falls, and Waimea Valley Falls.
*Night Crab Hunting on the beach.
*Visited Haleiwa and had shaved ice and ice cream at MATSUMOTO.
*Snorkeled on Temple Beach and Hanauma Bay.
*Visited the PPC and watched the Night Show.
*Went to Hula Practice.(She didn’t try to hula, what a shame!)
*Went to Laie Point and saw the water sprays from the whales.
*Took her to school with me for music class.
*Saw a Monk Seal beached at Turtle Beach. (Forgot our cameras!)
*Played and Swam on the BEACH, BEACH and BEACH!
* Went Kayaking on the ocean. (Two amateurs trying to navigate the ocean, SCARY!)

Here are some photos of her stay.

The best part is, I got to spend time with my sister and reconnect.

Night Crab Hunting!

What a simple and fun thing to do with your family especially for Family Home Evening.

We took my sister Tiffany to experience this fun activity. We search the shores with our flashlights to see who can get the biggest crabs. We discovered the crabs were only calm in the bucket if it was dark but flash your flashlight on them and you'll see them trying to jump out. Which is kinda freaky! We had a blast chasing those creatures and trying to win. Best part of all after we are done we return them to the ocean.

Sunrise in Paradise!