Student Led Peace & Kindness Rally

 

Olivia became aware of the nation-wide student walk-outs that were planned for March 14 (one month after the shooting at a high school in Parkland FL).

She brought home this letter from the Hawai'i State DOE that encouraged schools to provide a safe on-campus place for students to gather, and expressed interest in students ideas about safety, security, and culture on their campus.

Olivia asked me if her school was participating. I urged her to ask her student council representative.

She did, and they encouraged her to make a proposal and called a special meeting. She did some research, and proposed a few ideas and the student council voted to take it to admin & admin approved! (with some input, of course!)

 

 

Here is student council with Olivia and her principal.

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As this is an elementary school, they choose not to participate in the #enough events that specifically addressed Gun Violence Prevention, but choose to focus instead on a message of inclusion and kindness. Where you just can't go wrong.

 

Here is a copy of her speech.

I am so proud of my daughter. I am so proud of her school admin for their support and facilitation.

Grammy and Grampy Visit Feb 2018

 

We were thrilled to have Grammy & Grampy King come visit us in Hawai'i in February.

 

 

Jim and Leslie Anne travelled cross-country via Amtrak then flew to Honolulu from San Francisco. When they got here they joined in all our daily activities and got familiar with our current laid back lifestyle and funky local neighborhood.

 

We spent a long charming, informative and entertaining day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, the weather was a little rainy, but no sunburns! We learned customs, greetings, dances, contests and games of the islands of Samoa, Tahiti, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Tonga, Fiji, Hawai'i. We enjoyed a Luau with stories, music and dancing. And a marvelous performance of their original show,  “Hā: Breath of Life” Which we all LOVED!

 

 

 

 

On Chinese New Year we visited the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor and in addition to the shot-up hanger windows, and lots and lots of really cool aircraft, we got to see the Lion Dance used to blessed the hangars and protect them from evil spirits with loud drums and offerings.

 

 

 

We all went to Camila's and Jeff's first soccer practice and game and had a great time there.

 

We spent hours on the lanai, reading, talking, snacking, and practicing ukulele.

 



 

And we even got a chance to take KaiMana out on the water!

 

 

cruising on the south shore of O'ahu, Diamond Head in the background

(look! no socks!)

 



 

 

We got to sail out of the harbor with the University of Hawai'i sailors on the Hikianalia !  We sailed down in front of the house to wave at Mom and the girls. What a beautiful day.  We even saw a whale on the way back into harbor (sadly no pictures)!

 

 

 

 

January 2018

What we've been up to these past few weeks:

Enjoying beautiful sunrises,

There is music in the house again! 

The girls have been attending ukulele lessons and practicing regularly. 

We sometimes practice for the tween fun that's around the corner.

 But are still zoomy and fun-loving most of the time!

 (( Glimpses of past zoominess here and here. ))

A little afternoon trip to the North Shore

(hoping to see a resting seal like Ethan did!)

We experienced that memorable missile scare, 

and then celebrated being Still Alive! with our neighbors, on the water and on the lanai. 

Emily and Bella got out hiking with friends. 

So Good!

Camila's birthday

Camila's fun birthday party at the park on Sunday afternoon,was a great day with friends, snacks, pinata, and LOTS of play!  

Camila did a very good job planning her party (I managed to pull off her plan pretty well.) She mentioned to me a few days later that planning the party was more work than she expected.  :)  But really, it was a great day, with nice people.  The pinata was beautiful and fun; and a whole new experience for a couple of the kids - how cool. That Jeff made it for that part was really just so great. You could probably guess that he was wearing his work clothes.  He's been spending ridiculous hours at the plant these days. 

And then Tuesday, on her actual birthday, she got *another* birthday dress that she wore with her school t-shirt over. And we had another ice-cream cake and fruit salad for dinner, after ukulele lessons.  I thought it was pretty special that there was a big beautiful full moon on her birthday, again.

Monarch Butterflies in O'ahu

When the girls first started at Ewa Beach Elementary in February 216, I would drive around our newly adopted neighborhood after dropping them off. One morning, I saw a cloud of butterflies swirling around this big flowering bush, the leaves of which had been decimated. And now every January and February we make a point to include a regular visits to this bush.

In early January on one of our visits Olivia asked if she could bring one of the caterpillars home.  Um, sure.
Super cute side note:
She named it "Deva" after our dear friend and our most memorable Monarch Adventure

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

After about 5 days in captivity, it started acting weird. haha

Jan 11 - 4:45 pm

OK. this next part was really weird. I'll share the science journal entry:  6:30a "hanging cat started moving + during about 5 minutes the black cat skin split and x emerged bright green  - no legs?" 

ew. 

Jan 12 9:30 am

After another day or so it solidified into this astoundingly beautiful jewel-like chrysalis.

Jan 13

And then Saturday morning January 20 - an emergence!

The previous days we had started seeing wing and body details through the thinning chrysalis 

As soon as I noticed it flapping: pumping & drying its wings. I told Olivia and we rushed it back to the bush we took it from, before it damaged its gorgeous wings in the fish tank. 

And Deva joined the rest of her "flock" around the Crown Flower Bush.

aka: Giant Milkweed, aka: Pua Kalaunu