Several "Furlough" Fridays ago we escaped to Onekahakaha Beach with our sweet little cousins and entertained ourselves with making the girls into mermaids and Elijah in a spidery-looking ocotpus. Furlough Fridays are Hawaii's way of reducing labor costs in our public schools. In other words, the kids don't go to school on Fridays, unless there was a holiday on Monday. As you can imagine there are very mixed opinions about this issue, however, there will be no more Furlough Friday talk since this post is about the beach and other randomness. The lovely ladies who accompianied Elise, Elijah and I are Aunty Jacelyn, Keisha and Ka`anela.
This photo of the kids at Queen Liliuokalani Park ended up on a mousepad as a Christmas gift for their grandparents. I love the vivid colors.
So, Elise has been making up all sorts of definitions for words I didn't think she knew. For instance, tonight out of the blue, before bed she said, "inseparable." I asked her if she knew what that meant and she said, "It means don't play with hexagons." I said, "Huh? What are hexagons then?" She answered, "Hexagons means chickens don't talk or... no fighting allowed." By this time she was giggling hysterically at my expression and was so silly that even when we tried to teach her the correct meaning of the word, she didn't really care. However, when Aaron asked her how many sides a hexagon had she correctly answered (or guessed, I don't know), "Six." What a silly 4-year old I have!
This picture is from when we lived in "SilverSpringMaryland" as Elise affectionately likes to refer our life on the east coast. However, this picture is perfect because Elijah is STILL OBSESSED with this cape our brillant friend, Sarah, made as a favor for her son's b-day party. She sewed the first letter of each kid's name onto the back (Nevermind that this cape was orginally meant for Elise - luckily both of their names start with "E"). He loves PBS's SuperWhy, wearing this cape and making silly superhero poses.
Elijah offered the opening prayer at his party and told Heavenly Father how he went to the Zoo and saw chickens (actually ducks), it was pretty funny. Thanks, Grandpa!! Aaron's dad offered to take Elijah and Elise out all morning to the Zoo and for icecream with our awesome cousins, Koa and Kai, while we set up and finished up making the food.
Elijah’s party was a huge success, much mahalos to party planner extraordinaire, JACE!
My parents are learning so much about our heritage it is really inspiring. We now have a new family tradition. We are trying to make it back to Maui each year in August to celebrate the Okinawan Obon Festival. My parents are involved with the music for the festival - they are learning how to play the sanshin, which is similar to the Japanese shamisen and often likened to a banjo, but it is a traditional Okinawan instrument. 
Here are some of my favorite pictures from when we went to the festival this year. My parents completely spoiled the kids. My dad made it really special for them by setting up a wading pool, tent and surprised them with lights in the tree house. They loved playing in the sand, with their googles and flashlights, picking and eating their own mangoes. : )
They call it the 'Hilo's biggest strolling party' because everyone just walks all over to the different shops, listening to great bands along the way. We had a blast listening to jazz, sipping on lemonade, and getting our face painted for free! 
Elise was thrilled to be out with the girls' and has had some issues going to sleep since. She now knows we have fun after she goes to bed! We went with Jacelyn, Aaron's sister and Lala, our cousin.
Sometimes we'll pack a lunch and Aaron will go fishing. It's such a relaxing, fun family activity. I wish we had time to do this more often. 
Elise and Elijah immersed themselves in the task of polishing the wood. They did a fine job!
On her first day of pre-school at Haili Christian, Elise was really excited. She smiled with Gramma Lynette and Elijah pre-haircut. As you can see, Elijah can't wait to go school too! 
Elise and her wonderful teacher, "Aunty" Pam. Right now they are practicing writing letters and numbers and learning phonetics. She also teaches the kids songs about Jesus. Before bed the other night, Elise said, "Let me teach you a song about Jesus." Then she sang all the lyrics to: "Jesus loves me yes I know for the bible tells me so." I know that song, but I've never sang that with her for some reason.
Elise immediately started playing and making new friends. I felt kind of lost because she was so at ease in her new classroom. Joyschool must have prepared her for this.
Elijah thinks he can do everything Elise does, which can be a little dangerous at times, but he's doing really good and is so independent.
and the Chinhs, who are such a wonderful family and they were still doing nice things for us up until the time we left the east. Gina kindly gave us a ride to the airport because we sold our Rodeo. She was always doing thoughtful things for us and I wish I could have reciprocated more! Gina is a dear friend - she inspires me to be a better person. She's such a dedicated mother; she's always teaching, learning and serving. She has so many creative talents, and is a fabulous cook. I love how assertive and articulate she is, and wish I could be more like that. She is very insightful and while she has strong convictions, she is very open- and fair-minded. 
