Fire knife...

Friday evening I was coming home from Laie and noticed not only the basketball

players, but something else...

fire knife practice.

We've seen this halau practice at Haleiwa Beach Park under the

lights before, but usually dancing hula or Tahitian.

I pulled into the parking lot and watched for a while.

These were little boys practicing with real fire! 

Pretty impressive that's for sure.

What better place to practice on a cool, spring evening.

Ella Is One….

1st birthdays in Hawaii are a BIG deal!

Sunday I went to a great baby luau for a special, blessed little girl…

Ella Swim.

Her cake was too cute, a cupcake

sort of a "shabby-chic" look to the decorations…

photos of this little lady during her first year

a very proud grandpa

and a very talented mommy…

daddy was busy making the food~ cheeseburgers, homemade onion rings, mac & cheese

and fries…it was so good.

we just love sweet Ella enchanted and her parents!

Happy Birthday to all of you!

Aloha Dale...

yesterday I went to a retirement party for Dale Yoshizu.

He'd been teaching for 32 years, most of them I think at Waialua Elementary.

This is the kind of teacher that really cares about his students, going to their

sporting events to cheer them on.

He was born and raised in Waialua, even being born at the old 

Waialua Hospital.

Since his retirement, he's joined a hiking club, spent more time researching

old photos of the Waialua area. Of course, spending more time with Kamalani.

Since today was a state holiday, the party was a luncheon.

I think it was one of the best retirement parties I'd ever been to.

Dale and Kamalani

yummy luncheon buffet

One of the games was for Dale to choose his "ideal Bachelorette"

these three had us rolling...

Dale's reaction when he saw his women...

yup, he choose #2 (aka Stu)

he gave his final rose to his sweet Kama

there was a slide show with staff pictures through the years

a heart-felt thank you

Mr. Moore spoke about the "…only time anyone was ever mad at Dale was when he

retired."  This was so true.  All of his reasons are so valid and show the 

changes that have come to teachers recently.

Yes, Waialua Elementary School will miss our Dale and everything he brought to the school.

We can't wait for the 6 months to pass so that he can come and sub.

Prince Kuhio...

I'm lucky enough to listen in on lessons 

about Hawaiian history that are being taught to the children

of this state.

I think one of my favorites is Prince Jonah Kuhio

He wanted to do what was right for the Hawaiian people, the Hawaiian Homestead Act.

He lead the way to bring Hawaii into the "modern age".

He brought about the county system, which we still use today.

He's the only person to have served in Congress of royal heritage.

Here in Hawaii we take our holidays pretty seriously, not just  day

off, or a parade or two, but as a day to observe what has made Hawaii

what it is today.

Happy Anniversary...

8 years for these two!

Ups and downs (life),

2 beautiful grands,

unselfish gift,

above all love.

Happy Anniversary Geoff and Bri.

Jane Austen Inspired...

at our RS birthday dinner I signed up to decorate a table.

It came out so pretty, I thought it deserved it's own blog post.

I asked my friend Sara, if she would like to help me.  We had a general "idea" taken

from the Regency Era of Jane Austen with a little Downton Abbey thrown in.

Any "tea party" should have tea cups.  We knew the prettiest would be if they

didn't match.  This was probably the hardest thing.  I went to 3 Goodwill stores

and got 8 mis-matched sets.  Easy to find Asian style, but not the flowery ones we

wanted.  At one of the stores I saw the silver water pitcher and silver teapot.

They were black with tarnish, and I didn't buy them.

I went back 2 days later and there they were 1/2 price!  Took awhile to find a store that 

sold silver polish, but they added the right touch.

I went to the wholesale flower mart and got mixed flowers.  These are hard to find

also, no tropicals in Jane's time.

the favor wasn't the teacup, but a teapot shaped cookie.  

Same place I got the Downton quote cookies

Sara and I both had some of the children's board books…

Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre and Sense & Sensibility 

Sara made little place cards for each setting that were 

quotes that Jane's men said in her books.  

Sara also made small bouquets for each place setting.  Each one was different

and she wrote out the significance of each flower

I used hubby's grandmother's two linen tablecloths.  It was hard to find spray starch, but

they were so special.  I loved that they don't match.

This was such a fun thing to do.  I used some of the things that I had left over

from the Downton party a few weeks earlier.  

It was fun to share my love of Jane Austen with Sara.

We enjoyed sharing this with our RS sisters and a little step back in time.

A Birthday Celebration...

This week our ward Relief Society celebrated the founding of the organization

172 years ago.  It's the largest women's group in the world.

A real reason for a party!

I loved the plan for this party…

you could choose to decorate a table representing a country tied to your family.

I used hubby's family and my love of British literature.

My sweet friend Sara helped put it together.

More on this later…it deserves it's own post.

I loved that one of us came from Russia and had these beautiful dolls

Japan was stunning

Scotland used tartan plaids, castles on bogs

and my own plaid

Samoa was colorful and had palm frond serving bowls

 there was a photo booth with dress-up clothes and wigs

a dance party game

and one more reason we love missionaries!

I didn't realize until I was going through photos that I never got a picture of all the

food and the beautiful RS birthday cake.

I can say that they were both wonderful .

Happy Birthday Relief Society!

Haleiwa Change...

since I've been back from SC, I hadn't really been into Haleiwa.

The other morning I went through there early in the morning.

One more change has come to Haleiwa…

The Artis family is no longer on Kam Hiway next to North Shore Market Place.

I was shocked!  

A few years ago the father, Ron, passed away, but the family was

still there playing their music and doing art.

I always smiled at the way they used surfboards as a canvas for their

art.

now what was once full of color and music is like this…

empty.

A friend told me that they'd moved by the sugar mill.

Just another change that's coming to Haleiwa.

I want these changes to stop or at least slow down.

Crazy Wind...

for the last few days we've had some crazy winds.

Not hurricane force, but way stronger than our usual trades.

…and it's been cold!

66 degrees the middle of Saturday afternoon is 

cold for us.  The extra blanket didn't seem to help.

We had all the windows closed, and it was still drafty.

my friend, Dale, took this short video up on the Waianae Iki

trail on Sunday.  They couldn't finish their hike because it

was too windy.

The Hawaii Kai carnival was even closed down

due to the fear the rides might start blowing apart.

thanks again Dale for the great video.  Good thing you didn't go on.

Fun Run 2014...

Friday was the 4th annual Waialua Elementary School Fun Run.

It's the major fund raiser for the school and so much fun.

Kids, siblings, parents, the principal get out and run.

They run by grade level and noncompetitive/competitive levels .

it's great that an Army unit from Scholfield Barracks comes out every year to help.

my friend, Dale Yoshizu, a retired teacher that still comes out to

support his hometown school!

I love that the soldiers help kids on the course.

another reason that Waialua Elementary School is a great place to be!

Mahalo Dale and Lori Mc Keown for the photos as I was in the classroom getting the

student treasures ready to send off!