May Day

We just learned that in cultures around the world many people celebrate May Day.  I'm not totally sure how it originates, but it has something to do with Springtime and celebrating of cultures.  May Day in Laie is huge. The elementary school had a school program to celebrate.

Normally each grade represents a culture.  But, this year it was all about America.  They began practicing daily the first week of April. Each practice was at least an hour long and the entire school day before the program was dedicated to practice for the program.  I can't imagine the amount of time spent preparing and planning everything they did for the show.  It was quite the production!

Last Friday was the big day.  The kids woke up at 5:30 to get ready.  (They were a bit excited.)  Conrad wasn't quite as excited as the other two and slept in until a little after 6. They got to perform in the theater where they do the "Breath of Life" show every evening.  The had to be at the Polynesian Cultural Center by 7:30 AM and the show started at 8:30.   The kids had a great time and we had fun watching them.  It was about 3 and a half hours.  Kinda long for the little boys, but they did really well considering.

Here are some pics of the kids in their costumes.

Hailey's grade was the Jazz Era and I found out the night before that she had to have a 40's hairstyle for the show.  We had to practice a very long time to figure out the curls but Hailey didn't care.  She loved it when it was done.

Con represented HOLLYWOOD.  He came home with a men's XS vest.  Needless to say it was huge.  One of our missionary friends altered it for us and it turned out so nice!

Jack was Rock n Roll and I just laughed when he came home with pants almost as tall as he was but luckily he could just roll them up. 

Here's the crowd that came to watch:

 The royalty was introduced before the kids show started.  I'm not sure how they decided who was what but it was cool to see too.  They sat up on the stage the entire performance.  I think they were all sixth graders.

Here's a pic with Hailey and her friend Brooke after the show.

Chinatown, Iolani Palace, and Chuck E Cheese

A few Sunday's ago we had a family meeting and came up with ideas of what everyone wanted to do the last six weeks we had left.  We were surprised to find out their number one pick was...wait for it...Chuck E Cheese!  Of all the places we could see they wanted to go to there?  But we made the plan and the next Saturday we took them but first we visited Chinatown and Iolani's Palace since we were close.

Chinatown didn't have a whole lot of places to see, but they had some cool shops and food markets that were fun to walk through.

Iolani's Palace

If you don't know the history of Hawaii and how the era of their kingdom ended, click on my link.  It helps you understand what this palace represents and why it is still important especially to the native Hawaiians today.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%CA%BBIolani_Palace 

It was pretty neat to learn that they had electricity and plumbing before Buckingham Palace.  The ruler at the time was intrigued by technology and had anything he could installed as soon as it was available.

Here are some pics

There is so much gorgeous detail outside and in

Our crazy bunch.  I was happy Brayden made it through the day without passing out of heat exhaustion.  He refused to take his sweatshirt off.  Silly kid.

Quilt that the Queen made while wrongly imprisoned for 9 months

One of the Royal Bedrooms

Throne Room 

Dining Hall

Sitting room (those are real elephant tusks in the back of the pic)

Another Bedroom

Blue Room

Upstairs Hall

Stairway

Coat of Arms

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Chuck E Cheese

Empower Your Dreams Competition Kick Off Party

A couple of Fridays ago we went to a kick off party for the Empower Your Dreams Competition.  Bo organized it so we all got to go. It was at the Flag Circle at BYUH. This competition is for business start up ideas.  It has three groups that get to be involved, community, international students, and the other student body.  They have $30,000 in prize money to give out and needed to get the word out.  It's an amazing opportunity for people with a great idea to get some money do start up.

We had a great time and it was a great turn out.  There were hot dogs, popcorn, drinks, otter pops, and of course bouncy houses! They also gave away some door prizes.  The competition is in May.  I'm sure I will have a post for it later.

Before the party started the kids had the two houses to themselves.  They had a blast!

Hailey came later with her friends and I didn't get a pic. That girls is really growing up. :)

Conrad is Now 10!!!

Wow!  He's 10!  Conrad's birthday was on conference Sunday.  We are moving back so soon and there's not much room to bring things back. So, I talked to him before and asked if he'd like a couple of presents and then some cash for when we get home.  He was good with that so I just bought a couple of gifts.

We had a great time as a family and everyone loved his cake.  Once a month we have a break-the-fast with all of the other missionaries in our area.  We usually take all the kids, but Hailey babysat and we went on a date with Conrad.  One of our friends had everyone (it's a really big group) sing Happy Birthday to him.  He LOVED it.  He said, "I've never had that many people sing to me before."  I said, "I haven't either."  HAHA.

We forgot to get an after picture.  But here are the before's:

Conrad loves many things at the age of 10.  I can't decide between fishing and playing baseball as his favorites.  He loves them both.  He loves watching baseball and any sport really (yes, the whole game, not just highlights).  He also loves memorizing baseball stats.  He loves playing at the beach and swimming.  Catching gecko's is another fun pass time.  He's adjusted well to Hawaii and has said that if we had to stay here, he'd be ok with it.  

Conrad is a sweet, caring kid.  He notices how people are feeling and will give hugs to anyone in our family that he sees is down.  As he grows and matures he has begun to notice when I need his help.  He's really started to step it up and help out.  He loves to make people laugh and we, the kids especially, love laughing at his silly jokes.  Conrad wasn't able to get on a baseball team this year.  There just isn't one for his age.  But, he's still been really supportive of Jackson playing.  We love you Conrad.  You have a special place in our family!  Thanks for being you!!!     

Bo's Cousin and Family Spent a Few Days with Us

Bo asked Jaren to teach in the entrepeneur lecture series at BYUH.  Jaren is Gini's brother Mark's son...whew, mouthful!  He was able to come and bring his family.  We had a great time.  But, I'm bummed I didn't take very many pics.  We spent a couple of dinners together, they also came to Bo's kickoff party, I listed about that on another post. We also did our favorite, Waimea Falls with them.  

Yes that is Conrad up in the waterfall.  They had an awesome time playing.

Jaron did a great job and inspired all of us to seek the Lord in business and life.  He has come up with an amazing product with many uses.  Initially it was to have something better than sandbags to help with flooding.  But since it's debut it's been found to have many uses.  It's brilliant!  Check out this video.