"Island Ohana" Dance Recital

We took group pictures in some of the girls' outfits on Wednesday. They did a little practice afterwards as well. Last practice was on Thursday.

Saturday night was the big night. It was really crowded. I don't even think that a lot of the people that we sold tickets to even showed up though. Of course, it was really difficult to tell exactly as we were so busy and there were already so many people there.

Grandpa Caldwell drove down to see the little girls dance. Auntie Marian and Grandpa had dinner with us before the big event.

The girls did great, although, we couldn't really get Caitlyn to smile most of the time.

It was a really frustrating evening for Christian and I though. We were hoping to get a lot of great pictures and video, but didn't end up getting that much. There were so many things that just didn't work out in our favor.

First, there were so many performers that they spanned the entire width of the stage and we could not possibly capture everyone at one time. It was kind of a "reunion" performance. So a lot of the dancers that stopped dancing for one reason or another got called back in for the show.

Second, there were lots of people in the way and had no compunction about walking right in front of our cameras. Third, the girls were not always positioned well, so there seemed like there was always someone in front of one of them so we could not get a good view of  them. Also, they had a few of the wahines dancing along with the younger groups in a couple of the dances. They were there to lead them I guess if they got lost or something but I don't think that it was necessary in the end and it just added to the bodies on the stage and it was just another reason we couldn't get a good view of one of the younger kids.

We spent so much time trying to take pictures and video and running around trying to help the girls get ready that we didn't get to see much of the show itself. I don't think that we'll be doing that again. I think that if we manage to stay in this for another year, that next time, we will just take a few pictures and try to enjoy the show.

Dress Rehearsal

We haven't had a lot of time for anything since school let out. They doubled up on dance practice even during the last week of school or so and now we are even doing some Saturday practices as well. I have been working hard finishing all the girls outfits for their recital. They have four different numbers and four different outfits to go with them along with accessories. They are performing a Hawaiian dance, a Maori (New Zealand) dance, a Samoan dance and a Tahitian dance. It has been a lot of money and work but they are really beautiful.

On Monday night, we went to the facility that the recital will be held at for a dress rehearsal.

This is the last week of practice. It is exciting but I will be glad when it is over so that we can breath.

Last Day of School

The girls had half day for the last day of school. They got out just after noon. Emily got to watch a movie. I think she said that they watched "Kung Fu Panda." Her teacher made them a little memory book with a couple of pages of picture collages from events during the year and then a couple of empty pages for them to get their classmates to sign.

Caitlyn's teacher also made memory books for her kids. They were filled with samples of artwork and writing that they did throughout the year showing a lot of what they learned. She also had them go around and have their classmates sign the back of their book.

In addition, Caitlyn's teacher gave out awards to each of her students to award them in their strengths. She spent a lot of time coming up with what each child's strength was. Caitlyn got an award for being the most "Thoughtful Writer."

She also gave each child a little certificate promoting her to the third grade. All the families were invited to join and we had a ice cream sundae party afterwards.

We gave the girls some trinkets as per our usual tradition when they have worked hard during the school year. We got them a new movie for their movie night, some new swim stuff and a huge skein of yarn for a new project for them to work on during the summer.

The girls ran around all afternoon outside playing in water and stuff, came in to wash up and spent the rest of the evening playing video games and watching movies. They didn't get to stay up as late as they normally do on the last day of school because we have had to fight with them every night to go to sleep and I didn't want them getting sick because I had been sick with a bad cold all week already. Being restricted on their movie night was going to be the consequence and they still kept staying up and playing all night so their movie night ended at midnight...which is still plenty of time. I think Caitlyn wouldn't have wanted to stay up any later than that anyway, but Emily will stay up practically until the sun comes up if you let her. Luckily, neither of them got sick though.

2nd Grade Family BBQ

The 2nd graders and their families were invited to a BBQ on Wednesday. The kids got to play in the park in back of the school. They grilled hot dogs for everyone and had chips drinks and fruit.  Later in the afternoon, they got a cookie and popsicles. It seemed a lot more civilized than the 3rd grade picnic Emily had. That was just a gigantic sugar fest. There were still treats for the kids...just not insane amounts of it.

After everyone ate, they had games that each of the classes rotated through. They played red rover, bean bag toss, potato sack races and another relay race involving water.

It looked pretty fun. Caitlyn was a little wary about playing some of the games, but once she got into it, she had a lot of fun. I left after most of the organized games were over and they started to clean up. I wasn't too excited to have hot dogs at the park and opted to go home to have my own lunch. I guess they got some more time to just play on the playground after they finished cleaning up.

Emily was a little jealous that she doesn't get to do a lot of the fun things that the younger grades get to do. Her class went to the park on Friday for a little while and played games and stuff but nothing of the same scale as this. It is no longer just fun and games. It's not like they are just doing work, but when the  older kids get a break, the teachers just let them watch a movie or something instead of actively doing things with them. Maybe that is just Emily's teachers but that is what out experience has been.

But then again, Caitlyn's teacher is notoriously famous for being a really fun teacher. She does special things with her class every Friday...they call it "Fun Friday." She has her students work hard but they are well rewarded. I volunteered a lot in the class during the first half of the year and was always impressed with what she did in her class with 35 students. She is one of the most sought after teachers in the entire school and we were very lucky to have her.

Great Aunt Pippa's Pepperoni Pizza Play

On Tuesday, Caitlyn's class took turns putting on a play for the parents. They did a little skit the teacher  put together from a little story that they read.  They split the class up in 10 groups and each got a part in the play. Caitlyn was Great Aunt Pippa.

While her performance was not anything spectacular, the fact that she got up in front of everyone and did her lines was a miracle in itself! She had come such a long way in coming out of her shell. She remembered almost all of her lines as well. It was very fun to go watch her and her classmates perform. I'm not positive if any other teacher could have gotten her to do it though. She really loved her teacher this year and she seemed to be a great inspiration for Caitlyn.

Year End Awards

On Monday, the girls had their year end award ceremonies at school. Caitlyn's grade had their's first in the morning but they were combined with the 1st graders as well so the place was just packed...with kids and parents. It was pretty crazy. They went pretty fast, thrusting handfuls of awards at the kids and moving on.

Caitlyn got high honors, perfect attendance and citizenship. She's doing really great in school. Unfortunately, their principal is moving on next year and so we will have to start again with a brand new one. Mr. Ayala has done great things in the two years that he was at our school and we are so very sad that he is leaving. I have some hope for the new one as she was a teacher at this school for nearly 14 years before becoming a principal herself at a different school. There are still teachers here that remember her fondly here so I guess time will tell.

Emily had her award ceremony in the afternoon. Her award ceremony was much more civilized. It was only her grade so it was not as chaotic and apparently they had time to present every award separately as well, so Emily was up and down during the whole ceremony as we got six different awards! The fifth graders had some categories and awards that they didn't offer to other grades.

She got one for honor roll, citizenship and perfect attendance. Then she got another one for having perfect attendance all year long. She also got one for meeting her AR goal and physical education. The physical education was just for the 5th graders. I don't know why they didn't offer the AR one to Caitlyn's grade...especially since Caitlyn's personal goal was higher than Emily's!

She actually missed two award opportunities. She never managed to make it to high honors this year which she was quite upset about. She was hoping to get it by the end of the year. But since she skipped 4th grade and still managed to stay on the honor roll, I think she did pretty good! Realistically, I don't know if it was not making it to high honors, or not being able to get a high honor pin for her lanyard that upsets her more!

The other thing she missed was getting a special lanyard for the 100 mile club. She was so close, I think she managed run 85 miles this past year, but since she missed the first several weeks of 5th grade, she didn't quite have enough time to do it. And honestly, she wasn't very motivated in the beginning so she didn't put that much effort into it until maybe halfway through the year, she decided that she wanted to try for it. She made a valiant effort in the end but had procrastinated a little too much in the beginning to accomplish her goal in time.

Chinese Tamales

On the 5th day of the 5th month (according to the lunar calendar), the Dragon Boat festival (Daunwu Festival) is celebrated by watching dragon boat races and eating Zongzi (粽子) also now widely known as chinese tamales. It is kind of a large savory dumpling of sorts made with sticky rice and wrapped in bamboo leaves. It is filled with salted eggs, chinese sausage, mushroom, and pork. 

The death of the poet Qu Yuan is also commemorated at this time...the story of which is a bit gruesome so I will spare you the details.

Anyway, we went home to visit my family this past weekend and to make Zongzi (Dong). My kids love them and we decided to go to learn more of how they are made and to help my mother make them as they are a lot of work. I have made them before quite a number of years ago, but don't really know how to make them very well. I have to say though, after using 15 lbs of rice to make a ton of these, I'm a lot more comfortable making them than I used to be!

Christian helped we with some and also helped take notes and pictures while we worked. They are more difficult than they look and take a lot of coordination so that they are made correctly without falling apart, so we just had the girls watch. One day, they can try their hand at it as well.