Hawaiian FURLOUGH FRIDAYS

The big talk here in Hawaii is about Furlough Fridays. The government is over budget and they need to make up for all the money they have wasted, so instead of cutting benefits in the prisons (such as cable TV or extra perks) or taking welfare away from people who are not legal citizens, they have decided to take it out of the already LACKING education system.

I am not saying that my girls are getting a substandard education, but the system as a whole is very low on the national level.
Part of that has to do with the mentality of the families living here. Many of the people coming to Hawaii hear how bad the schools are and instead of fighting to be sure their kid has a good outcome, they use that information to make excuses for their kid's grades.

SAY WHAT??

Yes, it is true. There are only 5 kids each week who turn in their homework. This is ridiculous! My daughters get rewards for doing what is expected of them!
I have explained to my girls that even though the teacher feels the need to reward them, it is an expected obligation to be responsible and work toward their best education.
They all agree, but of course they are happy to get the treat!

Another thing I have observed in watching students and parents is that they are really not involved. We have a folder that comes home every week with important information. It is called the Wednesday folder because it comes home every Wednesday...imagine that!

I look forward to seeing it and getting all the updates on school events, field trips and other important documents. Last week a note went out detailing how our school is going to make up some of the time from the 17 Furlough Fridays we will be missing. There are some great ideas in there. They were voted on and some are now policy for the rest of the year. It will be interesting to see how many people didn't read the flyer.
School was getting out at 12:30pm on Wednesdays and starting next week, they get out at 1pm.
There will be so many people up there early and all of them will be complaining about how they needed a reminder. This is an entertaining concept to me. How, if they are unwilling to read what comes home in the folder, are they supposed to remind them of the change?

All I am saying is, Furlough Fridays (all 17 of them ) are what you make of them. We are going to go hiking, run on the track, go to the beach, head to the museums and just have a great time being a family! How can anyone whine about that?

I am not saying that I am happy about my girls getting fewers days in school, or that they won't have to work harder on the days they are there. I am just saying that the state voted, it passed and they are off from school for an extra 17 days....make it a great thing!

I get to have the best of both worlds!

Just a note:
Thorin recently won an art contest at the University of Hawaii's science program. She was chosen from all the 3-6th grade entries from all the school in Hawaii. It was on the news!

She also won the recent "make your own country flag" art contest in her school.

She is a very detailed artist, a super math student (she actually maxed out the national test last year!)....even though her school failed for overall scores!
Her classmates call her their weapon when they play math wars in class.

Thorin is very blessed to have one of the most challenging teachers in her grade. Sorenna's teacher is really pushing her to do great things and Cannon's teacher is moving her into the computer group (usually reserved for the older kids)....she is still only 4 years old!

Life in Hawaii is great...even with the dreaded Furlough Fridays!
Aloha!

REDEPLOYMENT!!!!

The day finally came! I finally got word that our units were coming home....we welcomed many friends home and waited for our call. It came and I decided to surprise the girls. This was very easy because we had been at the hanger welcoming home so many soldiers, they didn't think anything of it. They had spent the last week making paper leis to hand out and everyone worked so hard to make sure every soldier was welcomed home. They were at every welcoming flight and ran to each soldier to put leis on their necks. It was nice to see them all smile!

We had a few guys already home who showed up to support their team....you can see the 4th MiTT name behind the girls in the photo! There is a photo of the 120 leis they made during break and several of our close BATTLE BUDDIES and families!
The girls are really excited to see him and I am VERY glad he is home safe!

Adventures in Sewer girl....and BEYOND!!!!!

Ok, last week I had an adventure that was very interesting so I posted on Facebook. I thought it warranted a repeat HERE on my BLOG!
The funny thing about the note below...it wasn't the last adventure.
You would think that NOTHING more could happen during ONE deployment...Please don't say that outloud, because somehow JETHRO (yes, the ghost is back) can hear you!
Last night I went to turn on my light in the living room and a LOUD POP, a flash of light, some sizzle sounds and a few sparks came all at once.
FREAKED MY BUTT OUT!

So, once again ...I am trying to detail the list of things that might have led to that.
Needless to say, the electrician RIGGED the fan to disable the light and therefore keeping my house from burning down in the RUMORED 7 MINUTES!

If you are wanting to laugh...or just document the torture of my deployment rule (if anything can go wrong, it will wait until deployment)...READ ON!

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Has anyone ever wondered WHY, after putting such an effort into figuring out what could possibly be wrong with any given situation, people ignore SUCH found truths?

Let me explain. When we have a sick child and there is really NO reason for such sickness, we mull over the reason. Did she eat something strange, did we go somewhere new, did she get BIT by a gopher (oops...that one only happens to my kids).... So anyway, do you ever wonder why after hours of thinking it over, and FINDING the culprit, that the nurses, doctors, ....even friends IGNORE you because you are not certified to figure it out. It couldn't be that you are closest to the situation and care enough to get it over with!!??

Ok, so here I am last Sunday, once again running to rescue my sweet girls from a flooding toilet and to halt the panic stricken cries of my girls because of said toilet. I have heard many cried for help. I am almost numb to them. Many times I come around the corner to hear the toilet flushing and the water flowing down and ask...WHY am I here to rescue you? It is just that the toilet NEVER flushes properly for an entire day. So, again, I was saving my kids from the toilet monster and was almost thinking I would round the corner to a perfectly fine sound of toilet finale'.....BUT no...this time was really different. Not only did the thing NOT flush, there was a FLOOD leading into the hallway and water still flowing. After using every clean towel in sight, turning off the water flow and rushing my girls to church-school, I came back to figure out the reason for the overflow. After 2 after-hours sewer calls, many hours of labor, several phone calls and NO toilet for 4 days....it was over!

I had said it was more than just the one toilet that was the problem. I SAID it was something with the main line under my house. ....it had to be. How else could you explain the fact that water draining from the BATHTUB caused BUBBLES to make BLOOP BLOOP noises in the toilet??? Also, toilet paper OUTSIDE the house directly under the bathroom window would alert even the DENSEST of people to the fact that toilet water was somehow flowing OUTSIDE?? So, after arguing this point, brainstorming and continued calls.....I had my toilet replaced, the sewer pipe removed and odd things PUSHED out of the sewer pipe. There was possibly a tree growing through the sewer pipe, or maybe a small animal by all the work he put into clearing it!!! So, for the first time in a YEAR, the water in the toilet goes DOWN, instead of rushing up to finally flush down. This little drama (that took most of a week) might have been a blessing. It might be the end of the toilet monster FOREVER!!!
I can dream can't I??????

School invitational track event

Today was a great day for a track event. It was very nice, no rain and a fresh breeze.
Thorin ran her little heart out. She was the 5th Hale Kula girl to cross the line. She is turning into an awesome little runner.
My goal next year is to schedule on race a month and nurture her love for long distance. I am hoping she can do the 8 mile Aloha Run next winter. Her face tells it all. She is a very happy girl.

Welcome Home Soldiers!

My girls have been really busy getting ready for the MiTT teams to return to Schofield.
I am the FRG key caller for 2 separate teams. Robert is on the 4th MiTT and I also help families for another section because there was really nobody willing AND able to take it on.
This cute photo is of the girls gathering STRAW pieces. I never knew it was so hard to cut straws. They literally FLY everywhere so we started making a game of it. I cut them and they gathered them up. We then punched thousands of flowers and circles out to assemble homemade leis.
the soldiers were very surprised and happy to get them and glad to be home.

They are in formation just WAITING to be dismissed to join their families!......One team home...Robert's team is coming very soon!

2 single soldiers who were very happy to get the leis.

Nike Kid Race

We did another race in September. The girls love to run!
Cannon is becoming a little speed freak.
She was passing some serious runners in her 1 mile race and I was hard pressed to catch her because she can weave through the crowd so easily.
I can't wait until she joins us for the 5k runs!

Japanese Ship at Pearl Harbor

Last month (September) I went to volunteer at Pearl Harbor and when I rounded the corner to the chapel I got goose bumps. I have to admit, I never LOVED history. Who am I fooling?...I never even LIKED it...to be honest, I didn't really understood the point of all the memorization.

Flash forward (at least past high school) and I suddenly figured out what all the drama was about. History, the past happenings of our nation, are who were are and how we got to where we are today. Ok, looking at our CURRENT mess, some of our HISTORY is not so great but it tells a story. The most important part about having that AH HA moment was that I realized it was the story of the people that was lacking in all those lessons. If you had put a HOLOCAUST survivor in front of me during the really boring battle talks, I would have been all ears. (If a history teacher is reading this...make a note!)

So, back to Pearl Harbor. Last year we went to Pearl Harbor on Dec 7th and it was very strange. It was a quiet Sunday morning, just like it was when the Japanese attacked and I had a real feeling for what it felt like to be there. So, last month when I rounded the corner and saw the same symbol (red circle flag) on a HUGE ship I got chills.






















Then driving a little more and seeing the Rising Sun (Japanese flag), I was really touched.

It wasn't that I thought we were still at war, or that we didn't allow Japanese ships in the harbor, but that after such a horrible attack, we are now allies.

Now, flash forward in your minds to Iraq. Will it ever be possible for us to go on vacation to Iraq?

Will we be able to show our kids where daddy built an Iraqi headquarters?

Will we get to go visit the friends he has made in the palace?

Even though I was looking at the Rising Sun in Pearl Harbor in awe of how far we have come, I am not seeing future where our kids will be safe to tour Iraq. I hope I am wrong.

SCHOOL PHOTOS

It is that time of year AGAIN. School picture day!

I really love the school photos when they come back. It always appears that someone tried to control Sorenna's cowlicks, Thorin was crying or Cannon was scared. The group photos are always so much more fun. In fact, one of the only reasons I buy the pictures is for the included group shot. Fast forward to a time of LAZY people who are not willing to do the job that thousands of people before them have done. We are in an age of lazy people. People want to do the bare minimum to get the most benefits...look at what Obama is trying to HAND out. I know SCHOOL PHOTOS are not a crisis by any means, but it is just one more example of how we have become lazy.



















These days they do NOT do the classic group photo where you line of the kids on the tiered stands and PRAY that everyone looks at the front, doesn't put a finger in their nose (or their freind's nose for that matter) and you can see everyone's face.

They instead take the individual photos and stick them in a yearbook style page and call it the Class Photo.
What fun is THAT?




















So, for the past few years that my kids have been in various school, I have been the one who takes the REAL class photos. I never have the tiered stand, there is never a COOL place to take it and many kids are usually absent.

This year was a SUCCESS!!
The backdrop was really cool, the kids were MOSTLY all there and they were dressed up for picture day so they looked NICE!




















There is always the kid who isn't looking, does some strange face or part of their head is blocked because they moved, but 20 wiggly kids and a camera....these were GREAT!
I am SUPER happy that my kids are having a great year so far despite all the budget cuts are stress.

Daddy's last day of R&R

August 30th 2009

This was the last day of Robert's R&R and we decided to hunt for Sea Glass in Haliewa. The girls were so thrilled to show daddy the cool beach and fill our glass jar some more.

It was not the best day to hit the beach because the waves were really crazy. Thorin was thrown around a bit while trying to beat the waves to the washed-up sea glass. We are looking forward to having him home for good and getting to have weekly beach days. We have still not caught a turtle on the beach, only crashing in the rocks...but we are still waiting.