Getting ready for school...

It's that time of year again. New grade, new things to learn, new things to deal with at a different age. Today was Maia's first day of 7th grade. Yup, 7th grade. I still can't believe it. She's smack dab in the middle of her Junior High years. Only 1 more grade until she's officially in High School. AAAAHHHH!!!!! She's been at Charles Wright Academy since Pre-school. The school is extremely difficult, so each year brings new challenges. The education that she receives there in uncomprable to anything that I've seen, and she's learned so much more than she would have anywhere else. She's excited to not be the youngest group in the middle school!!!!

We had Kiale's back-to-school bbq at Midland yesterday. For us, this was our first introduction into the school. He's been at Concordia Lutheran the last few years, and we decided to send him to public school starting 1st grade. The tuition at Concordia just keeps going up! Allthough we're able to afford it now, at the rate that it's going, in 3 or 4 years, it will probably be too much, so we thought that we'd pull him out now. I think that the tuition this year was $6300, so by then it'll easily be $8000!!! And that's just way too much. I'm not too worried about him transitioning into the school. Kiale makes friends easily and is able to adapt to any situation. I was worried about the teachers and the general stigma that falls with "Public School". I was pleasantly surprised when I got a chance to check everything out for myself. His teacher seems really nice. The classroom is HUGE! There are more amenities there than at his private school, and everything is so modern. They have numerous reading, writing and math specialist who help the kids out regardless of what level they are at. They have an awesome library with a very state of the art computer lab. They even have a great "reading corner" for story time for the younger grades, just like they do in Borders. All of the staff have been really nice, and I've already been hit up by the PTA... Looking forward to his new adventures!!!

Victories for our family and the Hawai'ian Nation!!!

First off, Maia came home on Friday!!! We were all so excited to see her. It had seemed like FOREVER! The first thing that I noticed was how she grew. She's almost as tall as I am now! And her jeans are too tight :) Must have been all that Ono food that she had at Grandma and Grandpas! And she's way dark... Even darker than Charlie! We're so glad to have her at home...

Kiale had his first football game on Saturday against the Auburn Panthers. His 89er team won 25-0!!! It's amazing to see how successful kids can be at such a young age. The past 3 weeks of grueling 2-hour practices have resulted in a unified, disciplined group of 7 to 9 year-olds who were able to dominate on the grid-iron. As a first year player, Kiale is on the "5th quarter team" made up of all the newbies. They get to play during half-time against the opposing teams' 5-th quarter team. As a running back, Kiale had 2 carries. He gained about 6 yards on the first and about the same amount of yardage the second time. On his second carry, however, he dragged a handful of defenders with him until they finally took him down. He told Charlie, "I just kept pumping my legs, daddy!" Couldn't have been prouder.

And once again, we watched as another Little League Team from Hawai'i took the World Series. They must be doing something right with Baseball on the islands! There's no better feeling than seeing the Hawai'ian flag on National television...

Finally, a day of just fun!!!!

On Sunday, we celebrated Kawehi's 6th birthday. The ohana went to the Federal Way Community Center to play in the water. It was actually a really neat little indoor water park! Perfect for that age. Kiale had a blast going down the big slide with Aunty Minna and Kalani, and riding around the lazy river with Jayme...

Afterwards we enjoyed some Ono pizza from Costco (I never knew how decent their pizza actually tasted!) and Minna's bomb-ass Somen Salad.. My favorite!!!

SHE MADE IT!!!

Yes, it's late... Yes, I'm tired and still covered in a layer of "Sticky" from todays scorcher... But this one couldn't wait...

Today, Kalani had her tryout with the Washington Sidewinders, one of the best fastpitch teams in the state. The coach is a great guy named Paul Souza, and even greater, he's from the islands. She had an AWESOME tryout and made the team!!! We're all so excited!!! The opportunities for her that come with playing for this team are endless. She'll get top-notched training, lots of scouting opportunities as she gets older, and the opportunity to play for a Championship Coaching team. Congrats baby girl... You've earned this one!!!

Still busy... :)

Another crazy week! Football takes up so much time it's RIDICULOUS!!! But all worth it. Kiale survived a week of laps, bear crawls, wind sprints, lots of hard hitting (both giving and receiving), the heat, 6-inch leg lifts, and so much more. I got tired just watching them!!! He's still liking it, so we're going to keep going. He's getting stronger and is building up his endurance. Eats WAY MORE than he used to and sleeps 10-11 hours a day now... I say poor baby, but he loves it!!!

Little Miss Maia is "enduring" week #2 of her 23 day vacation in Hawai'i. She's been horseback riding, shopping at Kings' Shops and getting darker by the day at the beaches. On Friday, she'll head to Laupahoehoe to spend a week with Grandma and Grandpa and get spoiled there. Poor thing, huh... It's so rough being her ;)

My latest role has become "Sports Agent". Kalani's Fastpitch team moved up to U16, so she started tryouts for other teams yesterday. Her first one was with Washington Speed. She did very well, they asked her to be on the team! We were honest, however, and told them that she had another tryout on Saturday and we couldn't give them an answer until after that. Her tryout this weekend is with the Sidewinders. The coach is an EXCELLENT guy from Hawai'i. He coached Charlie's two cousings MANY years ago. He's won State Titles and gone to many National Tournaments. We're really hoping that she gets on with them. The experience would be unmatched. My first experience yesterday as an "agent" taught me how to be polite and not burn bridges. How to appreciate an opportunity that has been offered, and yet keep the door open incase we should choose to walk in :)

Ok, so I fell a little behind... :)

The past week or so has been so crazy busy!!! There have been lots of exciting things happening, just haven't really had time to post about them!

My nephew Kamuela turned one on July 27th. We had an AWESOME baby luau for him with the most amazing food! It was so ONO, and the best part was that I didn't have to cook! Well, I did have to deep fry about 300 lumpia, but that was nothing compared to all the work that Apua's family put into it.

That day, I got some great news from my friend Lianne. She told me that she is FINALLY pregnant!!! She's watched everyone else get pregnant and have babies, now, it's her turn. It's about time... Their son Shayne is going to be 13 when the baby is born. She's a little nervous about starting all over, but is excited and so am I!!! Another baby to hug and love, then return to the parents... ;)

On Saturday, we got the news that Kiale did make the Roughriders football team. He was on the waitlist, so we were just waiting for someone to drop out or not show up. After yesterdays practice, I can definitely see why kids would quit. He's in the 7,8 and 9 year old group, but they train just like the 15 year-olds. Yesterday was by far the most difficult thing for me to watch him go through. As most of you know, Kiale has REALLY bad allergies and does a nebulizer treatment everynight to keep him from getting full blown Asthma. My little man was such a trooper yesterday. For starters, the practice is 2 hours long, 5 days a week. It was also 80 degrees out yesterday. After they ran their first 1/4 mile lap around the track, he came in CRYING, but he never quit. The mouthpiece that they gave him was too big, so he couldn't breathe. After they practiced for about another hour, they had to run another 1/4 mile lap. I could hear him crying from where I was sitting. When they came in, they went straight into about 10 sprints. I could still hear him crying. Even with all the tears, I couldn't have been prouder... He NEVER QUIT!!! The coaches and captains noticed too... It was so hard for me to watch and not be able to do anything. At the end of the day, he said he was ready for the next practice. Talk about tears in the eyes!!!