Summer!!!

Summer's here! With summer comes a flurry of emotions: excitement for all of the possibilities of summer adventures, sadness to see my first class of students graduate, relief that I have free time on my hands, grief that I am taking 3 summer school courses, and the list goes on. Here are some pics from the last few weeks of my life!

Ducks on the school ground on the day of graduation

Bell pepper embryos...hahaha...I found them inside my bell pepper and thought they were cool

Graduation!  Our kiddos graduated!

Getting ready for our 1st annual end of the year hike!

Floating in the air! 

The view from the top

The crew! We made it to the top!

Can you see the hikers?

Picnic at the end of the hike

Dia de el Mayo

May Day is a fantastically huge event here in Hawai'i.  Although I've lived here for 5 years, today was my first May Day experience.  Here are photos from the event at my new school.

 

Conch shell blowers

   

Line-up by of royalty by island

 

The royal court 

  

The whole court

Kindergarten hula1st grade hula2nd grade hula4th grade hulaMaypoles!5th grade Maypoles!

The result of the maypole dance..beautiful weave

6th grade girls' hula

The Queen's hula

Awesome thing about Hawai'i?  Flower leis!

Aloha

Tonight I say aloha to one of my childhood friends.  She was killed in a car accident today in Albuquerque.  We haven't spoken in many years, although not out of malice.  We grew up together, sharing many a dance stage.  Today a man chose to rob a bank and speed away, hitting her car and killing her and her friend in the car.  She was out on a lunch run; just picking up lunch for her coworker...a normal, every-day event. 

Many, many emotions have overcome me.  First of all, life is too short (as cliche as that may sound) to not move forward in the directions of your dreams.  WHAT are we waiting for?  A long life is not guaranteed...

Second, America is sad.  People are in such states of desperation due to drug abuse, failed economy, etc that they are making decisions to do things like robbing banks and burglarizing homes.  And with what to show for it??   Words need not describe...

The other night I had the worst nightmare dream that I have ever had.  I dreamt that my brothers died.  In my dream we were not old, we were as we are now.  I woke up with the worst feeling...It was like my heart no longer existed.  I wanted so badly to hug them and I wondered why I don't call them every day just to tell them that I love them.  It made me so sad to live so far away from them.

I wonder...why do we hold grudges?  Why don't we live for the moment?  Why does it take such a tragedy to recognize what is important in our lives?  Have we conditioned ourselves with busy work past the point of reflection? 

May we all start to live with an awareness of life...of what it is today...right now...at this moment.

I am heartbroken, sad, sentimental...

 Here we are as kids...my friend who passed away is to my left...I'm sure you can find me...the smallest, scrawniest kid...

Kauai!

Spring Break on Kauai....

...need I say more?

Sunset

Why buy bread when you can make it so much better??

Waterfalls!!

Can you spot the monk seal?

Sopapillas!  There was a New Mexican restaurant...what?

Dolphins!

A cave

Taro fields

Waimea Canyon

Wild flowers growing at the top of the canyon

Hiking the Na Pali coast

The Na Pali coastline

Checking out the ocean below

The beach at the end of the trail!

YEAH!!!

Crazy February!

What a February!  Amazing, Life-Changing, Nerve-Wracking, Scary, Exciting...the list goes on. 

February began with a new job.  I am now a full-time 6th grade special education teacher at a school across the island...near to where our wedding occurred.  Coming into a new school at the end of the 3rd quarter, with state testing coming up and a 6th grade graduation looming over my students heads has made for an interesting first few weeks.  Not to mention the LOAD of information on a new school (what's my copy code, how do you use the laminator, fire drills, etc) and a new career that is heavily law-based (why is there am acronym for everything?). 

To make a long story short, I've felt sick all week.  The combination of nerves, 6th grade germs, and having to get up hours earlier has sent my body through the wash.  As sad as a furlough day is for the kids, I am thankful for a day to chill today.  Here are some pics:

Here's a shot from my drive homeAnother from the drive home...can't complainMy drive to work takes me past this marsh which usually is fog covered...so fresh and dewey!

My room is the last on the right!Sunrise from my classroom doorI also get to pass Kaneohe Bay on my way to workThe view from my class windowMy classroom!The Ko'olaus on my drive homeAnother fantastic view from the drive homeDriving homeReally? This is my view on the way home...Doesn't matter how bad the day was...

Okay, so the other interesting February event was the tsunami warning last weekend!  Yikes!  Nick and I, as well as most of the rest of the island, woke up at 4-5am when our friends and family from the mainland called us to see if we were okay!  When we went to bed, there was a tsunami watch, but we get those evey time there is an earthquake anywhere near.  We didn't think twice about it.  Well, at 6am, we found ourselves in line at Safeway with hundreds of other people, trying to get our share of water and canned goods.  Despite all of the hurry and rush, the tsunami didn't come onto land here.  There were unusual tidal changes, but nothing destructive.  We were slummy all day...watching the news, sleeping, not doing the work that we should have been doing.  Luckily we are in an extremely well-built buliding, unlike alot of structures here on the island. Below is a picture of the weather on tsunami day.  Although I know that a tsunami is not a weather-driven occurrence, I did find it interesting that it was a PERFECT day to go to the beach (other than a humounga cowabunga from down unda that was on it's way):

Aloha for now!