Aloha Week Parade

Last weedend we went to the Aloha Week Parade. I'm pretty sure that every island has this and different festivities through out this time of year. But I know for sure they have it on Moloka'i. I grew up going to the parade and the ho'olaule'a, but this was the first time that I went here on Oahu.

Here we are on the median waiting for the parade to start.

I was a bit sad that Na'u didn't get to see all of this because she was on Moloka'i again. I knew she would have loved it all. Maybe next year.

For these Aloha Week festivities, they have a royal court that attends all the different events.


...and for the parade, they have pa'u riders that represent each island. There is a princess and her court. These riders (and horses) are dressed in their island color. They are soooo beautiful. Secretly I've always wanted to be one :). They look so graceful guiding their horse to either side of the street, smiling and bowing to everyone. I figure I can ride a horse and smile, should be nothing to it :). Here is....

Moloka'i


Ni'ihau


Oahu


Maui


Lana'i
This is one of my hula sisters from Ka Pa Hula O Ka Lei Lehua. She did awesome!


Here is a close-up of Lana'i's horse's adornments. BEAUTIFUL! Alot of work goes into preparation starting weeks in advance.


And here's our friend Mandy who was singing and playing ukulele behind Lana'i's pa'u riders.


Kaho'olawe


Kaua'i


Big Island


There were many bands that participated. Here is Cameron's high school Marching Band. He said he marched in this parade when he was a freshman. It was "super hot, and super long." In fact, they're wearing the same uniform.


There were floats that came by all beautifully decorated with native flowers. Some even had hula dancers like this one.


We had so much fun. Can't wait til next year!

FYI-All pictures and videos were taken with our iphones :).

Ipod...Not just for pleasure

We were all at my Aunty Nei's house practicing songs for her funeral and papa Ipo was taking care of Iwi boy. It was late and I think he just wanted to be in his own bed. I could hear him fussing for a while. When we were finished, I came back upstairs and found my son like this. He wasn't responding to the carrying and rocking and I'm pretty sure that my dad was getting tired too. My dad plugged Iwi's ears, played some music and my son was out like that. Thank you IPOD (and papa :)!

Our Sad Story with Some Cute Stuff Too

I've always admired those of you who are consistent with your blogs. My intentions are there and I go through little spurts of wanting to up keep this thing but always fall into those non-posting slumps. I would like to change that.

This sudden change came on because of what happened to our computer a few weeks ago. It DIED. All of our information...gone. The computer wouldn't even turn on. The most important things on there was ALL of our pictures and videos from the past two years. Cameron was on a mission to retrieve whatever we could. He hopped on craigslist and found a guy out in Laie. As soon as he was off from work he headed out there. This guy worked on it for a few hours with no success. Cam found another guy out in Kapolei and went straight there. Cam left the computer with him and after a few hours, he was able to get our pictures from 2009. This guy said that the longer the computer ran, the more corrupt the system became. Since it took so long, he got a new part (I don't know what it's called), reinstalled everything, and gave us back the old hard drive. I was happy to know that all of Iwi's birth and the first half of his life was saved and that MAYBE someone else could get the rest of the pictures and videos. Through "police business" Cameron met this other computer wiz who offered to help. I was so hopeful. This computer guy tried but the old computer went COMPLETELY dead. I'm so SUPER sad even til this day. I don't think that I'll ever get over it but I'm looking forward to taking even more pictures then before.

Although this is such a sad story, I have definitely learned my lesson. We always meant to back up our files but never got around to doing it. Please learn from us. Don't wait till tomorrow. Just do it. I'm also kicking myself because if I had kept up with this blog, then I would have had most of my pictures...at least the more important ones anyways.

So with all of that being said, I'm starting this thing up....again :).

A few days ago, I mentioned to Cameron how one of these days (maybe when Na'u is older), I'm not going to be around to fix her hair and that he would have to do it. Right then he went to it. He pulled her hair back into a lower ponytail and tied it. Not to bad from the front.


Here's the back.

If you look a little closer, daddy didn't use a rubberband. He used a twist tie from the bread. My poor girl will be going to school with her hair all made up with a TWIST TIE :). I better coach him now so that when the time does come, Cameron will be able to use a rubberband and maybe even do some fancy hairdos like braid. But for now, we'll stick to the basics :).

And for your viewing pleasure, some brotherly/sisterly love.
These two make me smile. Even though they occasionally fight, I can tell that they love eachother.


I can't believe how big they both are getting. Too fast!

I am a proud mommy!

PS-If you haven't already, go and back up all your important files NOW!