Hula Competition: July 19, 2012 to July 23, 2012

Cashel at her last practice before our trip to Sacramento for the George Na'ope Hula Festival 

 Starting the 8-hour journey.  We brought plenty of things to help pass the time.

 Rehearsal Day: The day before the festival was a rehearsal day for the halau.  The keiki took a moment to take a group photo before their last practices.

Each halau had 20 minutes on the actual performance stage to set their spots for their dances.

Competition Day 1: Hula Kahiko (Traditional)

Hair and makeup time

 

Here is the full Kahiko performance (Cashel is in the front as they walk out).  They did such a great job! 

After their performance it was picture time.

 Cashel clowning around with Tia

 Cashel with Kumu

 Cashel and Eva

Competition Day 2: Hula Auana (Modern)

 On day 2 before the second performance, Peter and Daddy were able to spend a few hours exploring Old Sacramento and the California State Railroad Museum.

 

 Peter loves trains.  He was extremely excited to be able to go into several of them.  This particular one simulated the movements and sounds of a real train.

But the big winner was the hands-on train toy room.

 Meanwhile, hats were being adorned with flower leis for the girls' Auana hula performance.

Getting ready

Here is the full Auana performance (again, with Cashel in front as they come out).  On the big stage, they performed as well as we've ever seen!

 Picture time!

 Cashel and Kumu

  By the end of the second day, Peter was exhausted

The festival was terrific and the competition went very well, with Cashel's halau (Halau Hula o Na Pua o Hawai'i Nei) taking 1st or 2nd place in many of the categories (kids and adults, solos and groups).  The girls did very well, taking first place in the Hula Kahiko, kaikamahine division.  We had a great time and look forward to competing in the festival again next year.

March 24, 2012 to June 26, 2012

We visited OMSI in April where there was a Lego exhibit, which included a lot of hands-on activities.

Oddly, they don't really play with their legos at home.

OMSI had a cool weather center where you could film yourself giving a weather report.

Peter loves cash registers.

Sitting in a space launch capsule

This was a fun play area that allowed kids to shoot foam balls through various air tubes.  Peter enjoyed moving the tubes around.

Easter time means egg hunt booty

Hula accessories!

We took a weekend trip to the coast to visit the beach and the aquarium.  We used this opportunity to test out the kids' microkites from Nanny.

It looks like a regular-sized kite that's far away, but it's actually a 4-inch kite that's fairly close.

Cashel said she wanted to eat them.

Peter didn't know what to think.

Cashel always requests us to take pictures of her posing.

Trying to view the fish under the floor.

This is actually Peter in a timeout.

Cashel's school has an end-of-the-year event called Fiesta Cultural where each class does an act.  This is the Kinder performance.

At Chuck-E-Cheese for our friend Cody's birthday!

Dancing in front of the blue screen

Cashel's halau (hula school) performed at a hula competition in Sacramento (photos from this event will be in the next post).  This is the photo they submitted for the competition program.

Clover photobombing Cashel.

Cashel's halau had a series of performances leading up to the competition.  This was at a retirement community.

Last-minute pep talk from Kumu (teacher)

Peter reading to Clover.  She's not impressed.

Strawberry picking time!

Class photo from Cashel's last day of kindergarten.

Hamming it up.

Our little graduate

One of Amy's coworkers has goats who had babies recently, and invited people over to see them.  Peter was a little apprehensive, but Cashel was all about feeding and carrying them.

The Olympic Track and Field trials were at the University of Oregon this summer.  Cashel's day care took the kids to participate at a special all-comers track meet.

Preparing to run a 60 meter dash.

After the meet, we played in the Olympic (trial) festival.

Hamster wheel, coming to Rio 2016.