Hauoli Halloween

Halloween 2009 proved to have some scary changes. Not only was the crowd not there in Laie but the treats were different too. All signs of the economic times. We mangaged to keep one tradition alive and that was trick or treating with Auntie Amie, Joshua and Lavania. Prior to that evening we went to Kaden's soccer game and shopping with mom. No time to buy and carve a pumpking this year, or even pick one from the patch. However, all in all we made our own fun, with great company, food, and a movie. We look forward to next year and hope it will be filled with a little less change. Now it's on to Thanksgiving...

Our 1st Memorial: Remembering Our Dad/Papa

On Wednesday, October 28, 2009 our family remembered Dad/Papa. We served his favorite foods and we invited close friends and neighbors that helped us last year through this difficult time. We watched a video that was made at his funeral, and we shared stories. It was a start of a new year for us. We made it through all the first without our family patriarch. It was a roller coaster year and we just hope that we will have a better year ahead. We love our dad and papa and we will continue to prolong his legacy here in La'ie and in our family. Mahalo to all those who shared this night with us.

Enjoying La'ie's Festivities

It has been a busy and fun weekend. I didn't even have to leave La'ie to find thrills, excitment, and socialization. On Friday, we went to the 2nd Annual Haunted Lagoon which took place at our very on PCC in La'ie. It has opened since the beginning of October but took me this long to build up the courage to go. However, it helps when you have a good friend to go with. So we arrived early, and then waited in line. It was top notch entertainment with excitment, thrills, and chills. Then on Saturday, we went to the college to attend the Foodfest. The weather was perfect, tradewinds were back, and the company was awesome enjoying eating dinner outside. Who could have asked for a better weekend? I'm glad I was able to enjoy the festivities of La'ie without getting in a car to go to town.

A Relaxing Break

Well I've come to the end of my Fall Break with the kids. It was so nice sleeping in, making breakfast, and doing housework. Normally I wouldn't say that I enjoyed doing housework but when I work all day it's just piles up. When I stay home it gets done. So I was glad I had more control over the housework instead of it controlling me. It made me realize though how much time is taken away from the home. There are so many distractions now in this world that it puts added pressure put on me to be too many places at once. I must continue to have a balanced life, get organized, and most importantly say to myself you have to give this up today to do that. So back to work I go tomorrow and I look forward to doing the best I can do and appreciate the breaks that are to come such as Fridays I'm off, and Winter Break.

Fall Approaching

So the seasons are hard to feel temperature wise in Hawai'i. The temperature is pretty much the same all day. I can tell when Fall approaches due to the scheduled football games. Most convinently going to Kahuku High School football games. Not only is my 15 year old daughter interested in going to the games, but her mother is interested in going too and spending time watching her interact with her peers. I have been blessed with a wonderful friend who likes to go along with me to these games and we have children close to the same age. (Mahalo Amie!)We deffinitely have fun together and get some good laughs too.
Therefore because Amie has done such a good job being a weekly Kahuku High School sports reporter she has inspired me to write about going to see Football. Pictures will come next time. Mikayla, Kaden, and Kahana sure enjoy seeing the crowd, players and eating the grindz and the Kahuku Football Games. I sometimes feel like a celebrity when children I've taught both at Kahuku and Laie come together to take a moment to say "hi" to me.
Kahuku football if you live Laie, you gotta love it! Go Big Red! (I'm still a warrior though don't worry Kamehameha fans) I love you both! Imua!

A Summer of Change

Well our summer break is winding down and this has diffinitely been a summer of change. We all knew it had to come that life would not just be the same as past years but time crept up on us quickly. It was time for the Akana/Kloeppel families to accelerate themselves into high gear. On June 1 we rented our parents house to BYUH faculty, we were fortunate that dad built us a home with mom in mind. Mom got to move in with us and we have enjoyed every minute of it. She has done so much to help out with the children. Craig and his family were able to stay with us and they then ventured to St. George. It was difficult seeing them go but I'm very proud of them they were blessed with opportunities that they wouldn't have gotten if they stayed here. Our favorite friends and neighbors from Utah the Lloyds came to visit us. This was deffinitely the most memorable highlight of my summer. We just picked up where we left off and enjoyed spending time together. We got to relax with them and enjoyed Hawai'i. Going to Waimea Bay, Macky's Shrimp Truck, Celebrating Mikayla's 15th birthday and going to PCC to say the least... The time sure went by fast. We look forward to our next reunion together. I also taught preschool and got my skills tuned up so I'll be ready to teach Kindergarten this fall. Afterall that is my forte. Toward the end of the month of July I moved from 6th grade to Kindergarten, and am part of a new team which have embraced me as their colleauge. So far so good and Fall is yet approaching...getting ready for the Football games and Holidays. Yeah!

2009 Choir Trip to Washington D.C. and New York

Last week Sunday Me and my mom were able to go on tour with the Ko'olauloa Childrens Choir. We ha two different flights we were on the first flight with Mrs. Wagner. I had most of my friends on my flight I was so happy. We left at 12:00 pm from Mrs. Wagner's house to go to the airport. On the way there everyone was so tired they were sleeping in the back of the bus. We were so bored once we got to the airport, we all couldn't believe that we were going to Washington D.C. and New York. Once we got on the plane we were going from Hawaii to Chicago a nine hour flight I think. Then we basically had to run to our next plane because we almost missed it. It was a good thing that Mrs. Wagner made sure that everyone was on the next flight. That flight was only two hours long, thank goodness.

Right when we got off of the plane we went to go get breakfast at the mall near by the airport. We meet our tour guide Becky, she was so awesome and cool. Then after we went to the mall we went to the Smithsonian. We were able to see four out of eighteen museums. We went to the Air and Space, Hirsch Art Museum, National History, and National American history Museum. After we went to the Capital to have a tour we took some pictures next to King Kamehameha. We weren't able to finish our tour because of two reasons one was that we had to go sing to Senator Akaka and the other was that there was some kind of incident that had just happened in the tour. It was so cool because we got to go through the secret passage way to get to the Senators building. Our tour guide even walked us to the Senate building himself. We were able to meet,sing and take pictures with senetor Akaka and the acoustics in the building was amazing. We sounded so good. After we sang to Senator Akaka we went to our hotel. We were so tired we went to bed as soon as we got there.

On Tuesday for breakfast we sang to a southern Flordia choir. They probly had twice the amount of singers in there group then we did. They were also a all boys choir. We sang our Aloha Chant feeling all proud after we sang it and then they did a African song that made us look really bad. We all felt really stupid and wanted to leave as soon as we could because we were so embaressed. Then we were off to Pennsylvaina were we haven't embaressed ourselves yet. We saw the Liberty Bell, Independence hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed, an old fashion ice cream and soda parlor, we clibmed up the "Rocky" stairs(where rocky was filmed), Benjaman Franklins grave, Betsy Ross`s house, an alley that has been there since the 1800,and other cool and neat places. Then we went to back to our hotel in New Jersey.

On Wednesday we went to go see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building. Then we went to this cool resterant called MARS 2112. Everyone who was working there was dressed up as aliens from Mars. It was so cool.

On Thursday we got to meet the other choirs who we were going to be singing with on Saturday. That was also the first day that we got to spend with our director. She was so fun and exciting. She made sure that we sang the music to our fullest. Then went to go sing at St. Pauls Chapel. For the rest of the day we had free time which was really nice.

On Friday we had rehearsal again in the morning. Then later on we went a braodway play. We went to go see as a choir The Lion King. It was so cool and amazing all the bright colors and all of the costumes. I loved it, I just wish that we could have seen another Broadway play while we were in New York.

On Saturday we had rehearsal our last rehearsal until we sang at Carnagie. When we went to Carnagie for another short practice we were all shocked we could not believe that there were 2,700 seats in there. We then went back to the hotel and got to go to bed I was so happy. Then before we knew it we were singing in Carnagie, we got a standing ovation, and a hana Hou. We were all very happy and excited. Once we got back to the room we were all screaming and hugging people we were all so proud of ourselves. Then we got to go on a Cruise and dance. Me and my friends were so tired after the concert that we just chilled on the seventh floor of the ship. I was planning on not going to sleep because the crusie finished at two and then we had to wake up to go and catch our flight at four.

On Sunday I was so happy to be home finally I was glad that we got to go to Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and everywhere else we went to. But man when we came home we were so tired that I just crashed.