Korean Cinderella

It's back to school and that means one two things; paperwork and field trips.  

I won't go on about the paperwork, you know the drill...sign this, initial that, read this, return that, sign up for that, pay this...endless.  In the midst of all that was the permission slip for the first field trip of the year - a theater production of Korean Cinderella.  What? Chaperone...sure, I'm in.

I had no idea what to expect, but given the name I figured: slightly culturally adjusted version of the Disney gig.  

There are no words to describe the actual experience so I'll let my horrible iPhone videos do the talking (or singing...or whatever the K Pop version of all that is called)  By all means, turn up your volume.

  

Told ya!  I don't know what I was expecting...but it wasn't that!  This is one of those times where you look at the other moms and simply agree that this is another "only in Hawaii" moment.  

In case you are on the edge of your seat...she did accept the Mayor's proposal to go to the big dance but after that she was leaving him to become a K Pop star determined to make it on her own.  Good luck Gongi, we are all rooting for you.  I think.

My chaperoning days are numbered :)

Hangin with our buds!

Hard to believe it's been 4 years since we saw the Chapmans!  Like any time with good friends we picked up right where we left off (minus the obligatory talk of how big our kids have gotten) and didn't miss a beat.

Sharon could be my sister (except no family could take THAT much organization) so it's cool that we were separated at birth ;)  Between the two of us, we managed to pack in a few fun things in 10 days.

In no particular order, and in various groupings, we managed to....

Go on an 8 hour fishing charter.  (Which turned into a 12 hour fishing charter where Jack caught the only fish!)  This is an Ono fish, better known as a Wahoo.  Cool right?  Tasted delicious too!

Set sail for an awesome sunset catamaran ride

Hit the waters for a shark experience (or a walk on sea glass beach and some shopping if you are a sane person).

Hike Diamond Head and Koko Head

Koko Head was a strenuous hike (so they said, I was occupied with first day of school stuff) but totally worth it at the top!

Make sure to click on this photo to get the full panorama of their view!!

Create one very fancy, super blingy, one of a kind water bottle and head off to the first day of 3rd grade!!!  (Nope, I can't believe it either)  We do so enjoy pushing the limits of our Catholic School uniform ;)  Notice the belt has glitter stars on the sides too.  Rules are for sissies!

We also found time to lounge around on at least 4 beaches, but the "look at me so I can take your photo" shot was out of my grasp.  Teenagers. 

These two were much more cooperative!

We had nearly perfect weather the entire time 

I guess the only bad part was that these two didn't really hit it off ;)

Oh well, guess you can't force it!

Ok, back to our itinerary...

Paddleboarding

Jumping

And eating.  You name it, we ate it!  

There was also about 5 or 6 rounds of golf, a trip to the Arizona Memorial, shopping at Ala Moana, and of course a few hours at swap meet. 

A hui hou kakou...until we meet again!

Aloha Summer!

I have no idea where the time went!  

The good news is that we have long-time friends arriving tonight for a 10 day visit. The bad news is that when I pulled out my camera to charge it for all the upcoming fun we are about to have...it didn't have a single photo on it.  No photos = no blogging (I know you come here for the photos, not my witty banter.)

I don't know where July went.  David went to work, Olivia went to summer school, and Emily went out to play!

Sadly, July included the unavoidable round of goodbyes.  Two of these cuties have moved on to their next adventure as Navy kids.  Blach - that never, ever gets easier.

Neighborhood play old style!  This was the kiddos selling lemonade and lollypops on the street.  Giving it away is more accurate, but some folks were generous tippers ;) 

Yes, they are as sunburned as they look.  Bad Mommies.

More of the same...

Hard to believe Emily starts school on Monday!  Harder to believe she will be in 3rd grade.  

Even harder still is that I have a high-schooler.  AGGGG, I'm getting older as I type!  Look Ma...no braces!

Off to get my end of summer pedi - fabulous photos of our next 10 days to come :)