Monday, October 28, 2013

Festival of Aloha

We had an action-packed agenda in heavenly hana this past week! Hana had non-stop activities including a town parade, keiki contest, fishing tournament, hana high homecoming football game, poke contest, a lei and flower show and lots of hula and hawaiian music!! All right here in the most unspoiled locations in the world! I was looking forward to Aloha week since we arrived and waiting in anticipation. You could feel the excitement building throughout town as families prepared for the upcoming event. We had a fantastic time, enjoyed lots of wonderful food and excellent music amongst good friends. If you even plan to visit Hana during the fall, this would be the week to come.


I'm positive the capture button on my camera is worn out. I was constantly hustling to capture every moment! Every so often that feeling of being on vacation seems to circle back into our lives and we feel pretty lucky we can say it's not vacation, but our home. In consideration of overwhelming everybody with the enormous amounts of photos, I compressed a few into a highlight video of the week. I made sure to capture some of the artistic beauty God has placed in Hana and always feel so grateful he placed us in such a beautiful world. To think there is something better....

On a quick note, Aviana is walking. And I mean, WALKING. All I ever heard was how difficult and hard it is when a child learns to walk, but I cannot think of anything that makes us smile more and laugh harder then watching her walk and seeing the expressions on her face when she discovers and learns. It's priceless. We're having so much fun being parents and enjoy every hysterical, emotional, tough, tiring, silly moment she brings into our life. I only have three more weeks and my little girl will be a 1 year-old. Time has flown. We've been blessed with such a wonderful spirit.



                   




Boy Scouts of America, Troop 8. This is the group Tyler will now be overseeing, his new calling in our church, which will integrate him into the community as well. We're looking forward to a lot of campouts and learning new survival skills on the island. Don't they look great!



This is Derek and Kamana. Two of Ty's friend here in Hana. Derek currently works on Hana Ranch and Tyler is looking forward to the turn over and working alongside Derek. These two sure represent hawaiian paniolos very well.



Vintage cars. Loved this part. I wanted a ride in each one. If only. I was a little shocked when I saw how many of these vintage cars were in Hana, not to mention the line of motorcycles right behind them! People pop out of all sorts of places in Hana.



This was a special moment to me and I think to Hana as well.  Travis, who also is a friend of Tylers, works up on Hana Ranch. Here he is representing his girlfriend who passed away after giving birth to their daughter, Maryann. Maryann is a few months younger than Aviana, and absolutely darling. We have never met Daphne, but we know and have felt from the people in Hana that she is really missed. They pay great respects to her and honor her life and willingness to give her own for another.




Keiki Contest

Isn't she so cute? Thanks to YouTube I was able to figure out how to make a Haku lei and dress up our little girl. Amazingly, she wore it a large portion of the evening! It was fun to watch the kids run around and show off their cuteness. She was able to take home a case of board books and has been enjoying reading them at home. 




We took a break and went down to Hana Bay for a few hours during the week. Aviana wasn't sure what Dad was up to; looking on in curiosity. After this photo was taken she sprinted out to try and get him, completely unaware that the waves would devour her.




Kahanu Garden
home of the
Pi'ilanihale Heiau



Pi'ilanihale Heiau (ancient hawaiian temple or sacred site) took more than 128,000 man-days to complete, sequences starting around 1200 A.D.  They aren't sure how this particular heiau was used. They say there is evidence of it being a religious site, but also was used as a house site. I guess most of the history remains a shrouded mystery. We were told by several people that if you are in tune you are able to feel something while you are there. Tyler had a definite feeling in his bones from the beginning and only after a few minutes was I able to pick up on it. Kahanu garden was beautiful and we will surely be back again. (the view of the coastline was surreal).





That concludes our exciting week!! Love and miss you all back on the mainland & across the world.

Aloha, Leilani


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