Crazy Soccer Gurl on KHON!!!

Typing Test!

So... You really want to know how fast you can type??? 

Well, thanks to my good friend, Darrah, here's a website you can find out - www.typingtest.com.

Yeah, the last time I did a typing test was waaaaaaaay back in high school. If the test is accurate, I can type approximately 65 - 70 wpm. 

What's yours?

Lei Day in Hawaii Nei...

Happy Aloha Friday!

Here in Hawai'i Nei, we celebrate May 1st - Lei Day. What is Lei Day you ask? Well, here's an explanation from one online user:

May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii. People celebrate May Day by participating in Lei making contests and performances. Schools usually have some kind of program with a king and queen and their court. All of the students dance. Selections can be a hula, other ethnic dances, and sometimes a folk dance or May Pole dance. Leis and flowers are seen during the day. 

Soooo... My daughter's May Day program was just yesterday. Yes, and I was one of the many parents in the crowd documenting Chrislyn's contribution to May Day 2008!!!

More Celebration...

We had a lot of fun this evening... Just laughing... hanging with all the casins...

Even Manang Aurelyn who is (at the moment) battling breast cancer. We are all so truly blessed to be so close and we can still laugh with each other, even though we haven't seen each other in so long!

Thank you Auntie Pipay for having us over, enjoying all the Filipino food! For Manong Junior and his cooking, and gosh darn Manong Rey and his bartending! OMG - GREAT kamakazes and a great "O" he made for all of us. It's been awhile...  :)

Uncle Manning...

It's been 11 years since my Uncle Manning passed away. His legacy lives on in his children and grandchildren. Every year, we celebrate his legacy - not his death.

Now it's been a long time since my sister has come to this event because usually on a weekend, she has a wedding to shoot. This weekend, there was a reason why she was not working.

Sis, Lesbo, Bean - long awaited photo...

Sis and Mots - laughing at the "bul-bul" water

Me and Mots - miss her!!!

Not even all of the first cousins but from 

L-R: Warren, Ger, Lita, Me, Rey

Back Row: Divina, Josie

Us casins - LOVE YOU ALL!!!

MS Walk with Friends

Nowadays, in our day to day lives, we are all so caught up with work, running errands, kid's sports and school activities... whew! I'm tired already! Who has time to do anything else??? If you can sleep in on a weekend it's a done deal.

This morning, I thought about sleeping in to catch up on the week's long overdue slumber I desperately needed. And then I remembered, the MS Walk. God gave me two working legs, and a healthy heart for a reason! I got up, got ready, and left the house at 6:30 am to head towards Ala Moana Beach Park. 

I was privileged to hang with Team Papapa and the Riggers Club to support our good friend, Lisa Papapa. She was just recently diagnosed with MS and is in the early stages of this disabling disease. Click here for more information. In fact, she was featured in Wednesday's Honolulu Advertiser front page.

Throughout our walk, there were volunteers holding signs that stated facts like:

- 900 people are diagnosed with MS in Hawaii

- 78% of monies raised go towards research, funds, medicines

-75% of women are diagnosed with MS

The statistics alone were mindboggling.

If you are interested in donating to Team Papapa or Lisa Papapa, please go to this website - National MS Society - and you should be able to still donate to a specific family.

Here is Team Papapa aka Riggers Club 'Ohana, ready to start our walk!

Lisa and her daughter, Cori, the one featured in the Honolulu Advertiser. It really does take a lot of faith and hope and strength to do what her daughter does! I cannot even imagine what Cori feels each time she has to inject her Mom with her medicine!

Lisa, I totally admire your grace, your smiles, your patience and your strength despite all that you are going through! God had blessed me, to know a wonderful and loving person in you. I am in awe of your positive presence! God bless you and your family!

Seattle University Forum

Last night, we were invited to this Seattle University Forum at the New Otani Kaimana Hotel. The Dean of Admissions, Michael McKeon, fellow alumni - Derrick Kang ('87), Elliott Chamizo ('62), and Jon & I ('92) looked out in awe of a very filled room of parents and their graduating daughters & sons... 

Right before it got started, we sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful, calm beach scene...

And the hazy sunset...

The University has grown so much; not just in students and buildings, but in spirituality. Although Seattle U is a Jesuit college, their "religious" impact is the lowest among the 28 other Jesuit colleges around the country. You would need to check out their website - Seattle University - to view their mission statement, their Jesuit tradition, and other impacts this university has on the community.

From Left to Right: Michael McKeon (Dean of Admissions), Jon, Me, Elliot Chamizo, and Derrick Kang. Mahalo to Blake for taking this photo of us! He had to run off to catch the red eye flight back to Seattle to attend classes the next day. Yup, talk about dedication!

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Now on a more interesting note... My sister was so kind to babysit my kiddies while Jon and I went to this shin-dig. THANK YOU Auntie Rhino!!!!!  

PLEASE check out her blog - Hokuli'i Images - and see her adventures in Freitas-land!

Auntie Pipay...

I love my Auntie Pipay. She is such a love, a blessing, a generous soul. Every time we come over to her house, she makes sure we eat until we bust a button, and we even take home "balon" - doggie bag in Ilocano. :) She even calls us to come over and pick up our favorite dishes she makes especially for us - Chicken Sayote or Chicken Papaya or Chicken Marungay, Adobo... mmmm... so yummy even mentioning them!!!

So, as a gift to Auntie, my Sister, Geralyn, took this grand family photo, framed & matted it for her. This is going up in the living room where everyone can see her beautiful family!

~ Auntie Pipay was married to our Uncle Manning, our Mother's brother. He walked me down the aisle when I was getting married 15 years ago... He was the youngest of 13, with my Mom right before him. Although he has passed on (over 14 years now), his legacy still lives on...

"Working" with My Sis!

It's always, ALWAYS a pleasure to work with my big sis, Geralyn of Hokuli'i Images! Somehow, we have time to snap a quick photo of us, even if we do it in the Ihilani Hotel bathroom! 

Doing test shots for Ger is fun, too. She cracks me up and makes me laugh every time!

I don't even know what the hairy heck she was saying, but I think it had to do with the palm trees in the background. Doesn't it look like it's coming out of the top of my head???

And thank you for allowing me to help you, Sis! We had the awesome pleasure of meeting Mr. Jake Shimabukuro, the well known Ukulele Master of this time! He was so real. So honest. So soulful (if there's such a word!). His music was just unbelievable!!!

I'm glad he allowed us to take pictures with him! Mahalo Jake!!! 

More soccer...

I love soccer so much, that I got up early, grabbed my son, and went to the '94 Maile team's game in Kane'ohe. NOT even any of both my daughters teams; just a Leahi Team that I know! I sat and watched these awesome girls play. No competition against them.

Even their goalie was lonely... I had to crop this photo in. If not, she would be this tiny speck in the middle of the field of green...

Even my son was a bit bored. He went looking for sticks and bugs after awhile...

Sooo, I ended up dropping him home before I headed out to my game at Kapiolani Park. Although we lost (2-0), it was one of my better games - especially since starting Cross Fit Training! I'll have to update my blog on that, too!

The next morning...

The girls stayed up late (thanks to Coach Adolph and his ghost stories!) and well, it's already 8:30 am and here they are...

One last group photo before everyone had to clean up, get ready, and get out! Mahalo to all that came and hopefully had fun! Thank you to Coach Adolph, Coach Deana, and Coach Ted for all your help! 

Of course, still the same day, had my son's last soccer game. He is officially named "Nick" because he wasn't paying attention when there was a breakaway. Everyone (including me) was calling his name to look up. Well, right in the "nick" of time, he looked up, and blasted the ball in the other direction. You go, son. In time I know he'll get better. At this age, it's so much fun watching and laughing my head off!

So needless to say, I'm so proud of him! He got a medal and a cool goodie bag of stuffs! 

Sleepovers...I must be crazy

So, I had my daughter's team - and two others - sleep over at our hale from March 28th to 29th. I'd like to say that the girls had a good time and enjoyed themselves. There was playing of ping pong, basketball, volleyball, and yes, even pool (sorry, can't show those!)

Here we were (can you see my son???), getting stuffs ready for dinner that evening - pasta, to carbo load for tomorrow's game!
That evening, we showed Miracle, to inspire the girls... but I think it inspired Coach D to run a few drills on her girls instead!

Sunsets again...

Yet another sunset photo taken on March 26th. This is also on the Kamehameha Schools campus. The sun is setting over the Leeward area. It was a clear evening... 

Updates!!!

I can't believe how long I haven't updated my blog! It's been sooooo dang busy!

So I hope I can do it justice by starting with this photo... Had to run errands in Aina Haina, so I decided to continue the beautiful drive into Hawaii Kai, then to Makapu'u, going into Waimanalo, etc. This is me, on the hairpin turn by Makapu'u, taking a quickie photo... The day was just gorgeous! You can clearly see the bottom of the ocean below...

Last photo of the evening...

And so ends a beautiful day at the beach. We stayed until the sun went down, appreciating every moment whenever we get a chance to download, relax, and enjoy family time. 

What a blessing to have such great weather and a beautiful sunset to end the evening.

(Yes, that would be my son in the water, bending down. He wasn't ready to leave!)

Waikiki Beach and getting darker...

Here are my two monkeys that stayed in the water - pretty much the whole 6 hours we were there! Getting darker by the minute!

Daddy was getting them to ride the waves. Hopefully soon, they'll go out with him and catch some bigger ones!

If you look closely at this picture, you can see Mokulele's elemu (his behind) - very white. So yes, he's gotten darker. Waaay darker. And tomorrow, he's going to the beach again with his sister and friends! Can he get any darker????

Easter Sunday Adventures

Happy Easter!

Yes, here we are, Sunday morning, BRIGHT EYED & BUSHY TAILED. The kiddies were looking for all 16 eggs!

We took time today (no soccer, can you believe it???) to go to Church and give thanks. I really do love the 10:00 am service at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea. The Samoan choir is phenomenal.  

After a quick stop over to Gulicks for a mish mash of food, home to change, we were off to the beach for some R&R. We went to Waikiki beach, planted ourselves near the water and grassy area. 

I went running first before I relaxed a bit. Felt like exercising before relaxing... I know I'm a goof.

Mokulele, of course, was already in the water from the get go. I had to make him stop to take a picture. Here he is when he was BARELY dark. 

Egg Coloring Night... part 2

Here are Mokulele's finished eggs. He colored, crayoned, and even put stickers on them. Very creative...

The end of the evening's adventure with coloring eggs for the Easter Bunny.

But on a more religious note, this is not about the Easter Bunny. Rather, this is about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. He is the reason for the season. 

Egg Coloring Night...

We started coloring eggs a little late this time around. But, despite the late hour, the kiddies were into it all. 

Mokulele was our most awake child and ready to rock and roll coloring!

He really reminds me of his Auntie Rhino; always ready for a picture, even though he was trying to finish coloring his eggs.

Thing 2 was so cute in making this very creative egg. It even had hair!

St. Patrick's Day at Aloha Towers

 This past Monday, March 17th, St. Patty's Day, was full of GREEN excitement! We FINALLY went to go see Caleigh and Delia perform! They were performing their Irish Step Dancing at Aloha Towers Marketplace. They were sensational!
 Here are the group of kids that performed, including Tristan AND Gavin (the sad little one in the kilt/skirt). They were great! We found out that Caleigh and Delia had been performing ALL DAY at different events and venues. Unbelievable. You wouldn't know it by the way they danced their heart out.
During their performance, we went to eat because my stomach was hungry. So we snuck away to Don Ho's Bar & Grill, had pupus and a beer with Jon.
Our kiddies were having a great time as well. :) Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Day 4 with Kimo & CrossFit

No pictures. Sorry! My legs/thighs are still sore after Wednesday's workout. This time it was Tabata squats, kettle bell squat, push ups, and ending that with a 600m run. My legs felt like jello. 

Still, despite feeling like your legs are going to fall off, it was a great 11 minute workout. Intense, but well worth it. Michelle, another stay at home Mom, was there. She did the Tabata squats at ANOTHER CrossFit training facility the other day. She's one hot mama!!! She was very encouraging and was yelling from across the room to me not to give up.

This time, I did worse on my run. I was 13 seconds more than the first time. I will need to improve on that! But for the most part, I think I did pretty good. I averaged 16 squats (4 minutes), 40 of the kettle bell squats (2 minutes), and 45 sit ups (2 minutes). My run was 4:27. Today is another workout, so we'll see how I do! 

Mokulele & his gals

It was my dog niece's birthday March 20th. She is officially 6 years old and feeling FIT! It's hard to believe that for a good portion of her little life, she was severely overweight. Yup, an overweight black lab. But with constant caring and putting her foot down, my Sis has gotten her exercising waaaaay better than before, sticking to just the main meals of the day, and no snacking or giving her unhealthy snacks. She deserved this homemade gluten free carrot cake!
Here's my son, so excited to show off the cake made by Auntie Rhino. I'm not sure if he helped because when I left to run errands, he was sleeping while Auntie Rhino was baking... hmmm...

And finally, the Love of his life - Baby Daisy. Earlier this was reversed. HE was sleeping and she was up watching tv. His first words when he met her (2 years ago) was "Um Auntie, she's crying." She, of course, was still baby. He being 3 years older than her... Then later (the same day!) he said "She's so cute! Baby Daisy is so cute!" And that's what started it. Whatever "it" is, he sees her and he's all shy but smiling. :)