Pant Splitting Fun...

It is amazing how fast time goes by. It has already been two weeks since coming back from fall break!

It seems that having a week off turned my students into little crazy children! We have spent much of that past two weeks reviewing how to obey and follow directions! It has been tiring but I think they are starting to get back into the routine of school.

We jumped right back into school after break with a field trip to Papahana Kuaola. In Hawaiian Studies we have been teaching the kids about indigenous and endemic plants and animals of Hawaii and how different plants and animals got to Hawaii. So we got to go to Papahana Kuaola where the kids got to explore and see different plants of Hawaii, learn about how Hawaii was formed, see early Hawaiian tools, and learn how the Hawaiians used different plants for different things.

Walking in the mud through a Taro patch! Most of the kids loved this part.

The field trip was a great success with the kids but it wasn't without a couple of glitches along the way. As we were all lining up to get onto the bus to head out to the field trip one of my little ones started to throw up in the parking lot! Luckily it happened when it did because if we had gotten on the bus two minutes earlier she would have been throwing up all over the bus! Needless to say she didn't go on the field trip. Well you would think that was enough excitement for one field trip but no...

During the field trip we were all enjoying wading in the stream fishing for little minnows the kids were squealing with delight all in all it was great! Well I decided to take a seat on one of the rocks (bad idea!) where my pants decide to get caught on a sharp edge of the rock and proceed to rip right across my butt!! I sat there for a second thinking to myself did that seriously just happen?? Why?  I slowly began to stand up, making sure there was no one behind me, pulled my shirt down over my butt and scoot myself over to Kim where I whisper, "Um Kim my pants just completely ripped I will be back!" She laughs and says "OK I will cover for you!"

Before my pants ripped!

Luckily for me being a teacher has helped me become a more prepared person! I very strategically made my way back to my backpack where my extra set of clothes was waiting for me! I quickly changed and headed back to the group where no one was the wiser about my pants splitting other than Kim! Other than those things the field trip was great!

Another fun thing that we got to do since coming back from fall break was have some fire fighters visit the the school (this may have been more fun for me than the kids ;) ).  One of the first graders in Kim's class has a grandpa who is a district fire chief so he offered to have one of his crews come out and show the kids a fire truck! So on Thursday this last past week we had a fire truck, an ambulance, and a whole crew come out the the school and let our first graders go in the trucks and taught them about fire safety.

In the ambulance!

I love being a teacher!

One of my favorites!

The kids (and their teacher, me) had a great time with the nice fire fighters! ;) Apparently to be a firefighter in Hawaii one of the requirements is to you have to be an extremely good looking Hawaiian!  I didn't mind at all :)

Firefighter Jessica and Kim!

After the firemen left and we were wrapping up the day with our kids, having them write a thank you note to the firemen for coming to our schools. One of my students, while writing his note, says to himself "I can't wait for my grandma to pick me up from school today so I can tell her about this AWESOME day!" (Grace it was Dane). I love days like that when the kids have had a blast at school.

Both first grade classes in front of the fire truck!

After all the business and excitement of the past two weeks Laura and I have plans tonight to sit at home and carve some pumpkins! It is as close to having fall as we can get in Hawaii!

Love and miss you all!
Jessica

Fall Break!

I know I know! It has been forever since my last post. Sorry for all the those who have been waiting to read about everything I have been doing (Grandma and Mom :) ) I have just been so busy relaxing and having a blast this week on my week off from school! This has been one of the best weeks I have had in a long time! I finally felt like I was able to go and explore and enjoy Hawaii without having to worry about work or getting lesson plans done! It has been fabulous! I couldn't have asked for a better vacation week.

The week started off with getting a car to borrow from my boss Nancy. She kindly offered to let us use her car since she was going to be gone for the week! Monday Laura and I spent the day getting ready to Grace to arrive that night! We went shopping and cleaned up the house. Monday night finally arrived and we headed to the airport with much excitement to pick of Grace! Made a quick pit stop to grab a lei to greet her with! Then there she was!  We jumped out of the car and proceeded with several hugs and kisses!

Tuesday

 We started the day off with a nice hike up to the Makapuu light house so that Grace could enjoy the amazing view from the top! Unfortunately we forgot to bring water with us on the way up so Grace was about dying by the time we got back to the car to get some water! After hiking we all were ready to get into the water! We headed down to Kalama beach were we spent the rest of the afternoon boogie boarding and soaking up the sun and sand!

Wednesday

Lucky for us we have some good connections here in Hawaii! We got the hook up from another one of the teachers to get free kayaks for the day! So Wednesday morning we headed down to Kailua beach to grabs some kayaks. After watching the safety video and actually getting to the ocean we were all a little nervous about actually having to kayak out in the big ocean and the possibility of dying! But on the way out we tagged along two nice couples who assured us that we wouldn't die and we could make it out to the Mokes (the twin islands of the coast of Lanikai beach). After much effort and using of our muscles we made it safely onto the shore! While on the island we were sure to do some exploring and found a nice deep pool of water that we were sure to jump into! After we explored the island we decided that we were dying of hunger and needed to make it back so that we could get some food! Well the trip was a lot more work and tiring than the trip there! We finally made it back to the kayak rental place and lucky for us it was right next to Island Snow. So we all had our first taste of shave ice! We all fell is love right away and vowed to get shave ice everyday for the rest of the week!

After returning home we decided to head out to Waikiki to have dinner on the beach. After doing some google searching we found a restaurant that looked promising and decided to give it a try. Laura decided that she needed to get some work done so it was just Grace and I for the night. Well it ended up that the restaurant we chose was in one of the nicest hotels in Waikiki! It was a gorgeous restaurant right on the beach with live music and our very own hula dancer! We had delicious drinks, food and sunset! The whole night was a success.  

Thursday

Thursday we decided to head up to the North Shore to explore Haleiwa. The trip there ended up becoming interesting when Grace and I had to pee so bad we were ready to die! Poor Laura she turned into the person for us to yell at until we found a restroom. It was a very traumatic experience for all involved! Once we got the Haleiwa we were in need of some food and shave ice to help restore the situation. After getting some food we all felt a little bit better and decided to explore the coast a little bit. We stopped and Waimea Falls which looks exactly like Jurassic Park! It was beautiful and yes it is indeed where they filmed Lost, which Grace was very excited about!

After we finished exploring Waimea Falls we headed a little bit further down the coast and stopped at Sunset beach and watched some surfer and of course the sunset. It was a fabulous day spent exploring the Island and the beautiful beaches and waterfalls of Oahu! 

Friday

Probably my favorite day of the week! :) It started out just like any other day. We ate some breakfast, watched some TV, decided to go get a pedicure and eat some lunch. Then we had plans to go to a luau that evening. We all decided to make ourselves as presentable as possible and head out to the luau. After sitting in traffic for forever, we finally arrived and little did we know that we were walking into one of my new favorite places ;) We were greeted with drinks and shell necklaces and nice Hawaiian men! (my new favorite part of Hawaii :) ) The night was filled with canoe rides, spear throwing, getting Hawaiian tattoos (don't worry they were fake), fire dancing, learning to hula, palm tree climbing and eating pig! It was a grand night! 

Saturday

All in all it was a fabulous fall break and I am so thankful that Grace was here to spend it with us! I am now back to teaching and getting back into my routine. We have been very blessed with a car to borrow from a family at church! So until November 30th we no longer have to walk to the grocery store!

I miss you all back home! Two months and I will be home for Christmas! Love you all!

Jessica