Hawaii with Kids: Luaus and Leis on the Big Island

Luaus are kind of cheezy, true, but they're one of those Hawaii tourist conventions that one simply must experience.

I mean, of course! You HAVE to go to a luau! No matter how you might try not to be just a dumb tourist during the rest of your vacation (Please, Friends--do not eat at Cheeseburger in Paradise), for one night, at least, you simply must own your status as tourist, drink many fruity drinks, eat roasted pig, and let yourself be entertained at a luau.

One evening, after a day of snorkeling at Two Step and earning Junior Ranger badges at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, my in-laws treated us to an evening at the Haleo Luau at the Sheraton in Kona. We were greeted with mai tais and shell leis, seated with a wonderful man from New Zealand and two sourpuss women from I know not where because they were the opposite of interested in communicating with us, and treated to a bevvy of pre-dinner activities such as Sharpie ink tattoos, Hawaiian body stamping, and a hula lesson. During our Hawaii study before the vacation we spent a lesson watching hula on YouTube (I highly recommend that you search for videos from the Merrie Monarch festival held each year in Hilo) and practicing it, ourselves, Will decided that she is a quick study with the hula, and she was SO down with dancing it here!

Seriously, how adorable is this kid?

I don't remember much about the feast, because I was very drunk, having mastered by then the technique of ordering a mai tai for each hand at the open bar, but I did manage to take some photos, so at least I made sure that everyone else was present and accounted for and smiling:

Will is smiling now, but later she experienced the most embarrassing moment in her young life when there was dancing, and her grandfather WANTED TO DANCE WITH HER. The horror on her face! The way that instead of simply refusing, she decided that the optimum defensive technique was to simply go boneless and slump over in her chair towards the ground! Even if I hadn't been super drunk, it would still have been the most hilarious thing ever. And yes, I often find my children's trauma amusing.

This man was pretty dang drunk, too.

This luau was indoors, unfortunately, because of the chance of rain, so the dancing was less picturesque on a conference room stage, although still lovely:

There were several numbers meant to represent the different dancing styles of the Polynesian Islands. I don't remember which one was the New Zealand dance, because I was drunk, but when those dancers came out we all excitedly turned to our table companion from New Zealand, as if this was something special just for him. He was a VERY patient man.

Fortunately, it didn't *actually* rain, so the final dance, the fire dance(!!!), could still take place outside:

It. Was. AWESOME!!!

(As if you can't tell that I thought so by the ridiculous number of photos that I took. I didn't take that many photos of my own children!)

As fun as the luau was, it was the best of luck on another day when we happened upon, on our way to a bookstore that Will had spotted and therefore simply must visit, a cultural event taking place in a nearby shopping center. In a central area, with many tables and a stage set up, a group of aunties were there to dance the hula and teach us how to make leis:

Can you tell that I was pretty excited?

Along with dancing a hula that, while not as showy as that at the luau, was undoubtedly far more authentic--

--the aunties helped us make leis--

--then tied them for us, put them around our necks, kissed our foreheads--

--and told us "aloha:"

Seriously, how adorable is this kid?

So there you have both the most touristy thing and the most authentic thing that you can do in Hawaii. In my opinion, for the best possible vacation?

Do them both!

Hawaii with Kids: Petroglyphs on the Big Island

For much of its history, until Christian missionaries came and transcribed one, the Hawaiian language didn't have a written component. It did, however, have a separate system of picture writing, and these petroglyphs are one of the topics that we studied in preparation for coming to Hawaii. I'm especially fond of the petroglyphs that we made ourselves:

 

The ones that we saw for real, however? Those were AMAZING. Here we are hiking out to the Puako Petroglyphs:

It's a flat area with approximately 3,000 petroglyphs, and is considered one of the best petroglyph sites in Hawaii:

Almost every one that we could see was a repetition of this same human figure:

Even eroded as they are by the centuries, they're still so impressive.

I was even more excited about seeing the petroglyph field at Volcanoes National Park, because I knew it would have these:

The pits are where a newborn's umbilical stump would be placed after it fell off. The circles around the pits might represent more babies, since researchers believe that families would come back to the same site over and over again, or it might represent something else entirely.

Either way, how beautiful, right?

This petroglyph field also contains examples of other iconic symbols, such as this turtle symbol that we saw all over Hawaii--

--and interesting examples of other symbols, such as this super tall human figure, surrounded by umbilical cord pits:

In our Hawaii studies, much of what we learned and experienced was designed to help the children connect with the native culture of Hawaii--Captain Cook and the missionaries and Hawaii's statehood are part of its history, yes, but its people are who I want the children to remember and understand. Facts are facts, but these petroglyphs are more. They're something inspirational, something to wonder about, something that, I hope, helps to bring that culture to life for the children.

It does for me!

Work Plans for the Week of October 26, 2015: Halloween!!!

School last week went as well as a school week here can realistically go. There was fighting and whining and fits, but there was also hard work, great work, and efficient work done. Syd wrote a beautiful essay. Will became obsessed with the most perfect rendering of Wold War 2 uniforms that could possibly be rendered by an 11-year-old in colored pencil. Math was mastered. Friends were played with. Will is involved in podcasting. Syd is living and breathing ballet. It was great!

I'm holding on to that right this second, as the children sit at our table working on their math, sniping at me and each other, doing their best to convince me that the fun math project that I set up for them is the meanest thing that I've ever done. 

Oh, and Will simply refuses to redo her page of cursive letter "h" drills to make the hump and the line close enough together that it doesn't look like "lr". Seriously, the venom in her voice as she made this announcement... I looked at her calmly, fantasizing about dragging her to the car by her ear, driving her to the nearest elementary school, and slowing the car down only long enough to dump her out before speeding away and going back home to bed.

I still might do that if she doesn't quit bitching to Syd about who's using whose eraser and whose turn it is with the compass. I'll let you know.

Anyway, not that the children appreciate this, but we've actually got a fun--and short!--week ahead of us. We're doing a couple of Halloween crafts (one of which Will has already complained about because it looks like too much work, although she seemed to approve of it last night while we were shopping for the candy for it) and prepping for next week's History Fair, but we've also got a full day at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis and a full day either at the apple orchard or one of the local state parks, depending on whether colorful leaves or tasty apples appeal to the children more on that day. Maybe we'll do both! 

Books of the Day for this week include more books on World War 2, of course, a Nancy Drew book for Syd, who's finishing up her Detective badge this week, and this strange little history of the flying car that I thought would appeal to Will. Memory work consists of fraction terminology, Mandarin for Will and ballet for Syd, and a page a day of cursive. Since we've a short week this week, I'm omitting Wordly Wise.

And here's the rest of our week!

MONDAY: We're working on these pizza box fractions this morning, even though the kids are acting as if it's the worst thing that they've ever done. Nevertheless, already Syd's understanding of the difference between the numerator and denominator has increased, and after I informed her that her freehand circle was not going to pass muster, she immediately went for the compass without any further intervention on my part. I've also learned that I need to provide written directions to her more often, as she seems very unwilling to read and follow the directions for this project; she keeps insisting that she doesn't understand them and wanting me to simply tell her what to do.

Will, on the other hand, has abandoned the pizza box fraction for the time being, but is engrossed in her Book of the Day, World War 2 in Numbers. So far we've ready-referenced the history of Poland and the use of horses during the war, and now she's planning to play Civilization later so that she can make use of panzers. 

We'll also begin the children's History Fair projects today. I had hoped that the children would choose topics that we've covered recently, but Will has just now informed me that she actually wants to do her presentation on the Battle of Kursk, which she also apparently just read about in World War 2 in Numbers. I'm not familiar with that battle, but I skimmed a Wikipedia article about it briefly and it seems do-able, relevant, and interesting to Will, so she can go for it. Syd, on the other hand, has been saying that she wants to do her project on the trench warfare of World War 1, so we'll see if she's still set on that, or if she, too, comes up with something completely different.

Syd chose these trick-or-treat cookies from my Halloween pinboard, so we'll give them a whirl, but for god's sake, not until these kids have fixed up their attitudes today! I'm not opposed to spreading this project out over the week, either, perhaps just making and chilling the dough today. And I'm DEFINITELY not opposed to putting the whole project off until their father gets home from work tonight and making him do it with them!

The kids are both a bit sniffly this morning, which maybe I'll pretend is what's giving them their bad attitudes, and I actually asked them if they were feeling too unwell to go to our regular volunteer gig this afternoon. After informing Will, however, that yes, if she is too unwell for Mother Hubbard's Cupboard then she is too unwell for the library, it turns out that no, she actually doesn't feel that unwell after all. 

[Update: An hour later, and the children are outside, laughing and running and playing something together that looks like a combination of basketball and rugby. They feel fine.]

[Update #2: They worked their little butts off at the Hub, and every time they finished a job they'd ask me for a new one! Eventually they got tired out and then spent some time coloring and playing with the toy kitchen like toddlers, and then they helped me sort peppers. Will started a thing about rubbing peppers on her butt, so we brought a lot of peppers home, because I can't, in good conscience, give out butt-peppers to unsuspecting patrons.]

TUESDAY: In Math Mammoth, Syd is still in multi-digit multiplication and Will is still in fractions. They both seem pretty comfortable with the work, so hopefully there will be no tantrums! Since we've got our regular homeschool playgroup on this day and the kids have Robotic Club for much of the evening, my only other requirement for this day is more work on their History Fair projects, ideally getting the bulk of the presentation work done.

WEDNESDAY: I need to become an official volunteer with the Children's Museum of Indianapolis in order to keep doing fossil prep with the Paleo Lab, which means that I have a volunteer interview there on this day. I am not looking forward to it, but it is a great excuse for a day trip to the Children's Museum, even though we have to be back in the afternoon for Syd's ballet class. 

THURSDAY: I've got a full school day planned on this day, but it's scrappable for Syd, at least, who may have a playdate all day instead. I'm also curious to see how a school day with just Will goes. Either way, monster face cookies are going to be a hit!

FRIDAY: So many choices! Our Hawaii vacation put us behind in many of our autumn adventures, and so I find that this week is probably the last great week for fall leaves AND the apple orchard, AND the last day for frightening hours at the Children's Museum's haunted house. I imagine I'll just see what the children are into on this day, and then do that! And, of course, Syd has Nutcracker practice that afternoon.

SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Saturday is always insane, lately, with ballet, ice skating, Mandarin class, and Nutcracker practice, but we also have a Girl Scout meeting with the Bloomington Bicycle Project that morning, and that evening... HALLOWEEN!!! Sunday will be Halloween Recovery, as well as a chess club meeting for Will. 

And that's our big week! What are you up to this week?

Hawaii with Kids: Volcanoes National Park

It's the Iceland of the Pacific, the Yellowstone of... anyplace other than Yellowstone. It's a place where you can tromp up to telephoto distance of the crater of an active volcano.

It's one of my most favorite places on this planet, Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

I LOVE earth science. I love extreme weather, I love the ocean, I love geology. I love it when our planet is spitting something at us, or something is oozing out of it towards us, or smelly air is wafting from its bowels and coming our way. Matt has gamely hung out with me within touch of flowing lava, and definitely within scalding distance of spurting geysers, and I've been really excited, the past couple of years, to do a lot of that with the kids, as well. We didn't come within touching distance of flowing lava this time (unlike the last time Matt and I were in Hawaii together, and there was lava flowing within the boundary of the park and you could hike there, this time lava was flowing on private land, out in the middle of nowhere), but we saw every single other thing you could possibly see in this park in one day, of that I am sure.

Even our entrance into the park was heralded with excitement as our very own fourth grader used this opportunity to hand in her certificate and receive a free national park pass for the entire year, thanks to the Every Kid in a Park program:

It was a Big Deal, and an especially sweet experience because it was clearly a Big Deal to the park rangers, as well. Actually, everyone was super excited *except* for poor Syd, who'd been woken from a sound sleep in the back of the car for this.

I made it up to her by taking her picture standing in the fumes from a steam vent:

Here she is when the wind's blowing the other way:

Notice how responsibly Syd is standing on the near side of the fence, the other side of which has lots of signs like this:

Here's our little Riptide standing in front of the same vent:

Sigh...

Although you can't get close to the crater, itself, even from a distance it's impressive:

We could see the fumes brown against the clouds miles before we even entered the park, and could see the fumes from the lava flow outside the park from even further away, I think.

 Of COURSE there's a Junior Ranger program here, and the kids happily worked on their books throughout the day. One of the activities in the book asks the child to create a poster detailing an important rule in the park. The children were both inspired by this, and spent quite a lot of time creating the bloodiest, most brutal posters that they could think of:

There's an axe murderer waiting for that litterbug.

 I'll tell you about our petroglyph hike in this park later, but we also spent quite a lot of time just aimlessly rambling about one of the old lava flows. It's a rocky barren, with strange hills and valleys and crests and ridges where all the things used to be that the lava burned.

It was wonderful.

I love this picture of Matt. My favorite man on my favorite lava flow--it should be the centerfold of a calendar.

We drove around the park to see other old craters--

--and a rocky arch extending out into the sea--

There was a sea turtle messing around in the surf here.

 --and catching sight of the plume from the far-away lava flow--

--but we also took time to hike a lava tube, something that I had been really, really, REALLY wanting to do!

A lava tube is an amazing thing--round and smooth, and the roots of the plants above stretch down through the roof and drip water onto you as you hike through it.

 And outside, it's a jungle:

The big show here in Volcanoes National Park is watching the sunset from the balcony of the Jagger Museum. We settled in while it was still daylight-- 

--and it occurred to me that this particular view looked familiar. We'd seen this exact view from the park's webcam, for months and months now! Hmmm... could we find that webcam?

Reader, we could!

The children turned in their Junior Ranger books, and along with the regular coolness that is a park ranger discussing their work with them and telling them even more cool facts and myths and interesting stories, something extra cool happened. He brought out a book, and explained to the children that from the very first Junior Ranger, every single child who has ever become a Junior Ranger has signed their book, with their name, where they're from, and the date. When a book is filled, they bring out a new book, and the old one is sent to the national park's archives, where it is kept forever. A hundred years from now, someone can pull out this book and see that these two kids from Indiana became Junior Rangers on this day.

So cool, right? So, so cool.

Although during the daytime, all you can see from the crater is the plume, as the sun sets, you start to notice this happening:

And then when it's dark, it looks like this:

They're terrible photos, but you get the idea: the crater GLOWS. There's magma boiling down there where you can't see it, and at night it makes the crater and the plume glow, and reflects off the clouds above it.

Soo... volcanoes, lava, jungles, caves, Junior Ranger program, petroglyphs, evening show, and a gift shop that sells the small collectible sea turtles that the children both became obsessed with during this vacation.

Just another perfect day in paradise.