The Ohana Mama

Hawaiian Word of the Day: Kuleana {responsibility}

One of the protected Hawaiian lands thanks to HILT

I know that many of you share a love for Hawaii that runs deep. Many of you have either lived here before, dream of living here, you vacation here or maybe you just dream of vacationing here. Or, you may live on Maui or in the Aloha state. In any case, most of you share that spark that Hawaii has ignited. This post is for you!

This is a call to action. To help keep Hawaii vibrant, with open land and beaches and to help sustain aloha.

I went to TEDxMaui and am still replaying so many of the amazing talks in my head. The message that keeps coming through to me is “sustain aloha” and “kuleana” meaning responsibility.

It is our responsibility as people and lovers of these amazing islands and BORROWERS of these lands to make sure that we keep the aloha alive, give back to it and do ALL that we can to leave it better for future generations.

So what can you do?

You can Buy Back the Beach.

This Saturday I’ll be at Hawaiian Islands Land Trusts (HILT) Buy Back the Beach event as part of their social media team. I’ll be tweeting and sharing it all so be sure to follow my twitter stream (@theohanamama) and the #BBTB2012 hashtag.

The purpose of this fabulous and fun evening is to raise funds to help HILT with their mission “to protect the lands that sustain us for current and future generations.”

No matter if you are as far as New York or Florida, if you have a passion for Hawaii, I urge you to help and donate to this great cause. One dollar or $5000 dollars, it all helps us move towards the goal of buying back Hawaii’s land to preserve it for future generations.

How?

The amazing team at HILT has set up an online donation form. Simply click here to show your support.

Here’s the really cool news…a Hawaii lover has graciously offered to match any donations, up to $5000! So don’t wait, go and donate today! Donations for the match-gift need to be in by 2/28! Please donate & share this post!

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Get crafty for Chinese New Year…the year of the dragon!

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I had an extra hand in today’s craft, he had sniffles and a sore throat but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

Today my daughter and seven-year old, together, made a perfect craft for celebrating the Chinese New Year and the year of the dragon.

Here’s how we transformed a couple of toilet paper roll and a paper towel roll inserts into a fun, flying dragon.

What you’ll need:

Toilet paper and/or paper towel inserts. (We had two toilet paper inserts and then cut up one paper towel one for our dragon)
Paints & paint brushes
Googly eyes or anything to make funny eyes, like a puff-ball or paper
Red paper streamers for fire
A ribbon or string to connect all of the pieces
A couple of popsicle sticks to use as feet and holders to make it dance and fly.
Something for wings…we used feathers that we had, but you could also make them out of paper.
White glue

(I didn’t use the hole punch…fyi ;) )

Get to dragon making

First have the kids paint the dragon parts (the paper towel and toilet paper inserts). I let them go for it but then my son said the body parts should match so we changed directions and went for a polka dot dragon with a colorful tail from his little sister (the more free-spirited one of the two).

So that they could paint on them and not get their fingers covered in paint, we popped them onto a piece of drift wood (any stick would do).

Once painted, we let the cardboard pieces dry and cleaned up our paint mess.

When they were all dry, it was time to put our dragon together.

I took a piece of ribbon and ran it through all of the cardboard pieces, tying it to both of the end pieces. This way the tubes can move as the kids play with it, but it won’t fall apart.

On the first cardboard segment, we created the dragon’s head, with two fuzzy eyes and two black dots added on with marker, as nostrils

We put some glue inside the opening that was the mouth and glued red streamers coming out of it.

We added some feathers to the sides of one of the sections.

Lastly we cut tiny slits in the bottom of the first and second to last section and popped popsicle sticks into it as feet and holders to make the dragon dance.

And there you have it! It’s a dragon of a different color! Read for your kids to run around, holding the sticks and making their dragon move.

My son loved to problem solve with this one. He helped me figure out how to connect the pieces and really took a leadership role in planning it all out. Overall it was fun, educational and a great, sick day project.

Are you doing anything to celebrate Chinese New Year? We’ll be heading to a friend’s house to celebrate and feed the dragon. Want to know more about Chinese New Year? Read more here!

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Life lessons from a drive along the highway

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On my way to TEDxMaui this past weekend (which was amazing and you can catch the replay here), I got stuck in a bit of slow traffic due to a marathon that was taking place along our two-lane highway. As I watched the people running I took note of what I could learn from them.

Here are three life lessons you can take from a marathoner.

1. Go at your own pace

While observing the runners, I saw distinct personalities and different ways that each person was accomplishing the same goal…to finish the marathon.

Some marathon goers were walking (and talking with friends), others were running at a slow pace and at a fast pace. Some had robotic walking moves and some were even stopping to take pictures along the way. But all were pointed in the same direction…the finish line.

Sure, not all would finish, but many would. Those that jogged, ran or walked like a robot. They would finish…at their own pace. They weren’t running anyone else’s marathon. It was just them, with their feet carrying them.

Life isn’t a race…and it all ends the same way, for all of us. Live your life, take part in the marathon, do it your way.

2. Have support, give support

Fill that life with people that support you, like the many people that lined the streets to give water to the runners. Or the spouses or friends that were following on bikes or cars and hooting and hollering.

Surround yourself with those that will be your water people, your support, your cheerleaders…no matter if you walk, run, or skip. And surround yourself with those that YOU can root on too and support and love.

The marathon of life is easier, and more fun, if you have support.

3. Curves, hills, and roadblocks…they happen

The Maui Oceanfront Marathon has hills and curves and cars all along the way. However, the marathoners persevered.

I thought to myself, “wow, they must be hot, choking on car fumes and exhausted on the Pali” (the curving uphill part of the marathon). But, they all kept going, one foot in front of the other, moving…towards that finish line…

Life has hills, and curves and unknown traffic that may stall you from time to time. But you’ve got to keep going and moving forward and actually find excitement in those things…the challenges!

So there you have it! Go forward, with support and do it your way! And enjoy…the marathon of life!

{hallelujah!}

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I think I’ll go for a walk outside

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Happy Aloha Friday! I hope you had an amazing week!

It’s whale season here! That means as you drive along the highway, travel to the beach or go for a hike you’ll see whales spouting, flapping and breaching. It’s amazing and I love to squeal and holler when I see them. So if you are here and you hear a mad woman squealing at the site of a whale, that’s me.

The other day we went for a walk after school and found a super secret location to watch the beautiful whales do their thing. It was magnificent. We were tucked into a cliff covered in giant rocks, the deep blue BIG ocean out in front of us and whales traveling by as if it was a whale freeway.

I’ll take whales over cars any day!

Here are some pics! Have a wonderful wonderful weekend! I’m off to TEDxMAUI tomorrow…woohoo!