How do you celebrate 84 years of a life well lived? Eating Chinese food (noodles for long life!), Apple and peach-pineapple pie with vanilla ice cream (his favorites) but most especially being surrounded by family. ʻOhana first and always, a lesson Grandpa taught Daddy, and which Daddy taught me. If there is no other legacy I leave behind with my children, I hope it is this one. Hauʻoli piha 84 makahiki Daddy. 🎂 I love you, and thank you for being the pillar of our home and our ʻohana. 💗 I ola ʻoe e ola mākou nei. 🌱 #ohanameansfamily #birthdaylove
Twenty-seven years ago on Merrie Monarch Sunday, I got a phone call that changed my existence forever more. My Kaleialohamakamaeʻulanaʻiamaiʻoeiaʻu, you have had me wrapped around your little finger from day one. I love you, I love the woman you grew up to be, the sister, māmā you are, and the person you are still becoming. Shine on, my goof girl. Aloha lā hānau!
For Wai and Nono, their hula journey with @keahikaaiohelonaoho and Hālau Kaleo a Keahilapalapa has been about a year longer. For the twins, they started with her this past June. Yesterday their hālau danced at the hula pā up at Kīlauea. It’s a different scene as hula mom rather than ʻōlapa. It feels a lot more chaotic at times and if I’m honest, frustrating, especially when my keiki don’t seem to take their lessons seriously or refuse to listen to me when I am having them practice at home. Their hands aren’t quite adept enough for all the preparation either, so that falls to the mākua. It can be exhausting getting their clothes and adornments ready for day-of. Not to mention the actual day excitement of making sure they are dressed, lined up for their performances, changed for the next ones, etc.
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That all said, yesterday was beautiful. I am so grateful to Naoho for all the time and love she pours into each of her dancers. I am grateful for the community of parents behind the scenes jumping in and helping one another learn as we go, and making friends along the way. Watching them each week *almost* makes me wish I had joined the gracious ladies class. *Almost*. My knees are glaring at me just for the thought. 😂🤪. I am proud of the progress of all of my babies, and look forward to them being even better ʻōlapa.
Lā mua o ke kula, papa ʻehā ma Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo. Ma hea lā kaʻu mau pēpē? 😭 They told me, “Drop us off, Mom, don’t walk us to our classroom door, that’s shame!” 🤪 Ugh, so grown up. So I parked the car and walked over to watch them play with their friends anyway. 😂 #maikuitwins #growingsofast #ohanameansfamily
Hui e nā ʻohana @kaumekekaeo ! Join us with the Hui ʻOhana to create a warm welcome back to all three campuses for our haumāna and kumu on Poʻakahi, 8/4. We will be gathering together this Lāpule 8/3 to make lei, signs and backdrops for photobooths for those memorable lā mua o ke kula photos! If you are interested, sign up here: https://forms.gle/sJWzKPGZvnJ9EE1o8 or stop on by on Sunday afternoon from about 3pm to kōkua!
Talk about screaming in a new year…. 52 has already begun on an epic note with a tsunami watch / turned warning / turned evacuation. Grateful for waking up to all the lovely texts and messages on social media, a delicious lunch with my babies, safe evacuation to the home of @maluwai_ and @jojoboi248 with my sister and our babies. Grateful for a beautiful dinner, fantastic birthday cake, time to play with my moʻopuna, but most of all that the danger has passed and our town escaped relatively unscathed. The okay was given to return to our own home just past 11pm and I pulled into my driveway just as my birthday officially ended. Mahalo ke akua 🙏. Now may the next 364 days be less adrenaline pumping please!
Hōʻike / Kīpaepae 2025 @kaumekekaeo was amazing. Seeing what our keiki learn each year, how much they develop as cultural practitioners and what they yet have to aspire to with their kuaʻana in the upper grades is exciting and just reinforces our decision to send our māhoe to this particular kula. The sun was blazing, but it could not outshine the beauty of these pua nani laha ʻole. Mahalo piha e ko Ka ʻUmeke Kāʻeo!
9:45pm April 2nd, 2024. The clouds parted, nā hiku shone through in blessing, a new life let out his first cry, exultation and mele filled a room utterly filled with love. Iokewe Kaiʻaikaʻōnohi Kaholokai Moiha, you have gifted us all with countless smiles, cuddles and the joy that can only come from holding a precious child. It has been a privilege to watch you grow and to be your tūtū, and even more so to witness your māmā and daddy grow as parents right alongside you! Nui ke aloha! Hauʻoli piha makahiki mua e kuʻu moʻo! #ohanameansfamily #growingsofast #hauolilāhānau
Grube House Christmas is generally reserved for Christmas morning now that Wai is an adult. For years we never celebrated until January, typically around the Epiphany, because she spent the big holidays in Kauaʻi with her ʻohana there. Now she is all grown up with a family of her own and she will be creating traditions of her own as well. It’s enough to make an Aunty Mom cry! Happy tears of course but still…. We celebrated this year with our big kiddos and their families and our little kiddos as well. Papa Rufus even consented to posing for pictures for a change - with nary a goofy face in sight. Mom and Dad are tired and our hearts are full; our babies were all with us and no gift is greater than the gift of time spent together. Mahalo @maluwai_@jojoboi248@kakanomaikui@unko_moku808 We love you!
Maikui Christmas Eve is our family’s tradition. We eat, we play together, we share gifts, but most important of all, we are gathered together as ʻohana. Our celebration was a little more subdued this year; Rena and her clan in Texas, Trace and Samson with their other families and Boy and his ʻohana celebrating Kaidee’s special trip to Orlando meant we were already 1/4 fewer bodies present in one space. Mostly though, all of us could feel that huge puka that Dad’s passing has left in our lives but we continue in his memory and because it’s what he loved best, to have all of his family in one place and happy. It may have taken us a little longer to warm up than usual but we did it, and it felt so good to be together as a family again, too. #maikuistrong #maikuichristmaseve
