Tuesday, November 10, 2009

We are officially back from our trip to Ia Oe E Ka La & it was GREAT!! Full of many emotions, ups, downs, costume issues, lei making til the wee hours of the morning, lack of sleep, happy hugs, happy tears....but it was GREAT!!

We came home with SEVEN trophies...

**Alaka'i won 1st place Kane soloist

**Okekai won 1st place Wahine soloist

**Group Kane won 2nd place in Kahiko

**Group Kane won 1st place in Auana

**Palua (boy/girl combined) won 1st place in Kahiko

**Palua won 2nd place in Auana

**Perpetual trophy for highest points for Group Kane & Wahine


On Friday (soloist day), I knew for sure that Mom wasn't going to ho'opa'a, but she sat in the 1st row on both kahiko performances. Then when Okekai & Alaka'i were getting ready for their auana songs, Mom asked me "Can you ask Auntie Charlene to put my makeup on?" And I knew that was it...she was going to play bass for them. And she did. It was SO wonderful to see her up there, playing...tapping her foot, bobbing her head to the music & smiling away.

On Saturday, it was all kahiko performances for us. Mom seemed tired all day, not eating much or drinking much, just in the mood to sleep & relax & we tried to make that happen as best as we could in the dressing room. (she didn't want to go away from the action) When we were done with all of our songs, we decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner & then headed back to the hotel, because we had lei to make. We had a quick meeting & then Mom got some rest while we made our lei's til the weeeeee hours of the morning.

On Sunday morning, Mom was doing way better & was very well rested. She started off her day with her Ensure, which i'm positive is a good morning boost for her! She played music for all three of our performances on this day & I enjoyed, along with many others, watching her get up to play.

After all of our performances, we had a long break until the awards ceremony so Mom decided to take a nap in the car, which lasted a good hour & a half at least. Aloha & I went to get her just before the awards & she sat at the bottom of our bleachers in her walker next to Uncle. As soon as Okekai was announced as the winner of her soloist division, Mom started to cry...as did everyone else. But you could see that she was just so proud. And as the awards kept rolling in & our name kept being announced, she cried more & more. The most touching part of the awards ceremony was that for every award that was announced, everyone came to give Mom a hug & a honi.

It was a great weekend.


**Alaka'i with ho'opa'a getting ready to go on stage for kahiko

**Okekai on stage for her kahiko performance


**Auntie Charlene doing Mom's makeup so that she can play music for the soloists


**Alaka'i on stage for Kananaka


**Look at Mom's face...priceless!

**Okekai performing Nani Manoa


**Palua getting ready for their kahiko performance


**Mom left the dressing room a little earlier than everyone so that she could go in to the venue to get a good seat, so everyone made a bridge for her to go through on her way out.

**After the Palua kahiko performance

**The Kane getting ready for their kahiko performance. Alaka'i is obviously bored! (ha) And their lei were wet which is why they're wearing their pareau underneath it. But it actually looks like they're all wearing capes & acting like superheroes! lol


**The girls getting ready to go on for kahiko. Our song talks about a parrot, hence the different color skirts.

**Wahine line after performing

**Palua getting ready to go on for auana


**Mom giving high-five's & knuckles on her way out to the stage to play

**Walking out to the microphones

**Overlooking the stage


**Palua after their auana performance


**Mom with the Palua line. Jordahn, Jason, Albert, Justin, Alaka'i, Leilani, Tishy & Puamohala


**Uncle Mark Ho'omalu saw Mom as he was making his way to the stage & said "Sweetie, GET UP off that chair & walk!" He came to honi her & had so many nice (and funny) things to say to her.


**When Uncle Mark yelled at Mom to get up, she pulled her bandana off of her head & one of his dancers, Justin, came up & said "HEY AUNTIE, NOW WE'RE COOL TOGETHER!"


**The Kane group after their auana performance - Justin, Stefan, Jason, Albert & Alaka'i


**Kane with the musicians of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna


**The Wahine & Musicians of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna


**Mom's reaction after the announcement of our first award. You can see everyone looking at her in the background too.

**Everyone gave Mom honi's after they went on stage to get their awards

**The CRAZIES of Ke'ala 'O Kamailelauli'ili'i & Manawaiopuna!!