May Day!!!!

Another exciting month in the islands. To start out with, Brandon fractured his arm when he and some friends were running around the house and he tripped and fell bending his wrist backwards. It fortunately did not snap a bone but he still has to be in a cast for about 6 weeks. Of course, he still has to play in the dirt!!! In fact, after the first week, he had the cast moving around the wrist so the doctor doubled the cast up...it doesn't move now. It did throw his balance off for a few days though!!!

The next big event was May Day. The kids spend weeks learning dances to prepare for the show. Now we aren't talking about dancing around a May Pole, we are talking Polynesia and the kids learn to dance. Let me show you what I mean. Here is Brandon in his costume (pre-face tattoo) as we left the house. On his arrival at the Polynesian Culture Center in their main theater (that's where the show was held), they painted their face paint on for the show.

Here he is after getting his face paint on.


















The show starts with the introduction of the royalty from each of the islands represented and the May Day Royalty (King and Queen in the white). Then they start with the pre-school and each grade represents a different island and dances the dances from that island.










Brandon's 4th grade class represented the island of Marquesas. The boys danced, then the girls, and then they dance a dance together.









Brandon looks a bit small in this crowd!!!

Here is part of the first two dances they did. Brandon is in the back row in the middle (look for the cast).

Here is part of the last dance they did.  Brandon is on the front row.

Here he is after the show.




It was quite fun to see the program. They really did a good job. Now it's back to school to learn for two more weeks until summer break.

This past weekend we also had two visits. We are always happy to see our friends from Colorado and our family. Kevin and Tammy Woodward (our Stake Pres from Colorado Springs) and their daughter Ariana came and visited us on Friday. It was great to visit with them.









We also had Linda's Uncle Ed Betenson and her cousin's daughters (Alyssa and Sam Curtis) visit. We drove down to Bellows AFS and had a BBQ with them Thursday evening. Alyssa and Sam then came and stayed the night with us and went to the Polynesian Culture Center on Friday. We joined them and the Woodwards for the night show. During the intermission, they had the 1st round of the finals of the World Fireknife Championships. You can see more if you would like on their official website ( http://www.worldfireknife.com/ ). It was quite the show.

 To top off our week, we had a wonderful Mother's Day together. All of the boys called their mother and Brandon and I fixed her breakfast and dinner. We went for a walk in the evening to the temple to look at the beautiful flowers and it was just a perfect night. The sunset was beautiful and we took these pictures.












































 It was beautiful...