Backlog Blogging Bananza!

Random fact: In the movie Back to the Future, the Doc sets his clock to the future date July 5, 2010! So much for flying skateboards!

OK folks. So this is how it's going to be. I am blog backlogged! Backlogged dating back to Memorial Day weekend.

So every few days I'm going to post pictures and a brief caption of Summer 2010.

So here it is. Hiking the Hollywood sign Memorial Day weekend.

I've never hiked up to the Hollywood sign before. If you had to guess, what do you think the sign is made of? Wood, Plastic, or Metal? I always thought of it as wood. But turns out it's made of Australian steel. The sign was born in 1923 originally spelling the word Hollywoodland and had 4,000 20 watt bulbs making it visible 25 miles away. The letter H was destroyed by an inebriated driver in the early 1940's! Just a few fun facts for the morning.

Skype...

Keeping families connected and happy half way across the world!

Couldn't this picture be an advertisement for skype? Today I got to meet my newest Italian third cousin Elisa. What a doll! My mom is in New York picking up my Aunt Lisa for the summer. (Mom is the short happy lady standing in between my incredibly tall cousins Michael and Matthew in this photo!) I told them "I can tell you are tall even on my computer screen!"

Kimi Graduated!!

Today the baby of the family has graduated from Western Washington University with a Bachelor in Science degree! The ceremony is tomorrow morning and I wish I could be there to cheer her on! My parents are officially empty nesters. No more children in college. Their children are all grown up and out in the world now. With degrees in Music Education, Construction Management, and Environmental Science we make an interesting trio of Salernos.

Congratulations my beautiful and wonderful sister. I'm so proud to have a scientist in the family! I can't wait to see where you go on your journey. Now that you've graduated maybe you can come visit me in Hawaii! Or score a sweet job out here! We are surrounded by water and environmental concerns! Our county still needs major help with the reservoirs after the 2006 earthquake! Check out these cheap tickets ($194 each way!) from Seattle to Kona in October HERE! (change the month from March to October)

Circus Circus

On June 1st, Mrs. Sui Lan Gomez's home school co-op performed the charming musical "Circus Circus". Streamers and balloons transformed the garage into our own personal Big Top. Hanging in the doorway was a muscle man and circus girl face cut out photo opp. And plenty of circus food to snack on afterwards. I have performed this musical a few years ago only with 120 students. These 7 students took on all the circus rolls, with masks and wigs as the costume changes. After the script and songs, we had a circus act which included a rubber chicken toss, the human bridge, hula hooping, tumblers, contortionists, and the grand finale human pyramid! What a fun and festive way to end Mrs. Gomez's school year!

Alex made front page of the paper today

The effort to restore our community playground is being assisted by Alex!

Click HERE to read the article.

Here is the letter he e-mailed out to the community a few weeks ago:

ANUENUE PLAYGROUND NEWS

Aloha All,

The County of Hawaii Parks and Recreation dept. is looking for manpower, supplies, and tools to refurbish the children's playground in Kamuela. Currently they are looking for immediate assistance in pressure washing and resealing the woodwork at the playground. They have just begun working with Pete Hoffman's office to attempt to arrange a group of volunteers to tackle a larger scale cleanup, and repair project.

While I have been recently asked to assist, and start reaching out to the community, the fact is that Ken Block and David Gomes have been attempting to gain traction on this for over a year now. The playground is in significant disrepair with many of its swings, and apparatuses removed due to damage, age, wear and tear. I have emailed you folks because you are all my friends, and neighbors, and are local community members, business owners, park users. Many of you are in the trades, and I thought I'd start with you to gauge your ability and willingness to donate some of your precious time and or your resources to such a task.

The overall plan is loose and in its infancy, but the idea would be to conduct a full assessment of the park's current condition with the assistance of the kit's manufacturer, and work with the County Depot of Parks and Rec to set a series of weekend workdays for an entire park refurbishment. We need laborers, carpenters, concrete specialists, painters, small equipment operators (& equipment ie bobcats, and mini excavators) as well as supervisors, planners and coordinators.

We will also need materials donated ranging from pea gravel, to paints and stains, brushes, sprayers, pressure washers, carpentry tools, wood, (chain, tires etc) for swings) trees, concrete etc. and funds to purchase repair parts for the playground from its manufacturer. I also think some sort of street lighting/safety lighting is warranted. Years ago the playground was donated using local labor and materials from builders and community members, and the playground kit was funded by the Waimea Outdoor Circle. Large signs were posted at the park for a duration recognizing those businesses who supported the park and those volunteers who donated their time.

I will be donating my labor and equipment. Please Join me. For now if you would, respond to me via email with your support and any services you may be able to offer, labor, skills, equipment, financial assistance etc. Please also forward this email on to friends and colleagues in the community. With the help of the community association, and the Waimea outdoor circle, we should be able to bring this concept to fruition in a more organized publicized manner for now this is a starting point, a request for community support.

Mahalo, Alex Woodbury

please contact me at alex@woodburyhawaii.com

Donations can be made to:

Waimea Preservation Association c/o Avenue Playground or Waimea Park reconstruction effort

PO Box 6570

Kamuela HI 96743

Moki's Crabby

Not much to report on the home front. Winding down the school year. Spending the entire weekend outside gardening now that Beauty and the Beast is over. My dahlias are starting to bloom. Planting trees. With less lessons over the summer I want to start a vegetable garden. Alex was on the radio today (I'll try to find a link and post it) interviewing the county about sustainable resources in their building and plannin. My mother in law won her state tennis match on Maui and will now compete in nationals! And here is a cute video of Moki's obsession with crabs.

Beauty and the Beast

Featuring violinist Jessica Salerno-Woodbury!
Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, and Lumier

Belle and the Beast dancing

Cast finale

Opening scene

The funny triplets who adore Gaston

Belle's father enters the castle

The Beast's come down to dinner scene

And my favorite, Be our Guest!

I feel like singing my life in song set to the tune "12 days of Christmas":

After 20 days of company I have the following:

One May Day show,

One circus musical,

One more month of school,

SIX BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SHOWS

Seventy five lessons,

every single week,

2 naughty goats,

and one show at my school in Hawi!