Follow Through Friday - Hawaii

Crazy. Our family is going to Hawaii. And here's how I put my Follow Through task last week.

Next week: We are going to Hawaii at the end of May. I want to get some materials together to present to the family - both for educational purposes and to build excitement. (nerd alert lights are flashing)

After I wrote that, I imagined some of you thinking, "She needs to build excitement for a trip to Hawaii?!" No, I don't. That part was more for my kiddos, in case they read my blog. I'm trying to sell the notion that education -knowledge- builds excitement for whatever you are doing.

This will be my 3rd trip to those islands. Oahu was the first place the mission group I was a part of back in 1984 stopped and sang on our way to our other destinations - Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Singapore.

Flyer that was distributed in Hong Kong

 After completing 3 months in those amazing places, I ended with a week vacation in Hawaii and stayed with my brother, who was stationed there at the time.

My friends Sue, Tina, and a 22 yr old me at the Dole pineapple show

Who is that girl? Wow, a lot has happened since then. God has been faithful. So faithful. And Lord willing, that girl, and 7 other people she loves dearly will get to enjoy the beauty of the Aloha state at the end of May.

So, what am I doing to educate? Well, map lover that I am, I have a map of Oahu and the Hawaiian islands up next to our table in the kitchen. I'll be blabbing to the kids about the 8 major islands and I've printed out some interesting facts about Hawaii. I plan on introducing my sporadic espousing of that information with the same 3 words over the next 3 weeks. I'm going to call it "Did you know....? and then fill the dots with all the cool stuff I've found. Hey, you never know when the next "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" opportunity may come their way. Or, if they land on Jeopardy and the category is Hawaii, I want them to be able to say, "Hawaii for $1000 please."

Also, since we are visiting Pearl Harbor, I plan on going into its history in greater detail. Just surfing tonight, I found what looks like some good documentaries on You Tube. And I have been known to make my kids watch documentaries.

So hopefully, this effort on my part will help us all learn a little bit more about where we are going and increase our enjoyment of it.

Wow, we get to go to Hawaii. Crazy.

Next Week: Purchase map pins for our world map and then put those puppies in it.