Celebrations in May

May 1, Lei Day

Lei Day is a celebration of spring with leis and flowers.

May 5 Boys Day
With a significant Japanese population in Hawaii, the islands also celebrate Tango-no-sekku, or Boys Day. Families display carp banners outside of their homes, called koi-nobori. The largest carp represents the father and is traditionally black. This is my neighbor's flag. Usually, the smallest fish represents the youngest son. My neighbors have twin boys, so theirs are the same size. Koi (carp) demonstrate fervor, endurance, and power to swim upstream against strong currents. They are also robust, and live about 50 years in the wild, and sometimes longer in captivity. So the qualities of the koi fish are all desirable qualities for young men. (Yes, we have Girls Day. I wrote about that here.)Well those koi fish are about $45 per fish. Hubby is not a fan of flags and windsocks. I would like to get the flags eventually, but for now, we will settle for the fish kites that Son1 brings us from preschool for Boys Day.

In celebration of Boys Day we took the boys out for ice cream. It is common to give treats for Boys Day, too. I ordered Prailines and Cream. This baby sure can shovel with a teeny trial size spoon. He nearly ate half my ice cream! He was pretty serious!Son1 just wanted green ice cream. We talked him out of green tea ice cream and into Mint Chocolate Chip. Now he is usually good about sharing food with his brother when the baby's arm start flailing everywhere and his legs are a-kicking, but not today. When I asked him to share his ice cream with his brother, he didn't look up from licking, and firmly said N-O. We just raised our eyebrows at one another because that is so unlike him. Hubby had Love Potion 31 which was really, really good with white chocolate and dark chocolate shaped hearts and raspberry something, something. Mmmm!!!!

May 5-9, Teacher Appreciation Week

The first full week of May is Teacher Appreciation Week. It is a national program throughout schools. So as room mom, it is my job to coordinate the whole week. It has been eventful. The first day, all classes at our school do the same thing. We all host a Flower Shower. Each child brings in a flower, home grown or store bought, to place in a vase. Tuesday our class hosted Pamper Day, Wednesday was Breakfast and Thank You Card day, tomorrow is Macy's gift card day, and Friday the PTO is taking care of the teachers!

Here is some Boys Day kite flying action for your enjoyment!!