A Swiss family sailing around the world has made a stop in Hawaii. Dario Schworer, his wife Sabine, their four children ages two through eight, and two tutors/assistants are in the Islands for a couple weeks. His group is called TOPtoTOP.

The Schworer children (ages 2-8)

On this leg of their sailing voyage they are investigating waste debris in the ocean for the International Pacific Research Center based in Honolulu. In Hawaii, they plan to organize beach clean-ups and school presentations to inspire students to protect the environment. The expedition, which started in 2002, will achieve a world record, by being the first to travel all climate zones - over the seven seas to the seven summits - using only nature’s power!

The kids with one of the tutors

"We do this in order to set an example of what can be done to live in harmony with our environment, sharing collected climate solutions with students along the way," explains Dario.

On Hawaii Island they summited Mauna Kea on bicycle, before sailing to Oahu to meet and work with scientists at the International Pacific Research Center. When they leave Oahu, they will sail to Mount Denali in Alaska, then through the Northwest Passage in the Arctic, continuing their journey to be the first sail-yacht to circumnavigate the two Americas from pole to pole in a figure of eight, making best use of the wind and currents.

Dario giving water samples to Jan Hafner from IPRC

This section of the global adventure will be completed by climbing Mt. Vinson in Antarctica. They will be taking water samples along this route and reporting back to the International Pacific Research Center on the quality of the ocean's water and the impact from the Japan tsunami.

I had a chance to meet the family while they were in Oahu. All four of their children were born on the boat, so they know no other life than sailing at sea. While the family's amazing journey is what draws most media interest, I was equally as interested in how they raise a family while on board a boat - non-stop, 24/7.

"We have no privacy," Dario offered immediately, with a laugh.

One of the two assistants nodded. "I have earplugs," she said.

Sabine

"We have four kids. This is what happens when you have no TV," joked Sabine.

It was not Dario and Sabine's intention to have children while on their sail. They started in 2002 and originally planned a four-year sail. "But then, Sabine got pregnant and we decided to see how it worked out. It's actually been great," Dario commented.

Sabine went on to describe how living in small quarters impacts a marriage: some challenges, but mostly wonderful. They agreed to go to sleep angry, because the space it too small to harbor all that angry energy. Also, if there's a storm, they need to work together to navigate and survive.

"When was the last time you saw only your spouse and no other human being for 40 days straight?" Dario asked. I cannot think of any time, ever in my life, that I have seen only one person for 40 days. "That is what I had with Sabine, and it's so beautiful. We become like one body, one mind, and we grow together."

I think I could do that with my husband, but I also think that kind of living is not for every person or every couple. Kudos to them for making it work.

They went on to say how important communication is. "We decided that every day at 3 we would meet at the boat's anchor and talk, debrief what's going on with each other. There's so much to do on board, that we do need to make time to communicate," Sabine said.

I think about raising my daughter, now six, in our peaceful little community in lovely Oahu. I feel very lucky to reside in such a safe and family-friendly state.

Yet, I worry about all the things moms do: criminals, getting hit by a car, rejection at a new school, not to mention the stress of fighting traffic, juggling schedules, managing Olivia's homework.

Sabine agreed; these are not her worries. On the other hand, "The grandparents miss them terribly, and for a long time before Mary and Christine (the staffers) joined us, there were only two of us adults to watch over everyone. When you sail at night you need to keep watch so you don't hit anything. If there is a storm, it's worse. Imagine staying up all night to keep the boat upright and then having to watch the kids all day the following day. The kids are sleeping through the storm, you know, so they're full of energy the next day."

On a more mundane level, there are things that Dario and Sabine wish to give their children: "A dog. Dancing lessons. Violin lessons." Different countries have quarantine rules, making a pet impossible to have on board.

I spent 90 minutes playing with the children, who seemed well-adjusted and were so friendly and smart. The oldest, eight year old Salina, chattered away about the whales she saw by Santa Lina, Italy and the hikes in Patagonia and Nepal. The three year old, Noe, climbed on my lap and started chanting "Rio De Janeiro" when photos of Brazil flashed on the slideshow. "That's his favorite city," Dario explained.

Salina, fluent in English, easily moved back and forth between English and Swiss German when she couldn't figure out a word. She was bright, charming, and amazing. Added her mom, "I was so shy as a child, but due to our lifestyle on the boat, my children have had to learn to be extroverted. Salina will just go up to a new child and ask to play. I'm glad that this lifestyle has given her this outgoing personality."

Dario elaborated on more positives. "They aren't spoiled. We have limited space on board, so they're limited to one box of toys. If they get a new toy, they have to give one away to make space. They also learned to eat all the food on their plate because we don't have the luxury of wasting food. And they listen. When I tell them to put on their life vest, they do it right away and don't complain. They know it's for their safety and their life depends on it," he said.

These kids have lived more in their short existence than many people do in a lifetime; it's such an impressive thought to mull over. The family plans to stay at sea until 2017.

I couldn't imagine giving up my land life to do what they are doing, which adds to the fascination of talking to the Schworers and hearing about their many travels and tales.

Salina and my drawing

I was especially fond of Salina, who gave me a huge hug that knocked me backwards when it was time to go. "Don't go," she said, reminding me of Olivia. "I don't want you to go." As most children draw a picture of their house, Salina drew a picture of her boat as a gift to me to remember her, before she left to ride the next wave of adventure.

It's been 7 years since the inaugural KIDS FIRST! Film Festival at UH Manoa -- and some of the audience regulars have grown up from toddlers to tweens! I know our family has enjoyed this every summer for the past few years!

The award-winning UH Manoa KIDS FIRST! Film Festival presented by Outreach College returns in 2013 with another summer of quality family fun. KIDS FIRST! gives young people the excitement and thrill of attending a film festival just for them, at an affordable price for all the family -- free!

The KIDS FIRST! Film Festival 2013 screens on Sundays, June 23 & 30 and July 14 & 21 at 3:00 pm in the UH Manoa Art Auditorium (follow the balloons on campus; parking is free on Sundays). For complete information, visit www.summer.hawaii.edu or call 956-9883. The UH Manoa KIDS FIRST! Film Festival is supported in part by the Sidney Stern Memorial Trust.

The KIDS FIRST! Film Festival, a project of the Coalition for Quality Children's Media, partners each year with over 150 venues nationwide, reaching an audience of more than one million people, making it the largest kids' film festival in the world. Curated locally by UH Manoa's Outreach College to appeal to Hawai‘i audiences, KIDS FIRST! films are free of gratuitous violence; race, gender, or religious bias; inappropriate content; and condescension toward children. Age-appropriate groupings of films entertain through a balance of animation and live action, plus varied themes from different cultures. To add to the festivities, door prizes are awarded at all screenings. Parents, grandparents, friends and neighborhood kids -- everyone can enjoy the films because they're juried by kids, parents, teachers, and child advocates nationwide to qualify for the Festival.

This year, in addition to regular screenings in the UHM Art Auditorium, KIDS FIRST! partners with the Waikiki Aquarium in celebration of World Oceans month. On Wednesdays, June 12, 19, and 26, KIDS FIRST! films will screen throughout the day in the Aquarium's SeaVisions Theatre. On these days, children with a KIDS FIRST! coupon (downloadable at www.summer.hawaii.edu/kidsfirst) will be admitted to the Aquarium free with a paying adult. For information, visit www.waquarium.org or www.summer.hawaii.edu.

This summer's KIDS FIRST! Film Festival line-up is a varied mix of animation and live-action, comedy and drama, green shorts and shorts on sports -- from the US, Canada, Brazil, India and Singapore -- plus a world premiere from world's oceans! Here are the highlights:

UH Manoa Art Auditorium • 4 Sundays at 3pm • Free

June 23: (Ages 4+) World premiere of Sharks and Rays, from underwater filmmaker Annie Crawley -- an adventure with sharks and rays around the globe, including the world's first shark sanctuary in Palau. Screened with Gus Outdoors: Lizard Town -- another adventure in search of lizards, iguanas, and snakes with Gus, a six-year-old naturalist as host. Plus a short animated music video.

June 30: (Ages 8+) Nine award-winning short films whose characters never give up...from a robot left behind in space, to a cupcake searching for love, to everyday kids facing life with imagination and belief.

July 14: (Ages 5+) A short animated film about rainforests, I Wish I Went to Equador was made by pupils at the Bricknell Primary School in Britain. The film captured awards at festivals and the attention of Al Gore who called it "...a terrific commentary on climate change and its devastating impacts upon our planet." Plus a heartwarming feature film from Singapore about a girl who learns about the importance of trees...and how to save them from greedy developers with a bit of community organizing.

July 21: (Ages 10+) Young love, sports, competition, family, goals and dreams -- it's all there in this program of seven short films for the over-10 set.

Waikiki Aquarium • SeaVisions Theatre • 3 Wednesdays throughout the day • Children with coupon admitted to the Aquarium free with paying adult

Three films shot in oceans around the world from underwater cinematographer and educator, Annie Crawley:

June 12: What Makes a Fish a Fish?

June 19: Dive into Diversity

June 26: Who Lives in the Sea

Plus Once Upon a Tide and Plastic Perils of the Pacific which screen all three days.

The second to the last day of kindergarten, Olivia surprised me with a request. "Instead of walking me all the way into class tomorrow, could you just drop me off at the parking lot and let me walk in myself?"

I was FLOORED. Firstly, this child just last week clung to my arm and begged me not to go, then chased after me as I walked down the hall.

Secondly, she is only five. I thought they don't get embarrassed of their parents until at least pre-teen. What the --?

I was hurt, but tried not to be. I coolly pried around the topic to try to figure out why she would say this. I didn't get very far.

"Did someone tease you?" I asked. She said Chevy teased her, but when I pointed out that his mommy still walks him into class, she didn't get the hypocrisy.

So she changed the reasoning to, "I just thought it would be funner this way," and wouldn't give me any further details.

I complained to Claus, who hugged my disappointment away and rationalized that she is trying to be a big girl because she's entering first grade. He said he overheard the kids being excited about it recently.

The next morning when I did the drop off, I insisted on going with her to class and told her she better not complain about it. I even made her hold my hand.

In class, I asked the teacher for her opinion on this behavior. Was it a common behavior and was it indeed fueled by a desire to show how grown up they were now?

"No, I haven't seen this before," the teacher said, then put her hand on my shoulder and joked, "You're going to be in trouble by the time she's a teenager."

Oh, brother. I don't even let her watch Disney Channel because I think it's too sexy for a five year old, but apparently, I am helpless to stop the process of growing up.

Olivia's closest friends are the ones she made, surprisingly, in preschool. One of the preschool girls, Meya, attends the same grade school as Olivia.

Another girl, Amanda, went to a different school, but as a family, we still keep in touch with them. Those two girls are the people with whom we have the most frequent playdates.

The entire kindergarten year has come and gone and I'm a little baffled that we only made one new friend outside the classroom. It is a very new friendship in that we've only had one date.

Last weekend, we were at the pool with Meya and her mom, Ashley. The girls started hanging out in the water with a boy, and developed a mini-crush on him for the day.

They even started fighting over him. "He's mine!" "No, he's mine!" Ashley and I turned our heads and looked at each other with a huge expression of shock. Already?!?

This began a comparison of how our girls have had crushes on boys for the past two years. "Meya's liked this boy Matthew forever," Ashley said.

I have heard this name many times. "Matthew P? From the preschool?" I asked in amazement. Matthew, Meya, and Olivia attend the same grade school. Olivia's had a crush on him for the last two years, too!

I would say it's amazing that the girls have been interested in boys since they were three years old, but I know Olivia's been interested in boys since she could express it.

When she was two, my friend Tai lived with us for a while, and she would call this 23 year old man her boyfriend and say she loved him. She still remembers him, but she's moved on to new boys.

If this is my daughter at age five, I'm really scared of what the next decades hold!

Olivia wants to be a big girl. What I do, she wants to do. I carry a bag, she wants to carry the same bag.

I had to pop into work one weekend and I took her with me. I filled out an interoffice envelope to go to Accounting. She wanted to fill out one.

I had more than one envelope to send, so I told her she could do the second one. I provided her mine as a sample and told her to follow that exactly.

She apparently couldn't read my handwriting, which I can understand. I had read aloud what the words said, but it went by too fast, and she couldn't remember.

So what came out is a little inaccurate. Here's my version as a reference; it says "4/27 - Gene - Acct - Ako", and here's hers.

4/27 - Gene - Acct

Ako - PR

I'm sure the mailman and the guy in Accounting thought something is very strange with this mailing, though it eventually did find its destination.