Weekly Review - November 22-28

More from our trip to Hawaii.

Sunday, November 22 - We went to Bellow Beach and got some family pictures on the beach. After a few pictures we changed into swimsuits and played.


Monday, November 23 - We stopped at the Hawaii temple on our way to the Polynesian Cultural Center. At the PCC we saw several different cultures, learned new things, went to a Luau, and enjoyed an evening show.

Tuesday, November 24 - While in Hawaii we drove a red Ford Mustang Convertible. The girls loved having the top down when we were stopped, or going slow. We bought Paul a new bike to get around town, and had a nice quiet day.

Wednesday, November 25 - We went to the Navy Mall to get a few more things before packing up to head back to Utah. While we were there we saw Santa Claus. Yep, he was there even before Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 26 - Happy Thanksgiving! We were invited to the Rico's house for Thanksiving dinner. After dinner the girls helped them put up their Christmas Tree.

Friday, November 27 - After an overnight flight from Hawaii to Utah we hung out at my mom's house...and the kids helped my mom set up her Christmas Tree.

Saturday, November 28 - Our bags have pretty much exploded all over the family room. I have been unpacking and putting things away from our trip.

Thanksgiving

This year we were invited to celebrate Thanksgiving at Sal & Patty Rico's house (Paul's boss on the sub and his wife) in Hawaii. They were kind enough to let us come over early since we needed to be checked out of our hotel by noon.

When we first got there we parked right next to a tree that looked like a really great climbing tree...so, of course, it had to be climbed.

Kaylee and Gabby were ready to eat long before it was dinner time. They snacked on apples and oranges but they were still begging for dinner. When we sat down to eat they both ate, and ate, and ate! Patty made an amazing Thansgiving dinner and was a wonderful host!

After dinner was all cleaned up Patty got out the Christmas tree, and let Kaylee and Gabby help her set up the tree and decorate her house. Sal even lifted Gabby up to put the tree topper on the tree.

Polynesian Cultural Center

**WARNING: This post contains a lot of pictures (but not all 230 pictures that I took)**

Our next adventure in Hawaii was going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The gates don't open until noon, so we went a little bit early and went over to the Laie Hawaii Temple before going. The Hawaii temple is 90 years old and is currently undergoing a complete renovation inside and out. We walked around the temple grounds, and visited the visitor's center where there were several nice missionaries from Utah.

Right after we walked in the gate at the Polynesian Cultural Center it started raining really heavy so we ducked into a gift shop for a few minutes until the rain let up. Then we were off to explore the different polynesian villages that represent the different groups of polynesian islands.

Samoa
The first village we stopped at was Samoa. They had a presentation showing how to start a fire by rubbing 2 sticks together, how they husk an open a coconut, and then how to get the milk out of the coconut, after the presentation one of the samoan guys demonstrated how to climb a coconut tree to pick the coconuts. They had an area that showed how they prepare dinner. They eat breadfruit(remember my picture of a breadfruit tree at the pinepple plantation? I learned more about the breadfruit.) They said breadfruit is like their version of potatoes, it is called breadfruit because when it cooks it smells like fresh baked bread. Oh...and the men do all the cooking.

Fiji
Next stop was Fiji. They had some temporary tatoos and Gabby got one that represented a princess design. During the presentation their they did a lot of war dances, and warrior things.

Canoe Pagent
After we went on a canoe ride we went and sat along the edge of the canal and watched the Canoe Pagent. Each village had a long canoe with a platform that they did a dance to represent the islands that they were from. While we were waiting for the pagent to start there was another long canoe going around the edge of the canal selling pineapple mango ice cream with fresh fruit at the bottom. I thought it looked interesting and got us some...after we were done eating it I started getting hives and discovered I'm allergic to something that was in that ice cream.

Tahiti
After the Canoe Pagent we headed over to Tahiti Village were we got to taste candy made from Noni fruit, and try out fishing in the canal. We went to the presentation and learned that there are 5 groups of Tahitian islands and they are known for different things. Some are better know for tahitian pearls, and sea shells, another group of islands is known for their use of the coconut tree. Tahiti is were the dancers move their hips really fast, and the guys do what looks like a funky chicken dance.

We also visited Tonga, Hawaii, and Aotearoa (New Zealand) but I didn't get that great of pictures at those villages. There was so much to see and I didn't get pictures of everything I wanted to...even though I did end up with over 200 pictures.

Ali'i Luau
After exploring the villages we went to the Ali'i Luau where we were each presented with a fresh flower lei as we got there and then seated. They started the luau with music and entertainment, and then the imu ceremony which is uncovering the cooked pig and presenting it. There was entertainment all through the buffet style dinner and some amazing luau foods. The kids thought the purple potatoe rolls were really funny but didn't care for the taste, they were a lot like regular potatoe rolls but sweeter. Gabby really liked the chocolate cake (she ate 2 pieces). By the time we were done with our food we were do full we couldn't eat anymore...until 10 minutes later when both the kids thought they were hungry again...what?!?!

Ha, the Breath of Life
The Evening show that is being performed at the PCC right now is "Ha, the Breath of Life" and it was basically about how when you give your child life you are giving them the breath of life and a piece of life. It was about growing up, and going through the different stages of life, the struggles, and the happy times. There was a huge emphasis on family. Not just the family that is related to you but the people all around you.

Several people told me that it takes at least 2 days to see everything at the polynesian cultural center. They were definately right!!! I will be going back to the polynesian cultural center again to see everything that I missed the first time.

Bellow Beach

Today we went over to the East Side of the Island to Bellow Beach at the Bellow Air Force Station. It was an amazingly beautiful beach and we had fun playing for hours in the sand. Okay, I had fun sitting in my beach chair enjoying the beach.

On our way to the beach we stopped at a blow hole that was next to Sandy Beach (the beach we went to a couple days ago), It can shoot water up to 30 feet in the air when the waves are really rough, but we only saw it shoot maybe 5 feet up.

My main goal when we got to Bellow Beach was to get some nice family snapshots at the beach...Here's what I was able to get:

After a few pictures the kids were begging to get into swimsuits to play at the beach. Paul had fun trying to catch a wave and body surf, Gabby loves being the queen of the sand castle (or hill), and Kaylee really just wanted to play in the sand and not go out in the waves. I was perfectly happy sitting in my beach chair (that some very nice people gave us because they were flying home and couldn't take them with them).

Paul helped the girls dig a little sand hole near the water that every so often the water would come up high enough to fill it up with water. The girls had so much fun playing in the sand hole, and building up the walls. At one point the wate washed up and into in and brought a little crab with it. Paul caught the crab in our bucket and sent it back out to sea.

On our way back to our hotel I wanted to drive past to old Pearl Harbor Watch Tower. It's pretty much right next to our hotel and we hadn't gone over by it until last night after it was dark. So, today we went back over by it. This is the watch tower that was in use during the attack on Pearl Harbor.