We walked around the temple grounds and even went in the visitors center for a bit. It was fun to be somewhere that actually was decorated for Christmas! :) They had this really cool Nativity Scene set up outside. And inside they had a whole bunch of Christmas Trees (at least 10) all decorated according to a scripture theme. They were really neat!!! {And for all you Utah people I have to add in a little tidbit. Guess who the couple missionaries were inside the visitor's center? None other than the Eubanks! Yep. Mark Eubanks the Channel 5 Weather Man from Utah! It was pretty fun to walk in and see him!}
These are some of my favorite flowers - they are EVERYWHERE in all different colors! Beautiful!
Connor is liking to walk more and more (rather than be strapped into the stroller!) and Shawn and Brady are so good to always hold his hands to help him along! What good big brothers! :)
I had to take a picture of this. :) It is at the top of the waterfall by the temple. It says "Maternity" and it is a mom and her 3 boys! :)
Our next stop was the BYU-Hawaii campus. We didn't spend much time here. We just went into the bookstore to buy some cool souvenirs. :)
Our next and final stop for the day was none other than the Polynesian Cultural Center! We spent pretty much the entire day here and so well worth it! We had a tour guide that was assigned to just our family and he took us around to all the different countries, activities and shows and told us all the info about everything. It was great because then we didn't have to figure out where and when to be at the different places! Very handy! :)
At the first little show we went to they made all sorts of cool things out of banana leaves and gave them out to the audience. Here is Mike's cool visor:
And they gave all the little kids these fish that were way cool!
They made a fire out of rubbing just 2 sticks together which then lit the hair from the coconut on fire to cook their food with. Pretty neat!
they broke a coconut in half, then let some of the little kids {including Jenna and Shawn} go up and drink some of the milk from it.
Here is the guy who climbs the coconut trees to get the coconuts out of them!
At another one of the Islands they talked about how in their culture tatoos are very symbolic and pretty much a religious thing for them. {Obviously they went into more detail than that.} Then they gave us all some fake tatoos! :)Don't my boys all look tough?!
I didn't want one on my arm, so I had her put it around my ankle. :)
At so many of the Islands they have you play different games and do different activities that are part of their culture. Here we all were trying to toss an arrow (no bow, just the arrow). I have to brag because I actually hit in the target every time! :)
During part of the day they have a "boat parade" where each island is represented by a different boat and they do a couple dances from their country. It was pretty cool. The ones from Tahiti where they shake their hips so fast is my favorite! Amazing how they can do that! Here are all the different boats...I won't list which are which because I probably would get them wrong. :)
We also got to go on a canoe ride through the Cultural Center. Here is everyone on the canoe. Yes I realize it is their backs. I was sitting behind everyone and I couldn't stand up to get a picture so you get their backs. But at least you can see the pretty flower in Ashley's hair. :)
The scenery to me is just amazing! It is all REAL {so perfect you'd think it's fake} and SO gorgeous!!!
One of the temples:
Here we all are trying to learn to Hula Dance. Funny stuff!
In (Tonga?) they had a drum show. It was great! They asked 3 people from the audience to come up and be part of it and Mike was asked to go up on stage. He was the best ever!!! I don't think the people knew what they were in for when they asked him up on stage! HILARIOUS!!! I laughed so hard I cried!!!
Here is pointing out his lovely wife {aka me} who probably had mascara all down my cheeks from laughing so hard (told ya I cried)!! It's all good though. :)
We had to get our pictures taken with these statues:
On "The Night at the Museum" it is the statue that says "Dum dum. Did you bring me gum gum?" that is my kids favorite part and they say it all the time!
Here are me and Shawn chasing after Connor as he runs down the hill. He gets so excited when you actually let him out of the stroller! :)
That evening we were able to eat at the Luau there at the PCC. It was very good! I LOVE the Poi rolls and the Pork! Yum! :) Here is the pig cooking behind the stage area before dinner started:
the background for the stage...once again, gorgeous! Waterfall and everything!
And here we all are. Mom and Dad:
Shawn and Emily:
Brady and Jenna:
Connor and Mike:
Jared and Ashley:
Steven:
Kevin and Derek:
Aaron and Jen:
Here are all the kids with our tour guide. He was fabulous! And he was especially great with the kids. Which I guess is fitting since he is a student at BYUH going into education (teaching).
It was fun to be there are Christmas time with everything all lit up at night with lights! Kinda a fun atmosphere!
And last but not least....the Hawaiian Santa Clause. Complete with a surf board and a dolphin!
It was such a fun day!!! There was also a show that night after the dinner that was very cool, but they don't allow photography so there are no pics. But it was good!
