Mahalo

So-day 4 and 5 now. These were some of the best days there. Especially Friday (day 4). Sorry this post is so long. I tried to make it interesting :)

Day 4: We woke up early to go kayaking at Kailua State Park. It was fabulous. Probably my 1st or 2nd favorite thing while there. Samantha and Tommy also got to go out. Tom and I even felt adventurous enough to go the 30 minutes out to Flat Island where the water was more "intermediate". The island itself was aptly named...it was and island and it was flat :). It wasn't too interesting but there were a lot of rocks that Tom and I both cut our feet on. I still had a great time. I absolutely loved kayaking. My kids did too, but poor Tommy and his Grandpa were the only pair to overturn the boat. Tommy was traumatized (and I was gone further adding to it!) but later he seemed kind of happy to relate his story over and over.
Then the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC)!!! If you don't know, this is one of the biggest and best Polynesian shows (on the island, maybe even in the world) and is associated with BYU-Hawaii. I mean the actual Prince of Tonga was there visiting at the same time as us-pretty cool huh? We saw very cool shows (palm-tree climbing, Tahitian dancing, fire eating, drums!), Even participated in shows-see below. Ate some fabulous food and generally had a very good (but hot!) time.

The boy cousins are out-numbered. They have to stick together

Eliza wasn't a true fan of the beach. Especially the day of kayaking, she was tired and probably couldn't understand why mommy and daddy kept leaving in boats.

So she had to hang out with Aunt Margaret.

Tommy and Grandpa. Pre-capsizing.

Our entrance to the PCC. Yes, I bought the over-priced touristy picture. I was happy I did.

Pageant of the Long Canoes. They have a mini-show of each Polynesian Island. This is Samoa because one of my Mia-Maids moved to AZ from there and I was thinking of her.

I think that canoe is a royal one from New Zealand...I think.

So here is my favorite story. In the Tonga Show they asked for volunteers. So like any loving wife, I volunteered my husband. He had to try to drum and even do tribal yells. He was so cute (I know, I'm biased) but seriously-he did a good job. Then he got people all day going "good job" and "Hey-you're the one from Arizona" and even from a sweet old man "So, do you have a career in the music business?" It was fun.

Had to buy this picture too.

And a funny side note is that someone came up afterwards and said "Tom!" and it was his elementary school friend, Nick. He had recognized Tom when he got up on stage. Funny right?

We lucked out, our evening show happened to correspond with the world fire-knife competition. So during intermission we got to see the semi-finals. It was completely and utterly amazing.

Samoan portion of the show. Same reason as before.

Day 5: We drove to North Shore to try to watch some serious surfers. Only problem was that there were absolutely no waves. So we just looked around some. Then we got some shaved ice from Matsumoto's. Apparently it's famous-it certainly was busy. And we got some delicious shrimp. It was so, so yummy. The roads are kind of interesting there so it took a long time to get back. It was okay, the scenery was gorgeous. And we stopped by the temple ground in Laie on the way back.

That afternoon Tom went with a small group to Bellows beach. It's a military beach, only open on the weekends to the public but apparently it is really cool. I think that every beach there is probably really cool for something but this one is a great boogie boarding beach. I stayed home with the kids, but I definitely got my turn to boogie board over the week and a half-don't worry.

Afore-mentioned glitter toes. All completed

I don't usually take just scenery pictures, but is this gorgeous or what?

A complete cousin picture: All enjoying shaved ice.

Samantha, Kate, Joshua, Matthew, Eliza, Tommy, Rachel, Emma, Nolan

And the shrimp

Only semi-decent shot of us in front of the Laie Hawaiian Temple.

The boys (and Margaret) at Bellows.