Honolulu: Day 2 (June 14th)

Yes ... it's taken me over a week to get to day 2 of our Hawaiian vacation. Coming home has been business as usual - which means BUSY! I know everyone reading this is just as busy as I am so that makes for a pretty lame excuse on my part. I also threw in a 30 hour trip to Chicago last Saturday to add to the fun ... more on that AMAZING day with pics to follow! We're still at swim team every day, swim meets on Thursdays, and I just started an online digital photography class last Monday. Finished another big project this weekend which I am beyond excited about, too! All that and I guess I'm just a slacker ;) As much as I love remembering our trip it reminds me we aren't there anymore and probably won't be there again for years!! *SOB*

We woke up early on Saturday so we could go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. This is one of those places that you must go if you visit Honolulu. It is breathtaking to see from above and is completely picturesque!! I had been when I was younger but, as most things in my life when I was younger, I don't remember a bit of it. We got there just after 7 AM since we knew we could only stay until about 9 (based on our afternoon plans) but figured a few hours was better than nothing, right? We set up camp along the back edge of the beach trying to secure ourselves a little piece of shade. The beach was fairly empty when we got there which was so nice ... and unusual if you go later in the day. That made it even more disturbing when a group of other tourists literally wedged themselves right in next to us - practically onto our blanket! The beach was empty and they decided they needed the spot right on top of ours. We shifted our camp over a little so as not to invade their space the way they chose to invade ours! We took turns going out into the water to snorkel so we would have someone with our stuff on the beach at all times (paranoid?). Once I got in the water I was reminded of how much I enjoy snorkeling. The ability to breathe underwater is so amazing!!! To peer down on the life that exists in the ocean is truly remarkable. We had Mike take a picture of me and Steve together while we were snorkeling ... this is what we got. Thanks, Mike :) We saw lots of beautiful fish and even watched a turtle munching on some coral and swimming. I could watch the sea turtles all day! Have you ever tried to take pictures underwater? It is not easy!! I bought a digital underwater camera to take with us - got a great deal on it and figured it would be more cost effective than disposable underwater cameras. That and the fact the kids can play with it in the pool sold me on the idea. Only problem is you really can't see the LCD screen on the back of the camera while you are underwater so it's pretty much point, shoot, and hope for the best! We did get a few fun shots and that makes it completely worth it!
Of course Flat Tori joined us there and picked herself up a hottie while we were out playing ... guess she got bored reading New Moon on the beach!
After our time at Hanauma Bay it was back to our rooms to shower and prepare for our day in Laie at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Again, one of those places I went with my family when I was younger but I literally have no recollection. Sad, really. The drive over from Honolulu is unbelievably gorgeous ... still wishing we had pulled over to take photos of the views along the way.

I loved our time there! There is so much to see, do, and take in at the PCC. We met our guide, Vai Eli, and were on our way to the Rainbows of Paradise canoe pageant ... after stopping to take a few photo, of course :)
The show was fantastic! There are 6 villages at the PCC - Hawaii, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, and Aotearoa (Maori New Zealand). Each of these cultures was represented on a canoe that floats along the river that flows through the middle of the PCC. As the canoes move along there are dancers dressed in traditional attire dancing to traditional music. How these people do not end up in the river is a mystery to me ... especially the girls from Tahiti who can shake their hips like nothing I have ever seen before!!! It really is a sight to behold.
After the canoe pageant we got to go through a few of the individual villages where there were shows, displays, shops, and different things to try from each of the countries. We saw a great drum demonstration in Tonga (where they invited people out of the audience to participate who ended up being hilarious) and also learned to weave a fish out of palm leaves. We then went onto a demo from Samoa where we saw so many things - they demonstrated how to make fire and put it out with your foot, open a coconut in record time, scrape the meat out of the coconut faster than you can imagine, squeeze that meat to get the milk - no, the juice that comes out of the coconut when you crack it open is NOT the milk, and even watched a man climb to the top of a palm tree (and back down) with his bare hands and feet!!! It was then onto Aotearoa to see a traditional welcome ceremony followed by singing and dancing in their native tongue and custom. The Haka and poi ball dancing was fabulous. It was really extraordinary to see a slice of these diverse cultures and gain just a bit more appreciation for their customs and traditions. I only wish we had had more time to see everything ... we could have easily spent an entire day there and will definitely take the kids there sometime (although I'm sure they won't remember it)!
After the villages we hit the Ali'i Luau. We were given a lei greeting and I thoroughly enjoyed the scent of my lei the rest of the night! We were brought into a huge outdoor theater where they pulled the pig out of the ground that we would be having as part of our meal. There was a great show of singing and dancing to keep us entertained - although we kept ourselves very easily entertained just visiting with our friends :) They taught us about all of the foods that would be served and we waited our turn to hit the buffet. The food was good but the smoothie served in the pineapple was to die for!!
After dinner we caught the last shuttle bus to visit the BYU Hawaii campus and the Laie Hawaii Temple. I was so amazed to learn about the work-study program that BYU Hawaii and the PCC have that brings so many students to Laie to gain an education, work at the center to pay their tuition, and trains them to return to their home countries. What a wonderful opportunity for these students to take their skills and education back to better their own people. I was really touched to find out that many of them have 90% of their education paid for in exchange for their work at the PCC ... that is amazing.
The temple in Laie is absolutely beautiful. It has such a rich history as being one of the first temples (5th, actually) built, and the stories of the saints and missionaries in Hawaii who have shared the gospel and watched the church grow there is astounding. The building itself is exquisite but the spirit and sacredness of the grounds is powerful. I am so glad to have had the opportunity to go there and spend time learning about how the temple and the area around it were built up and sustained by faithful members of the church.
Now you would think after all of this writing that our day was over, but you would be wrong. We then headed back to the PCC for the Horizons show. This was spectacular. The only bummer is that you can't use flash photography so I don't really have any fantastic pictures to share! It is an amazing musical production put on by most of those who work at the center and it is not to be missed when you go. Each of the villages is showcased with unbelievable dancing. It would honestly do the show no justice to have me try and explain any more than to say it was fabulous. Even after a long, hot, exhausting day I was completely thrilled by what I saw. The absolute star of the show was the crazy little Samoan man who did most of the demonstrations at the Samoa village earlier in the day. You could see every single muscle in his body ... you've never seen legs like this before. He danced with fire, put out fire with his own body parts, and his energy was more than any 5 small children would possess. Teisha and I couldn't resist having our picture take with him after the show. He was completely charming and we laughed when his 16 year old LARGE son came to get the car keys from him ... I can only imagine what his wife must be like (since I believe they have 8 children)!! We also couldn't pass up a photo op with the floral headbands :)
Now I'm sure you can see why it is taking me so long to get this "report" done - I don't want to forget the details!! Sorry for all of the pictures, too ... I thought I was doing pretty good to narrow down to about 30 from the 200+ I took that day ;) Thanks for hanging in there with me!! Then again you probably skipped the article and browsed the pictures instead - I can' t blame you for that!! I know how long-winded I can be :) Don't worry ... tomorrow is a far less eventful day :)