A lot of people asked us if we were excited about all the yummy food we were going to eat now that we were out of isolated Juneau, and boy oh boy were we! But not so much the food that is native to Hawaii, but more about the Chili's, and Outbacks and Dairy Queens! So here we all are, so happy for our first meal at IHOP! Oh so good!
After breakfast, we had a little time to wander around before we had to meet the tour bus to the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). We rented a condo in Malibu right across from the Hawaiian Hilton Village. The kids were just amazed at the beauty of it! There were fish ponds and fountains all around, and we were hard pressed to convince the kids they shouldn't catch the fish.
I mean look at that! Isn't it a beauty? The Hilton had a little wading pool that wasn't connected to the ocean that was a nice warm up for the ocean the first day. I think it was just for the Hilton guests, but whatever. What I liked is that they raked the sand first thing in the morning! Can you imagine being a sand raker as a profession?
The flowers were awesome! These were just flowers that were just laying on the floor. These were junk flowers!
The kids love their papa! Either that or they love their papa's phone. Whatever.
We're so happy we went to the PCC first, and as part of the package, they bussed us around the entire island and showed us the hot tourist spots. It was great because some of the spots we were planning on visiting we visited and said meh, and other places we were iffy on we got excited about. Here we are overlooking the beach from Diamondhead.
Some things never change. Tony Parkours in Juneau, and Tony Parkours in Hawaii.
Here we are at the Dole Plantation. You know, we had heard that pineapple in Hawaii was like nothing you've ever had before. Whatever... but they were right! The pineapple itself was enough to make us want to come back a second day! But isn't this tree cool? It's a Rainbow Eucalyptus Tree.
We finally got to the PCC, and while it was cool, we had a TERRIBLE tour guide! We saw all these cool things that all the other people were doing, and he would just walk right by them. We did a LOT of sitting around waiting for this show or that. The shows were good, but it would've been nice to do some activities. But this guy was freakin' hilarious!
There was a fun show that had all of the Polynesian dancers from all of islands.
The one activity we did get to participate in is the Tongan spear toss. Apparently when there are disagreements in Tonga, one way they're settled is by tossing a spear to a certain spot, and whomever is closest wins the argument! None of our kids won the argument. :-(
We were excited to get out of Juneau so we would get out of the rain. Of course, Hawaii has just as much rain as Juneau! It was nice that it felt like a warm shower, though. And very cool that it absolutely downpoured for 10 minutes, and then it was sunny for the next few hours. But people were looking at us like we were crazy as we were just walking around like nothing in the pouring down rain.
The food was AMAZING at the PCC!! They did a traditional Hawaiian boar roasting where they bury the boar underground and cook it. So tasty! And the men carrying the boar weren't too bad, either!
Isn't our family lovely? There was a program in the evening in the outdoor, and here we are waiting for the show to begin in the evening.
The show was fantastic (six months later Tony's still talking about the guy who got hit by the spear and did he die for real?). And there was another one of those fun torrential rains to run through to the bus! These are the faces of some very happy people at the end of the night!
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