PCC & Temple

Monday, May 31st

We did a lot on Memorial Day, but for some reason didn't take many pictures. We went to Nathaniel's baseball game. Then back to Sherwood Beach for a barbecue with some of their best friends (loved them!). Unfortunately, more of our group fell victim to the dreaded blue bubbles, so that was our list visit there.

Johnny played with this ball (one of the first times he really held on to something like that -- although I didn't get any pictures of him actually doing it).

Faithy loving Johnny.

Tuesday, June 1

We headed over to Laie to go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. On our way there we saw "Chinaman's Hat," which they show in Karate Kid II (What, you haven't seen Karate Kid II at least 50 times? Well, come on over.) We stopped to take some pictures. See that island out in the background?
I'm always up for a cheesy pose.

After going to Foodland to buy Elizabeth some "slippers" because she forgot her shoes, and eating "plate lunch" at L&L, we went to the PCC.

Here's Harrison concentrating on doing the poi dance.

See us in the background?

Looking at the fish while waiting for the Samoan show to start (loved that show -- very funny).

Harrison showing off his latest lost tooth. The picture doesn't do justice to how snaggle-toothed he looked. I called him Nanny McPhee until we pulled out the other one.

Trying to fish. No luck.

Getting a tattoo from one of the Fijian girls.

Some thoughts on the PCC.

*It's really expensive -- but knowing you're supporting students of BYU Hawaii helps it sting a little less.

*There's not enough time to do everything. They do give you a bounce back pass, but do you really want to drive all the way back to the Northshore and spend 2 days there? Especially considering how expensive it is, they should just open earlier (it doesn't open until noon). So you have to pick between watching shows and doing activities. Selfishly, I chose to make everyone watch the shows. Even if you do choose to skip the activities, there's really not enough time to watch all the shows (unless you plan very strategically, which we didn't). So we skipped the Fijian show and watched the Hawaiian one instead. Bad idea. It was BORING and the main guy was so derogatory. We thought that being the host island, it should have been the best show.
*It's probably best suited for upper elementary kids and older. My kids remember it more fondly than I would have thought based on their reactions at the time. Speaking of the best age to enjoy the PCC -- I hadn't been there since I was 13. I guess when I was 13, I wasn't as boy crazy as I remember being, because I think I would have had much fonder memories of the place (don't get me wrong, I did like it at the time, just didn't appreciate it as much as I could have). Shirtless, muscular island boys everywhere you look? The ideal age for a girl/woman to go to the PCC? Probably 17.

*Man, I love that Poly spirit. Especially the "happy people of Samoa" as they kept referring to them. The Tongan show was hilarious, it had Nate laughing so hard he was crying and was Harrison's favorite part of the whole day. The Mauri show was more serious, but really impressive. I could watch the hula type dancing all day long -- how do they get their hips to move like that? Harrison and I are still trying (pretty darn cute to watch him), but we can't get it down.

*Could have skipped the I-MAX movie. It was awful. Would have been much better to just show the old school Johnny Lingo movie. Then we went just down the road to BYU Hawaii. Didn't get out or take pics - kids getting too tired. A little farther down the road is the temple. It is closed for renovation (it was closed when we went on our honeymoon too -- bummer!). But the grounds were beautiful.