Hawaii - Day 6 - Waimea Falls (for some of us), Matsumoto's & our last day

Our last full day was Friday, November 6th.  The week had gone by so fast!

Our plan was to take both cars and go hike to a waterfall at Waimea Falls.  Jon and I had done the hike on our trip there and knew that the kids would like it.  To get around the island, we usually depended on our navigation on our phones.  My mom, Sam, Emily, Lindsey, Hailey & I were in the minivan.  Jon had his mom, Jack, Kate, & Hannah with him and we headed there.  Our phone rerouted us and ended up costing my car about 2 hours!  So sad!  We drove all the way around the island and missed the hike.  I felt really, really bad.  But, there wasn't a darn thing we could do about it, so we just enjoyed the beautiful view - and we got to see China Man's hat.  

After we met Jon and the other kids, we headed to Haleiwa.  We ate at Freddy's and then went to Matsumoto's - for delicious shaved ice!  It did not disappoint!  Yum!

When we got back to the condo, we spent the late afternoon at the beach and at the pool and then ate leftovers for dinner.

It was sad to see our trip come to an end!  We had a wonderful time!  I love being able to take the kids away from their busy schedules and their friends and have them all to myself for a few days.   The kids were wonderful!  They slept great and were so good.   Our mom's were the best sports!  They were so kind and patient and helpful and we loved having them with us.  Jon was amazing to have a wife, 7 kids and 2 mothers to worry about.  

We got up really early on Saturday morning and headed to the airport and flew home.  The kids were really good on the flights.  Sam was a great baby and at a perfect age to go!   We came home exhausted and ready to sleep in our own beds, and came home to lots of school work for the kids to catch up on, but it was so worth it!   Aloha!

Hawaii - Day 5 - Polynesian Cultural Center

On Thursday, we spent the day on the Laie side of the island.  We got up (to find that 1/2 the power was out in our condo - so we called maintenance), got ready and then headed towards Laie.  We stopped at a little Hawaiian version of a strip mall at a couple of shops and then went to see where Diane & Jack (my mother-in-law & father-in-law) lived when they lived on the island.  Diane led us right there.  She hadn't been back since they moved - which was back in the 60's.   It's just a couple of blocks from BYU - Hawaii and what a fun moment to share with her.  I think that really thrilled her to see if - although I'm sure she wished that Jack was there with her to see it.

 In front of the house

After seeing the house, we drove a couple blocks to the Hawaii Temple.  It's incredibly gorgeous.  Everyone got out of the car and walked around for 10 minutes while I nursed Sam in the car.  We were supposed to meet Brad & Mary (Brad is my 2nd cousin) for lunch, but we ran out of time.  The PCC is only open from noon to 5 to see the villages and since it's not cheap, we wanted to see all that we could.

We grabbed McDonald's for lunch and met Brad & Mary at the entrance to the PCC.  Brad was sooo kind and let us use some of his discount passes, so we were able to save some $ getting in.  It was awesome to spend the day with them seeing and experiencing the different villages.  The PCC is amazing!  We had a nice cloud cover for a lot of the day, which helped a ton.  It was really hot so the clouds made it perfect!

Fiji Village 

 Tonga village - our favorite!

 Tahiti village

 Kate getting a Tongan tattoo 

 Tonga spear throwing - I had gone to nurse Sam again

 New Zealand performers

 Jack with the Tongan chief

 My cute mom - she was excited to get a Tongan hat made out of coconut leaves

In the middle of the afternoon, they stop the village shows and have a parade.  Each country is represented...

After the canoe parade, we headed to New Zealand.  The kids had a great time trying the Poi balls.

And then, we tried the stick game.  The cute lady was so kind to let Hailey do it with her.

Hannah's face!

We also saw the Samoa show and that's definitely a highlight.  There was a 3D movie we watched and then it was time for our Luau. 

The kids liked the food okay and there was some performers that danced during dinner, so that was fun.  We had the option to stay for the night show, but Jon and I had seen it a couple of years ago and it was okay (not as amazing as it was when I came to Hawaii when Emily was a baby) and we decided to head back to the condo with our tired kids, mothers and feet!

We loved the PCC and it definitely was a highlight for all of us!