Hawaii Finale

So I am finally getting around to posting the last part of our Hawaii trip. Oh, how I would love to go back. It was so lovely, and RELAXING. Our first real vacation. This post is our last 5 days when we returned to the North shore of the island of Oahu. I always find myself torn when a big event is taking place- take more pictures and miss being part of the action but have tangible memories, or take less pictures and be in the moment. I think I was somewhere in the middle on this one.

This was our view from the living room of the condo that we rented on the Home Away website.
We have had great luck with that website and definitely recommend it. Our condo was in Punaluu, a small town on the north side of the island. It was older and could have used a woman's touch, but the area was nice and the beach was good too.

We visited the Waimea Botanical Garden that contains the Waimea Falls. It was warm that day but we had fun walking around looking at the amazing tropical plants, flowers, and birds. While roaming around we found a woman who was teaching how to weave palm fronds into Angel fish. Even though the class was mostly for kids, no one else was there so we sat and chatted with the lady and weaved our awesome Angel fish. She was also nice enough to take our picture.

Look closely, Alma is under that giant tree. So many amazing trees. We enjoyed a picnic in the Botanical garden.

Here we are in front of the Hawaii Temple. Unfortunately the temple was closed for major renovation, but it was still beautiful behind the fence.

We spent a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, PCC. Thanks to the Parents for the grad gift of the tickets. It was fun to walk around and visit the different villages and learn about the cultural differences. Above is the village of Aotearoa (aka New Zealand). It was one of my favorites. They had many different performances including an intimidating chant.

The PCC also has a canoe parade with dances from all of the areas. Above is the Hawaii boat, dancing the Hula, of course.

Here is a Polynesian man who just climbed the palm tree. This is how I have always imagined Alma and his brothers when they were little in Hawaii. ;)
However, Alma would like me to emphasize that despite popular belief this is NOT standard playground equipment.

Alma attempting to start a fire.

This was maybe one of the funniest performances we saw, and it was totally because of the small Japanese audience member. They pulled this Japanese man out of the audience, he spoke almost no english and was in his 50s or 60s. He was hilarious. I was crying I was laughing so hard. They had to do whatever the host was doing, from warrior chants to those crazy big drums. He was an amazing good sport. I am laughing now just remembering it.

Here is Alma giving the shaka in front of his home village of Hawaii.

Alma looking incredibly handsome as we waited for our turn at the luau with our fresh leis.

Some buff Polynesians who just dug a delicious pig out of the pit. Kalua pig, mmmm.

Here we are, post luau, stuffed and happy making our way to the evening show. We found another nice tourist (or "cousin" as they like to call everyone there) to take our picture next to the tiki.

Ha: Breath of Life. The evening show at the PCC. It was a beautiful performance from all the different Polynesian cultures. It told the story of eternal life and eternal families.

I totally lucked out and got this amazing picture of this man spinning a torch flaming on both ends.

Enough from the PCC, back to random photos. This picture shows how close the ocean is to the highway. You can also see the small islands of the coast of Oahu and the beautiful fluffy clouds.

Such beautiful scenery. Oooh, I want to go back.

This picture is hilarious, I almost didn't get it. We were driving along and this para-sailor got a little too close to not only the traffic but the power lines as well. Thankfully, he was able to turn and get back on proper course.

Alma took this cute picture without me knowing while I was reading on the beach. And even though it is impossible to perceive, my feet are TAN. I promise, they really were.

A full moon on the ocean outside of our condo. Amazing.

Sunrise from our couch.

Snorkeling. Something we had never done before but now totally love.

In front of the cliffs that King Kamehameha (the first King of Hawaii to rule over and unite all the islands) battled his enemies and threw them over. I wonder if it was that hard or if they were just really distracted by the beauty of the place and he kind of just pushed them over.

Alma. Golden brown and in his homeland.

This tunnel is crazy. I have driven through tunnels before, but not one carved into a lush green mountain like this. This was on our way back to the airport to leave to come home. It was time, it had been almost 2 weeks. But now that it has been almost 4 months since we were there I wish I could go back. But we have a whole world.