Polynesian Cultural Center

After having such a rough night Tues/Wed... Quinn opted to let me take a morning nap despite the fact that meant we would lose time at the Polynesian Cultural Center that day. I took a blanket and pillow in the car and slept the entire hour up there. We didn't end up arriving until 1pm missing the first 4 scheduled shows. While we didn't see everything we would have liked, we had an enjoyable (albeit- hot & sticky!) day.

The first activity was a canoe ride through the "islands"

A beautiful waterfall along the river.

Our hilarious canoe captain from Fiji

Learning how to throw spears... Quinn got it, I did not!

The canoe parade, featuring every island represented. This one in particular is for Fiji, our canoe captain from the tour earlier in the day is guiding this canoe as well, he is in the black on the far left.

The Royal Hawaiian Court

Crazy tree climbers from Tonga!

The always necessary self-portrait!

Our amazing teacher from Tonga... we learned how to make fire, crack open a coconut, and how to milk a coconut... but don't ask me to do any of those things! Haha.

Grabbing a photo in front of the waterfall from the canoe tour.

We were pretty tired by the time we got to sit down at the luau!

After a day full of shows and activities we finally sat down at the luau. We met some really cool people at our table... the younger couple had just gotten married on Saturday, they were from Nova Scotia, Canada and he was in their Coast Guard! The older couple were traveler's extraordinaire from Sydney, Australia- they had seriously been everywhere! After (what Quinn tells me- I managed salad/rice/a bit of shredded pork) a delicious dinner and tasty desserts we headed out to the shopping area to kill time before our night show "Ha: The Breath of Life." We got suckered into buying a picture of us from the luau- but it's a really good one! The show was really long, almost 2hrs! It took you through the life of one boy from conception to him having a son, via the traditions of the 7 Polynesian islands the center represents. The craziest thing was saved for the end- fire dancing! WOW! Needless to say, I was wiped out... I slept the whole hour car ride home and the entire night only waking up for the bathroom! Hallelujah first time since moving here =)