Hawaii, day four

On Friday, we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center, and this was one of my very favorite things we did. Cass and James had a doctor appointment in the morning, and we watched Tru while they went. They brought home some delicious malsadas from Leonard's bakery to celebrate the exciting news that they were expecting a baby girl. Then they lent us their car for the day and we enjoyed the beautiful drive up to Laie. We stopped for lunch right by the PCC, and I was so impressed with the restaurant's decor that I took some pictures.

They had some classy touches you don't find stateside. Any guesses what this fine eating establishment was?

Yep, McDonald's. And if you ever stop in at McDonald's while you're in Hawaii, don't try the taro pie. It's really poi masquerading as something potentially delicious.

We went to most of the villages in the PCC and really enjoyed every one. This gal was from Tahiti.

There was a cool water parade. 

The parade was definitely not to be missed.

Us in front of the river.

Waiting for the drum show in Tonga...

The tongan show was definitely the funniest. They picked people out of the audience to participate in their show, and I couldn't believe some of the hilarious things people did.

We took the tram tour of Laie, which spotlighted BYUH

That was pretty cool to see the sister school of our alma mater.

Then it let us off at the temple grounds for a few minutes.

This temple is, of course, very similar to the Mesa temple. But the grounds were completely different, and really gorgeous. I love this palm lined drive up to the temple. It looks pretty spectacular.

When we got back to the PCC, we had time to see one more village. We decided to repeat Samoa, which was the first show we had seen that day. We both ended up getting picked to participate in the show. I was a hula dancer with coconut shells I had to bang together, but because Keith had also been selected and was off practicing, there aren't any pictures of me. Then Keith came out with this other guy to have a contest between them to see who could start a fire first.

They tried really hard, but unfortunately, neither of them quite did it. The Samoan guys finished it up for them.

Then they gave Keith that hat thing and made him dance onstage.

I really enjoyed the palm tree climbers--they were amazing and funny too.

After the show, we went to our luau. I'm not a huge fan of Hawaiian barbeque, but the atmosphere and entertainment were fun and the food was okay. Everyone at our table was raving about the raw fish, but Keith was not interested in trying it and being pregnant, I had the perfect excuse not to try it. I probably would have tasted it if I hadn't been, but it did not look, sound, or smell appealing. 

After the luau, we browsed some shops before we headed over to watch the evening show, which was amazingly good. We had such a great time!