An Early Dinner

Mc Donald's is EVERYWHERE!

Inside there is a beautiful rock waterfall.

Motsumoto's Shave Ice is a little store with t-shirts, a few souvenirs and Shave Ice. They have been featured on the food network, and I'm not surprised! They had three flavors in sugar free so I got one and it was deeelish! There are pictures on the wall of famous people who have been there and among them are Hurley and Jin from, you guessed it, Lost.

By-the-way, this IS NOT a snowcone!

A Scenic Drive - all the way around the island

The windward side is sooo green! Because of the added moisture,

the hills and valleys are lush and beautiful.

Those who live here are very proud of it and it's obvious why.

Hurley's Girlfriend Works Here

" Crepes No Ka 'Oi" means the Best Crepes, and they are delicious! We found out about this little place because Jorge Garcia, or Hurley from Lost, blogged about how good this tiny place was. We went for a drive this afternoon and actually found it! It's located on the windward side in a small town called Kailua. We explained how we found out about them and they told us that Jorge's girlfriend works there, but that they are right now vacationing on the mainland.

I got my black sand!

I was told by somebody that I'd have to go to "the big island" in order to get black sand, but today, I am happy to announce, that we found black sand along a short shoreline on the windward side this afternoon. Can you tell by the picture?

(It's not a black and white.)

-I'm bringing some home.

For us, today is Pearl Harbor Day

It was a bit of a solemn morning as we went to the museum and then took the ferry over to see the Arizona; an under water tomb and memorial to over 1,000 seamen who died on this one ship alone (there was a total of 52 ships that suffered attack and fatalities), in the attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941.

Jacob LOVES coins!

Jacob wants to be a banker when he grows up! He's not into money, per se, just coins.


That's right! Shannon used to count everything when she was young. As she says in her comment though, she liked counting coins the best, too!

A Little Vocabulary

Polynesia - poly = many, and nesia = islands
Oahu = the gathering place
aloha = the breath of life
wiki wiki = hurry, quick!
mahalo = thank you
ipo = sweetheart
kona = leeward, from the south; (and dryer weather)
ko'olau = windward, from the north; (and wetter weather)
Ku = diety
Mahana = Sun Goddess
moana = ocean
'olu 'olu = please
pua = flower

Not Frumpy, Just Relaxin' - Donna's answer:

Aaahh, this is the life!

I'm no frump

A few posts ago Donna described our day at the beach showing a picture of me relaxing with a book. I admit I love to relax with a good book. This one is the biography of John Adams. BUT I also know how to get out and play especially when grandkids are involved. These pictures are proof.

Polynesian Cultural Center, day 2

We wanted to see the Samoa show because it featured starting fire by rubbing two sticks together, and climbing palm trees! But most of today we played games and did activities with Suzanne and the kids!

Oh no! The " dum-dum guy"...

...is dead!

No more gum-gum! =(

Wow! What a wonderful time we've had here! But there's so much to see, we'll just have to come back!

Polynesian Cultural Center, day 1

First we rode a canoe to Fiji! On the Fiji stage they were honoring people who were celebrating birthdays and anniversaries or who were on honeymoons, so we went up because it was our 37th anniversary in May, and we learned a dance, right there in front of everyone!
This is the hut of Fijian royalty. If a commoner enters the wrong door he is bludgeoned to death!

Next we watched the Rainbows of Paradise Canoe Pageant that featured the native dances of the different islands represented at the cultural center.

After this we went to the IMAX Theater and saw a movie about corral reefs. Then we stopped at a craft table where I had enough time to make a lei before dinner. The Horizon Show was after dinner but in between we were able to take the tour bus to BYU Hawaii and the LDS Visitors' Center. It's been a great day. The Horizon Show ended with the famous fire dance. The whole thing was spectacular!