Oahu

The second day we were a little more adjusted. Caleb (our early riser) didn’t wake up until 6:20! Woot-Woot! We got to eat breakfast at the hotel on our second morning and then we headed straight back to the beach we were at the night before because it was such a beautiful beach and it was so perfect for boogie boarding. We spent the whole morning here. 

Afterwords we showered off, did a little shopping at The North Shore gift shops, grabbed some lunch and then headed to The Polynesian Cultural Center. This was another one of my musts on my own personal Oahu to do list. I was super excited about this stop. I had heard so many things about the Polynesian Cultural Center, some good, some bad and I really wanted to go and find out for myself what I thought about it. We bought combo tickets where we got to go to all the villages, go to the luau and then finish with the Ha, Breath of Life show. And here are my thoughts about the Polynesian Cultural Center …

It is beautiful! The inside of the park is amazing. The only thing I can compare the inside to is Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. It is that kind of clean and that kind of beautiful. 

Our tickets were for Noon but we didn’t get there until 2:30 so we weren’t able to go to all of the village presentations, we only went to two and a half. We went to Tonga, Samoa and part of New Zealand. I chose those three because they sounded like the most fun. The boys really loved the presentations! They weren’t too long that the boys got bored and the presenters were funny.  Then after the presentations each village had some games and activities for the boys to play. My overall thought on the village presentations and games/activities etc … I thought the one’s we went to were great! We all enjoyed the presentations and the activities were fun but I was fine with being done after those three. 

The Boys and their spear throwing teacher.

I know this picture is blurry but I just had to add it! They were laughing so hard at this presentation! 

Taking off for our canoe ride! 

Getting his fish food ready!

We had a lot of close calls but no actual catches! 

They had this bread to sample and it was very good! 

This game was like a combination of bowling and golf. You had to roll the coconut into the hole but the course was set up like a miniature golf course. 

More games. Caleb bought a drum here for one of his souvenirs!

They were fascinated with the fire twirlers! 

In this presentation we got to watch him climb to the top and pick a coconut. My boys were thoroughly impressed and went over to get some lessons. 

Caleb trying before his lesson. 

This nice man came over and taught them how to do it. 

When they start to learn they use this fabric that is tied into a rope, then they twist it around their feet and it helps them grip the tree. He tied this on each of the boys feet and then they took off! Up and up the tree they went. The employee was like "Okay! That's high enough. Come down!" 

The boys with their teacher and fire twirler. 

This was the game at the New Zealand stop. They held these sticks and then had to rotate around the circle in which ever direction the leader called out. But as they ran they left their stick behind so you had to get to the next persons stick and pick it up before it fell. The boys played it over and over again! 

Their game teacher. 

The Luau was pretty good. The food was yummy and they had plenty to choose from. The lady hosting it did an incredible job! She was really the highlight of the show! They had fire dancers and hula girls and my boys enjoyed all of it., especially the 10 year old fire thrower! I will say though that I thought the Luau we did on our last trip to Hawaii was better. It seemed like it was more educational and not so crowded. It was at the King Kamehameha Hotel in Kona. This one was very good though and I would give it a 4 out of five starts. 

At the Luau watching the fire dancers. 

The Ha, Breath of Life show ... If I'm being totally honest then I would say here is where I was disappointed  It was good, the dancers can do some amazing moves and the fire throwers were awesome. However I thought the show was a tad on the long side! Ok, really long! The biggest issue was by this point it was late, dark and I had two tired boys. Caleb was out cold in Jaren’s lap the first ten minutes into the show and I would have left to head back to the hotel but Austin was loving every second of the show and I just didn't want to pull him away from it. 

Hauling a very tired Caleb back to the Jeep where he slept the hour car ride back to our side of the island. 

My overall rating  of the Polynesian Cultural Center would have been 31/2 starts. I am glad I went and we all had a good time. I am glad we did the Luau and Breath of Life show. We did it all and we did it the right way! The next morning it was off to Hawaii, the big island!