hawaii -- polynesian cultural center

We spent all afternoon and evening on Saturday at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  It was AWESOME!  This was the favorite activity of the vacation for all of us.
We started out at the village of Hawaii.  We learned a little history of Hawaii, how to pronounce Hawaiian words, and watched this young man hula dance.

 Next we headed over to the village of Tahiti.  Here we got to try out our own hula moves!

 This Tahitian girl can really shake her hips!

 Matthew & Jacob got to try out the drums.

 We also got to try our hand at fishing.  We each had three chances to catch a fish -- we used little dough balls of sweet bread as bait.

 Out of all of us, Jared & Matthew were the only ones to hook a little fishy!  I guess we'd starve if we lived in Tahiti.

 Next we tried out spear throwing.  The boys are aiming for a coconut on a pole.

 The only one who snagged the coconut was the resident Tahitian.

 But we gave it a good try!

 Next we went on a little canoe ride through the center.  This was our guide/driver.

 When we got off the canoes, we hurried over to the Samoan village.  This guy started a fire by rubbing two sticks together to make smoke and then catching the sparks in dry coconut hair.  They used this flame to start a big fire to cook some fish, taro, and banana.  It was delicious -- especially the fish!

 A coconut tree...

 and a climber!  How does he do that???

 The boys got to try their hand at making fire by rubbing two sticks together.

Jacob got his sticks to smoke!

 It takes a lot of rubbing - hard work!  Glad to have lighters and matches!

 In the mid-afternoon, the canoe parade starts.  Each village has a boat in the parade.  This is Hawaii.

 Tonga

 Tahiti

 Aeotera

 Samoa

 Fiji

After the parade, we visited the village of Fiji and watched them dance -- they were very LOUD!  We also learned a little about their culture.



 We had to hurry to visit the last two villages before they closed for the day.  This is Aeotera (New Zealand).

 And last, but not least, Tonga.  They had a really funny show that involved impromptu performances from 3 audience volunteers.  It was pretty entertaining.

After visiting all the villages, we hurried over to the IMAX theater for a short movie and then we went to the Luau.  We were a bit late getting there, so dinner was well under way.  It was supposed to be an all-you-can-eat type buffet, but after we got one plate, they started closing down the food lines, so we had to eat fast.  We got plenty of yummy kalua pork, teriyaki beef, rice, taro rolls, fruit and pineapple bars. The taro rolls (purple rolls) were are favorite, followed closely by the pork. 

We had about an hour between the luau and the night show to snap a couple photos and look around in the shops. 

The evening show was "Ha-Breath of Life".  No photography allowed.  It was a neat show with all of the villages participating to tell the story of the circle of life -- birth thru death. The final act of the show was the fire dancers!  Wow -- so cool!  Matthew was so tired, that he slept through the whole show, but did wake up to see the fire dancers -- the best part.  What a fantastic day!