Waterfall, Garden, and a Canoe Ride

Thursday, the day had arrived to see The Polynesian Cultural Center. I'm glad we saw the temple and the pipeline as it  seemed there was too much to see and too little time. We stopped by the Dole Plantation, but it was raining so we got some cute purses and moved on. I really wanted to see the Waimea Botanical garden and I'm so glad I did.  I t was like walking through the jungle, I saw so many lush and beautiful plants. I could have spent all day there. Tanya got in for a discounted price since she a local. I was amazed by the trees and the colors. I'm sure video game designers come to these gorgeous area and try to recreate them to help the player feel adventurous. I definitely felt like I wanted to see the world after seeing this beauty like I had never seen before. I was the only one to bring a bathing suit. It gets so warm there that I learned for comfort, I couldn't be with out my Hapari suits. At the end of the gardens you can swim to the waterfall. This was my highlight of the day so far and thoroughly enjoyed the splashing water, the current from the water hitting the pool, and greenery all around me. I walked back in my suit and we had lunch and it rained as we were eating and it was so beautiful.  I'm glad I missed a little table drama while I changed clothes and thoroughly enjoyed my turkey burger. I ate healthy while in Hawaii, I had so much energy and excitement. It was a true vacation.

The PCC was beautiful and well done. I didn't realize it would be like the Tiki Room at Disneyland. Shows and more shows moving together in groups. I had to pause to get Emmy's travel plans situated and I was a bit distracted, but what I saw was very nice. The Breath of life show was beautiful and inspiring and the day was topped off by a Christmas Nativity lights canoe ride. It was beautiful and I loved the live music under the expanse of heaven.  It made me realize how I love nature and live music! We saw Kieran play in his band performance that night. I loved the true songs of Christmas and Kieran's trombone descant of "Oh Come all ya Faithful." It was touching.

Tide and Temple

We had a lighthouse hike planned, but I really wanted to go see the Laie, HI temple. I also really waned to see the Pipeline and we heard from a fellow condo peep that the Master's Pipeline competitions last day was Wednesday. We changed our plan and headed to the North Shore. We had a gorgeous scenic route of the coast the whole time. I fell in love with the Laie Temple. It was so gorgeous and the spirit there was even more beautiful! We watched a little video in the visitor's enter about two prophecies given to this area by David O Mckay. One was that there would be plenty of water and the other that millions of people would come to visit the Polynesian Cultural Center. Seeing this video showing a dry island made me feel so grateful for it's lush beauty today and these prophecies have truly come to past. As we were leaving we saw a beautiful lighted design on the ground of bells which were carved out of dust by an unknown helper. I loved taking a picture of my little family of origin by the Christus. I wanted to go in and wanted my family to be there in that beautiful place with me. There is definitive feeling in Hawaii that must be experienced.

After the temple we made our way to the North Shore. We saw the world's best surfers. We waited as the humongous waves seem to swallow the surfer up and cheered proudly as the surfers made it through the pipeline and came out smiling. What a blessing it was to be there and it was said by the competition announcer that this heat was the best surfing he'd seen of the whole competition. We saw Kelly Slater score a 9.8 out of 10 on his ride. Surreal and so fun. The walk there we discovered a house of someones by the beach. There are many homeless because of the constant summer there. I felt for the natives and I loved the area. Too bad it is so tourist heavy, but I'm glad I was able to be a part of it all. We kept a pretty busy pace seeing everything, but enjoyed a yummy lunch at Tanya's favorite beach side joint, Kahukas. She says it is Her In-N-Out.

Tuesday, Wow! Fia Fia Forever.

KoOlina is an impressive resort. The grounds are beautiful and we enjoyed walking around the grounds. I'm an early riser so I could see the prep work that goes into making it such a clean and organized place. There was a lot of mowing of the lawns and raking of the white sandy beaches. It was all so beautiful The reflection pool was my favorite are to hang out by. Tanya came t visit and we attended the Fia Fia Luau that night. It was really great! I felt the memories of being a Polynesian dancer come flooding back. I bought poi balls and we danced on stage for a little. My mom got videos of Tanya, my Dad and I dancing and participating. My folks were called up and honored for having been married 40 or more years. The pictures cannot do just to the feeling of love, family, and happiness I felt. I was grateful to be there and I wanted Emmy to be here and come for her honeymoon to feel the love of marriage and celebrating of it there at the KoOlina. The food was great and also the music, company and sunset. It was a peak experience and I'm so glad to have gone.