We decided to take the kids to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Marion was super tired so she stayed with Nana and Grampy while the other kids came with us. On the way there we stopped at a little beach to look at some sea turtles. Wish we could have gone swimming with them!
The first place we went was to the Samoa cultural demonstration. James really liked the part where they made fire inside a coconut shell.
After watching the show, the kids got to try making their own fire with sticks. It was actually really hard. I was helping Oliver and we didn’t get it to work. But I was impressed with how long he tried to make fire.
Elora and Chris had better success and actually made some smoke. The sticks would get really hot when you rubbed them together.
We got to see how coconut milk is made. The man said that if you are not used to it, raw coconut milk can make your stomach hurt. Elora really wanted to see what it tasted like anyway, so he gave her just a little bit. Elora and Oliver both tried it and thought it was gross. I was surprised Oliver tried it!
We learned how to make fish with palm leaves. They were really cute and the kids loved playing with them. We made a couple extra ones to take to Marion.
Chris became quite the fish making pro.
When you flung the fish forward they would slide along the palm loop, and the kids thought this was great fun. Apparently we need to get some palm trees at our house so we can make these for the kids. It entertained them way longer than any of their toys at home…
The kids got to pose with one of the Aotearoa men. Oliver is posing like this because he has tattoo stamps on his arms and was trying to show them off. The kids got tattoo stamps at each village and ended up quite covered in black ink.
We played some games at the Hawaiian Village. This one was sort of like bowling with round rocks and sticks.
Oliver played this checkers-like game. He just liked moving the rocks around, we never actually figured out how to play it.
There is a fun parade of boats where dancers perform on boats. It was really interesting to see the different dances from each country. We also bought some candied popcorn while we watched. The kids fed some to the fish which was pretty awesome because so many fish tried to eat the popcorn it made the water look like it was boiling.
Showing off their new tattoos.
Elora found some ducklings. So cute and fluffy!
At the Tahiti Village the kids got to throw spears. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the day. The kids thought it was pretty awesome too.
Elora was actually really good at spear throwing. She almost hit the target every time. I was totally impressed considering how small she is.
We finished off our day by paddling a canoe around the river. We found out that most of the fish in the river are tilapia, and that people in the islands like to eat tilapia when it is small so they can eat them with the bones in. Interesting. The man who was helping us paddle was from Samoa originally, but had lived in Hawaii for awhile so he told us about some of the trees and fish as we paddled by. Elora had lots of questions and he was very helpful. It was a nice end to the day.
We had stopped at Target in the morning and saw this really neat circus puzzle. Marion LOVES puzzles, so we got it for her. Oliver was really excited that Marion liked it and proud of her for putting most of it together herself. Sweet brother.
Marion loves this puzzle and proudly showed Daddy all the different animals.
And who can resist this cute face! James was really good at the cultural center. It was a fun place to visit. The kids had little maps that they got stamped and they got to pick out a prize. Elora picked out a pencil because she doesn’t have any erasers left on her pencils at home and asked very politely if she could pick out a prize for her little sister who didn’t get to come. The lady at the shop said she could, so Elora picked out a toy lizard for Marion – purple, Marion’s favorite color. Marion loved it and still sleeps with it or keeps it in her pocket most of the time. I love moments like those when the kids show how much they love each other.
