The Polynesian Cultural Center & The Laie Temple

The Polynesian Cultural Center was one of my favorite things of the whole trip. We were entertained, and loved all the activities we got to take part in. Do you see the guys climbing the trees??

Did you know...The PCC functions as an extension of BYU-Hawaii classrooms?? Over 750 BYU-Hawaii students currently work at the Center each semester. Awesome huh!!

We actually spent two days at all the events of the Polynesian Cultural Center. Scott pushed his dad in a wheel chair these two days since there was so much walking. We went to a Luau which had such good food. The family we were seated with had already been to Maui and gave us lots of tips on the sites there.

We also went to the night show, now that was neat. Jacen was trying so hard to stay awake during the whole thing. He fell asleep right before the fire dancing. Scott really wanted to wake him up for it. I was okay with it. Can you imagine a 18mo old thinking he can play

with fire? Actually, the next morning he was reenacting some of the dances and songs we had heard. He had kitchen utensils in hand, banging on the couch as though it was a set of drums, making sure to hit all the cushions as part of his performance. It was fun to see how much he loved the shows.

BYU-Hawaii is right next to the Polynesian Cultural Center and the temple. We drove around campus. Here is a picture of the Laie Temple. It is so pretty.

We spent some time in the Visitors Center of the temple watching videos and such. Jacen loved the Christus Statue. He couldn't stop running over to it saying, "Jesus" while pointing to the Christus.

More of Oahu

We also went to the Dole Plantation. Who knew that this is how a pineapple is grown? I found it so interesting. I don't think I ever thought about it honestly, but I couldn't stop taking pictures of the pineapple :)




Scott, Jacen and I went through the huge maze at the Plantation. They had all these ports you had to find and color in the image on your passport card. I got to fill in both Scott and my card while Scott got the joy of pushing the stroller on the rock path.


The Garden at the plantation is pretty too. Here is a pond and a banana tree. We have a ton of pictures but again I don't think you want to see them all :) (We also saw many Botanical gardens on Oahu..we loved their plants and wildlife)










Then we met back up with Scott's parents for Pinapple ice cream. Oh it was good...and being pregnant Pineapple was not working for me, so that says a ton.

Hawaii

Here are the long awaited Hawaii pictures!! I won't bore you with all the pictures we have but post my favorites!

We went to Hawaii August 1st-18th. We met Scott's parents there and had the time of our lives. We spent the first 10 days in Oahu. Here are some pictures from our the first 5 days :) (It is a little over whelming looking at all the pictures from two cameras and deciding what to post)

Here is Jacen showing off our view...and his new shirt (which is a MUST READ). Jacen started our trip off with spreading our good news to both sets of grandparents (mine before our flight and Scott's once in Hawaii)







Another picture of our view from our Condos lanai. We stayed right across the street from the International Market, in Waikiki.





The State Capital Building. The inside of the building is an open court yard. It is really cool.








'Iolani Palace--the only official state residence of royalty in the United States






King Kamehameha Statue









And the Famous Bonzai Pipeline. Too bad we came on the off season for the surf to be big on this side of the island. We saw surfers closer to our place later on in the week.






Jacen and I getting ready to dip our feet in the water. It was starting to sprinkle.


There you have it...most of what we did the first 5 days of our trip. More to come soon!! :)

Sea World

We went to Sea World June 18th and 19th. Jacen just loved it...and good thing because we bought season passes :) (on the 18th we went with my parents on the 19th we went just the 3 of us) Enjoy the slide show of Jacen's fun!

The Fair

On June 17th we took Jacen to the Del Mar Fair. (That is what we call the San Diego County Fair.) We went along with my parents. 2 of my sisters and their families met us there, too. Here are a couple pictures from the day.



Grandpa Anderson and Jacen petting a cow.








Jacen telling his daddy about the sheep's water. (he would do his sign for water and then point at the water buckets, it was cute!)


Jacen was so confused. Before the fair every animal could have barked as far as Jacen was concerned. Then we taught him to "mooo". Then the sheep and goats also should moo, right??

We did see other things at the fair but I guess the animals were the best part. They are the only pictures I have from the day.

Play Group

Our play group is small, but we have a great time! These are pictures at our closest park. Kacie and Jacen are in the first picture. They just love sitting on this climbing structure.

Then Jacen on his favorite the swings!! He can never have enough swings!

Jacen getting all wet :) I am so glad his friend Matthew showed him how to do it. They are naturals! We are so glad we have this park in the next city over. It takes us about 10 minutes to get there. Totally worth it for all this fun! (I do have to say it is much smaller than "Rexburg's Splash Park". Wish we got to play at that one! )

Yard Work

This is what our whole back yard looked like in May. Yuck huh!! Well Scott had talked about working in the yard together a couple of hours a day in July. I thought he was nuts! July?? In July it is hot.



So I decided that I would take Jacen out in the mornings and get started. I didn't tell Scott about my plan. It was going so well that I decided I would work extra hard to get it done by Father's Day. It would be our gift to Scott.




This is how far I got by June 9th. I had little blisters on my hands and Scott asked that I wait for him to help me. I made a deal, I will stop if you help me Friday and Saturday morning so we can have it done. He was excited to get his hands in the work.






Scott's last day of school was June 13th. Here we are getting the last bit done :) Do you see Scott in the picture. That will give you an idea of the size we are talking about. Our whole lot is nearly a 1/2 acer.




This is a picture of a desert tool, called a hula hoe. I had never heard of one either, so no worries! You run it back and forth and it picks up all the weeds. Then you go back and rake it all up. This was much faster with 2 people, as you could imagine. Scott used the hula hoe and I raked.


Here is our finished project. It will take awhile to get rid of all the piles. We only have one trash can. We are so glad that we only have to spend time each week filling our trash can. It is too hot to work any harder than that out there.