This week we had the Rowe's visiting until Thursday night. We started the week on Monday by going to Laie Point. The tide was low and the ocean fairly calm, so the waves were not crashing the point and Kukuihoolua Island (the island with the whole in the middle of it) like it usually does.
Then over to the temple to hike the hill behind the temple to the gazebo and enjoy the stunning view of Laie and the ocean.
Then it was on to the Polynesian Cultural Center for the rest of the day. Here are pictures from the welcome show before the entrance gate opens. All the students dressed in purple are the tour guides and if they are dressed in red, they are guest services.
Noelle and Will were brave enough to participate in the dances during the welcome show. Will is learning how to do the Tahitian dance (top pictures) and Noelle is dancing in the Fijian dance train (bottom pictures).
The Huki show on the Lagoon is a must see to start your experience at the PCC. We have seen it multiple times and never get tired of it. When I'm walking around the outside of the PCC at lunchtime, I can hear the music from the show. From the music, I can tell which island is performing at that moment.
In the collage to the left, the big central picture is the island of Hawaii. Going clockwise from there is Tonga (in red costumes), Fiji, Aotearoa (in blue costumes), Samoa (in green costumes), and Tahiti.
After the Huki show, we took the Rowes to the Aotearoa village. It is probably our #1 village show we recommend to the guests if they ask us which one is the best. After watching the show, there are many fun games to play in the Aotearoa village. You can practice twirling the poi balls (middle right-hand picture), play titi-torea, the stick game (top right-hand picture and bottom left and middle pictures), and another stick game where you travel around the circle and grab the next stick to the right or left of you without letting it drop depending on which direction the leader says. If you don't catch your stick and let it drop, you are eliminated from the game (top left-hand and bottom right-hand picture).
From Aotearoa we let the family chose what they would like to do next. The Rowes went to the Fiji village. While the older kids went to get temporary tattoos, Lucy and Sofie tried their hand at Kesakesa or stamp carving (what we would call stencilling).
The village of Tahiti was next where the girls all learn to dance and then the boys get a turn to learn to dance. They also let the kids come up and hold up and show different items from the islands of Tahiti as they talk about them. Sofie got to hold up a woven bag. She was the hit of the show as she did a perfect Price is Right model imitation showing off the bag when they were describing it.
The Rowes tried their hand at spear throwing in the village of Tahiti. No one succeeded in spearing a coconut, but their form looks really, really good.
Weaving fish in the Samoan village. All of their fish look amazing!While they were all weaving fish, Elder Rappleye was saving seats for the 4pm Samoan show. He spotted a familiar face in the crowd. After the show, he went over and talked with Daniel Petersen. He knows our son Neal quite well, but not us. They still had a good time talking about Scripture Central, Neal's place of employment. Climbing coconut trees in the Samoan village. You have to let the professionals do it. Kap, is climbing the tree on the left in the pictures. He is 58 years old and can climb a coconut tree faster than the young kids. He's been performing for almost 40 years. He can also fire knife dance and he's an artist with his own art gallery in the Samoan village and the Hukilau Marketplace. Anyone who has been to the PCC over the last 30+ years knows who Kap is. He's a living legend. The PCC experience wouldn't be complete without the canoe tour ride (top picture), a picture in front of the waterfall (bottom right picture). President Grace, president of the PCC was walking by as we were looking for someone to take our picture, and he graciously stopped and took our picture. Of course, the Ha, Breathe of Life, night show (bottom left picture) is the crowning jewel of the PCC experience. So excellent and top-notch every time we watch it. We started Tuesday morning off with a hike to a Wailele falls. It's a hike we haven't done yet, so we had no idea what it would be like. The trailhead is right behind the BYU - Hawaii campus. As we hiked we started to worry that there would not be a waterfall because we were hiking up the stream bed and there wasn't hardly any water in it. The bottom left-hand group picture is the middle of the streambed. We knew it was a seasonal waterfall, but we have had quite a bit of rain the last few weeks, so we thought there would be a lot more water than we were seeing. It's a 3.8 mile out and back hike, easy enough for some of these non-hike-loving Rowes to do. We were so disappointed when we arrived at the waterfall (bottom left-hand picture), or as Sofie called it, the tricklefall. It wasn't much of a waterfall. Some of us climbed up to the top of the falls, which was only about 8 - 10 feet high. At the top was a small pool of water that is pictured bottom right with Sofie posing in the picture. You could look upstream to see where the water was coming from (top left-hand picture). The top right-hand picture shows the view looking down from the top to Ava and Elder Rappleye who decided not to climb to the top of the falls. Of course, Noelle couldn't resist jumping off (bottom middle picture) and swimming in the water. Cory actually was the first to jump (bottom left picture). All I got for a picture was the splash he made. Lili fit right in here in Hawaii with her umbrella to shade her from the sun. Many of the students here from Asia and the Philippines use umbrellas all the time to stay out of the sun. It was great to finally be able to check this hike off of our bucket list before we head home (although it was disappointing to not have much of a waterfall) and to be able to do it with the Rowes.
After refreshing ourselves from the hike with lunch, we headed to Haleiwa to do some paddleboarding and kayaking on the Anahulu stream. The pictures show Noelle, Cory and Will's paddleboarding prowess on the very calm stream. They call it a stream, but it seemed more like a slow-moving river.
I wanted to try to paddleboard, but Elder Rappleye felt more comfortable kayaking and he wanted me to kayak with him, so we followed the paddleboarders up the stream in a kayak. Rainbow bridge in Haleiwa is in the background of the pictures. We were told that turtle sightings were very common along the stream, so Will is on the lookout for turtles in the top picture. Soon we were seeing the turtles poking their heads out of the water. They were fairly large turtles and if we just sat in our kayak and watched, we would see them pop their heads up out of the water occasionally all around us. It was quite fun following them up and down the stream. Those who didn't want to paddleboard or kayak played in the sand (Sofie and Lucy) on the beach (bottom middle picture) or hung out relaxing in the beach chairs (bottom left picture). It was overcast (middle right picture) and actually rained on us a little bit while we were paddling. That didn't stop Cory, Noelle, Will, Sofie, and Lucy from getting in the water after paddleboarding (large picture). Lili's way of relaxing on the beach (bottom right picture). The Rowes were lucky enough to be here to attend the Shaka Steel Drum concert on Tuesday night. It's one of the best concerts of the year. I was totally surprised to see Aurel (circled in bottom left picture) playing the steel drum front and center. Aurel works at the food warehouse, mostly afternoon or evening shifts, so I don't know her too well. She's also a very quiet, shy girl and it's hard to get her to talk with Sister Sauve and I in the office. While she was playing in the concert, it was the most I've ever seen her smile. The next time I went into work, Aurel told me that it's her first semester in the shaka steel drum class. I asked her why she decided to take the class, and she told me she was minoring in music. That was a revelation, and the most she has talked to me ever. I asked her if she was going to keep taking the class next year and if she enjoyed the class, and she said yes to both questions.
More beach time on Wednesday morning at Hukilau beach. It's my favorite local beach. It's great for boogie boarding, jumping waves, and walking the beach. It's such a big bay that it never feels crowded. You can always find your own little piece of paradise.
Then there is always sunbathing - Ava and Lili style. After cleaning up from our beach fun and getting a bite to eat, we headed down to Pearl Harbor in Honolulu. There was a lot of traffic, and it was questionable if we were going to make it in time for the last ship out to the memorial. Amazingly we all made it onto the last ship of the day that went out to the memorial.
It was the Rowe's first time at Pearl Harbor. Lawson Toone, a cousin on the Rowe side of the family, was with us as well. It's a very touching and sobering experience every time we go out to the memorial. After going out to the memorial, we viewed the short movie they show describing what happened on December 7, 1941. We stayed until the place closed at 5pm. In trying to decide where to eat dinner, we decided to try a waterfront restaurant within walking distance because of the rush hour traffic. It is called Restuarant 604. It's located at the Rainbow Bay Marina. The food was delicious. After we ate, we sat on a floating pier and watched the sunset.
Later in the evening, Elder Rappleye brought his ukulele and our ukulele music binder over to the place the Rowe's were staying. Both Ava and Sofie played and sang songs with Grandpa. Elder Rappleye loved sharing that experience with them. The Rowe's stay in Hawaii was going by way too fast. On their last day on island, they decided they wanted to go to Waimea Valley and Falls. Good choice! The flowers were still blooming like they were a month earlier when we went with Neal and Jasmin, but this time there was the most gorgeous flowering tree in full bloom by the first bridge (top right picture). The walk up to the waterfall is so green and always pleasant. Waimea falls was flowing more than Wailele falls, but it was still not as much as we've seen with Scott's family or Neal and Jasmin. The pool was not too crowded and Cory, Noelle, Will, Sofie, and Lucy all went into the water. Both right hand pictures show them in the pool. The bottom left-hand picture shows the non-swimmers and Will. It was a good choice to do Waimea falls in the morning. The weather was beautiful and perfect for the activity.
In the afternoon we went back to the Polynesian Cultural Center to experience more of the fun activities they missed on Monday. It really is best to do at least two days at the PCC in order to see and do everything. The weather was good while the Rowes posed at the Shaka statue (bottom picture), visited the Hawaiian village and saw the show, and while we were waiting for the show in the Tongan village to start (top picture). While we were watching the Tongan show, the rain started to fall. Luckily, I had packed several ponchos, and we quickly distributed them and got most everyone protection from getting drenched because it started to pour down rain. When the show was over, we headed for the protection of the covered stage (top picture). We were very packed in on the stage with so many guests also taking cover there. Later, I heard they had record attendance that day, so it was crowded. When the rain eased up a bit, we headed for the protection of the mission settlement for ukulele lessons (bottom left picture). Almost everyone are experienced ukulele players, so they picked up learning the song "You are my sunshine" quite quickly and sounded very professional. After that we split up and some went to go fishing in the lagoon, while Noelle and Will decided to go paddle an outrigger canoe on the lagoon (bottom right picture). Although the rain let up a bit, the rest of the afternoon was rainy. So, browsing the ukulele experience store (bottom right picture), taking shelter in front of Tutu's sweet shop (bottom left picture), and eating snow cones in the rain (top picture) were all activities done while the Rowes waited for the rain to stop. Unfortunately, it was still raining when it got time for them to drive to the airport to head home to Utah. It was a wet end to their visit, but it didn't dampen their experience. It only gave them something to help them remember their time at the PCC. Another sad farewell to family, but we only have about one more month until we get to see them again! Friday when I came back to work, I found a card sitting at my desk from Rachel. She had changed jobs from the food warehouse to the Finance department while I was out with the Rowe's visit. She gave me a beautiful card with a sweet note written in it. Many of the students have left working at the food warehouse since I started 17 months ago, but Rachel is the first one to give me a farewell card. I'm going to miss that amazing girl!
We also had security duty at the Gateway Terrace Friday night. No intruders, not even geckos to shoo away. What a great conference weekend we had on Saturday and Sunday. With finals for the students coming up and needing to make about 150 chocolate chip cookies to pass out to all the students in our YSA ward to encourage/reward them to get through finals week, I made and baked cookies all weekend while we watched General Conference. I got about half of them made and put them in my freezer to pass out in about a week. Because of the time difference between Hawaii and Utah time, the first session of conference begins at 6 AM and the second session at 10 AM. After the second session on Saturday, we walked down our hill to the shopping center and enjoy some Baskin and Robbins ice cream. It was their grand opening of their new store in Hau'ula. They were offering single scoop ice cream cones for $1.32. I think the regular price is around $5. While we were standing in line waiting for our turn to get ice cream, in walked 5 junior sister missionaries from our mission. They too had come to enjoy some ice cream. The sister second from the left in the top picture is Sister Hendershot. We found out her dad is Richard Hendershot (whose family was in our Colorado Springs 11th ward while we lived in Colorado Springs). Elder Rappleye taught Richard in his Teacher's Quorum class on Sundays and was the high adventure leader in Scouts for the boys. We offered to pay for all of the junior sister's ice cream cones - a whopping $5.28! What a deal. Elder Rappleye got chocolate almond fudge, and I chose Nutty Coconut. There was also a spinning wheel where you could spin the wheel to win all kinds of freebies. While we were waiting for our turn people ahead of us kept winning free ice cream for a year! No such luck for us, just coupons for discounts on ice cream cakes and specialty drinks.
Sunday was another great day of watching and listening to General Conference and baking more chocolate chip cookies. Just a few notes from conference:
"My love for the Savior is my "why" - Ricardo P. Gimenez
"Your repentance doesn't burden Jesus Christ; it brightens His joy" - Tamara W. Runia "Eternities greatest gifts: Jesus Christ's Atonement, Resurrection, Restoration" - Gerritt W. Gong; and
"Have confidence in the presence of God - pray with confidence that He hears you and understands your needs, have confidence that He loves you more than you can comprehend and that he sends angels to help you and your loved ones, have confidence that God yearns to help you reach your highest potential" - President Russell M. Nelson.
I think Confidence needs to be my new mantra. Sunday night we had our monthly munch and mingle and sang Aloha 'Oe to the missionaries that are going home in April - Sister Karen Hayes (far left in picture). She worked at the PCC in the Retail Warehouse. Elder and Sister Zundel who are from Pleasant Grove, Utah and served at BYU - Hawaii. Elder and Sister Thompson, who are from St. George and served at the PCC in the Ukulele Experience store teaching ukulele lessons. Elder and Sister Parker, who are from Bountiful, Utah and they also served at the PCC in the Ukulele Experience store.
It was also our one month left date. At next munch and mingle we will be one of the missionary couples going home and Aloha 'Oe will be sung for us.
We have sung Aloha 'Oe 17 times at 17 munch and mingles. It's hard to believe next month will be our last one.
Elder and Sister Bates, the other missionary couple serving out in the motor pool, gave Elder Rappleye a candy lei with dimes taped to it, in reference to his story he told them about finding unexpectant dimes as a sign of his father watching out for us. (right top picture) 
