I know...I'm a week behind...

Lay off... ;)

Let's take a trip back in time...
Monday...
Last week...
You know, President's Day...

We met up with all the other Girl Scouts and their families at about 10:30. This is a small island, but, because of the Ko'olau Mountain range, there is only one road that goes about the Windward side of the island...a two lane, windy road. It takes an HOUR to drive to the Polynesian Cultural Center...our destination...

This year for Thinking Day, we decided to pick a Polynesian country since we live in Polynesia. AND if we are going to learn about a Polynesian country, why not GO to the Polynesian Cultural Center and meet people who live there and learn about their culture first hand! What better place to do that!?!

Last year, when my parents visited the island (Hi NANA AND PAPA!), we went to the cultural center for the first time. We planned it for weeks. Picked the best day in their schedule. Bought good tickets so we could have a guide and good seats for the eveing show... What we didn't plan on was RAIN. That's right, it poured. It was the first day of what would be now known as "The 40 Days of Rain." Actually, those 40 days come up in conversation around here quite often...mostly talked about with new comers to the island...as in "Oh, well. Today's rain is nothing compared to LAST YEAR...40 days of rain...yada...yada..."

So, this year when we pulled up and it was pouring rain, Teresa said, "Mom! We don't pick very good days to come here!" Luckily, it only rained while we were tailgating in the parking lot for lunch.

The girls picked Samoa as the country they would like to learn about for Thinking Day, so we planned spend 12:30-2:30 in the Samoan area of the center. It worked out perfectly. As soon as we got through the gates of the center (after all 40 of us went to the potty...) we went straight to Samoa and they were performing their cultural display. The girls were able to sit right up front on the ground to watch the Samoan man crack open the coconut. They were enthralled.

After that, we went to do all the different activities for Samoa: weaving...fire making...learning about all the uses for the coconut...I have never seen a group of girls so engaged! They all had little notebooks and were taking notes and drawing pictures of the things they were learning about ... it was SO cute!

At 2:30 every day, the center puts on a canoe pageant. Luckily, one of the viewing areas is right next to Samoa! So, we parked a parent and all the backpacks on a few benches until it was time. The girls loved it...oh, and Alan did, too. (He SO wants to be a Boy Scout next year!)

After the pageant, we went to the Hawaiian display. One benefit of living on Oahu is that you can earn a SPECIAL PATCH: the Brownie Hawaiiana Try-It. There are 6 activities to pick from. One activity is to learn Hawaiian games. Again, what better place to play Hawaiian games?!? I COULD read the directions from the book OR we could play them at the center...huh... And what was SO funny was that we couldn't get the girls...and boy...away from the games! They LOVED it. We spent probably 30 minutes there!

Also in Hawaii, we tasted poi. For the patch, we have to make poi, but I think we are going to make banana poi instead of taro. At least they got to taste it.

By 4:30, all the girls (and families) we tired and ready to leave. Some of the families had been before but commented on how fun it was to focus attention on just 2 countries instead of trying to make it around to all of them.

The only bad part of the day was knowing that I was going to have to drive the hour all the way back. Wish you could have come, babe...if only to drive me home!