North Shore

We rented a cute condo in Haleiwa, which is the main surfing town on the North Shore.  Here's a view of it from the beach:

 This is the view if you looked out our lanai: (that's Shafer sitting on the bench)

 It was so nice to have our own beach, there were never more than a few other people out there when we were there.  The condo had it's own beach chairs, snorkel gear, boogie boards, towels, etc.  Plus, listening to the sound of the ocean as we slept at night was awesome!! 
The next morning after we got there we were able to do a session at the Laie temple, it was nice to be able to do that since it's so hard to find the time and a babysitter when we're at home! 

 After the temple we went right over to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Shafer's sister, Abby, has a sister-in-law who lives in the town next to Laie and her son works at the PCC.  They were so nice to meet us there and use their discount card to get us in for 1/2 price!! 
We had a fun time checking out all the villages and laughing at some of the hilarious shows.  Shafer tried his hand at this spear throwing thing and was able to stick a coconut.  I was not so successful.

 

 This place is a money making machine.  It's pretty pricey to get in, then the food is expensive of course.  Our favorite was how they kept coming in before a show with trays full of ice cream for $5.  We were amazed at how many people lined up for it each time throughout the day.  Then, at the luau they were selling these smoothies in a pineapple for $10 a piece.  I guess it's all for a good cause.  But, most people who go there aren't members of the church and don't realize the place is run by the church. 

I was trying to get the tiki torches in the shot, but the flowers are pretty too!

Here we are at the luau.  We sat at a table with two other couples.  One was on their honeymoon and the other had been together for 2 years.  They kept talking about how they wished the smoothies had some alcohol in them.  We had some good conversation, they were all surprised that we had been married for 10 years.  We didn't tell them we had 4 kids, we didn't want to blow their minds! 

We loved the evening show, especially the fire dancers.  It was a great day and I'm glad we went!