Luau

Monday night (Feb. 10), we met the C's at the Hale Koa for a luau.  When everyone walked in, we were given these shell necklaces and the choice of a drink (alcoholic or not).  The kids thought the non-alcoholic drink was really good!  Drew got the cherries from everyone who didn't like them, so he was pretty happy too.

While we stood around and listened to a trio of older men play some songs and banter cheesily, some of the kids also got these headbands made from coconut leaves, like Jonathan is modeling above, and most of the younger kids are modeling below.  The girls also got a flower bracelet thing, and most people got a temporary tattoo (I put a picture of Nathan's manta ray at the end of the post).  The girls weren't going to get a tattoo, but then Faith was very upset that she hadn't been "stamped", LOL.

Eventually we were able to get seated.  Our tables were the very last row, which turned out to be a very good thing, in retrospect, LOL.  We started out with really delicious fresh pineapple and some salads.  I was quite surprised--shocked even!-- at how much I liked the salads, because they weren't really things I thought I would like.  One was a salmon/tomato dish (I know!  But it was good!), another was some pickled vegetables, and the third was . . . hmmm, I can't remember.  It was good, but I didn't love it, so I didn't take as much.

It was quite confusing for our poor waitress how many dinners at each price point we had ordered, and we were one short for awhile (because she gave Caleb a "kids" portion, when in fact he got the "teen" portion, by age--so Faith, who was the one without a dinner--ended up with an extra "adult" plate).  Some of the luau places are buffets (and a LOT more expensive than the Hale Koa), but we had *more* than plenty of food without a buffet.  And frankly, buffets are a pain in the rear with this many young kids, LOL, so it was just as well.  Siri said most luaus have pretty much the same sort of selection of food.  We had a lot of different kids of meat--pork, for sure, plus some beef, and some fish, and some random side things, like a chunk of potato (literally) and rice.  I kept eating the salads.  For dessert, we had a choice of some kind of coconut jello, or some kind of coconut cake, so you can believe that I found it extremely easy to pass up dessert all together, LOL.  Nothing about coconut tempts me whatsoever!  I need to go on the coconut diet.  Instead, I had more fresh pineapple.  YUM!!

The older kids sat at one self-sufficient table.

The adults and younger kids sat at the other (needy, messy, loud) table.  Drew is in a high chair on the other side of Bob and Micah.

After we finished eating, there was a show, which Siri also said was pretty much the same at all these things!  Lots of native-type dances from around the Pacific, some fire-dancing (okay, that was really cool), some drumming and whatnot (Micah thought all that was "scary"), and a few songs and cheesy bits sprinkled throughout (while the dancers were changing costumes, I guess) by the emcee, a one-hit wonder I had never heard of from the 80's, who was dressed in a white suit.  Lots of hip-shaking going on!

During one dancing number, they asked if anyone wanted to go up on stage.  To my eternal shock, Jonathan and Anna both went up and danced, although not too enthusiastically.  You can barely see them in the front, between the guy on the left and the girl in the middle.

By the time it was winding down, Drew and Micah especially were getting quite antsy and tired.  We got Drew out of his high chair so he could walk around a bit, and he kept taking off, either towards the stage (ack) or along the path out of the luau area (no!).  So Bob and I spent the rest of the evening popping out of our chairs and after him.

It was a fun night, and I would definitely say that going to a luau is one of the "must do's" on any Hawaiian sightseeing list!  Micah and Drew were asleep as soon as we drove out of the parking garage though.  Big night!  (Yes, the Hale Koa had a parking garage that was 7'8" on all the floors, so a big 15 passenger van fit in it!  Amazing!)

And here's that picture of Nathan's temporary tattoo: