Vacation Video
Part 1: Getting There
Part 2: Hiking Diamond Head Crater
Part 3: First Day at Aulani
Part 4: Tuesday in Hawaii (Girls Version)
Part 5: Tuesday in Hawaii (Boys Version)
It's still Tuesday, March 10, 2015.
While Alyssa was learning the hula and enjoying Aunty's Beach House, and while I was relaxing at Laniwai Spa, Brian took the boys to a surfing lesson. I had signed them up with Surf HNL since it was one of the ones that Aulani recommended and the company provides lessons close to the resort. These lessons were actually a Christmas present from their grandparents, and I got a 10% discount for mentioning the owner's post on the Disboards.
SurfHnl gave us directions to the surfing location--it was about 20 minutes from Aulani but required driving on the sand! Brian found the SurfHNL van with no problems. The instructors taught the boys how to stand on the surf board, but then they were out to sea in no time!
The company also took video and still photos of the boys during their lesson, which turned out great!
The lesson was only 1 hour, but both boys were exhausted. And they both loved it more than I expected! They asked if they could go surfing again before we left Hawaii. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to do that...but they might get to surf this summer in Florida.
Brian and the boys stopped by a McDonalds in Kapolei before returning to Aulani. They got to relax for a bit in the room before heading to Space Goo with Stitch at Aunty's Beach House.
The boys said that the class was a lot of fun...it was run by a "wacky professor," and Stitch paid them a visit. They left with some space goo (similar to the Flubber goo they make in the clubs on a Disney cruise).
We picked up the boys after their class and fed the kids an early dinner in our room. Tonight, Brian and I had a reservation at 'Ama 'Ama, the restaurant on the beach. Our original reservation was for 6 p.m., but Aulani changed the night of the Starlit Hui show to Tuesday, so we moved up our reservation to 5:30 p.m. so that we could make the show. The kids spent the dinner hour at Aunty's in the Menehune Musical Mix-up class, which involved a scavenger hunt and playing various Hawaiian instruments.
This is the entrance to 'Ama 'Ama, which is very close to Aunty's:
The dinner menu:
We got a table along the windows near the beach:
Our server brought us sourdough rolls along with butter that had black salt from Molokai sprinkled on top.
As the sun went down, the shades were lifted, and we had a beautiful view of the sunset and beach. We even saw whales spouting in the ocean from our table!
We ordered lobster macaroni for an appetizer. It was good, but not spectacular. For our main entree, we each ordered the snapper fish steamed in a tea leaves with spinach, tomatoes, onions and a vinaigrette on top. Very light and tasty!
I had a chocolate dessert:
And Brian had a macadamia nut tart that turned out to be delicious:
Overall, we had a great date dinner at 'Ama 'Ama. The best thing about the restaurant was the location and view. The food was pretty good, but later in the week we had another date at a different restaurant that had spectacular food! (tune in tomorrow) We were very grateful that our kids were having a blast at Aunty's so that we were able to have some couple time.
At 7:15 p.m., we picked up the kids and stopped by our room quickly to pick up jackets. We then headed to the lawn to see the Starlit Hui show. This is Aulani's Hawaiian show and is similar to a luau, except it has no food. Originally, I wanted to sign us up for a real luau (there is one just down the beach from Aulani)....but after reading many reviews, I concluded that a luau wasn't necessary. Most people said that the food at luaus is not that great and that the show lasts too long. Maybe when we visit a different part of Hawaii, we will attend a luau.
While the actual show did not start until 8:00 p.m., the pre-show began at 7:30 p.m. As we lined up to enter, cast members handed us a bamboo mat to lay on the lawn. We were then free to check out some different pre-show stations, like a lei-making station, a musical instrument station, and hula lessons.
But....as soon as we set our mat down on the lawn, Alyssa crawled into my arms and fell asleep. Which is such a shame, since she had been looking forward to this show for months! But, she had been awake since 3:30 a.m. with no nap, so it's no wonder she collapsed.
My 7-year-old decided to go up front and learn the hula dance. Later during the show, he and the other kids got to return to the stage area do to the hula again.
Since I had a sleeping child on my lap, I didn't get a lot of photos. At one point, I handed my camera to Brian to take some video of the show, which we included in our YouTube vacation video.
We would have another chance to see the Starlit Hui show on Thursday, so maybe we could give it another try. The kids went right up to bed after the show.
There are a lot better photos of the Starlit Hui out there...check out this blog.
Up next: Dole Plantation and the North Shore
No comments:
Post a Comment