Canoe Making with Uncle.
This was a lovely craft/history lesson. We, DD & I, made (well, decorated really, since Aulani did all the hard work, and had the cast members do all the gluing) traditional Va'a, or outrigger canoes. These are all of wood, and make a cute keepsake for the kids. You learn about the polynesion peoples travels in va'a and the parts of the boat while you decorate your va'a. Then you take it out to the ocean, have someone in your party stand behind it with a real canoe oar and push the water along to bring your canoe into shore.
We named our va'a the Pohihihi (or Mystery), and had a lot of fun.
After the canoe bulidng, we dashed back to the room, changed into dry clothes and headed out to the Family Fun Animation activity. All three of us went to this. We met in the Pau Hana room, and were led off to a room in the conference center. There we sketched out a disney character (in our case Donald), and were allowed to paint into a cell of our choosing (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy or Stitch). My only complaint about this is that they don't really allow you enough time to complete the cell. It was still lots of fun, but I would have liked to have enough time to actully finish what I started.
From Animation to Grilling. We dropped off our still drying cells, and grabbed the chicken. DH headed out to the grill, while I tried to get equipment for him. The equipment was all dirty, so the Pau Hana Room staff said that there wasn't any to rent out. I said I'd wash some, at which point they said they'd send some over from 'Ama 'Ama as soon as they were clean. According to DH, I shouldn't have wasted my time. He doesn't like cooking with Tongs, prefering a fork to check for doneness, and all they give out is tongs and a brush to clean the grill. DH also recommends bringing pam, or olive oil to oil the grill. He cooked up a week's worth of chicken while DD & I got in line for the Starlit Hui.
Starlit Hui.
There are two entrances to this show, one from the same side as the grills, and one from the main 'ewa tower side. There are first come, first serve chairs on the Grill Side. The rest of the seating is on the lawn on mats that are provided. During the pre-show, there are several craft activities to do: couple of things with flowers, a wood necklace activity (which I did), and some games.
Once the show starts, it is a wonderful Disney show. Uncle narrates, and goes through modern hula (and a wonderful 'ukulele duo named Heart & Soul) to traditional hula. They had just started the Christmas version of the show, so they included several christmas tunes during the music (as opposed to the hula) part of the show. By the end of the show it had devolved into line dancing, but I felt like I was going to be trampled (we were sitting in the front row).
All things considered this was an awesome day.