Kaua'i 2023 Day 4: Turtles in Action

We had a quick breakfast of malasadas and coffee to begin our day.

After this we went to Poipu Beach with Ed and Kate and Dalton and Austin. Hilary and Aubrey were on a kayaking adventure.

There were two sea turtles on the beach. At first the water was low and the turtles were dry on the sand. While we were there it started to reach the turtles, and pretty soon the lower of the two turtles propelled itself into the water and swam away. It was also interesting to watch it navigate the ridge of rocks slightly under the water. The second turtle was starting to move into the water when we were leaving.

Afterwards we went to have lunch at the food trucks in Koloa, and then to shop for the barbecue with Catherine's family tomorrow. We went in to Lihue and shopped at the Times Market.

It's like we're in Kingsburg!

When we got back, Dalton was extremely excited. He had lost his first tooth! He ran to the door to tell us, and is very interested in figuring out whether the tooth fairy comes to Hawaii, or if there is a different Hawaiian tooth fairy, or how the tooth fairy works when you are elsewhere.

He also wanted his stuffed pineapple to sit with "the rest of the pineapple family." He asked where the one we got last night went, and we told him it was cut up in the fridge. He then said its "the whole pineapple family except the one that's cut up in the fridge."

Daniel found plumeria flowers for Catherine, Aubrey, Hilary, and Kate, more-or-less matching the colors of their clothing. Then we went to the Smith Family Luau, which we have never been to but the rest of the group have seen before.

The birdseed was meant to be thrown to the birds on the grounds, not in the line to get in. Some level of miscommunication and overexcitement about the presence of birds led to the birdseed being dropped right there in the line. The kids were delighted, but the adults and the rest of the crowd were less so, with the flock of pecking, screeching chickens, ducks, and peafowl that immediately arrived.

The grounds, which are called Smith's Tropical Paradise, are beautiful. We went on a very nice walk with Aubrey, who enjoyed seeing the birds and the flowers.

The imu ceremony, where they remove the pig from the underground oven. The speaker was part of the Smith family, who he explained are descended from an Englishman who came to Hawaii to work as a postman, and his wife who was Hawaiian. As a result, they are a Hawaiian family named "Smith." He thanked us for trusting a luau called "Smith Family." The imu ceremony was cut short by a brief but extremely heavy downpour.

We went into the main dining hall, where there was live music and drinks until dinner started.

The food was good: teriyaki beef, kalua pork, adobo chicken, poi, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fried rice, and various types of Hawaiian bread (mostly inspired by Portuguese sweet bread).

It rained heavily every so often throughout the dinner.

At one point children in the crowd were invited to come on stage and learn a hula dance. Aubrey was very excited by the opportunity, which was funny because Daniel remembers many years ago when they first went to Hawaii as a family and Hilary had hoped to have the opportunity to go on stage and learn some of the dances. Aubrey seemed to take learning the dances extremely seriously, and had a lot of fun doing it.

We walked through the gardens a bit to the auditorium after the dinner was over.

The show consisted of dances from various parts of Polynesia as well as other cultures that have contributed to Hawaii over the years. There were Hawaiian, Tahitian, Maori, Japanese, and Filipino dances, as well as fairly modernized versions of hula dances.

Some of the dances involved fire.

And some involved both knives and fire, which was extremely impressive, especially to the kids. That part of the performance was probably the most memorable.

We got the picture that they had taken of our group at the beginning of the luau.

By the end of the show the kids had gotten sleepy, especially Austin who was fully asleep by the time we left. Daniel helped Hilary and Kate get Austin to the car. After the luau we came home and started working on some pineapple pies for the barbecue tomorrow.