Saturday, November 21, 2020

Bishop Museum and Last Swim

It is our last Saturday in Hawaii. Corey got tickets for us to visit the Bishop Museum at 9 am, so we headed out. We also had a room change again - so we had to pack up everything again. Our food and suitcases were stored by the luggage people, it was nice that they had a cooler too, then tonight we got our new room - we moved from the 11th floor 31118 and 31120 down to 30504 (it has a lock off, but the lock off doesn't have a separate entrance). I left my swimming suit in the room, so thankfully they did find that and had it when I called looking for it, along with Peter's white noise machine and a toy boat. Ugh, moving rooms has been a bit of a pain, but it saved us some money, so it's the sacrifice we had to make. I got the kids to the car while Corey and the boys moved everything downstairs to be held for us at the check in desk. I took pictures of flowers as we waited. Peter got in the front seat to let us know he was ready to get going - 

It wasn't a long drive to the museum. A little drizzly rain had fallen. Everyone walking in - 
I didn't get good pictures of any of the kids inside, but there are a few of them in this pic.
I took a lot of pictures of things that I wanted to finish reading but wasn't able too cause of the kids. 
I personally am of the belief that the Nephites and Lamanites that left in Hagoth's ships are among the ancestors of Polynesians. I know that wars among brothers has been in the history of most countries and civilazations, but this one did sound so much like the wars described in the Book of Mormon - (Kauhi's Last Stand at Ka'anapali by Herb Kawainui Kane 1980, Giclee reproduction signed by the artist)
"This scene illustraes the battle of Koko o Na Moku, 1738, between brothers Kauhi'aimokuakama and Kamehamehanui over the right to rule Maui. Both obtained the assistance of other island chiefs. It is said that the blood of the fallen warriors flowed from stream to ocean, causing the sea to turn red. Kamehamehanui defeated his older brother and ruled Maui for many years."

"Kamea was chief of Waikele' Ewa. Pohukaina was the chief of Kahuku. Haho was chirf of Kuaikau, Wahiawa, Kalauawa the rulign chief of Kailua. In Manoa Valley, the chiefs lived in the west half." - Bishop Museum Hawaiian Ethnographic Notes

I thought this was interesting - the birthing stones of Kukaniloko. A display at the museum:
"It is said that Nana'ulu becamse the ancestor of people of Kahiki and that their descendants came back to Hawai'i nei. The genealogy of the Hawaiian people has been put in order from Nana'ulu and his brother 'Ulu. The land is full of his descendants - they are all around O'ahu, and the lands mauka of 'Ewa and Wai'alua and Ko'olau are full of them." Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau, 1869. 

So I was just looking up what those rocks were - it's an ancient birthing site here on Oahu. We're probably too late to go see it this time here, so we'll have to come back, since it's one of the most significant historical sites on Oahu. (We drove right past it too! Darn!) "This ancient sacred site is located in the center of Oahu near Wahiawa. It was here where royal women were taken to give birth in the old Hawaii. Kukaniloko, which means 'to anchor the cry from within,' was built in the 12th century by an Oahu chief whose son Kapawa was the first birth here." Interesting! Won't it be so interesting to see the whole history of Hawaii and the world someday? I fully expect to be able to binge watch the whole history of the Earth after I die - and to watch all the "behind the scenes" histories as to where people came from, how their cultures and traditions began, it's going to be so fun to learn it all. Corey looking at a display with the kids - 
Another fun display that I didn't have time to look at - the 'Oihana Lapa'au Medical Practice: 
"Now, the medicine, there is a tradition where they always put on to pthe body five times. Five, five. Not more than give, not less than five, but five times. Why five times? Because this body has five members, all joined together to make one - the head, the chest, the stomach, the hip, and the leg." David Ka'alakea 1991
I wish this one were more clear - it's of some "Creation" chart or something.
"The One God" - "As Islanders embraced Christianity, they infused it with their own cultural symbols and ways of worshipping that reflects their cultural heritage." 
Well it was just all so fun. I feel like singing the Tarzan song "I wanna know! Can you show me! I can see there is too much to learn, It's all so close and yet so far, I just know there's something bigger out there! I want to know, can you show me? Tell me more, please show me!" Some eternity we'll be able to learn all about it. 

Next we went to the Surfing Exhibit called "Mai Kinohi Mai" which means "from the beginning" (made me think of Genesis and the creation and God and the history of this world again). It was pretty cool. 
They had a replica of the 30+ foot wave that Duke rode all the way to shore. Peter stood under it, looked up, and said "Scary..."
From a display: "This wave replica is 27 feet tall. It's approximately the same height as the wave that Duke Kahanamoku famously rode in 1916 from Castle's surf break off Diamond Head nearly all the way to the shoreline, where his statue stands today at Kuhio Beach. Duke estimated that wave to be 25 to 30 feet tall. Stand here and imagine taking that ride yourself!"
After looking at displays there and sitting down for some cool surfing footage in a huge surround screen theater, we headed outside for a fun tapa making hands on event. 
Peter tried to make a run for it a few times. 
The nice lady doing the presentation showed us a large tapa cloth. Then they cut up some mulberry branches into small sticks for us. We used a shell to scratch off the green outer bark. Then you make one long cut up the stick and then peel the fibrous inner bark off of the stick. 
And then you proceed to whack the fiber bark flat - 
We sound like Santa's workshop!
Abi working on her tapa
Owen and his tapa 
It was really fun! And then they got to put stamp designs on their finished work. 
Corey kept Peter entertained with some chips and juice from a nearby food stand.
It was really fun, and a good cultural lesson. Then we went by Costco for food to survive the next 48 hours, and we went back to the hotel to spend the rest of the afternoon enjoying our last day swimming in the pool. Peter teaching me about "FOUR!"
You're so smart Peter!
"FOUR! EFF!! TEE!"
He knows all about 4 feet.
The rest of the kids in the pool. We didn't have a reservation, but it was 3:30 and it was open until 4:30, so we thought we'd go see if there were any openings. There were, so we signed up, got our wrist bands, and went for their last swim with the slide. Corey was up in the room with the older kids, they were doing homework but would join us later for a 5pm swim reservation, but the slide would be closed by then. Natalie and Sophi loved the slide. I got them back for a quick little kid group photo.

We all went swimming at night. A pretty Hawaii sunset behind us. Corey got Peter to put on his floaties and swim/float on his own. 

He was fine until he saw me, then I had to baby him for a bit.

It only took a week of warming up to the idea, but he did great floating! Little video of him here - It's fun, huh Peter! (He's not so sure) He might have finally gotten a taste of swimming independence! 

Peter can fly! And some smiles from him too in this last video.

It was a perfect night, a perfect weekend ending to this amazing trip. We are so thankful to have had this wonderful vacation together!!!

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