The Lost Plates of Jack and Leiana

 On one of our last days, we took a tour of the ship, a sort of behind the scenes tour. We started off backstage in the dressing rooms.  The dressing rooms were small and crowded. There were racks for hanging costumes on. The girls usually come about 3 hours before the show for hair and make-up and prepare. The guys usually come early to bug the girls. There's a small area just off the stage where the stage manager stays where he can make changes as he needs.  All 12 of us guests then crowded onto a single elevator to go up to the bridge. There are usually 4 people on the bridge, an officer, a navigator and two spotters. The steering wheel would make Captain Jack Sparrow very sad as it is very small and doesn't turn all the way around. Here the captain is talking with us. You can see the wheel in the middle. Sad, huh. On each side of the bridge, they also have another full control panel. Plus what they call the promotion hatch which lets them see directly below the ship w...

 We have been enjoying origami classes on board the ship. It is one of the mostly daily activities. After 50 days, we have folded a lot of origami. I wanted to post some of my favorite ones. Now if we can only remember how we folded them! Turkey fish humming bird butterfly Tortoise Sea Turtle Sea Horse Crab Bunny Koala manta ray Whale Sailboat Hibiscus Rose Lotus Tulip 4 leaf clover Star Samurai Hat heart 3D Troll Easter Basket Our door is starting to look very crowded. However, the people walking by enjoy it and figuring out what new paper creation we added that day.

 Today we made it to the Garden Island, our last stop before home. All good gardens need water so today was that day. It was rainy/misty all morning. We walked to the beach and through the surf. It was pretty strong. We saw a surfer head out on a board.  I loved the idea behind this sign

 We got to spend a day and a half in Honolulu. Since we had all day on Saturday, we got off the ship as soon as they let us and caught the bus to the north shore. We got dropped off at temple beach and walked to the temple. We spent a couple of hours inside enjoying the spirit. This temple is definitely the most unique on the inside. Lots of stairs. Everything is a climb to heaven. Still enjoyed it. I had to get a picture at my favorite banyan tree near the baptistry entrance. Around the top of the temple and inside the lobby as well as by the family history center are 4 reliefs depicting stories from the Old and New Testiment, Book of Mormon stories and church history. We then went to the PCC and spent the rest of the day exploring the villages. We started with the canoe ride through the PCC.  Once again, one of my favorite places was Aotearoa (New Zealand). We did the poi balls and several stick games.  In Tahiti we were part of a marriage ceremony then learned to throw...