Day Nine – Happy Mother’s Day!

May 10, 2009
Our last full day on Maui… (insert heavy sigh here) We got up this morning and went out for coffees and muffins for Mother’s Day. From there we went to drop off the boogie boards, which were due back at about 8:30am. We asked the gal that worked there if we could rent them just one more day, having them back this afternoon and she said to just go ahead and use them for today, no charge. Gotta love the Hawaiian attitude here!

We headed to the beach and stayed for 3+ hours. The longest time so far because we just couldn’t leave! The weather was beautiful, the water was warm… and even though we’ve been trying to keep the kids out of the sun during the hottest time of the day, we were just having too much fun.

But, eventually, we headed out (we were getting hungry!) and had lunch at Maui Tacos. We came back to the condo and Karen and I headed out again for some shopping, putting the dads in charge of the kids for a while on Mother’s Day… not a bad deal! They didn’t have it so bad… they all had some pool time.
Reading mother's day cards...


Then for dinner we did another trip to Shaka for some pizza (Karen needed her Mother’s Day pie!) and then back to the condo for a little pre-departure day packing.
Celebrating moms at the pizza parlor!


The funniest part of the day was going over to the Harps condo for a finishing-the-food-and-drink party… eating pudding, ice cream, cake, candy, etc. Tomorrow morning we need to eat the cereal, apples, juice and cheese, we’ll see how it goes.

Until next time, Maui… Hang Loose!

Day Eight – Best Birthday Ever

May 9, 2009
Well, the day has arrived. Not knowing how I would feel the day I turned 40 led me to this island in the first place. Figuring I’d HAVE to be happy on Maui triggered vacationing here on my 40th birthday.

Well, of course, you’re either happy or sad as you reach this number – no matter where you are. And after some serious contemplation on the lanai this morning with my cup of coffee, I realize I have too few complaints to be sad. I have a wonderful husband who loves and supports me, I am surrounded by our loving parents, siblings, family and friends… and if I had actually ordered up the kids I wanted to have before having them, they would have been Hannah and Grace. The last 40 years have been pretty good.

Okay, but birthdays are better here! After waking up to lots of hugs and kisses from my family, the girls went over to Karen and Tim’s for an afternoon of party preparation and playing. Kevin and I went to Lahaina to go to my favorite restaurant, Pacific'O – the only thing I requested to do today! We went there twice on our honeymoon 13 years ago and have recommended it to everyone we know who heads to Maui. It still doesn’t disappoint. We had a fabulous lunch of Kahlua pork quesadilla, fish tacos and a lobster po'boy sandwich. We were treated to a delicious birthday chocolate pate/strawberry dessert to finish off the delicious meal!





We also went next door to the restaurant to see the place we stayed on our honeymoon… but much of it was under construction.


We came back to the condo and the girls couldn’t wait to give me the presents they picked out here. Matching earrings and a necklace. I love that they love giving me jewelry!


Some pool time, quick showers… and it was party time. The girls headed over to Karen and Tim’s to finish last minute preparations then I was summoned over. I was greeted with a “40” lei and tiara to truly accessorize the 40-year old princess that I am. I got some super fun gifts from the Harps, including personalized pink M&M’s (“40 is the new 30” and “Katie – Maui 09”) which the girls couldn’t wait to dig into!


Then ate a wonderful shrimp pasta meal that Tim made and - my favorite - strawberry cake for dessert! My girls and Karen had made it for me while Kevin and I were at lunch. Since you can no longer find strawberry cake mix in Oregon, imagine Karen’s delight when she found it at a grocery store here – SCORE!


Loved all the emails, text messages, phone calls, e-cards and gift cards that people sent me today, truly made me appreciate - again - the loving family and friends who surround me.

All-in-all, a perfect day. Can’t wait to see what the next 40 years bring.

Day Seven - On Top of the World

May 8, 2009
Friday morning we started at the beach again! The weather was beautiful and the kids have gotten to be such experts on the boogie boards that they look ready to surf! We stayed for a couple of hours and headed back for lunch.



Then Kevin and Tim headed up to Mt. Haleakala and us girls stayed home and played by the pool. So here, I turn the keyboard over to Kevin...

There is something both awesome and disconcerting about driving above the clouds, especially when there are no guard rails! The winding drive up to the summit of Mt. Haleakala was incredible as we moved from 80+ degree lowlands to 60 degrees at the summit.


At the top, 10,023 feet, you could definitely feel the altitude! We took pictures of the view, which includes being able to see the Big Island, and fought off the wind chill.


Tim in the clouds...


We then drove down to the 8,000 foot level and the Halemau'u trail for a short hike to the rim. The mile down and mile back up afforded some more incredible views, especially from the rim of the valley. (Yes, technically it is a valley and not a crater. Actually, it's two valleys that have grown together over time).



Our wives were a little worried about these last photos of us standing on the rim with steep drop offs to both sides. But it is much safer than it looks. At least that's our story and we're sticking to it.

Day Six - A Little Sand, Shopping and Shaved Ice

May 7, 2009
Girls slept in until 7am this morning… now I’m feeling like we need to start doing reverse time change adjustment and start waking them up earlier so they don’t want to sleep in until 10am at home!

We went to the beach again today. Karen and Tim snorkeled and saw more turtles – one swam in quick from nowhere and came so close to Karen he rubbed against her fin! Later Tim saw and adult turtle with a baby turtle, too. The girls had a fantastic time doing more of the same – swimming, boogie boarding and digging in the sand.

After lunch we decided to go to a little outdoor market (apparently Kevin and the girls had some birthday shopping to do…). Although it was a really hot day, it was such a fun place with nice stuff and great prices. Karen and I will head back another day when we have more time and the kids can stay home with the dads.



The kids were so hot, stuffed in those little shopping booths, so we decided to get shaved ice at the Local Boy Snack Shop. Crabbiness turned to happiness as that yummy treat cooled them down.

Shaved Ice tongues:


A quick trip to the swimming pool for some more play time and then Karen and Tim went on a date to Mom’s Fish House. We had the kids at our condo and fixed them dinner. We made teriyaki chicken with noodles, macaroni salad and pineapple– and strawberry lemonade with extra monkeys we brought back from Haliimaile. Tim and Karen brought back a special “pearl” dessert for them!
Fancy monkey drinks:

Tigers and Monkeys and Pigs… Oh, My!

May 6, 2009
We had quite a busy day today! Everyone in our condo slept well – we had Amelia here for a sleepover and Grace was with the Harps. Grace got up early because she was so excited to watch the birds with Karen in the morning!

Then the Curry family made a trek to Ioa State Park, a rainforest on Maui. Grace was so excited to see a real rainforest, since they’re studying them in 2nd grade right now. The park had a great, short walking path that gave you a good view of the valley. There was one area where you had to walk 133 steps to get to a great lookout area (to see the “needle”). As I was walking up (looking down, of course, to not miss a step) I heard Kevin talking to someone, so I looked up to see…

TIGERS (Tigard Tiger, that is)
…one of my best buddies from high school, Jeff Wallin! It had to be one of the most random, crazy things ever to happen (interestingly, he and Kevin noticed each other before Jeff or I saw each other.) He and his family are in Maui for a wedding. We couldn’t believe that we were here at the same time, and that we’d see each other at such a random location – not even a tourist attraction! Jeff and his family live in Berkley, CA, so I only see him every few years. The last time was at my high school reunion two years ago. So we continued along the path with his family and had some time to catch up with each other. It was great to see his wife, Jeanette, and his kids Jakob and Josie.

Me and my prom date... 22 years later.

The "needle" a Ioa State Park

The rainforest valley:



After we said our good-byes to the Wallins, we headed to a botanical garden park down the road. We stopped and had our packed lunch at a picnic table and then toured the Kepaniwai Gardens. This Heritage Garden honors all of the Hawaiian immigrants from Japan, China, Korea, Portugal, and Puerto Rico.


MONKEYS
We had some time to kill, so we headed to Makawao. On the way we stopped at the Haliimaile General Store Restaurant. We weren’t planning to eat there, but we had heard about the fancy kid drinks with plastic monkey decorations, so we had to try it out. We just sipped our drinks on the porch so as not to take up a table.

Hannah and her "Baby Blue Whale":

Grace and her "Green Gekko":


We then continued to drive to Makawao. We stopped there and did a little shopping. It’s a cute old cowboy town, with not much to do there except shop. We were hoping to see some glass blowing, but there wasn’t any going on at the time we were there. So we headed back to the condo in Kihei.

PIGS
After a quick shower and rest, we got back in the car to head to our luau in Kaanapali. We went to the Drums of the Pacific luau at the Hyatt. The show started with the unearthing of the cooked pig from the imu and continued with a yummy buffet (pork, chicken, beef, mahi mahi, veggies, fruit, salads, desserts – yum!), hula lessons, and a great show featuring dances from the cultures of Hawaii, Samoa, Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga and more!

Here's the "pig", fresh out of the imu oven:

The girls had these matching dresses for a dance they did at church - so cute!

Me, Grace, Caroline and Hannah doing the hula:

Luau show:

Hannah and Grace with the "natives":

Turtle Town

May 5, 2009
Girls slept past 7:00am… success! We moved them onto the sofa sleeper in the living room. They are far enough from the birds now, so they seem to sleep longer. Ahhhhhh, feeling like vacation, now.


We decided to do more snorkeling today. We went to Maluaka Beach, which backs up to the Maui Prince Hotel. Most people think it’s a private beach for the hotel, so it’s pretty quiet. It’s famous, however, for “Turtle Town”, an area that is supposed to be great for seeing turtles when you snorkel. A lot of tour boats drop snorkelers off here, so they can get a look at big sea turtles.

We had success! Tim and Karen saw three turtles and Kevin, Hannah and Grace saw one. They said they were huge and just awesome to watch. Amelia, Caroline and I stayed on the beach. I went out a little later and just kicked around right off the shore and saw some beautiful coral reefs and colorful fish. Another great day at the beach.

Here we are, the namby-pamby Oregonians trying to keep from getting too much sun! Actually our little cabana was great, especially as it wasn’t a very warm day and we kept warm in our little shaded dome. … and we’ll have nice, healthy skin, too!


The girls found some interesting looking shells, and then realized there were snails in them! So they had a great time making little homes for them in the buckets and watching them dig and burrow into the sand. They found two of them and named them “Tiger” and “Lilly”. You can imagine Grace’s disappointment when we told her it was against the law to take them home.



Kevin and Tim were thinking about going up to Mt. Haleakala today, but the weather was so cloudy they thought it might be a wasted trip. Hopefully another day this week.

So instead, we had another pool day at the condo and a yummy dinner of Teriyaki burgers/chicken, fruit salad, macaroni salad and Maui onion chips. We made fancy strawberry lemonade drinks for the girls!

Day Three – Sand and Sea Life

May 4, 2009
Today we got up early again (kids having trouble sleeping past the 5:30am mark… loud birds are waking them up every morning). We headed to the beach about 8:30 for some more playtime. The girls mostly played on the boogie boards, occasionally taking a break to dig holes in the sand.

After lunch, we headed to the Maui Ocean Center, a Hawaiian aquarium. The girls loved it, I thought Grace might never want to leave! We loved listening to her name all the fish and tell their stories. Big favorites of the Ocean Center were the turtles, which the girls were able to feed! They threw lettuce into the water and the turtles swam to them and ate it up. The girls also liked the huge variety of colorful fish and the jellyfish… and didn’t even mind the sharks too much.

Throwing lettuce to the turtles:



We were also very happy to find a book in the gift shop that we were looking for. Grace is missing a rainforest study at school this week, so we’re doing some research on the Hawaiian rainforest! We found a book about rainforest animals and later in the week we will visit an actual rainforest.

As a side note, Hannah is doing a great job as a photographer/family historian-in-training! She brought her own camera and is finding lots of opportunities to take great pictures!


Afterward, we headed to Lahaina and grabbed dinner at Kimos. A favorite restaurant for the Harps, we were introduced to Hula Pie, a magnificent dessert of ice cream, chocolate, cookie crust and so much more. Such a delight! Big enough for each family to share one, which made my family glad. No one wants to share one with Caroline – she gobbles it up faster than anyone else can get to it!



After that, some shopping in Lahaina. Grace got a hula Hello Kitty and Hannah got a purple Maui t-shirt. Kevin got a long sleeve t-shirt for an anticipated trip up to Mt. Haleakala later in the week. Nothing for me, except a photo op at Bubba Gump Shrimp to honor one of my favorite movies… life is like a box of chocolates, you know! (No, those are NOT my real feet/shoes.)