It's visitor season!!

We've had a lovely, busy past couple of months with visits from dear friends and family. Lots of beach time, exploring, whale watching and enjoying each others company! Busy, but wonderful!

 

Here are a few photos of our time together:

Whale watching out of Lahaina - it's peak season for the humpback whales that come here to mate and give birth each winter. It was whale soup out there!

Fun at the beach! 

The cousins had so much fun together.

Bella was very disappointed that she wouldn't be celebrating her birthday with her cousins this year, so we had an early birthday party!

After Jill left (she was here for 2 weeks), the kids and I and Mom and Dad did a fantastic, all day boat trip. First stop, snorkeling at Molokini (amazing!) then over to Lana'i where we encountered a big pod of spinner dolphins. What a treat! They were leaping and spinning and bow-riding.... Awesome!

 

Also saw some humpback whales that day. A fabulous trip... I'd highly recommend that one!

 

Grandma love.

Looking for shells at Ho'okipa beach.

 

Now everyone has gone back home and we're back to just our little family! 

A New Year's Day Adventure

We've been looking forward to driving the road to Hana and all the way around the "back side" of Haleakala since we got here, so on New Years Day we decided to make the journey. It was a lovely day with surprisingly few people on the road. According to guide books, during the winter there are an average of 1500 - 2000 cars travelling this road each day! Well, we picked the right day to do the drive! I had intended to have audiobooks for the kids to listen to on the drive, but didn't get to the library the day before. The one book we were part way through ended about 45 minutes into the trip! But the kids did so well. We left the house at 9:30am and arrived home just after 6pm. A LONG day in the car... and not even radio reception most of the time! It was a quiet, peaceful day for the most part.

It is so green and lush on the north shore, with waterfalls galore! Our first stop was Ching's Pond... a beautiful clear pool.

 

The road to Hana is a windy, narrow, crazy road! John and I drove it on our honeymoon more than 13 years ago, so it was fun to drive it again with 3 kidlets in tow!

 

We took a detour off the highway down to Nahiku. We were using the "Maui Revealed" guide book - a must-have if you ever visit Maui. Some of the locals don't like it because it gives too much information, but as the adventurers it's amazing! So on recommendation from the authors, we took this little side trip down to the ocean. The road ended at a lovely spot with beautiful views up and down the coast and another sweet waterfall. A wonderful place to stop and stretch and enjoy the view.

 

 

We took a picnic down to the beach at our next stop, a gorgeous black sand beach. So picturesque... so lovely.

 Thor loved digging in the pebbly sand.

At the same park as the black sand beach was an amazing cave filled with fresh water. It had been a lava tube and was now a cool swimming hole! Zara was the first one in (as usual!). The water was cold, but deep and fresh.

 

 

There were other caves off the main pool so John swam under and explored the bigger one.

 

 

After driving through Hana and stopping for some more food, we continued to Ohe'o Gulch (it used to be called the 7 Sacred Pools but they are not sacred and there are more than 7 of them!) This place is hugely publicized in tourist brochures as "THE" destination when driving the Hana Hwy. It is beautiful, and very unique but perhaps somewhat overrated. The water in the pools is very rust colored and looked quite uninviting. We didn't swim as it was also very windy and a bit chilly.

 

 

If you look really closely at the above photo, you can see someone jumping off the cliff to the left of the upper waterfall. That's a BIG jump. There are signs everywhere saying "No jumping" and apparently a person could even be arrested for jumping, but it's so tempting and so exciting and such a perfect place for cliff jumping that I guess it's worth the risk!

 

Thor was being a little lizard here, curling up in on a hot rock, soaking in the warmth.

 

 

 

Just a little ways past the pools, we found a stunning waterfall... about 50 feet tall, plunging into a perfect swimming pool about 7 feet deep. It was about a 10 minute hike in and we had it all to ourselves - pure bliss! A perfect ending to our day of waterfalls!

 

 

 

Past there we started wrapping around to the "back side" of the island. The rainforest turns into grazing lands, and then into dry, rocky land that slopes down into the ocean. It's amazing how many different climatic zones we went through that day!

 

 

We stopped on the side of the road to pick up these sweet little hitch hikers! Actually we stopped to watch a baby humpback whale and it's mama practice breaching! So cool!

 

A fantastic day, a wonderful adventure... a great way to start the new year!

 

A tour of Paia

Today Zara and I went for a walk into the sweet little town of Paia (pronounced Pa-ee-a). I took my camera and lots of photos, with the intention of sharing this lovely place with you.

 

Come along with us and we'll give you a tour!  

 

This is our new rental place. (Zara likes the saying "home is where my mom is" so we're calling it home!) The owner has converted the garage into an apartment and lives there with his 9 yr old daughter. So far so good! 

 

The entrance into our subdivision. (Pronounced koo-ow)

A cute little shop selling high end home decor items. Some lovely things made on island.

One of the many surfboard fences in the area! We are just a mile or so from the most famous windsurfing, kite-surfing and just plain surfing area on the island.... Ho'okipa Beach.

The Maui Dharma Center.

This temple is called a Stupa. I'd like to try some of the meditations here.

Don't let this old building fool you! This is Mana Foods.... one of the best natural food stores I've ever been in! I am THRILLED to be living so close to this store! 

The one and only intersection in town. Traffic is often backed up in all three directions here.... the only drawback to living in this cool town.... lots of other people want to be here too!

The BEST fish on the island... right here! The other night we walked into town, got some yummy fish to go (fish tacos, fish n' chips, and salad with blackened ahi), took it back to our place and enjoyed a delicious fish feast!

After we finished our little walking tour, we hopped in the car and drove less than 10 minutes to a lovely little beach in Sprecklesville. People here call it "Baby beach" as it's fully protected by a reef that creates an amazing, safe place to swim and play.

 

We are certainly enjoying this little corner of the world. As this year draws to a close we feel so blessed and so thankful for the amazing year we've had. So many new friends, new experiences, a summer spent with old friends and family.... a life so full of love and blessings.... we are so grateful for our beautiful life!

 

 



Changes.....

 

"If we don't change, we don't grow. And if we don't grow, we aren't really living." (Gail Sheehy)

 

We've all heard the saying "Change is the only constant in life" .... well that certainly seems to be true in our lives!

 

You may remember from my first post upon arriving in Maui, that we were not happy with the house we had arranged to rent. The universe was whispering that it wasn't the right place for us.... but we chose not to listen.... we chose to stick it out, honor our lease agreement. Well, the universe gave us a kick in the pants last week. One night while we were out for dinner, the neighbors ordered pizza to our address, and when the pizza guy arrived, they beat him up, kidnapped him and stole his car and money. IN OUR DRIVEWAY! That was a wake-up call! The next day I got on Craigslist and found us a lovely house in Paia. We moved 3 days later! What a relief to be somewhere safe, in a lovely, quiet area with lovely neighbours. And in the town I had wanted to move to originally when we first started talking about moving to Maui.

 

So we spent Solstice weekend moving. Not quite what I had planned.... but isn't that often the way? The universe had different plans for us. New beginnings, changes.... all good.

 

On Christmas Day we decided to get out into this lush landscape on the north shore and go for a hike. We drove down the Hana Highway a little ways to Twin Falls. It was fun to explore and hike... the falls and the area weren't terribly impressive... there are far nicer places further along, but this was close and easy for the kids.

 

 

We are loving "winter" in Hawaii!

 

I'll post more photos of house and area soon! Happy Holidays!