Maui with Nonni

Nonni came to visit a couple of days after Christmas to stay for almost 2 weeks. On the morning of New Year's Eve, we flew to Maui for 5 nights.


We started the trip with a drive out to 'Iao Needle. We had read about it in some guidebooks and decided to check it out. It was a beautiful valley with some nice walking trails around a native plant garden. Nonni was a real trouper as we dragged her along the trails!



Afterward, we headed to the condo in Kihei where we would be staying for the next 3 nights. It was a cute place just a block from the beach. So, after a little unpacking we headed down to enjoy some sand and sun! That evening, Danielle and I were able to go out for a New Year's drink. Many thanks to Nonni!!

Gabbi posing in front of the masks that decorated the condo...

On New Year's Day, I went scuba diving in the morning. We met at 5:45 a.m. and after all of the paperwork, etc. We headed out to Molokini Crater for the sunrise and a back wall dive. The most incredible part of the dive was hearing the whale songs underwater!! It was unreal. We had great views of Kaho'olawe, Lana'i, and Maui from the boat.

The view of Haleakala as we headed to Molokini.

Two dives later, I was done by about 10 a.m. We spent the afternoon at the beach and rode some waves, played soccer, and hung out.




On the following day, Nonni and the girls hung out by the pool for the day so that Danielle and I could take a long hike in Haleakala Crater. It was a great time for us to hike at our own pace and have some time to reconnect. We covered about 13.5 miles and it went by unbelievably quickly!!

We took the Sliding Sands Trail. With its loose sandy soil, we found ourselves stopping to empty out our shoes every so often...

Close up of an 'ahinahina (silversword) in Haleakala.

The clouds seemed to flow from Kaupo Gap up into the crater while we were eating lunch.



On Sunday, it was time for us to pack up and head for Hana. We decided to take the south road and then take the Road to Hana back out on Tuesday. Either way...it is a long drive. Bumpy, winding roads lead to carsickness which makes the trip even longer. We stopped an Ulupalakua winery to sample some of their red and pineapple wines. We bought a few bottles to take with us for the rest of our trip.

We stopped at the Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge boardwalk to get some energy out before the long ride!

Then, we had a long stretch before our next stop at Oheo Gulch (aka the 7 sacred pools). The lowest pool was pretty crowded, but Danielle and Gabbi braved the jump and took a swim. Then we all walked up to the second pool, which was much less crowded (there were 2 other people in the water). We made another couple of stops for waterfall, but it was so dry that one was completely dry and others were barely a trickle.






Then we stopped for one of the highlights of the trip. Maui Revealed calls it the Venus Pool. A short hike along a cow pasture brings you to a brackish water pool that is gorgeous and incredibly refreshing. To top it off, there are ledges at various heights for you to jump off! Gabbi, especially, loved jumping from a few heights (getting more daring with each jump)! We liked it so much we went back the next morning (and dragged Nonni with use too!)







We had to dodge a little barbed wire on the way out...

After a stop at the Venus Pool (we dragged Nonni there this time), we went to the beach. It is listed as one of the best bodysurfing beaches on Maui...we must not have hit it on its best day. It was however a beautiful beach to relax, dig holes, etc. We had one more stop at another beautiful beach with a view of a sea arch and some nice cliffs.




OK, then came the truly last stop to see a red sand beach on Hana Bay. It was a short hike to a tiny stretch of red sand. We checked it out quickly, then headed back to the cottage for dinner.



The view of Haleakala from Hana.

The view from our cottage (Hale Popolana) in Hana.
The cottage that we stayed in was nice. Right on Hana Bay, cool lava to explore, rustic, lots of coconuts around.

On Tuesday, we got up and went to explore a state park just to the north for the morning. There was a cool black sand beach, lava tube, sea caves. It was a great place to explore.







Then, it was time to pack up, drive the Road (from) Hana, check out Pa'ia, and fly back to O'ahu. We stopped to see some waterfalls along the way. It was a great trip and lots of good quality time with Nonni!!

Mele Kalikimaka

Trying to get caught up...we had a busy couple of months with the holidays, the Sackett-Pasquales visiting, nonni visiting...

Ummm...Jacqui, they are called stockings, but...

In Hawaii, companies do indeed ship Christmas trees for the season. Apparently, every few years they have a "shortage". This year, multiple container were rejected because of invasive wasps that survived the trip. So 2 weeks before Christmas on a Sunday afternoon (not having heard about the shortage) we headed to the large tents that are set up in parking lots to sell the trees...they were all either gone or packing up. The girls were devastated...as we pulled into the last possible spot, we saw one more tree! We pulled up and were given the sales pitch that this beautiful 8 foot spruce could be loaded on our roof for only $210 dollars...we headed home, treeless. Danielle, Gabbi, and Jacqui had plans to go searching the following day. At work that Monday morning, after a few conversations and a web search, I heard about the tree shortage and a possible solution in Waimanalo. Live Norfolk pines! Sure they don't smell nice or have very many branches, oh yeah and the ornaments fall off the flimsy branches really easily, but we had a tree!!!

so, we had some friends over on Christmas eve. Khris, Bruce, Zoe, and Cristoff came over. The kids had a blast (as always) and the adults drank wine and talked. It was a lot of fun! We sang some Christmas carols and the kids opened some presents. My friend Jamie came over around the time that they were leaving and we had a chance to hang out.






Gabbi read the other kids the latest story of the adventures of Bobo the Christmas Monkey!! This year Bobo and his friend Hugh Manatee worked to clean up the environment. My Dad has been writing a new book each year for the last (I think) 5 years. They are great stories and include a new character. This year Hugh was a big hit! Thanks Dad!!!


Gabbi with Hugh.



Danielle outdid herself this year (as usual). She made fairy bowers for the girls to hang over their beds. Some friends have had them over the years and Danielle was inspired! She hung them as the girls slept, so that they could wake to them on Christmas morning.



Christmas morning was fun! The kids had a blast opening all of the gifts that Santa had brought, the gifts from us, and that had come in the mail.




After hanging out for a while that morning, we headed to the north shore. We were planning on watching the big surf that had come in and take a hike. It was kind of a drizzly morning and with the holiday, we hoped that traffic would be light despite the big surf....we were wrong. After sitting in traffic in Haleiwa for about 15 minutes, we decided to hike first. We were headed to the Peacock Flats area behind Dillingham Airfield. After talking to a woman that told us that it was now paved the entire way, we decided to try a different trail that was just up the road. The trail was fun. As we got higher in elevation, the rain picked up. When we got to the point that we were getting absolutely soaked, we turned around. We definitely plan to get back up to that trail again.

Christmas hiking...a little wet, but shorts and short sleeves...

We sat in traffic to watch the big waves at Waimea. When the surf get huge, the only break that will hold a wave is at Waimea Bay. A few weeks earlier, the Eddie Aikau tournament had been held, which is only held when waves faces are consistently 30 to 40 feet. (A note about wave heights...most of the world measures the face of the wave when measuring the height. So the wave as you are looking at it from trough to crest would be the height of the wave. In Hawai'i you measure the back of the wave...from the top to where the wave flattens out. This tends to be much smaller - 50 to 70% of the face or so. So when the surf report says 20 to 30 foot Hawaiian scale, you can expect to see 30 to 45 foot faces!) The traffic was ridiculous...at one point, Danielle got out to walk. She got a good distance ahead of us until we crept past her and slowly pulled away. We easily found parking at Three Tables (just past Waimea). Jacqui, Gabbi, and I walked back to the beach at Waimea and arrived at the same time as Danielle... We were treated to some great waves. There were about 15 - 20 surfers out and we saw some incredible rides and a few tough looking wipeouts!! We watched for about 45 minutes and headed home, after a quick stop to see some friends.

And of course the pictures, cannot do it justice...