Memories of Maui

I returned from Maui almost two weeks ago yet am still not completely comfortable in my old daily routine. Among other things, I LOVED the weather, the beauty, the sea life and my schedule (or lack thereof.)

It was especially wonderful because I earned the trip through Sensaria along with other leaders, so although I was on vacation with my family, there were many of my friends and their kids there, too. In fact, a lot of the reps brought children who are about the same age as my 8-year-old twins. This meant there were a lot of times that Sophie was off swimming and going down water slides with Emily, Sierra or Georgia while Kameron played in a 'cave' between two waterfalls or searched for geckos with Matthew, Josh or Cole.

I brought three books with me and surprised myself by only getting half-way through one. I LOVE to read, but I found so much else to enjoy!

We stayed six nights in a fabulous hotel, the Westin, on Ka'anapali beach just north of Lahaina. The hotel has five pools, two water slides, numerous water falls, pink flamingos in the coy pond next to the lobby, etc. The beach was only feet from the pools.



Most mornings we'd get up, put our suits on and head to the pool. Around lunch we'd head to Whaler's Village for some lunch, then back to the pool or to the beach. It's the first time in my life when I went so many days without 'getting ready' every morning and instead just put on a visor and went.

One of the best parts of this trip with the kids was that I didn't have to worry about them in the water. They've been taking swimming lessons for most of their life, so although they aren't ready to be life guards yet, they are totally capable of taking care of themselves for the most part. Kameron even got more comfortable than he was before and started going down the water slide like a cannon ball so he could go super fast. Even I wasn't willing to do that since at the bottom I felt like I was getting tossed up and over the sides if I was going too fast. And, when they were on boogie boards and got dumped, they didn't like it, but brushed off and tried again.

Ka'anapali beach had a lot of coral in the sand, making it fun to grab coral with my toes to see what it looked like. Kameron collected some and I took a few nice pieces home.

Our second night there, Sensaria had reserved one of the pool decks for a nice dinner to celebrate our accomplishments. Besides a short acknowledgment from both Rob (the owner) and Melissa (the president), the only other planned event was entertainment by hula dancers who later taught the kids to hula. That night was super windy (the wind at times was strong enough to tip over almost-full drinks and move chairs), but nice. In fact, one of my favorite things about Maui is the wind.

Sunday night we took Rob Barnes (Sensaria's owner and CEO), his wife Angela, their kids Carter and Cole and Angela's sister Joanne with us to a Luau in Lahaina. We had fantastic seats and Baga (my mother-in-law) bought me my birthday present on the beach - a necklace made out of abalone shells. I enjoyed watching the show so much that I'm hoping to find a place here in Olympia where I can learn to hula! What a great art form as well as exercise!



On Monday night we had another phenomenal dinner with Sensaria at another location on the Westin grounds. That was the only night it really rained hard. The rain lasted only about 10 minutes, but got all of the tableclothes soaking wet. The tables were moved under cover and we all enjoyed the rest of the night by some waterfalls.

In Lahaina 12 years ago, I had gotten three toe rings that worn together, look like one. I've only had them off two times in the past 12 years. While visiting Lahaina, I decided to see if the place where I'd gotten them was still there. Not only was it still there, but we all decided to get new toe rings. I swapped out my old ones for new ones and got another set of three for my other foot. Kerry got a set for one of his feet, and both kids got one. (Later, Kameron decided he really wasn't a toe ring kind of kid...)

One day in the middle of the week, my friend De Lisa who lives on Maui met us after she got off work (she is an 8th grade science teacher) to teach us how to surf. My friend Toni and I shared a board and Kameron and Sophie shared a board. With board rental we also got booties, rash guards (long-sleeved 'shirts') and board shorts. First I helped Toni by pushing her as the waves came close and told her when to start paddling. De Lisa's friend Trisha was there with her daughters and one of them, Kailey, helped Sophie and shared her board. I was so proud of both kids for their attitude of trying, falling and getting back up to do it again! As for me, although I have tried fairly unsuccessfully to snowboard and wind surf, and am usually best at sports that include motors (racing cars, racing snowmobiles and flying planes), I just LOVED surfing! In fact, I guess it is pretty unusual for me to have gotten up at all on my first try. I not only got up once, but four times that afternoon! I can totally understand why someone would want to move to Maui, get a job that made ends meet, and then spend the rest of their time on the beach. My friend De Lisa works until 2pm every day and then surfs or swims or does yoga almost every day. What a life!

Another adventure was a snorkeling trip to Molokini. I've always wanted to snorkel there, so we took a boat to Molokini and then to Turtle Reef just south of Lahaina. Poor Sophie has my flaw of getting motion sick, so we were both less than thrilled with the boat ride and sick stomach. She ended up using a cool boogie board with a snorkel mask built in so she could snorkel.

Kerry and Kameron are both naturals at snorkeling, so they loved it! I've been so spoiled in the past with great snorkeling that I was a bit disappointed in Molokini. (Since being back, I've been told that it's a better place to scuba.) We just started feeling better when we got back on the boat and went to Turtle Reef. Both Sophie and I were sick again by the time we got there. And, our arrival seemed to have scared away the turtles that were in that area when we got there. That is, until I'd given Kameron the underwater camera and gone off by myself. I didn't realize how far away from the boat I'd gotten, but I was momentarily scared by something moving and noticed a Green Sea Turtle swimming just below me!

I started waving and pointing to get others' attention, but when I looked up I realized that I was the only one out there. It was the only one any of us saw under water, but we got another chance to see them from the boat when our anchor got stuck in the coral reef. Thankfully, this crew cared as much as I do about preserving the reef. In fact, usually they connect to something already anchored, but the chain had broken and they'd had to use another anchor. So, the captain tried manuevering while one of the crew got in the water to help get the anchor loose. In the process, the line pulled a slit through the boat's fiberglass next to the 'door' on the front. That was a bit nerve racking. But none of it compared to how much I wanted to get to shore. I could have easily jumped off the damn boat and swam to shore, but no. Instead I had to sit there watching all of this while getting sicker. Sophie had fallen asleep so at least she wasn't awake for this. The 'good' news is that there were a lot of turtles swimming around the boat, occasionally popping up to get a better look at these dumb people trying to get a boat loose. No less than 45 minutes of trying ended in one last failed attempt and then the crew member tied a life jacket onto the end of the anchor and let it go. She got back onto the boat and finally we were on our way back to Lahaina. Next time I'm going to just swim to Black Rock - the heck with stupid boats! :) (And I think I want to go on another cruise!?)

For the last three days on Maui, we stayed in our condo in Kihei. At first I think we were all a bit disappointed because we'd been so spoiled by all of the pools and the beach being so close. We did, however, now have more than one bathroom and some room to move. We also had a kitchen and washer and dryer in the unit. One of the first things I did was do our previous week's laundry and check out the pool. Although it was only one pool, it was still pretty nice. It had a water fall going into it on one end and was just as warm as the Westin pools. The pools were pretty much the same wonderful, perfect temperature as the ocean there!

Our first day in Kihei we visited a plantation and learned a lot about coconut palms and coffee growing, among other things. (Both kids had to work on reports since they were missing an assignment at home. Sophie chose to do her report on the coconut.)


Our second day I drove us around the west half of the island (a shorter drive than the drive to Hana) along one lane winding roads. I felt like I was auto cross racing at slow speed! ;) We ended up driving by and stopping at the Westin. Since I still had friends there, we spent the late afternoon in the pools with our friends. De Lisa came and met us by the pool for about an hour and then we drove to Lahaina for a show. De Lisa's roommates fiance is an actor in a fabulous musical calle Ulalena. It is the story of Maui's history told as a musical. It had the most amazing music and special affects with curtains and lights!

The last day in Kihei we visited the Maui Oceanic Center. Kameron was doing his report on the Green Sea Turtle and the relationship with the health of the coral reefs, so we learned more about the sea turtle and took pictures of the ones they had there.

Sadly, we had to come home. We have decided that Maui will be one of our regular vacation destinations as long as we continue to get so much joy out of going there!


Next I am looking forward to meeting Laura (Laverne) in San Diego. I have to be there for a conference and since we didn't get a chance to misbehave together in Rochester this year (her and my friends Jerad and Mitch called me occasionally so I was there in spirit), we're going to meet to celebrate our birthdays and misbehave in San Diego next month. Without getting too depressed (while blogging my Maui trip), I'm so moved by what's happening in San Diego... I'm hoping the wild fires get under control and that no one else loses their life or home!

Well, enough for now.