Sunday, February 8, 2015

maui day 7, friday

*woke up in paradise Hana
*did an hour of yoga together overlooking the ocean
*went to homoa beach and saw surfers
*spent the day swimming in the 7 sacred pools and hiked through bamboo forest and a giant banyan tree to the huge waterfall. Unbelievable!
*ate Thai food at a's Thai food and fish tacos With local foods From food  trucks.
*stopped at local fruit stand and bough 3 type of local hana bananas, guava.
*swam at travaasa & hot tub. Chatted with new friends
*listened to live hawaiin music in travaasa, a woman, and ate choc. Molten cake.
*slept in our magical seaside cottage

Saturday, February 7, 2015

maui day 8, Saturday

*left jon sleeping and woke up to see the sunrise and hope to see the grazing horses in the morning next to the ocean
*took pics of travaasa grounds in hope to remember every bit of this beautiful place
*snorkle at hamoa bay and saw lots of beautiful fish kind of to the middle and right. Water was so beautifully clear. 
*net fishing with Kepa, a local fisherman At hana bay-jon loved that.
*packed up and checked out. The nice ladies gave me extra necklaces for the kids. 
*wainapapa state parK. The caves of the king who killed his queen, lava tube cave, amazing waves, white ocean everywhere, black saND beach.
*fruit stand with fresh bananas, papayas and star fruit fresh soda. Ate my first papaya. It was kinda like a little mini Cantelope. 
*rainbow eucalyptus tree forest
*jaws beach, ho'okipa  beach. It was unreal waves. Sat for a couple hours to watch the waves, whales breaching and turtles in the waves. 
*the turtle liNE up
*turtle resting grounds. 
*paie fish co. Amazing! 
*ono paie gelato
*leave maui. 

Thursday, February 5, 2015

maui day 6, Thursday

*Sunrise at the top of the volcano crater, haleakala
*breakfast at french bakery La Provence-best croissant, cinnamon roll, scone, pastry
*retired surfboard fence-over 700 of them
*road to hana
*hike twin falls-swam in waterfall
*hike a pretty hike
*garden of eden botanical gardens
*banana bread and fresh ahi from locals in hana
*travaasa
*seeing the most beautiful view of the entire trip, 4 beautiful horses all grazing right next to the ocean on the lush fields with giant coconut trees, Lush  hills and mountain,  African tulip trees as the backdrop.
*live hawaiin music, 2 men, ukelele, and auntie hula dancer

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

maui day 3: Monday

Today is Monday.

*sunrise salutations yoga right next to the ocean.
*bird in room
*macadamia nut pancakes at restaurant on the beach with close up views of the ocean and wind surfers.
* shopping in kihea. Found the maui photo book I wanted.
*laying out at the infinity pool and swimming while overlooking the ocean and watching whales.
*jon saw a humpback whale jump out of the water while in the infinity pool.
*traded compact car in for a brand new silver mustang.
*mama's fish house. Server and hostess favs. Dinner-DELICIOUS! Ambiance even more incredible.
*north Shore breaks
*giant snail


I had a hard time falling asleep last night, I kept feeling like I was snorkling in the ocean. My mind kept swaying with the ocean current and imagining seeing fish and turtles. I told jon that I felt like I was one with the ocean. We really both did After stayong in the ocean all day. Despite not being able to fall asleep, I was awake by 4:30am. It was too late to make it to the volcano like we planned, whoops, we slept in. Our bodies aren't used to snorkeling for 5 hours. It was too early to feel well rested, but still had a great morning.

I left the room just before sunrise and met a few other ladies for Sunrise salutations, Yoga, next to the ocean. It was magnificant. My body was sore and this was just what I needed to start my day off and find such a serene peaceful place. Jen, our instructor, emphasized timing our breathing with the ocean waves and I felt so alive and grateful to be there experiencing this. I'm trying to take this all in and not take one second for granted. We are blessed beyond measure by a God who truly loves us and I hope I can go back to this peaceful moment when the tides are high in my own life.

I went back up to the room and discovered a bird just prancing and chirping in our room, since I had left the balcony door open. He quickly left but it sure made me smile to see. Jon stayed sleeping for a bit longer and I went and hung out in the hammock.

I spent the morning trying to contact the Molokina crater charter boat to see if we could still go but that didn't work out. I also spent quite a bit of the morning planning our ziplining excursion. We went with the 8-line Eco zipline tour in Kanaapali. It's supposed to be beautiful trees and a view of the ocean. Looks fun!

We knew we wanted macademia nut pancakes similar to the ones we had on our honeymoon in Owahu at Boots and Kimos. Jon looked online and found 5 Palms at a hotel here. The view was spectacular and the food was good, but expensive. The mac. pancakes were nothing special, just normal buttermilk pancakes with some nuts inside. The Boots and Kimos pancakes were just something unique I'm guessing! But it was so beautiful and very special to sit in the open air so close to the beach. We enjoyed watching wind surfers and the coast line. Jon, being the planner that he is, notices all of the little things about the island that I don't. He pointed out how they have really protected the coastline from having a bunch of high rise hotels right on the coastline. It's true, you look down the coast line for miles and see just beautiful ocean, cliffs, and beach. Loved the views!

Later we laid out the infinity pool which is such a stunning view. While in the infinity pool, with the BEST view of the ocean, Jon saw a humpback whale completely breach and jump out of the water in it's entirety. He was thrilled and im so excited for him. I got in with him and we saw several whales blowing the water up and a few slap the water but I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing one jump too.

That night we got all dressed up and drove to the airport to get a new car. Ours was acting funny and someone had pulled up next to our little red Ford Focus and honked and motioned that our car was being wobbely or something. It scared us a little and we were happy that Budget was not busy and accomodated us with a brand new silver mustang hard top. We love it! We then drove to Mama's fish house and it was beautiful and everything we could have hoped and imagined it to be. It's right on the beach with lots of beautiful, swaying palms and fisherman on the rocks fishing. The menu was



















maui day 5, wednesday

Day 5, Wednesday

Today we woke up early to get to our harbor for the molokini tour and someone called us on the way there to tell us it was canceled. Ugh. Bummer! We were thoroughly looking forward to that. But we had back up plans, which are crucial to have in maui I'm finding and

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

maui day 4, tuesday

*la peruse bay
*surfing lessons, ziplining canceled due to high winds
*drove to the north and hiked The Ridge-amazing!
*drover from the north around the entire west coast back to wailea
*saw beautiful beaches, scenery, blow hole
* stopped in Lahaina and went to Lahaina fish Co. Right on the ocean. wouldn't recommend.

LA PERUSE BAY

I won't even say how many pictures Jon and I took in Hawaii. Let's just say it's a lot. And he was behind the camera a lot too trying to capture the beauty we were seeing. So I'm slowly going through and picking out my favorites of each adventure. Here is Tuesday at La Perouse Bay, home to Maui's most recent volcanic activity. We drove along the volcanic fields and saw how the whole eco system was changing. Plants, trees, flowers were all growing among the v. rock. It was amazing. We saw chickens and teeny tiny goats living in this new vegetation. The baby goat we saw was the size of a cat --cuteness overload. Maui has so many beautiful landscapes and the volcanic rock is no exception. We wanted to snorkel in the bay and see some spinner dolphins (my dream) but it was windy and the ocean was choppy. Instead we went on a hike around the bay and saw such beauty. It did not disappoint. We saw the sharp volcanic rock turned into smooth black rocks after poundings of the ocean waves, and some of the volcanic rock withered to sand. It was fascinating. We saw a Koa wood tree (that beautiful wood in the pics) which is used to make beautiful surf boards and ukuleles (love my husband and all of the knowledge facts in that brain of his). These pictures take me back to the perfect ocean air and the spectacular views.
























Monday, February 2, 2015

Day 3 Maui: Mamas Fish House

Mamas Fish House in Maui. So we ate at a lot of places in Maui, but this place definitely made the top of the list. We made reservations a couple weeks in advance, which is a must. We got there early to take all of the beauty in. The restaurant sits on its own little private beach and it's just beautiful. Loved the experience. Since we were celebrating our 10th, they put us by the open window with a view of the ocean and sunset. There was a special little note waiting for us at the table and they gave me a fresh flower lei for our anniversary, which smelled heavenly. We were pretty much BFF's with our waiter and hostess by the time we left. A new menu is printed twice a day, because they serve fish that was caught in the ocean that day. Jon had macadamia nut encrusted mahi mahi stuffed with lobster with a mango sauce. I had Lehi red snapper and dessert was Hana banana crisp. All of it was amazing! The poor cell phone pics don't do it justice.