January 2016


To be truthful...

there is nothing in this post except for the ten days of January that we spent in Maui. 

I took my girls with me when I went to get a pedicure.
It was a very small attempt of giving them a taste of vacation preparations. 
It's always more fun when others share your excitement.  Isn't it?

I had a few special friends stop by before we left with gifts for us to enjoy on our trip!



The morning we left the sun rose in spectacular fashion. 
We crowded with others at the boarding gate window to watch it. 


This is where we stayed in Kaanapali. 
We hadn't been to Maui for 8 years and this was the third place we have stayed.


Do you all make comparisons of the places you have stayed?
What you like more...what you liked more.. and what you would do different?

We do.
We paid for a mountain view this time because of the lousy exchange rate.
This location was better than where we stayed in Napili Bay.
Next time we would look at our room and make sure there was no loading bay right below us.

beep beep beep beep...
need I say more?


However ....
we had a fantastic time.

I am a light sleeper so when the beeping would start at 5 in the morning I would grab my kindle and begin reading.  

If I nodded off on the beach later no one judged me. 




The beach!

We stayed at the far end of this stretch.  

On the first morning we, in our eagerness to feel the sand between our toes, walked from our hotel to this point here in the sand and then I put my flip flops on to continue walking around black rock and gave myself a few good blisters from the sand rubbing against my straps on wet feet within a half hour.  =(

After that morning we walked all along the boardwalk to the end of Whalers Village  and then did our sand walk once we passed black rock on our way back to our resort.  


Previous visits I spent a lot of time taking pictures of flowers.
This time I loved them, enjoyed them but took only a few photos. 


Before our vacation we realized that our cousins would be at the same hotel on the night we arrived.
We left our luggage in our room and joined them for dinner in Lahaina at Honu. 

It was such a great way to begin our vacation.  


The next morning after our walk we walked in the other direction with our carry bags to get some groceries. We didn't bother to get a rental car on this trip since we didn't plan to go see the sights and this worked out perfectly well for us.



It was fun connecting with these friends Richard and Brenda who moved to Alberta about twenty years ago.
They picked us up in their VW convertible and we to to Hula Grill in Whalers Village.  We got there in time for happy hour and somehow stayed through the dinner hour. 



This was our view from our lanai. 
I sure loved having our yogurt, granola, fruit, bagels and cream cheese out there....
even with the beep beep beep.

OK.. to be fair it only did that a few times a day but it became a bit of a joke with us.


The pool.  We really didn't sit here much because we love the beach but the pools at this hotel are really beautiful. 


I had been watching the weather for Maui a few weeks before going and it sounded okay.  We have been there before in January and had a bit of rain.  Our farm schedule dictated that our vacation needed to happen in January so we decided we were okay with a bit of rain but it only rained on the very last evening and we were really thankful for that.


When the clouds came in, it was beautiful.  


Ok.. I have to tell you about this ice cream in case you ever go to Maui.

Last time we were in Mexico they had coconut ice cream that I just loved.  I thought maybe we could find something similar and found this brand and it was so delicious.  

I might 

go back just for that. 


Of course the ice cream was balanced with lots of walking in the morning and a bit later in the day. 


After our walk we would go up and get our kindles and grab a few towel and head down to the hotel grounds.  We would spend an hour or so there before lunch and then head up to have lunch before our afternoon at the beach.  

On our second day there I bought a $20 beach chair. Lounges were available to rent on the beach but there were a lot of them stacked up so you can imagine how dear they were to rent.

 Terry was happy to dig himself a lounge in the sand. At the end of the vacation we gave my chair away.  Win win!


I read to my heart's content.  I loved this quote from Secrets by Cathy Gohlke.  
A few other notable books were A Memory of Violets by Hazel Gaynor, The Downstairs Maid by Rosie Clark, The Distant Land of my Father by Bo Caldwell, 
and a few Jack Reacher books tossed in for some action.





On our flight we spotted these friends (and sister and brother in law to and aunt and uncle..does that make any sense?) Bob and Bev.
We lost sight of them at the airport but caught them on one of our morning walks.  We stood and chatted for an hour and went on our way.
On another morning they called out to us from their breakfast spot and so we stopped and enjoyed a proper visit. 




But then there was a lot of time on our own which was pretty much wonderful.

This spot we grabbed right at our hotel one late afternoon to watch the sun go down. 




There were lots of selfies.

We didn't really do that when we were here 8 years ago.



One afternoon we went into Lahaina to enjoy walking through the streets and taste a bit here and there.



We got a great table at Bubba Gumps. 
We enjoyed a special gift here that was tucked into our suitcase to open up on the plane. 


While we were walking later that evening I spotted this BC News personality.
I called out... Bill Good!  
He was a kind gentleman and graciously stopped to chat.



Oh those beach walks!  



You just can't do this everywhere.  



View from my beach chair.  =)


We sometimes brought down a picnic. 


The whales were frolicing out there.
I only had my phone with me to take photos so I couldn't get a proper zoom but that didn't stop me from trying.

They were marvellous to watch.

You can't do that everywhere either.


Speaking of frolicing in the water...

we did nearly everyday....

because you just can't do this everywhere.  



If you are not going to play in the ocean you may as well go to a landlocked paradise in the dessert.



Usually, it is a good idea to face the ocean so you can see the surf sneaking up. 


But for the purpose of blogging something other than my behind...
I threw caution to the wind.


People are funny.  
When it was cloudy, they clearly didn't think it was a beach day.


This was our last morning.

It had rained the evening before and during the night.


It was so beautiful.


I have no idea how many pictures I took and it just kept getting more beautiful.





We slowly made our way back to the hotel to get showered and packed for our afternoon flight.






Marriage has changes over the years.

The important thing to remember is to move together through those changes and relish the bond that takes time and happens because of journey's we have faced together. 


And that was Maui 2016.

all for now... 
with love,

Comments

  1. I'm so excited that you got to take this trip! It looks and sounds marvelous!!! I can't believe all the people that you knew that you ran into while there!!! I'm glad you had such a relaxing and beautiful time!!

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  2. You two are just adorable!!! You look so relaxed and happy. What a beautiful, well deserved vacation.

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  3. So sweet to see you both enjoying your time there! I am glad that it was almost perfection. Your photos are exquisite, especially so on that lousy beach day.

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  4. Oh for the walks, the splashes in the ocean, and the food....what a wonderful memory away from home. I love the ocean the best...those were such cute shots of you in the ocean. It makes one come alive all over again.

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  5. Oh, thank you, this was a little bit like coming along with you! I love the familiarity of the places you went as I remember our time in October. It is neat to see how you clearly enjoy the beach . . . those ocean shots are fun and don't you just love that you got that beautiful rainbow on your last day? Something about that is special!

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  6. It certainly is a paradise on earth! Your photos are amazing. Love the ones facing the camera in the water and I'm always so conscious of my behind not being the main thing in a photo. You really made the most of your time!

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  7. What a wonderful and relaxing vacation! We've never been to the Hawaiian islands but any warm beach is nice in winter I'm sure. (I wouldn't know - never been!!) The rainbow photos are gorgeous. Have a wonderful February.

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  8. Looks like a marvelous vacation! Thanks for sharing it with us. Closest I'll probably ever get to Hawaii! :-) I can imagine how excited you were about the rainbow and rain clouds rolling in, I know how much you love weather!

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  9. That was such a nice post, Lovella. I think you and your husband know better than many just how to get the most fun out of a holiday. You certainly made me wish to be walking on the sand and jumping in the waves!

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  10. Beautiful! Maybe it's time to Hawaii again...it's been awhile. And that ice-cream alone is enough to lure me there. :) How fun to meet up with a few familiar faces over there. It looks like a lovely time from beginning to end...minus the beeping.

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  11. It seems to me that "T" & "L" know how to make the most of the moments in Maui. What a lovely post filled with beauty, fun, relaxation and love. The photo of you on the beach with the rainbow in the background is so pretty, Lovella.

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  12. I am bouncing over from Vee's blog to hear about your trip. I've never been to Hawaii and my husband and I are planning to go for our 40th wedding anniversary which is not till Sept. 2017 but our plan is to go in summer of 2017. I've heard the place to go was Maui. Loved looking at your pictures. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

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  13. Thank you for sharing this gorgeous island with us. I've never been to Hawaii and I thoroughly enjoyed reading every word. The pictures are so colorful, and even the clouds on the beach look lovely. I think it is so important that you and your husband took time to just be together and that he is still writing hearts in the sand. Just beautiful pictures of the two of you and each of your friends.

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  14. Wow ... makes me wanna go back! Lovely photos ...and captured memories !

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  15. Wow ... makes me wanna go back! Lovely photos ...and captured memories !

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  16. Your photos are lovely. I'm glad you had such a nice time. Did you see any sea turtles? Sometimes you can see them when you walk up to the public beach at the far end of the Lahaina end of the beach out in front of the hotels. It's been several years since we were there, and this makes me feel we should go back. Thanks for sharing your lovely memories. xoxox

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    1. We did see the turtles swimming right around us and watched people snorkeling around them. They are amazingly huge! Thanks for visiting my friend! I hope you are able to go back to Maui soon!

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  17. I see your cousin is my cousin, (smile) B's dad and my dad were brothers.

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