Surviving the Road to H@na

So, one day while we were grabbing lunch in Maui, after a long morning sitting around on the beach..taking walks on the beach, snorkeling, enjoying the wonderful beach sand (you get the idea, right?)...we ran into a very interesting couple (in their 40s or so) carrying around a plastic toy doll about 15 inches long. And I just want to put out there, it was naked.

She holds up the baby and says to her husband "take my picture right here, so the menu is in the background". You know, like a Fl@t Stanley - that you take with you and do pictures with on a trip or whatever.

She sat near us and proceeded to laugh out loud telling us that they were doing this and sending the photos to their kids. ALL. DAY. LONG. Because they left their kids at home (they had a teenager or two and a 9 year old).

AT HOME.

At first I thought she was a genius. Seriously. A vacation without the kids.

Then I thought 'Lady - you are in SO MUCH TROUBLE when you get home'. 'Did you think this all the way thru?????'

If I thought for ONE moment, that I could escape for a week to the islands and no one would banish me from their lives, don't you think I would have already done that? 

Anyway, that has little to do with anything at all. As usual.

But I want to tell you about the Road to H@na.  It is said to be in the top 10 things to do if you are in Maui. I do agree. My sweet husband and I have done it 3 times now. Our favorite beach is at the end...and we try to get there early afternoon so the waves aren't too rough. Bear with me, I hope I don't get too long winded and over share pictures. It was a long and amazing day.

They say that there are 600 hair pin turns (I think I lost track at 7), 56 one-lane bridges, lots of waterfalls and many scenic places to pull over. Holy cow it was a day (bwahahaha...sorry, you'll understand when you get to then end...)

Yup. It's real.

Waterfall and pools - can you see the peeps down by the water?

Black Sand Beach

We made a bunch of stops. My mom wanted to make sure she saw waterfalls and that she did. Black sand beach is just that - black. Lots of rocks from lava formations, and the swimming isn't easy due to the river rock type rocks at wave break.  

We stopped for lunch at a place that sold banana bread, with local bananas we are told. When we stopped later for a snack, I got another loaf, that would come in handy later!  At the snack stop we had some kahlua pork and rice and everyone drank water straight from a coconut (um, yuck) and tried some coconut chips.  

Finally we got to H@moa Beach. It was overcast most of the day. Apparently the day before it rained so bad you couldn't see 10 feet in front of you. Glad that wasn't the day we went!!

A-Dog boogie boarded almost 2 straight hours!

Twins

I know you can't really see it, but Mini P has beach sand plastered ALL OVER HER. Top to bottom. She was fearless in the water, tho with it overcast and the water a little chillier here, she didn't get in at H@moa.  However, when she did get in, she didn't care if waves took her under and muddled her with sand, she wore it proud.  We even had to leave one of her suits in Maui...in the garbage...it was so ridden with sand it was never going to recover. Even after we got her home and washed her hair 5 times, we were still picking sand off her. Of course, Monkey...well, he hated it. Really did NOT like the sand sticking to him. Barely tolerated all our excursions to the beach. Sad really. All he wanted to do was come home to Hank.

BUT, after we left the beach, we needed to decide how to go back home.  Route A: Back the way we came (600 hairpin turns). Route B: Continue on the back roads, some not maintained roads and no food, water, stops, A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G.  What do you think we smart adults chose??? Yup. B.

SO, off we went.

It was not too bad in the beginning. It wasn't dark (yet) and we weren't hungry (yet).  We ended up seeing some really amazing waterfalls.

waterfall

driving thru the trees

1 of 4 cars we saw that night, and no, I don't think that is my parents...

So, we are cruising along this stretch of road. At one point, I am very uncomfortable because we are very close to the edge. I am not good in those situations.  My sweet husband is getting uncomfortable because the other side is a steep rocky cliff, and he doesn't like how they look - not as safe as he would have recommended. It was a bad mile.

But come around the corner and we are at a full and complete stop because there are about 400 of these (this is where holy cow comes in :) ):

This went on for a while. At least 30 minutes. Just when you think they would be gone, another few hundred were around the bend.  We rolled the windows down and literally they could have stuck their heads in. They kept moo'ing and we laughed so hard - they kids thought it was HILARIOUS! And it was. 

I have to tell you the rest of the ride really, well, sucked. I'm sorry for the language faux paux, or however you spell that.

But it was awful.

I knew sort of where we were on the map. It's not like we could get lost. But I really needed to know how much longer!  The sun went down. So far down it was pitch black. We stopped at one point and split our mini loaf of banana bread among the 8 of us, hoping to make it to dinner.

About 6:30 or 7pm or so, the kids fell asleep, thank goodness. it had been a long day and I was whiny enough.

At almost 8pm (a near 12 hour day) we finally got back into Kihei, and stopped to eat dinner. I have never considered buying one of the shirts that said "I survived the Road to H@na"...until then. I'm pretty sure we ALL agreed on that.

Cheers!

The Big 5...times 2 (does that make it 10?)

It is hard to believe that I would have all 4 of my kids near a major holiday - or major for us. Mother's Day, Halloween and Thanksgiving.  These two loves were born 3 days before Thanksgiving and this year their birthday fell 2 days before. One would think I would have planned that better.

And Thanksgiving at my house means getting prepared to host 40-50 people at my house, all whilst having some sort of birthday party. At 5, they know they are supposed to have a party, or think they are. 

I've decided to start calling Thanksgiving their birthday party until further notice.

BUT, this year - we used a local pizza joint that has 6,000 games to make them feel like I just did it up big :). It worked. I even remembered candles!

Because they didn't really care that the other 742 people there were NOT there for them. It seemed like a huge party, and really we only invited the grandparents, the godparents and the 16 year old son of the godparents. 

So, Happy Birthday Twins!!!

Monkey oh Monkey...the boy soothes my heart. He is so genuine and true, and let's be honest, he loves on me more than his sister..so there's that.  He is the hardest child to photograph. He makes a silly looking smile and usually looks somewhere else (as shown above-haha) He is his very own person who refuses to be rushed into anything. He is the child that keeps us from being most places on time.

The boy has distinct ideas about what he should wear. He is not concerned with matching. Ever.  He would like to wear basketball shorts, his 3 favorite t-shirts and flops. Every. Single. Day. He HATES any other clothes. Period.

You can imagine how hard it is when we go to church...the one place I require something a little nicer than basketball shorts. a shirt that in no way matches anything and flops.  There are a lot of tears..from both of us.

But he is a sweet and funny boy who loves trucks of all kinds. Dump trucks, semis, 4 X 4, fire trucks..you name it, he will love it.  He really loves Leg0s. He is finally learning how to read and it is a slow process. He loves to do math, which helps balance out his school stuff.  He loves music and singing, especially silly songs that make him laugh.

Mad because we wouldn't let her in the rip current at the beach.

My little Mini P...I think we should change her nickname to Miss Mama With Attitude. Oh that girl fits that name so well. She makes sure that we know everything that is going on and has no issues spouting off orders to all the brothers, even if we are standing right there. And when she is mad...we all know it.  The rule is "you break you take"...so if you 'break' her, you get her for the day. It's really a fun game. 

She is absolutely NOT generous with her affections (which I'm hoping will serve us well in the teenage years). If you get her first thing in the morning, she will let you hold her. If you try to get a hug later (10 minutes after she gets up), no dice. If you get a hug from her every other day, you need to count your blessings. If you get a kiss, well, I would ingrain it in your brain because you do NOT know when the next one will be.

Mini P is smart. She loves to read and many books she reads are well above her grade level. Even if she doesn't know the full meaning of the words, she can say them and she will ask what they mean.  She has good understanding of what she reads. Her favorites are the Fairy series by Daisy Me@dows - right now we have 10 from the library.

They are both playing soccer and one loves it more than the other. One (Monkey) can't stand the shirt (surprise) and says he never has fun (not true), Mini P is hard core. Sometimes Monkey is just kind of standing around watching. We have always said that he is more of a spectator than a participant, but he chose to play.

We are so lucky that we have this kind of entertainment in our life, without them it would be very dull. For 2 people raised near identically, they could not be farther from that. It amazes me each day how different they really are! 

Cheers!

Back to it - Part 3

So, I'm afraid from here it is going to be a jumbled mess of vacay. No real order. Like my life...

It isn't intentional that I procrastinate, but sometimes my Scr@mble takes precedence (you understand that if you play it...) and other random things like school. Laundry. Sleep.

Plus, I do have very few hours in a day...and um, well, there is Thanksgiving and 2 more birthdays coming up. So, I need to get a move on here.

We snorkled:

and looked good doing it.

A-Dog got to go surfing:

It was something that we had talked about with him and what he wanted to do while he was there. The waves weren't very difficult, but it's all about learning to get your balance on a board before hitting the North Shore :)

We went to as many beaches as we could:

 We even attempted to bury our kids and run for the hills.

But, since people saw us do it, we had to go back and rescue her :)

Of course no trip to Maui is complete without a Luau. Of course, now that all my people have been, I don't have to go again. I mean, I think it is fun, once, but...not necessary.

My hula girl!

I will leave you with one last bit of part 3...the Banyon Tree. This tree is amazing and I couldn't get it all in a photo if I tried.

The second picture here is the actual tree trunk, it grows up and then drops down a branch like appendage that then roots itself into the ground. Or that's the gist of it anyway.  This one is one of the world's largest - spanning 1 city block and extending 60 feet high.  Apparently it wasn't actually planted here originally - it was brought from India in 1873. There's some useless information you can mull around your head. I'll be the first to admit I just looked all that up - I knew most of it, but didn't want you all fact checking me. That would be awkward.

Ok, so before next week when I have some little people turning 5, I will try to get in my post about our trip on the Road to Hana...never did I realize that the shirt that says "I survived the Road to Hana" was a true reward, because after that day - I seriously almost bought it.