Califoregon Living

It was my mom’s birthday November 7th.  (I am so far behind on my blogging!!)  One of my mom’s closest friends threw a small dinner party for her.  Diane made one of the best baked spaghettis I have ever had.  (Yes, I will get the recipe…)

Me and my Mama…

The kids played a game that required ‘Charades’.  I think KK is a ‘bridge’.

My brother, Devin, and SO Tanya…

My beautiful niece, P…

…and QT Pie, KK…

Mom, Pam, Diane…forever friends.

Day 10
We started the day by feeding the koi at the Villa.  The kids enjoyed that quite a bit.

This video is in respose to me asking, "what do you like about the koi?"

We hosted a "clean out the fridge" dinner on our last night.  We had Paul, Shannon, and Paul’s friend, Cyrus over, along with our family and Grandma Margaret.  The boys are on their own little table next to ours.

Day 11

Sigh…our last day.  Our flight was in the afternoon, so we went to the Maui Ocean Center in the morning, on the way to the airport. 

Ahhhh…good times…

Day 8
A fun day spent snorkeling and playing in the pool.  dinner at Leilani’s.  After dinner, DH took Grandma for a walk along Kaanapali’s Boardwalk, and I took the boys back to the Villas.

Day 9
This day was a big highlight for me.  Most of the day was spent in the water, snorkeling and bodysurfing.  Late afternoon, we drove to Wailea, where Grandma Margaret enjoyed the luxury of luxuries…a massage and spa visit at the Grand Wailea Spa! We arrived a little early, so Uncle Paul took us on a tour of the grounds (he works there.)  This property is one of the most upscale resorts on Maui.  It is gorgeous!

A cute, little baby gecko.  I saw two of these on this trip.

Grandma and Paul, in the lobby of the Spa…

The boys left to swim, and Grandma and I entered heaven…
LOOK AT WHAT WE DID AFTER OUR MASSAGES!

We met up with the guys in the Botero Gallery Bar and had appetizers for dinner. 

In front of our Villa door, I spied a snail…

No big deal, right?
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Did I mention its size?

Today, we went into Lahaina to ride the glass bottom boat, The Reefdancer.  While waiting to get on the boat, the boys played on some old cannons.

We walked around the big banyan tree, where they were having an art show.  We walked into the bottom of the old Lahaina courthouse.  It used to be a jail, but now it is an art gallery.

Here are some underwater shorts:

Lahaina Harbor


Maui bruddahs…

Grandma and da boys!

The koi pond at our property has toads that come out at night.  We counted 13 one night!

Day 5

DH took the boys for the day.  They played in the pool and ocean all day. 
The required jumping on the bed at a hotel…

I took Grandma Margaret for the day and went exploring. 

The first place we went to was a Historic Printing Museum in Lahaina.  Margaret taught typography on the college level and this seemed like something she’d be interested in.
Hale Pa’i Printing Museum

This is actual currency used at this missionary and only at the missionary.

The docent (Chai) showing Margaret the press…

Margaret showing Chai a few things…

After that, I took Margaret to my favorite town on Maui, Paia.  We had lunch at Flatbread.  (Yes, Linda, we had the kalua pork and onion pizza…).  We shopped around town and then met up with Paul and Shannon in Kahului.  Margaret went with them for the evening.

Back at the villas, we went to dinner at the Westin Pulehu, their upscale option at the property.  Here is our baked alaska dessert.  YUM!

One of the things DH and I love to do while on Maui is watch Japanese TV.  We lay in bed at night and watch dramas with subtitles.  If we had Japanese TV where we live, I don’t think we’d watch it, but it just kind of works on Maui, KWIM?

Day 6

Since Margaret was with Paul for the day, DH and I decided to break up our day with the kids.  Both boys wanted to do different things.  He took ‘A’ snorkeling at Baby Beach, and I stayed with ‘R’ at the Villas and played cars and played in the pool.

We had dinner that night at Shannon’s (Uncle Paul’s girlfriend) parents house.  She was born and raised on Maui and they live in Kihei.  Shannon’s family is the epitomy of ho’okipa (hospitality).  Carol, (the Mom), creates a magnificent feast, and Cowboy (the Dad) is gracious and tells great stories.  Their kids are adorable and so kind to the boys.  We love and always look forward to visiting our Kihei family and friends.

THE FEAST!

Today was a big day for us.  I mean BIG!  We decided to rent snorkel gear for everyone since the boys did so well with Snuba.  We went to Baby Beach in Lahaina.  This is a terrific beach for little kids.  It is only 4 feet deep a long way out and there is a coral reef that you can swim throughout.  If you get scared, you just stand up.

‘R’ and his "collection"…

 In this video, I asked ‘R’ what he was making.  He replied, "a swimming pool for the babies."

It was Grandma Margaret’s first time snorkeling as well!

We spent the day on the beach and had dinner at Ocean’s Restaurant (at the Westin South Villas.)

Our property (Westin Villas North) inflated a big movie screen and we watched the movie, ‘RV’ on the lawn! 

DAY 3
We drove around the west/north part of the island, beginning in Kaanapali and ending in Kahului.  It is a gorgeous drive and a nice alternative if you don’t go to Hana (which we didn’t this year.) 

I am not sure what the name of this area is, but there are a bunch of stacked rocks and a little labyrinth you can walk through here.  The legend says that little people called Menehune come out at night at build the little rock towers.



Strong boys climbing a "mountain"…

We continued on to the small town of Kahakuloa.  A woman named Lorraine sells shaved ice and other items out of her garage.  She was delightful,  hospitable and enjoyed showing the boys her garden.  Here is a banana tree from her yard…

The view from her home…

Another view from her home.  Can you see the crocodile?

Ms. Lorraine and her treats!


Overlooking Kahukuloa…

The mountains above Kahukuloa…

I wanted to reward ourselves with lunch at this new place I discovered in Kahului in Januart, The Manana Garage.  I was saddened to learn the the place went out of business.  DH knew of a Vietnamese restaurant nearby, so it was on to The Saigon Cafe in Wailuku.  It was a decent alternative and the service was fantastic.

We hiked through Iao Valley after lunch.

Back at the Villas, it was pool time for all…

One of the MANY geckos we saw…


‘A’ was having fun pretending this was a cape…

This guy lives at the koi pond, helping to keep the smaller fish population under control…

I don’t know what this is called, but I love this water plant in the koi pond…

We stayed in for dinner this night, eating the leftover fried rice from the Gazebo Restaurant.  YUM!

ALOHA!  We just returned from an 11 day vacation to Maui.  We took Grandma Margaret with us this year.  It was her first time, and she got to see her other son, Paul, who has lived on the island for the past 6 or so years.

DAY 1
Paul met us at the airport and took Grandma Margaret to the condo where we were staying on the other side of the island.  There was some heavy construction/traffic through Lahaina, so they were able to get some good "catching up" time in.

When we checked in, we were pleased to discover that we had been upgraded to an oceanfront view, instead of the oceanview that we own, (we are timeshare owners at the Westin Kaanapali Villas.)  We were also ground floor and got a larger lanai.  The kids were able to play on the small lawn attached.  It was great.  Our room was also shaded the whole time and that really made for a nice retreat from the heat.

One thing I love about this property, aside from the beautiful grounds, is that they have gentle Hawaiian music through the whole grounds.  Wouldn’t it be great to be surrounded by beautiful music all the time, everywhere you go?

A view of the lobby from the koi pond area…

Our view….

The kitchen…

The bedroom and lanai…

We went to Hula Grill for dinner, a must visit.  They have an upscale dining area and a casual area where part of the floor is all sand.  We ate in the casual area.  They had a terrific Hawaiian musical trio that really helped set the tone for our trip.  The boys practically fell asleep at the table, but that is pretty typical the first few nights we are there. 

DAY 2
We beelined to the Gazebo Restaurant for breakfast.  This place is a must for us to visit each time we go.   There is always a wait, but it’s worth it.  It is located at the Outrigger Napili Shores, where we try to stay when not in our timeshare.  Because it was so busy, we were not able to all sit together, but we were seated close to each other.  I got to enjoy my breakfast with ‘R’.  The boys both put away a ton of pancakes!  DH and I both ordered the stir fried rice plate.  It was so big, we were able to take home leftovers enough for all five of us the next night!

Orchids next to our table…

cutie R…

Happy DH in one of his favorite places….

‘A’ enjoying yummy Pog 🙂


After breakfast, we drove up to Honolua Bay and visited the overlook.  This area is being threatened by development.  For more information, you can visit savehonolua.org.

Back at the Villas, the boys got to try SNUBA, an alternative to Scuba.  The compressed air is located on a float that has tubes attached to mouthpieces.  Both boys did much better than anticipated.  It was fun to watch.

Here is some video of this new pastime.  Maybe next year they will try the ocean!

Chillin’ back at the villa.  ‘A’ is surfing on Dad’s back…


Visiting the koi pond…



We spent the rest of the day playing in the pool and the ocean.  Paul and Shannon came over and joined us for dinner at Soup Nutz. (Be aware that their logo contains a little artistic nud-ty.)  This place is another spot we  typically go to.  It is very unique in decor and not to everyone’s liking (Barbies in a cage, snakeskin on the wall, and pretty much everything in between), but we enjoy the eclectic ambience and the friendliness of the owner and staff.  ‘R’ fell asleep before being fed.  We were able to stretch him out on a bench with a bunch of pillows.  I wish I had my camera; he looked like a little prince.
On a very cool side note:  The owner takes a Polaroid of customers that he likes and puts them up on the walls.  There are Polaroids all over the restaurant.  A couple of years ago, DH and I were in there on a date night and he took a picture of us.  We never knew if he did anything with it or not.  Fast forward to this night, and ‘A’ looks behind him and right there at the level of his head was the picture of us!  ‘A’ noticed it and brought it to our attention.  Of all the places to sit and of all the places the the Polaroids are, I am stunned to know that our picture was right where our son was sitting.  (If you look at the pictures on their site, you can kind of see what I mean.)