We're Here

That's really all I have to say for now...we're here. We made it here to the condo, by way of a day and a half in Los Angeles visiting with Audie, Grandaddy, Baachan, Auntie Martha, Uncle Larry and Flora on Saturday. Evan has done a great job so far. My laptop tells me it's currently 4:51am in Cleveland right now...ugh.

I'll write more tomorrow about our trip to one of the world's most beautiful beaches, Lanikai. It was a great time and it appears Evan now enjoys the sand and the ocean. We're so grateful he's getting over this fear, it made going to the beach very difficult last time. It's much more enjoyable now. Seems like I'm the one having more issues this time around. I guess jetlag is getting to me more than I'd realized. Yesterday I put the dirty clothes in the dryer instead of the washer and ran the washer empty (they are an efficiency/top-bottom set-up), then ordered dinner from a restaurant I thought I remembered being one place but was actually about a mile further down the road, and I was walking to go pick it up, so that was no fun. Tonight, my cell phone made it's way into Evan's bathtub and I have no idea if it's going to work again plus I whacked my knee on the corner of Evan's bed here. I just want to go to sleep.

Goodnight.

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Well, we are now home in Cleveland. I didn't have a chance to write the last day or so that we were in Maui.

The day before we were leaving Maui it rained on the north side of the island. You can see from some of these photos that it was not raining on in South Maui. Actually, this day was probably the most sun we got while we were on Maui. We drove down to Maluaka Beach, just south of Wailea in front of the Maui Prince hotel. It was gorgeous. We just hung out and took turns walking with Evan up and down the beach. We could see the area where we were staying from the beach we were on, and saw it getting poured on. On the drive down, we could see snow up on the peak of Haleakala. While at the beach, Loribeth called my cell phone to tell me it was on the news that it was snowing on Haleakala. Apparently this is a big deal and never happens.

Snow on Haleakala:

Once we got back to the condo, we ordered lunch from the Okazuya Deli, they have really great stir fry. The night before we left we took it easy. We picked up Loribeth from work, and Amanda came over. We ordered some appetizers from the Lahaina Store Grille & Oyster Bar and watched Comedy Central for a couple hours before heading to bed.

January 31, 2008

The morning that we left, Thursday, January 31, we saw some great rainbows from our lanai. We also had the chance to watch a mother and baby humpback whale, about 100 yards offshore, swimming across our field of vision. What we really saw was the baby practicing its breaching, jumping out of the water, the two whales spouting next to each other, and the hump of the mother's back coming up out of the water as she swam next to her baby. So, none of the full breaching and tail slapping that we saw off on the horizon a few days before, but it was still pretty cool. Loribeth ordered us white chocolate chip macadamia nut pancakes and a big kahuna omelet from Gazebo. Breakfast was delicious. Loribeth sat with Evan and played on the computer. He now knows about pbskids.org and asks for the Cookie Monster page.

I dropped Loribeth off at work, and we took a photo of the amazing view of the house where she is a nanny for the rich and famous:

I have to admit, I will miss the Maui condo. We stayed at the Hale Ono Loa in Honokowai. It is two buildings down from where Loribeth lives, in the Kaleialoha. The particular condo we had, Unit 109, was fantastic. It is one of only 5 units in the entire complex that is ground floor and oceanfront. The yard for the other 4 units is all connected, but this particular one benefits from having a "front yard" that is practically to itself, so we didn't need to worry about Evan bothering anyone when he ran around outside. It was perfect. We were able to sit outside and eat our meals or have drinks and watch for humpback whales, sea turtles, sunsets and rainbows. We had the same view from a huge picture window inside the living room area of our condo. Here are some pics of our yard, if only I had such nice landscaping at home!

The trip coming back to Cleveland was a long one. We flew out of Maui around 4pm to Honolulu, our Honolulu flight was a red eye around 8pm, we landed in Houston at 7:30am (2:30am Hawaii time), and finally got to Cleveland around 2:30pm Cleveland time. Evan did a pretty good job sleeping on the flights, with the exception of when he coughed so hard that he made himself throw up all over me on the flight to Houston. Fortunately, there was only about an hour left to that flight before we landed.

And now that we are home, there's really no place like home. It's great to have reliable mexican, italian, thai, vietnamese, middle eastern and indian food to choose from within a ten minute drive of our house. Jon went to the grocery store and was back in no time, he commented at how when the lines started getting long at the grocery store last night that they paged some people to the front of the store to help bag groceries. That and he paid half the price he paid for milk in Hawaii. It's amazing the conveniences we take for granted.

At the same time, we took Evan to The RainForest in Cleveland today to get him out of the house. It was amazing to think we were hiking through a similar forest in Hawaii, only it was a real one. I think when I stepped outside this morning my tan instantly evaporated in the cold. As we were getting into the car to leave The RainForest, I slipped on a patch of ice.

So, it's good to be home, but I am definitely looking forward to working on my tan again in April when we go to Hilton Head!

Here's some pics from snorkeling that we finally had developed.

Enjoy!

Hanauma Bay:

Lu'au + Wailiea

Yesterday I had a real vacation day. I didn't check email and I didn't write a blog. It was wonderful. It rained in the morning where we are staying in Honokowai, so we drove Loribeth to work, and then decided to drive down to South Maui, to Wailea Beach. Praise God, we had the one spot of sun on the island and were able to have some fun and go swimming. Evan got over his fear of the sand today while we were at the beach. We had a great time, with the exception of a hungry Jon discovering there's no such thing as "fast food" here. Both drive thrus we tried to go through were a pain and we ultimately didn't end up getting food for lunch and coming home for leftovers before leaving for the lu'au.

Loribeth met us at the lu'au. We chose the Old Lahaina Lu'au, since Loribeth said it was the best. It was amazing. It may have been my favorite activity on our vacation. Evan went with us. I had made reservations for the traditional seating, which involves sitting on pillows on the ground with a low table to eat from. It turns out these tables are front row for the lu'au, so we had an amazing view, plus it was the perfect height for Evan and he didn't have to sit on our laps. Since it had been rainy earlier on, the sunset with the clouds was beautiful on the shore in the background. The food was amazing, it was so good. Evan sat still and paid attention to the hula dancing. It was probably the most peaceful moment I've had in a long time, I actually started to cry a little bit, because it was so nice to just be able to all sit together and enjoy something together, without having to be running around, or Jon being frustrated, or Evan running around crazy or squirming or screaming. All of us actually enjoyed it, it was wonderful. It began to rain a bit in the middle of the performance, so they cut it early by about half an hour, which is too bad, because it did stop raining, and I didn't mind the rain at all I was having such a great time.

We came back afterwards and hung out at Loribeth's and Amanda's condo doing some laundry and then went to bed.

This was one of my favorite days in Hawaii.

Best Banana Bread on the Planet

Today Jon and I learned that the "best banana bread on the planet" can be found by driving a one-lane, two-direction road for five miles, up and down mountainsides and cliffs along the ocean at a place called Julia's in Kalakuloa. It isn't actually a place so much as a little green stand at the side of the road.

To begin our drive, we actually drove north to Kahana and dropped Loribeth off at work. Then, we continued down to Slaughterhouse Beach. Apparently this is a good spot to see spinner dolphins, however this morning was very windy in that area and the waves were rough there, so no dolphins. We continued on to Nakalele Blowhole and hiked part of the way down to see it. The surf was just right that this was more impressive than the Halona Blowhole on Oahu, but it was way too windy and rocky to walk Evan all the way down to the blowhole.

Evan feel asleep when we got back into the car, so we decided to drive the long way around the north section of the island. It was a beautiful, and somewhat nervewracking drive, but Jon seemed to enjoy it. Once we got into Wailuku and went to the Iao Valley State Park and walked around, looking at the Iao Needle.

We came back and spent some time hanging out at the condo, walked along Ka'anipali Beach, and then Loribeth and Amanda came over and cooked dinner for us. We've had a lot of fun hanging out with them, it's been so nice having people here who know their way around, and it's been great spending time with Loribeth! Now we are watching The Pink Panther, and soon it will be time for bed.

Tomorrow's the luau!!!

Ka'anapli Beach

Sunset from our lanai

Pole Dancing

Ironically, as I write the title of this day's blog, I realize Pole Dancing can have two meanings that both apply to me today (the graceful Polish part of me that is).

We arrived in Maui yesterday afternoon, got our rental car, etc, found our condo, ate dinner, hung out with Loribeth and her roommate Amanda, took Evan and his new friend little Scottish Ian to the playground. Ian is a trip, they had so much fun together! It's amazing how two kids the same age can be somewhat easier than one. The two played so well together!

Anyhow, onto today, and pole dancing. Loribeth's roommate is a pole dancing instruction. She's not a stripper, just a pole dancing instructor, as in those people you hear about on cable tv who do pole dancing for exercise. She's apparently the only one in West Maui. This evening's dinner conversation was interesting. Amanda is purchasing a video of the "Pole-a-palooza", a pole dancing competition, that is tax deductible as a business expense. Just found that an interesting and amusing fact.

Amanda allowed me to come check out her class today and give it a try. Loribeth took Evan to Barnes and Noble next to the class and entertained him with trains and books. The classroom/studio is a room with two ten foot tall poles, and some yoga mats. The first 40 or so minutes of the class is Pilates, which I was a little concerned about after having an overly chalenging experience with a Pilates class once. This one was actually a lot of fun, and just the right amount of challenge. I'm sure I won't be able to move tomorrow. The second half of the class was the pole dancing lesson. I think the name of the move we learned was called the fireman spin. Anyhow, I have a lovely bruise on my right shin as a result, but after several tries, I was able to accomplish the move, sort of. I can't imagine anything I executed was nearly graceful enough to be considered anything beyond exercise, and the entire experience certainly makes for an interesting story. I did have a lot of fun though, and the other 7 women in the class were great. I think we all had a lot of fun.

We grabbed some pasta for lunch and ate on our lanai, then all went out to "Airport Beach", which is basically the part of Kaanipali Beach that is north of Black Rock. The waves weren't too high there, but there was definitely an undertow, and the shore drops off pretty quickly once you manage to get in. We played with Evan for awhile, then all took turns getting in the water. Evan was very upset when Jon was swimming and almost started to cry. When I tried to go in with Loribeth, I made it in far enough that I was treading water, which was still pretty close to shore. Evan started to cry, despite my treading water and trying to wave to him. I happen to pride myself on being a much much better swimmer than I am a pole dancer. Much better. Anyhow, seeing Evan crying, I decided to try to get out of the water to get to him. Unfortunately, this is the point I put my back to the ocean, something you are never supposed to do, and was temporarily overtook by a wave. Once I resurfaced, Amanda, Loribeth and Jon all found it very amusing. Particularly when the next wave dragged my onto the shore and deposited me in the sand, thanks to the quick shorebreak. So, to go along with my bruise on my right shin, I now have the sand equivalent of rug burn on my left knee.

After that, we sat an the beach and could see humpback whales breaching and playing on the horizon. It appeared that the two whales were in competition with each other, so there was lots of fin slapping, tail slapping, breaching, etc. We probably watched that for about half an hour, then came back to the condo, where we saw a sea turtle from our lanai (patio/yard), ate dinner, hung out, and now I'm ready for bed!

All in all, lots of adventures and fun though. But, I'm going to regret it all tomorrow when I can't move!

Good night!

Notes on Oahu

So, we are now on Maui and have been here for an entire day, but I wanted to wrap up our trip to Oahu. Most of this info is best for the ARI group, for anyone who will be staying in the condo.

The condo was fantastic. It was huge, larger than the first two bedroom apartment that Jon and I lived in, but with a much better view. We each brought our laptops, however, ARI also provides a laptop in the condo, so even if we hadn't brought our laptops, we'd have had a computer. The location couldn't have been better. We were a block away from the widest and least crowded stretch of Waikiki Beach, across the street from the Hilton which has a bunch of shops/fish pond/birds/flamingos/penguin exhibit (which is really it's own complex with several towers of hotels), a ten minute walk to Ala Moana Center (the mall), and a block away from Kalakaua, the main street of shopping where there's a Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Coach, Tiffany, Armani Exchange, Hermes, etc. There were also two Starbucks within two blocks, and lots of restaurants.

Other notes. We rented from Alamo. When we arrived in Oahu, they did not have a clean convertible Sebring available for us, nor did they have one available at the Maui Alamo, even though we'd reserved one in advance online. Also, in Oahu, Alamo is not located near the other rental car returns, so we spent some time all yelling at each other (including Evan) in the car, trying to find the place. The good part however, was that actually returning the car was fairly simple and painless.

Other than that, I highly recommend purchasing Oahu Revealed if you travel to Oahu. This book was invaluable. We left our copy in the condo for future visitors. It's like reading a Frommers written by locals. We (finally) learned the best ways to get to the H1 to get into and out of Oahu, which is slightly different than what the book recommends based on the location of the condo. Basically, from the condo, taking a right onto Ena out of the parking garage:

To get to the H1 West, towards the airport, turn left onto Kalakaua. Turn right onto King St. into the far left lane. Turn left onto Punahou. Turn right onto Dole. Follow the signs to H1.

To get to the H1, towards Diamond Head, turn right onto Kalakaua, left on Pua, right on McCully, right on Kapiolani, and follow the signs to the H1 East.

Coming from the H1 to the condo, take the H1 towards Waikiki. Get off at the University exit. Drive towards the ocean. Turn right on Kapiolani, left onto McCully, left onto Kalakaua, right onto Ala Moana and right onto Ena.

One last thing. For groceries, try Walmart first, then check out Foodland. Walmart is behind Ala Moana Center, the Foodland is in Ala Moana Center, but you may want to look at a directory of where exactly it's located in the center, since Jon spent some time driving around trying to find the place. Also, they apparently don't have shopping carts, so you can only buy as much as you can carry. Walmart, on the other hand, does have shopping carts, and Jon felt that the food that they did have at Walmart, which was pretty much staples for the fridge and cupboards, was cheaper there. We also spent a lot of time going to the ABC Store across the street from the condo, or the ABC Superette on Hobron an Ala Moana for quick stuff like milk for Evan or limes for Coronas.

Ok, dinner has arrived, so I'm off. I'll write more about Maui, whale watching, and "sand-burn" on my knee, later.

Friday Night

This morning, Evan, Jon and I went hiking at Makapu'u Point Trail/Lighthouse Road. It was a very neat hike, and great because it is on an old abandoned road, so the entire hike is paved. It's about a 1 1/4 mile hike each way, the views are of the mountains and the ocean. And of course, it's another Lost filming site, as it seems anywhere that's worthwhile to hike on the island has been at one point or another. It was very funny, because Evan wanted to "hike" part of the way. He did a great job trying to walk up some of the hills, and for some reason, does this funny thing when he walks where he swings only his left arm, which you can see in the picture.

We grabbed lunch on the way back from a Mexican restaurant called Azteca. The food was pretty good, but what we've learned is besides various asian and seafood restaurants, ethnic cuisine can be limited in Hawaii. It's difficult when you come from a city like Cleveland that publishes an entire book on Ethnic Eats and compare. I will say that the guacamole was really tasty though, and for Mexican food in Hawaii, this place was great!

We took Evan for a swim in the afternoon, and then he took a brief nap. Jon didn't have to work again this evening, the computer issue remained, so we decided to take Evan over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village to see fireworks. On our walk over, we stopped at the Hilton at one of the shops, The Pearl Factory that lets you pick an oyster with a pearl in it, so Evan picked one out fo rme, and I had a beautiful ring made.

This was Evan's first time ever seeing fireworks. We had a blast. It turns out the best place to watch the fireworks, which we hadn't anticipated, was nearby the lagoon on the Hilton's property. We had actually walked around this back way to try to get to the beach to watch the fireworks, and were stopped by security, because that's near where they launch the fireworks. So, we grabbed a patch of grass and sat down, and were among a group of about ten people to sit and watch the fireworks right near where they were shot off.

We ordered sandwiches from Giovanni Pastrami again, walked over there to grab them and bring them back to the condo and ate, and now the boys are in bed and that's where I'm headed. We leave for Maui tomorrow afternoon.

Good night.