Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Family time - Part two


Aboard the Molokai Princess.

We spent the last 4 days of Mom and Dad's trip on Maui. Dad flew over earlier in the day to get a rental van and the rest of us loaded up on the ferry and made the rough trip across the channel. As someone who has spent MANY hours on BC Ferries, I thought... "It's a ferry ride. How bad can it be?" Let me tell you, this crossing was different than anything I've experienced before! One by one, people left the top deck to seek shelter underneath as the waves splashed up and soaked anyone above. John and Zara stayed up there the entire time and loved it! But almost everyone else was down below just holding on for dear life! The roughest part only lasted about 30 minutes, and then we came into calmer water near Lahaina. But when it was rough, it was ROUGH!


Good-bye Molokai...


Hello Maui!


A gorgeous sunset as we pulled into Lahaina. (Mom even caught a whale blow in the photo!)


We all stayed in a gorgeous 3 bedroom condo in Kihei right between Kamiole 1 and 2. The kids had so much fun at the beach (which was just a stones through from our lanai) and we all enjoyed the calm, shallow water.


Fun in the sun!


Thor sporting Zara's new shades!



I got to spend some precious time with my dear friend Caroline from Vancouver Island. They left to fly home the day after we got there.


We enjoyed seeing the Iao Needle - very beautiful. But so many tourists! Wow! We've become so used to sleepy Molokai that we were almost overwhelmed by the number of people and cars on Maui.



A vist to the Maui Ocean Center. We all love that place!
 Scuba Santa even made an appearance.


It was wonderful to have my folks on Molokai and we loved showing them around and giving them a glimpse into our life here. But Maui was a vacation for all of us and it truly was blissful! Swimming, amazing snorkeling, great food (after 2 months on Molokai, just eating out is a treat!!), exploring, shopping, thrifting, relaxing.... we didn't want to leave!

And we really didn't want to say good-bye. It was sad and tearful dropping Mom and Dad off at the airport. I have such a hard time saying good-bye when I don't know when I'll see that person again. Anyways, we said our sad good-byes... then went for some retail therapy at Savers (like Value Village)!! All of us girls found some cute sundresses and Thor even picked out some new t-shirts. Even shopping at a good thrift store is extra special after life on a sleepy island.

We stayed one more night in Maui after Mom and Dad left and enjoyed one more blissful day at the beach before heading back to Molokai. That ferry ride was even worse than on the way over and we all felt green. I experienced sea sickness for the first time in my life and now have a lot more compassion for those who are prone to it. We were so happy to step off that ferry and be back "home". It feels like we've had to settle back in all over again though. We got pretty used to being with extended family and it's been a bit tough embracing the miles between us and loved ones. There have been tears and some extra sensitivity, but I know we'll get through it. We have each other and we've been enjoying some quality family time lately. And we have lovely memories of our time together.

Aloha to you all!


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