Life in these Islands...

I had thought we'd be living a pretty quiet life here on Maui but it's been surprisingly busy! We're spending time with new friends, enjoying activities with a wonderful homeschooling group, exploring this beautiful island, hula hooping with friends at the beach, making our house as cozy as possible, and just settling in and adjusting to life here.

We spent 2 weeks on Molokai and loved catching up with our friends there. And we finally got to see the north side of Molokai from the airplane while flying there and back! The sea cliffs (highest in the world) are stunning!

These photos, taken through a blurry airplane window, just don't do it justice. But it was thrilling to see this part of Molokai for the first time.



Our dear friends, Julie and David, surprised us at the airport with aloha and lei! So special!



Zara celebrated her 11th birthday there. We had a small party with her menu request: Cashew rice loaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli and cheese, beans with crushed almonds and parm. cheese, salad, and carrot cake with cream cheese icing for dessert. Yum! The kids and I decorated her cake with playmobil scuba people, as that's what we gave her for her birthday.... scuba lessons!  She wanted her hair done like Anne of Green Gables in the movie (Megan Follows). It didn't turn out quite like she had in mind but she kept it in!

 

We enjoyed being at Papohaku beach again! I walked down there almost every morning and just soaked up that ocean energy. Then we spent some time at the north end playing in the waves. Zara did some snorkeling just where the waves were breaking and found some beautiful shells.

 

It was very special to dance hula again! I danced twice at Coffee's of Hawaii at the Sunday concert and then with the halau at a performance they were doing at some condos on the west end. It was an annual home owners assoc. dinner and we were part of the evenings' entertainment.

It was a magical night. Soft breezes, twinkling stars above, the sound of the ocean, hawaiian music and dancing with my hula sisters.... so lovely!

The morning that we were leaving we did an early morning walk out to one of our favorite spots - Kaupoa beach (the old tent camp). It was as beautiful as ever! We collected some lovely shells and the kids enjoyed the tide pools. We waited until the last minute for that one, but I'm so glad we made it out there! We were back home by 9am and went up to Virgil's for breakfast and good-byes. We felt sad leaving Molokai in some ways, but also felt very eager to get back to Maui and immerse ourselves in life here.

When we got back to our Maui home we found that one of the wild chickens had hatched some cute little chicks. One of them got tangled up in some long grass and Zara was happy to "rescue" it! She held it for a little while and everyone pet it and gave it some love, then she gave it back to it's mama!

 

A few days after we arrived back we were given some young hens that were caught nearby. There are 6 of them in the coop and hopefully they will start laying eggs soon. We have heard that wild hens don't lay very frequently so we'll give them a couple of months and will see if it's worth feeding them and looking after them. If not we'll just let them go again!

I had never driven around the north-west side of Maui, so last week we decided to take that road to the west side for some snorkeling. What a crazy, narrow, winding road it is! Very beautiful in some parts but quite stressful! I'm glad we did it but I don't think we'll be doing it again anytime soon!

 

We stopped along the way to stretch our legs and admire the view. This is our new van. We arrived on a Thursday and owned this van by noon on Friday! We are really enjoying it and are all excited to finally own a vehicle! (Yes... for the first time in my life! Something to do with my Dad being in the car business I guess!!)

 

While we were stopped on this point, a beautiful rainbow appreared in the sky... one of so many we saw that day. Stunning! I just never get tired of looking at rainbows!



Molokai in the far distance.

Having fun at Kapalua Bay.
(With Molokai in the background again but from a different perspective)

We feel very blessed to be part of a wonderful, active homelearning community on this island. Almost every week there is an activity of some sort going on. This past week was Chi Ribbon Dancing and Stick Fighting - a Filipino martial art form.  Bella really enjoyed it! Thor spent more time climbing the big trees in the park and Zara enjoyed looking after an 18 month old baby! But we all had a great day and met some lovely new friends.

This week we've had new friends over both days and are thankful to be meeting lovely, like-minded families! Tomorrow will be a quiet day....maybe....I hope! Whatever it is, I know it will be wonderful! We've just started working on some felt solstice tree ornaments - it's almost that time again! The kids are enjoying learning to hand sew. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American ohana! Aloha!