home on maui

i flew home to maui this past weekend (5/22-5/25) to visit the familia and help my dad celebrate his 62nd birthday.

for the past 4-5 years my dad has been working on his dream house.

a couple months ago he and my mom finally moved into it. it's a magnificent house and going home this time felt more like going to some fancy hotel rather than actually going home.

i'm really proud of my dad. he started off his business with nothing more than a wheelbarrow and a hand mixer but from there continued to build and build. both his business and his life.

he and my mom remind me of that "easy street" song http://www.imeem.com/shakilama/music/5rxHHuJN/hawaiian-reggae-easy-street/ if you've never heard it,click the link. it's a cute song.

one of the things i really admire about my parents is that no matter what the circumstance, or what our economic status has been, their focus has always been on having fun and making the most of whatever we have.

and truth be told as much as i love this new lavish house, the haiku house is still my favorite house that i've lived it. mostly because it hosts some of my fondest memories. from the chickens, cows, pet pig named muddy who later got turned into dinner (very sad story actually), and other farm animals, to the irrigation ditch behind our house that we used to play in and fish for crawdads and prawns... to fishing and diving weekly for food and picking fruit to sell to the juice companies. the haiku house was in my opinion, the perfect way to grow up.

i still remember as a little girl having to run and grab the pots everytime it would rain so that we could catch the drips. to this day, the sound of water hitting a tin roof is still one of my favorite sounds.

haiku house... a place where our early childhood memoires were born

but, that being said. the new house is really cool too. it's big and pretty and when i'm in it i feel rich, and it's a weird feeling. almost like i'm an imposter in someone else's house.

keokea house... just a slight upgrade

in addition to being all big and lavish, it's also got a farm feel to it which i absolutely love. we've got goats and sheep and lots of raw land that holds a lot of promise and potential. there's also deer, wild turkeys, pheasants and franklins.

it was so nice to wake up early every morning and breathe in the cool kula air as i drank my coffee, then run down to the pasture to feed the goats and sheep.

my herd

this is coco, she's my favorite of the bunch

my maui weekend went as follows... i arrived on friday night and hung out with my parents. the next day i played farm girl and then helped my mom prepare for my dad's birthday bbq. i invited tawny and sesa to come over. tawny is my dear friend i've known since the 3rd grade and sesa i've known since my sophomore year in high school. words cannot express the love i have for these girls. it was really nice to see them again.

both are amazing mothers, and tawny brought her girls (naia and ariel) and sesa brought her boys (nate and seth). the kids had a ball running around wreaking havoc. i had a ball watching them and enjoying their fresh young energy. it was cute to see tawny and sesa in their kids' features and personalities.

sesa, tawny and me

naia, seth, ariel-- such cuties

nate-dawg. so well behaved and polite

at one point i let the little one's have my camera and allowed them to take one "money shot" each.

ariel's "money shot"

seth's "money shot"


naia's "money shot"

while i hung with the kids and tawny and sesa, my dad and his friends cruised out on the lanai. it's fun to watch my parents with their friends. listening to the banter, teasing and smack talking made me think a lot of my own frienships and how i hope they'll continue strong until my 62nd birthday and beyond.

wooden chopstick candle

what could he possibly be wishing for? he's already got me as a daughter heh heh ;)

the next day i visited my friend faith and her boyfriend and cruised with them down to the stretch of beaches between maalaea and kihei. faith had to meet up with some friends, and i was feeling quiet, so i took a long walk down the beach and tried to get a good shot of sandcrabs... no luck but i did make friends with a starfish.

star fishy friend


the following day i had to fly out in the morning, so my dad and i woke up early to make a birdhouse. one of my mom's complaints about the house was about the birdshit on the lanai, so we tried to remedy the situation. i learned a few things about skill saws the hard way, as i got suckerpunched by a flying piece of wood, while my dad shook his head. after that incident i left the cutting to him and took to gluing, screwing and painting.

a house for birds. plan to decorate it more when i go back

and that was that. my maui blah blah blah's... mellow. fun. heartwarming.

a busy and lovely sunday

what is it that has me compelled to write about everything? i don't know. but here i go.

breakfast club:

i'm on a mission to find the best eggs benedict in town. i don't know how i got started on this, but for some reason i like these little missions. last week i went to Ryans with kira, chessa and laarni. today it was Lulu's with laarni, kira, aunty trudy (kira's mom) and andy.

my ruling... ehh. it was okay. i'd rate it a 5 on a scale of 1-10. it looks good, but in my opinion, Ryans was better, and i'm convinced there's even better out there. please let me know your suggestions, and if you'd like to join me in my quest.

half traditional, half crab cake benedict

go take a hike:




later in the afternoon i did the palolo/kaau crater hike solo. it felt soooo good. it's been a long time since i've done anything solo, aside from daily errands and cruising at home. the palolo hike is a favorite of mine... it was one of the first hikes i did when i first moved here. today was a gorgeous day to go hiking and it was nice to have time alone with my thoughts as i walked through nature's beauty.

second waterfall

plaque on top of the second waterfall... it's sad, but also kind of cool. i love how it says "the world was her neighborhood"

view of palolo valley... what a great valley


3rd waterfall

there's ka`au crater, but where are the boys? heheh (okay, cheesy joke, sorry)

mountain apple blossom

a new momma and a mother's day dinner:

after the hike, i quickly cooked and got ready and then went off to see Suegi. she had a beautiful little baby boy named Sage yesterday. congrats to her and Todd! it' s so exciting to see them take this next step. i wish i had pictures.

after that, i rushed over to garrett's parents' house for a sunday mother's day dinner. today i missed my mom big time. she and my dad are in vegas, and though i called, we did nothing more than exchange voicemails... it was nice to be with my surrogate family and enjoy a delicious dinner with them.

garrett's grandma was there, and i enjoyed talking story with her. she's 93 and really sharp. at one point talking to her, i felt myself getting choked up, as it made me miss my grandma so much. talking to her was interesting, she shared about being so old and feeling a bit ready to go into the next world, except, she knows she's healthy, and it's to be a while before her departure. it was interesting to hear her perspective. she's a happy lady, but i suppose she's been here long enough and she's ready for what's next. as i sat listening to her, i wondered what my thoughts would be when i am her age, given that i make it to her age. i also thought about possibly applying for a job at hospice.

and that was that... there's more actually, but this has already been too much.

happy mother's day all! i hope it was a great one.