Trip to Maui

Well, just before we actually came clean with our master plan of moving here, Aren's parents were already in the midst of planning a trip to Maui with Pearl, Janet & Joe, and Tim & Kathleen. They finally arrived in the islands late last week and we managed to meet up with them over the weekend for a quick visit.

Saturday began with an ocean side renewal of vows of Tim and Kathleen in celebration of their 10th anniversary. It was an absolutely beautiful day with very clear views of Molokai and Lanai. There were even several whales surfacing in the background. Picture perfect.

After the ceremony, we drove into Lahaina for some shopping and lunch. I know I had been there as a kid with Amma & Bopp but I have little memory of anything but the Old Banyan Tree. It's gigantic. The thing about banyan trees is that as they grow they send out long draping roots off of the branches. If these roots are so lucky to establish contact with the ground beneath, they soon bury deep, become rigid and essentially become a new, additional trunk for the tree. This goes on and on until you have a tree like the one in Lahaina that spans the entire block. It's not the kind of tree you want in your yard because the rooting can be quite destructive to foundations but I LOVE looking at them. Very "Scooby-Doo". Tanner calls the hanging roots Monkey Swingers because they remind him of one of the opening scenes in the Disney movie Dinosaur.

Saturday evening the whole group of us went to our (Aren, Tanner & I) first official Luau since moving here. Again, I went to one as a kid with Amma & Bopp in Maui. My memories of that even are again a little foggy. I remember the unwrapping of the pig in the imu pit. I did not like the smell but for some reason took and entire roll of pictures thoroughly documenting the whole process. I also remember Aunt Lisa bugging to make me eat the poi. Yuk. Let's just say it's an acquired taste and I knew enough to stay away from it this time around. The luau was fun though. Tanner REALLY liked it. Not sure if the scantily clad ladies with the coconut bras were part of that but he was dancing around the whole time all the same. I liked the fact that he finally got a chance to see some of the native culture here even if it was a tad cheesed up for the sake of the tourists.

Sunday brought a crack of dawn rainforest & waterfall hike. Have to admit that I was less than thrilled with the 6:30am wakeup call and lack of sufficient caffeination during the ride out but the hike itself was actually much more fun than I had anticipated. I will say that I am very impressed with the monkey like behavior and mountain goat skills of the group as a whole. There were several boulders, large roots, and a vertical cliff at the end that even I didn't try. Nice work Wilson\Moraska\Cleven’s :)

After the completion of the hike, we continued down the road to finish the entire loop around the West Maui Mountains. The road is very precarious in places with single lane passes and questionable bridges but a beautiful drive. After lunch and a bit of pool time for the munchkin, we hopped our plane back to Oahu. On the drive back from the airport, Aren and I were discussing how strange it still feels to be "coming home" to Oahu. I imagine that will take a while...

Tim & Kathleen

Hanging from the Monkey Swinger

Tucked in amongst the roots

Crawling across the long horizontal branches

My monkeys :)

Enjoying the Luau

Descending the trail towards the waterfalls

The whole group

Finished! He makes it!

Relaxing after the hike