Monday, September 22, 2008

Mike caught Maui!







Last weekend was pretty laid back-- we started Thursday night by heading down to Hui E (a residential road in Napili) and out on the black rocks to try Mike's fishing pole. We didn't catch anything besides a gorgeous sun set and the rocks of Maui (he lost his hook under the rocks and it looked like he was catching the biggest fish ever!)

                                                                 Reelin' in the sunset!

Friday night we went to Ruth's Chris, had great dinner complete with champagne (it was our 7 year 9 month anniversary-- just an excuse to go out!) and then we went to see My Best Friend's Girl. I liked it and I heard Mike laughing even though he claims "it was okay". 

Saturday we both worked, but after Mike was done, we went down to Chang's Beach in Wailea to hang out and celebrate Hanalei's (Mike's buddy from work) daughter's birthday. She turned 4 and it was very much a true local style birthday party on the beach. All the tanned locals sat in beach chairs, the bbq never seemed to stop producing fresh oysters, teriyaki beef and Portuguese sausage, and the kids ran around bare-foot collecting baby crabs in their beach pails. 

Our introduction to the group by Hanalei was great-- "HEY EVERYONE TURN AROUND!! This is Mike and Amber...and that's....the family!" Our night was filled with stories, jokes, and ukulele playing. I even saw a handful of shooting stars! Long after the sun sank into the sky, we drove home by the light of the moon. 

Sunday-- Go Hawks!

A few pictures I forgot to post from our "adventure" to Hana.
                                                             Black Sand Beach, Hana

Bamboo Forest
Alongside the road were these little fruit stands-- you put money in the box and take what you'd like!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

These are a few of my favorite things!

Mike and I just got back from yummy Thai food and Barnes & Noble... fun little Tuesday night date!

Some of my favorite things at the moment-- some from here and some from there--

-The best chocolate mint brownie you will EVER eat! They are from Big Island Candies--yum!












-Anything from West Elm- kind of modern home store- ha! If only had a home! I still like the style.
-Ironwoods beach AKA Secret Beach-- When the sun was setting later, we would come down and collect shells and beach wood to fill a glass vase on our kitchen table



-Connor's 1st day of school picture-- PRICELESS! He's going to love seeing this picture in his senior year yearbook!






Love you all! xoxo
a

Monday, September 8, 2008

$40 Cheeseburgers in Paradise!

Sorry guys-- this one's a doozey!

We woke up Saturday morning and decided to head over to the other side of the island to check out the Bamboo Forest on the way to Hana. The hike was gorgeous! We cruised on the winding Hana Highway eating PB&J, listening to good music and taking in sweeping ocean views. We went all the way to Hana, stopping at the black sand beach (SO cool!) but decided to head back because we didn't want to drive the road back in the dark-- if we only knew!

About 15 minutes from Hana, the car broke down! Along side the road without cell reception, we discover that somewhere along the winding roads, our battery holster broke and dumped battery acid all over. Some very nice tourists picked us up and gave us a ride back into Hana to try and find some help.

My first thought was to call Auntie Ruthie-- she called a friend of a friend (not surprised at all!) and he was coming to pick us up to help give the car a jump. Uncle Kenny rolled up in his beater with a toothy grin to take us to the car. We filled the battery with distilled water (apparently supposed to replace the spilled acid) and sure enough the little 4runner springs to life! Woo Hoo!! We say our goodbyes and try to put the car in reverse-- it dies again!

By now it's dark, we head back into town and start walking through the little town trying to find somewhere to stay. If Uncle Kenny didn't have 8 kids, he said we could stay there-- we understood! We went to every cottage and inn without any luck because there was a big relay that had happened earlier in the day.

Tired and hungry we stumble into the Hotel Hana Maui-
- $495 for the night! We didn't have any other option and I had a feeling we would need a good night's sleep if we had to deal with car troubles the next day. We talked her down to $295 and ordered $40 worth of cheeseburgers from the fancy restaurant to take to our room.

We decided to make the best of everything and talked about snuggling into bed, eating dinner and watching TV to take our minds off of everything as we rode the golf cart to our room. Ha! We get into the room-- huge with a gorgeous bathroom, lounge furniture on it's private lanai but NO TV! I'm sorry, but c'mon $295 and no TV-- what a joke!

We took showers, wrapped up in the hotel robes, climbed on the giant bed with our cheeseburgers and wine glasses of Coke playing Scrabble until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore.

The next day we went through two batteries, a rental car, 7 hours on the winding "Road to Hana", a new alternator and a few Costco hot dogs, but we finally made it home safe and sound by about 11pm.

In the many hours as the observer of all these local guys bent over inspecting our car, I've made a few realizations:

1. I had never met a single one of these people before, yet they all gave up their weekends, advice, gas and spare parts to help us- two white kids from the other side of the island. The most rewarding part of this adventure was experiencing first hand the Hawaiian culture and traditions of taking care of each other as if you were family.

2. Hawaiian men must be identified by their butt cracks instead of their faces-- you could tell the age, experience, and almost personality of each of them by the crack that hung out of their shorts. I guess since most of the weekend they were bent over our car, I had nothing else to look at, but still...I think I'm on to something here!

3. We have all been in situations where we have driven by people who were stranded along side the road and not stopped to offer help because we were rushing to some event and were late or been put in situations where we know we could have provided help and chosen not to because of selfish reasons-- I know I have. I'm thankful and humbled by the people who decided to stop their busy lives to help us. There was nothing in it for them-- but for whatever reason, they reached out their hands and helped us. The next time you are in one of these situations, remember that the people you could potentially be helping are someone's kids, grandchildren, sisters, brothers or friends.