TIME TO GO HOME

It really is time to go home.  Monte and I are homesick.  I can't wait to get back to my house and finish the unpacking, get my jeep, check my flowers, see Molly and Willy, see my family.

We have been busy busy busy.  I have tried to show Kevin and family as much as possible.  Since going out to the church at the edge of the earth, we have done the banana bread trail, the plantation, gone to our favourite beach at the end of the runway, gone to a luau, boogie boarded on a good beach, I have taken each of the kids individually for a little shopping trip in Kihei.

Also, we went up Haleakala.  Its about forty miles from here and ten thousand feet up.  I don't do so well at those altitudes.  But the kids loved it and I got yet more pics.  We drove through clouds, which thrilled Fenton and you could see forever up there.  And....it was COLD!!!

Last night we went to a beautiful luau.  I think the this the fifth time I have been to this luau.  I know the story and show they put on inside out but I never get tired of it.  Tandy took Elise up on stage with everyone else to do a little hula dancing.  Elise was so cute up there.  At the end of the show the fire dancers came and grabbed Fenton to go up on stage for a pretend sacrifice and he was just simply beside himself with happiness.  We all had such a great time.

Now its time to get back to reality, get home and get real life started.  I'm pretty sure the little family here is ready to have some privacy from people in their living space too.  I am going to make sure I go swimming one more time...maybe tomorrow.  We don't have to get to the airport until late tomorrow night so there should be time.  Today I think we are heading up to Makawao.  I want to show them the eucalyptus trees up there.

  There are soooo many freaking people here in Maui right now.  Honestly! you'd think this was the only holiday place on the blasted earth.  I hate it.  (shovel list)  No matter where we go, all the places that Bill and I discovered, the ones with no one there, are full of stupid people and theres no where to park.  We never did get to walk through jurassic park (as we call it) because there was no where to park.  There's people crawling all over this island.  I looked it up and apparently June, July and August are three of their busiest months here.  Who knew?

Its about five thirty in the morning here.  I never did get used to the time change.  I am out cold by ten at night and up and wide awake at five in the morning.  Oh well, twill be good for when I get home, IF I ever get home.  It seems like forever.  TTYL

THIS WAS BILL'S AND MY FAVE BEACH AT THE END OF THE RUNWAY

HALEAKALA

ON OUR WAY DOWN TO THE LUAU

KEVIN BORROWED MYLES' SHIRT FROM LAST YEAR!

THE BIRTHDAY BOYS...JUNE 27TH (MONTE) AND JUNE 30TH (KEVIN)

TOO MUCH FUN

I have been having a whale of a time!  We have kept pretty busy, getting it all in before heading home on June 29th.

We took a trip out to the church where we spread Bill's ashes.  Kevin and Tandy wanted to see where we had done that.  So we stopped at the winery along the way, and we stopped at Gramma's and picked up a picnic.  We stopped at the windmills and had our picnic there.  The kids were pretty stoked to watch those giants go round and round.

Every time we go out there I am astounded yet again by the beauty and peacefulness of the place.  It feels good knowing part of Bill is there.  We stayed quite a while and just enjoyed it.  The wind blows there, hard, so you never feel too hot. 

We have been over to this one particular beach and we are heading back again this morning.  Its beside a fantastic playground and the beach itself is perfect for kids, beginner paddle boarders, chickens like me....Its really shallow and stays shallow waaaaaay out far.  The waves are big enough to be fun but never that big that they cause trouble. Fenton paddled way out on his boogie board and Elise swam like a duck nearer the shore.  I sat around like a giant beached whale, in the really really warm water.  Actually the water was warmer than the pool!

Monte and I took off yesterday afternoon and went to Kahului.  I needed to do a few things, getting ready to go home.  I think, and he would never ever say this, but I think he has had it with kids.  As much as he loves those two, the noise is getting to him.  Hahaha!!  He says he is never having kids!

  They ARE noisy, no doubt about that.  And Fenton pulls large fronds off the foliage, picks stones from the gardens, spreads crap all over the lawn and I just know that its giving the boys that work around here the shivers.  They live and breathe 'cleanliness and order' on these grounds and I think Fenton is going to give them a run for their money this summer!!! 

As much as I love it here and spending time with this little family, and it has been fantastic I must say, I am really ready to go home.  I am anxious to see my house, my doggie, my flower beds and my family.  We still have a couple of things on our list though.  We have to do the banana bread trail and go to Lahaina Front street shopping.  And I need to start packing some things I want to bring home.  I will be making only one more trip back here before putting the place up for sale next June.  TTYL  ps:  I tried and tried to put pics on here but we have the most antiquated ridiculous internet and they just won't go.  I shall post some on face book for those of you that can see them there...nothing exciting though I am afraid!

WE CELEBRATED BILL'S BIRTHDAY WITH HIS FAVE CARROT CAKE

STOPPING AT THE WINERY

WE DECIDED THAT THAT WAS HIS BRAIN POPPING OUT OF HIS HEAD

AND HE DECIDED HE WASN'T GOING TO SMILE FOR ANY PICTURES!  NOT SURE WHAT HE WAS DOING

THIS TREE LOOKS LIKE AN ELEPHANT

PICNIC TIME

OFF TO THE EDGE OF THE EARTH

HE WAS HUNTING FOR COCONUTS FROM THE TIME HE LANDED...HE WAS SO EXCITED TO HAVE FOUND THESE

THIS IS WHERE ELISE SPENT THE ENTIRE TIME WE WERE AT THE CHURCH SITE!

WE MADE A QUICK STOP AT OUR FAVE CAMPSITE ON THE WAY BACK

COSTCO AND GRANDKIDS…GREAT COMBO

Hokey Dinah!!!!  Things just got a whole lot crazier and a whole lot noisier around here!!!  Throw two rambunctious kids into the mix, still on BC time (in other words they get up at four in the morning Maui time!!).  Actually thats not true, they have been getting up at five thirty.  I get up with them cuz I am always awake at that time and I sleep out here in the living room.  Its awesome.  We read books and visit and sing and eat porridge and drink coffee.  I love it.

Kevin has to work some so we are planning most of our activities for the afternoons.  This morning though Tandy has taken them to our beach and gone exploring with them.  I stayed here and am about to take Shaw on.

I got a call from a collection agency yesterday, saying I owed shaw forty two dollars.  Forty two.  So I said I would look into it and maybe pay.  She told me I HAD to pay them…to add their collection name to my list of payees on my bill list on my bank site.  Okay.  But as I was sitting here, pissed off, over forty two dollars thank you very much, my email dinged.  It was my shaw bill (which I had totally changed just before I left, down to almost nothing) and guess what?  I had an eighty five dollar credit!  So I call the woman at the collection place back.  She still wants me to put 42 bucks on their account.  I guess thats how they get paid but I told her to get stuffed.  Not doing it.

I wrote that two days ago!  Since then we have been to both the lava beds and to the lavender farm.  Both places were amazing and so much fun.  I will put pics below instead of writing too much about it.  Yesterday up at the lavender farm, they had a treasure hunt for kids.  That treasure hunt took us all over the place and the kids were so extremely excited every time they spotted the next station where a stamp was waiting for them.  Man we had fun.  In the end they found a lavender shortbread cookie.  We stopped long enough for a lavender coffee and scone with lavender honey.  Delicious.

We then set off for the library in Makawow.  The one in Kihei is temporarily closed.  That was a hoot.  What an awesome little library.  We then, as planned, headed for Haiku, a little town near Makawow, that I have yet to find without getting seriously lost first.  And we got lost….royally.  Getting lost is pretty high on my shovel list.  By the time we find Haiku, every time, I am mad and ready to throw in the towel!  But we did finally get there and to Colleen's for huge dinners of fish and chips.  I ordered a large pizza to take home to Monte and we managed to eat half of that before we got home!

Today is going to be a down day.  Its cloudy out and after all that fat yesterday I was up half the night in the loo.  Not feelin' so good and its my own fault..I don't eat like that anymore and should have known better.  TTYL

WE STOPPED AT A COCONUT STAND…MUCH TO THE KID'S DELIGHT

WHACKING THE COCONUT

FOUND A STATION…DOIN' THE STAMP

LOOKING DOWN ON OUR KIHEI

OUT AT THE LAVA BEDS..NO IDEA WHY IT GOT STUCK IN HERE AND NOT WITH THE OTHER LAVA BED PICS

ANOTHER STATION

CLIMBING THROUGH THE LAVA

WAVE CHASING

LOOK OUT!!!  HERE IT COMES!!

HE LOVES THE WATER!