The 'Seven Sacred Pools'

Many years ago there was a great story teller hired by the hotel in Hana to entertain their guests. The legend goes that she began telling all the guests about a sacred place where there were seven pools, each containing a virtue. To attain divinity and acquire all seven virtues one had to go to the sacred pools and swim in each one successively. The story was such a success that the area is now called the 'Seven Sacred Pools' and most tourists that make the drive to Hana continue to swim in the pools (there are a lot more than seven pools though! I think James and I found them all :)

This is what I pictured Hawaii being all about. Hiking through rainforests to swim in remote pools with cascading waterfalls. It was a dream come true.

I've got a lovely bunch of Coconuts!

Just down the beach there was a coconut grove and James had fun going down there and finding coconuts for us to eat. He husked them and then cracked them open with big rocks he found down at the beach! It was great! They were delicious. Mmmmmmm!

I was always amazed to walk around and see banana trees, coconut trees, mango trees and guava bushes all over the place!! They just grow wild. I actually had a local laugh at me for buying bananas at the store (I did it before we headed to Hana, I swear!)

Hana, Maui (aka Paradise!)

Our little place in Hana was small and cozy. It was wonderful. The house had an amazing view. It was right on Hana bay and was just perfect for us. Just a few steps from our place was a beautiful black sand beach, and we fell asleep to the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. It was lovely!









Can you see the blue roof of our little place?

Drive to Hana

After our snorkeling adventures we drove all the way around the other side of the island. We were spending the rest of our holiday in the little hamlet of Hana on the undeveloped side of the island where all the rainforests are and the tourists do not really go. We rented a little house on Hana bay and planned to do nothing for 6 days.

The drive over there is a journey in itself. The maximum you can go is 25 miles/hour because the road is extremely narrow and it twists and snakes its way along the coastline. There are many times where you have to stop and yield to oncoming traffic because it is only a one lane road. The two lane highway is as wide as your average one lane highway and there were many times where I was amazed that the side mirrors of the oncoming cars did not 'clink' with ours. And just when you think the road could not get any narrower, there would be a sign stating 'road narrows', and then sure enough it would! The middle line disappeared and for that stretch of road it was just a free-for-all! I was amazed at how close to the edge the cars had to drive to get through those sections! It was an amazing drive (I am really glad James was driving! I am sure I would have had a break-down half way!!)

The views were amazing! Everywhere you looked it was stunning! I started taking pictures, and then quickly realized that each vista was just as stunning as the last, and that taking pictures was futile.

Having said that, I still could not help taking lots of pictures. It was like driving through paradise.

This was amazing to see. Most of the vegetation in Hawaii is introduced and this was a grove of rainbow eucalyptus from Australia. It was beautiful!

Snorkling at Molokini

Our second morning we got up VERY early (5:45), checked out of our hotel and drove south to where we went on a guided snorkeling trip out to an atoll (moon shaped island) named Molokini. It was amazing! Soooo many varieties of fish. We even saw puffer fish and an eel!

We also got to see the far side of the island where you cannot drive (there is an unauthorized road that goes around that side but it is not recommended for driving) and saw the 'latest' lava flows that cut into the ocean. The last recorded lava flow was around 1790. We were expecting to see a slow and smooth slope of rock into the ocean but it was so angular and jarring! We were both very surprised!

The Luau

On our first night in Maui we went to the 'Feast at Lele'. It was an amazing luau with a 5 course dinner and all you could drink. James and I drank virgin pina coladas, and all sorts of wonderful combinations of pineapple juice, coconut cream and strawberry puree. It took place at sunset on the beach traditionally used by the Hawaiian royal family for entertaining. It was beautiful

The dinner was set up in five sections. The first, appetizers, were sweet potato chips with a island mango salsa- soooo delicious!

Then they took us on a 'tour' of four Polynesian islands. The first course was food cooked in a Hawaiian style (the pulled pork was from a pig that had been placed in an underground oven and baked all day). In each course we got to try 3 different 'traditional' foods. It was delicious! They accompanied each course with the traditional dances from each island.

The next island was New Zealand. The food was amazing again and the dancers were wonderful. They painted their faces and did an intimidation dance that was used to hype them up for battle and scare off their enemies. I could see how this could have been very effective!

Next was Tahiti. The food was good and the dances amazing. I loved the headdresses they wore. They were all so beautiful. The dancing was so graceful and mesmerizing to watch. It was wonderful.

Last was Samoa and the fire dance. It was great- although the pictures are a little hard to see. It was pitch black by this point and James and I were so full we were uncomfortable! And we were incredibly tired! I felt so old that I was falling asleep at the table and it was only 7:00pm (mind you we only got 5 hours of sleep the night before and we were still on Calgary time...)

It was an amazing night and I am really glad we splurged on such a cultural feast!

Our first day in Hawaii

What an amazing trip we had! The flight there was very long and we arrived at 11:30 pm Hawaii time (or 2:30am Calgary time- very bad for a pregnant person! I was sooooo tired!!). At first we were told that all the rental companies were closed- YIPES!!-, but when we landed we found our car company and get our car! The hotel we were staying at was on the other side of Maui and I had no idea how we were going to get there. Luckily we did not have to find out!

Our hotel room had a beautiful view of the ocean. One thing I learned quickly is that there are really no windows in Hawaii. There are screens with slats of glass (like horizontal venetian blinds), but they do not close and so you can hear all the neighbours. However, on the upside you can also always hear the lovely roar of the waves as they crash against the shore.

Maui is predominantly black lava rock and it was absolutely stunning wherever you looked! Just outside our hotel there was a area of black lava rock and tidal pools. It was amazing to see all the sea urchins in so many different colours- black, white, red...

There was also a lovely white sand beach and the water was so warm! The temperature was always a constant- it did not change much from morning to night. Always hovering around 27 degrees celcius. It was wonderful!

Victoria lost her first tooth!

After about one month of wiggling, Victoria lost her first tooth! It took a few tugs from Daddy (and then a few tears from Victoria) to get it out, but Victoria was determined she wanted it out that night (where does she get her tenacity from.... :)

The tooth fairy came and brought her a toonie- man kids are spoiled these days. I think I probably got 10 cents!

Hallowe'en!

What a fun Halloween we had! Victoria was a tiger (as you can see) and she got her hair sprayed orange to match at school- thankfully it came out in her bath that night! Naomi was a pink unicorn (anything pink and sparkly is her favorite!) and Olivia was a little black cat (she was adorable!).

This year we got to design and carve lots of pumpkins- we grew most of them in our garden! The girls had fun coming up with ideas for eyes, noses and mouths. It was Naomi's idea to put 'googly' eyes on one of them- the eyes even glowed in the dark. We also loved roasting and eating the seeds. Yummy!

Daddy took them all out trick-or-treating and they came back twice to empty their buckets so they could keep going! Soooooo much candy! Olivia did not really know what to think of it all. At the first door they gave her 2 pieces of candy- one for each hand. She would not let go of them, until she realized at the next door that she was going to get 2 more- it was only then that she let Daddy put the first 2 in her bucket, and she took the next 2. Then she maintained a vice-grip on those until they reached the next door and she was offered more. In the bag those 2 went and she took 2 new ones. It went on like that for every door she visited!!

Mom stayed home and manned the door. At about 8:00 we ran out of candy!! That has never happened before. We had about 100 kids! Wow!! I had to root through all the kids candy for the bubble gum and anything else that I though they would not miss so I still could give out candy!! It sure was a fun night.

Daddy dressed up as a tacky Hawaiian tourist and Mommy was a witch- there are no pictures of me though- that is what happens when you are behind the camera.... I did look good with my little black cat though!

Victoria's pumpkin

This year at school, Victoria carved pumpkins as an activity! Mom got to go and help :) Victoria chose to bring a 'ghost' pumpkin- a variety of pumpkin that is white/cream in colour instead of orange. I was happy that she wanted to be different and not just go with the crowd....

I cut open the top and she scooped out all the seeds and then designed the face. I carefully cut out her design and it was a wonderful and scarry looking jack-o-lantern! We had a lot of fun and got to take the masterpiece home to display Hallowe'en night!

First Eggs!

I guess our chickens do love me! After months and months of waiting they finally stated laying on my birthday! I should not say 'they' because there is still only one laying..... Every day we hope for more. It would be so nice to have 4 eggs a day.....

Tee Pee Night!

What an adventure! We decided to camp overnight in a Tee-Pee with our cousins. It was a lot of fun, but it also got VERY cold at night and Mommy ended up staying up most of the night stoking the fire. Thank goodness for the firepit in the middle of the Tee-Pee. It was quite something sleeping with 6 adults and 9 children! If we do it again we will have to bring extra blankets!!!

Victoria's 6th birthday

For Victoria's 6th birthday she had the choice of having a family party and then going to Calaway Park as a family (Daddy has never been able to come with us when we have gone), or to have a party with friends. She chose her family (phew!) We had cupcakes and then sent a 'cupcake cake' to school on her birthday (a bunch of cupcakes placed close together and then iced so they look like a cake!- a brilliant idea I saw to eliminate the need for knives and plates at school!) Victoria had a great time! She loved going on the logride with Daddy (Mommy got a break from all the nauseating rides this time-yippee!!), ate orange candy floss until her mouth was orange (and her tongue and her fingers...) and adored the black-lab Webkins Naomi got her for her birthday.