Almost Wordless Wednesday--Aloha

It's January. It's windy and cold. Too cold. I miss warm weather. Sigh.  Here is a picture from warmer days. This is the view off the ocean front balcony from my parents' condo in Maui. Gorgeous isn't it?

No Agenda

I have three favorite vacationing spots:  Monhegan Island, Maui, and St. Mary's City.  Very different places but they all have the same thing in common. No Agenda!

Maybe that's the way it should be when you are on vacation, but again if you know me, if there is something to be scheduled, then I will schedule it.  For example I want to take the kids to Disney someday soon. I also realize that it will be a busy vacation. We will not be sitting back and chilling out. We will be in lines, we will be going from ride to ride, we will be trying to see and do everything!

But, when we go to Monhegan, Maui, or St. Mary's, there are definitely things to see and do, but you don't have to do any of them. There is no agenda. You go at your own pace and on your own time.

When we go to Monhegan we go with our best friends. We spend our days hiking, reading, or walking into "town." (The island is 1 sq. mile).  Our nights are spent talking, playing cribbage, or putting together a puzzle.  It's magnificent. When I was in labor with my first born I was told to come up with a relaxing picture in my mind. My first thought was the view of the water from the picture window of the townhouse we stayed in during our first trip to the island. Gorgeous every time.



Maui sounds like a "duh" option for a favorite vacation spot. Yes, there are so many things to do. But my favorite is that the beach is just feet away. We literally walk our our door and walk onto the beach. The weather is always perfect.  The kids are occupied for hours playing in the water or on the sand. The sunrise and the sunsets are amazing.  You don't have to go anywhere to be entertained. The evenings are filled with walks along the path, some musical entertainment as we walk, and stars popping out overhead.

St. Mary's City is another favorite place. After our recent visit for our 10-yr college reunion, I fell in love with it all over again. The college is right on the water. While we were there we spent hours on the shore. The kids loved playing in the water. We kayaked or played in the shallow end of the water. There wasn't an agenda and who could beat watching a river sunset, catching fireflies, or playing in the water with friends?  The best part of our recent trip was that we were their with our best friends. Our kids played together and we got to chill and relax with them.

I love that all 3 of these places seem to run on a different time frame. There is no "have to" unless you want to.  You go and you can truly relax and at the same time, and if you have kids, they are perfectly happy playing and entertaining themselves.

Aloha Flavors Review

If ever you are in Maui, take a day trip to 'Iao Needle Valley State Park. It is a beautiful place. If you have young kids, this is a great place to go. The trails are super easy and it takes maybe 30 minutes to hike it. Just enough for little feet.

On the way back, stop at Aloha Flavors for a shaved ice.  This stand will be found in the parking lot at the Tropical Gardens of Maui, just down the road from 'Iao Needle Valley State Park.

After walking around and exploring, the whole family needed a little pick me up. We saw the shaved ice stand on the way to the park and made a mental note to stop there on the way back. What a great idea! The owner, Lani, is super-friendly, the prices are great, and the treats hit the spot.  She has a little of everything to satisfy the weary traveler. It's a perfect spot for families because she sells kid-friendly food:  shave ice, shave ice with ice cream, smoothies, hot dogs, chips, and drinks.  She even has a fruit stand on the side, so if you want a little fruit to bring home for dinner, she's got it for you!  Lani was great talking to our family.  We found out that we came to visit on her second day of business. We will definitely visit her again the next time we are in Maui.

My kids shared a rainbow shaved ice. They had to share it because it was HUGE. Even I got a few bites without putting a dent in it :)  Hubby got himself a smoothie, made with fresh fruit and a coconut milk, just the thing, since he isn't a big fan of yogurt smoothies. I was hungry and happy to find out that Aloha Flavors also sold hot dogs with the option to buy chips and a drink with it.  After chasing the kids and making sure they didn't fall off the side of the mountain, I had worked up an appetite.

Definitely a place to visit with your family. One note, there is only one small sign at the entrance of the garden center and you might miss it as you drive by.  Look for the Tropical Gardens of Maui and it's right in their parking lot.  Since it was only her second day of business there wasn't any seating available. The family and I parked ourselves on a curb in the shade to enjoy our snacks.  It was still a great picnic and we enjoyed ourselves. Aloha and enjoy!

Ohana

I haven't been blogging because I've been away for the last 2 weeks in beautiful Maui. We had a mini reunion with my side of the family.  We were able to spend time with my parents and my brother.  We haven't seen my brother in 18 months and he's never been to Maui, so this was a good opportunity to spend  time as a family.

In Hawaiian, ohana means family.  We were definitely Ohana-ing it in Maui.  My kids got to spend some time with their grandparents. This was a great opportunity for my daughter to get some individualized attention from my parents.  When my son was born, my mom took care of him for 2 years while I was working.  After I stopped working, she went back to work. She hasn't been able to spend the same type of quality time with my daughter as she did with my son.  I'm glad that they had this time for bonding.

My brother lives in another state and hasn't had much opportunity to spend any length of time with the kids.  The last time we saw him was for Thanksgiving 18 months ago. Buggy was only a month old at the time.  He was a trooper. My kids woke him up everything morning and I think my son wore him out by asking him to play with him all the time.

This was the first vacation that Hubby and I have had where we actually got to relax together a few times. We were able to sit by the pool while the kids were napping because inevitably the grandparents were there napping, too :)

This is the first time in about 12 years (I think) that my side of the family lived under the same roof. I have to admit that I was a little worried about the dynamics. It's never easy to travel and it's never easy to travel with someone other than your immediate family (in my case meaning my kids and Hubby). We all have our idiosyncrasies, and sometimes they don't go well together. But in our case, we really seem to vacation well together. This is the second big vacation we've taken with my parents and that went well, too.

Maybe there is something in the Maui air, but it seemed like we rarely treaded on each other's nerves. Maybe a little towards the end with the stress of packing up again and going back to our busy lives, but overall not too bad!

I even got to spend some one-on-one time with my brother. One night when everyone went back to the room he and I spent some time talking over some fro-yo. I go to hear about what's going on in his life in Nebraska and hopefully connecting with him again as adults.  My brother and I are fairly different.  He's outgoing, social, devil-may-care, easy going, relaxed, friendly. I'm definitely more up-tight, a rule-follower, a planner, more shy, hesitant, a list-maker, deliberate.  Growing up it made things difficult, because we couldn't relate well to one another. I'm hoping now that we are adults, that it won't be so hard to connect. Maui was definitely a step in the right direction.  He was so good with my kids and for that, I am very grateful.

We are back home and trying to get back in the swing of things. I hope that maybe my brother and I can spend more time together, maybe through Skype so that he can see the kids and maybe the kids can get a chance to talk to him. I hope that spending extra time with my daughter, that my parents feel as if they've connected with her a little more.  We are a still a little jet lagged at my house, but at least it's summer and we've got time. Life is good!