Can’t wait to see my mom! It has been 8 months, the longest I have ever gone without seeing her. She has 2 weeks of relaxation waiting for her.

What’s a “Fam Stay?” Well, the Four Seasons requires all of their employees to spend a night at the resort as a guest. Pretty much everything is on their dime and they take very good care of you. They want their employees to experience the resort from the guest’s point of view… it’s a nice point of view.

It was a little weird to drive 5 minutes from home and check into a resort for the weekend but we both agreed that it did not take long to feel like we were thousands of miles away on vacation. And we REALLY needed a vacation! Darlene and and I have been working around the clock lately and have had very little time to enjoy this amazing island or each others’ company. This weekend was perfect way to reset everything.

There is a little gecko with a split in his tail who we see almost daily on our lanai. Obviously his name is Two Tails. Lately we catch him every morning as he licks what appears to be a small piece of tomato near the grill.

Oh, and we have been finding a bunch of super tiny baby geckos in the house lately. Holy crap, they are cute! We catch them in drinking glasses and set them free on our outdoor plants. So far they must be doing OK because we see them from time to time on the lanai.

We love all of our little lizards but Two Tails is our favorite!

The last few weeks have been BUSY for both of us and work has kind of taken over our lives. We are extremely happy to have this work but it also means less time for fun and games, and less interesting things to share on the blog. But today we did something so incredible I just HAD to share… we bought some plants!

We occasionally see hand painted signs down the road that simply read “Plant Sale.” We always assumed it was a lady with 10 house plants for sale but it turns out it’s actually a very nice man who has converted his whole property into what amounts to a commercial nursery. The best part? His prices are crazy cheap! We paid no more than $5 per plant, excluding the pineapple he simply gave us for free.

Long live PLANT SALE!

Darlene threw an incredible birthday party for me this past Friday. It was a Chicago-style hot dog party, which was challenging because some of the key ingredients are simply not available here. For example, she had to have a local bakery make the poppy seed buns as a special order and we had to use food coloring to make the relish the appropriate neon green. She also had some friends in Chicago send a few other ingredients, but sadly the box arrived a day late, not due to any fault of our friends. Receiving things form the mainland is random at best. It really wasn’t a problem though and those ingredients have already been put to good use this weekend (we have A LOT of leftovers).

It was a really great night and a fun party. It was a little strange to celebrate without the usual group back in Chicago but we are very lucky to have so many great new friends. Thanks for a wonderful birthday party Darlene!!!

Cheya had been hounding us to go on the trip most commonly called “The Road to Hana” since we first moved to Maui. And so, at almost six months-to-the-day into our Big Maui Adventure, we finally traveled the Road to Hana this past weekend. I knew it was full of big sights, narrow roads, caves, bamboo forests, waterfalls and many areas deemed to be sacred, but the trip definitely exceeded my expectations.

Hana is a little town located on the Eastern-most tip of Haleakala, which is the large dormant volcano or larger “nub” of Maui. Kent and I have taken the trip around the other Northwestern “nub,” which is called the West Maui Mountains. Haleakala’s nub, however, doesn’t have a direct route all the way around it. So, you have to basically travel all the way to Hana, then turn around and go back to where you came from. That is why the trip takes as long as it does and why Hana and much of the road leading to it seems as if it has been untouched by time.

While working at the Four Seasons, I get to hear a lot about what people are doing on their vacation. Because there is so much to see, it’s pretty common for people to arrive late for their dinner reservation, exhausted and apologizing because they had tried to make the Road to Hana just a quick afternoon trip. Well, it’s no afternoon trip. We wanted to really take the time to appreciate all that the East side of the island had to offer.

Our adventure started 5AM Saturday morning. With Cheya, again, as our designated Maui tour guide, we were able to see all of Hana’s nooks and crannies. And, as Maui Luck would have it, we were also able to even see inside the homes of a few Hana residents along the way. It was Hana’s day for “Maui Open Studios,” which is basically a day for artists to open their homes to anyone who wishes to come over and take a look at their artwork. We stopped at very talented photographers, painters and sculptor’s homes. All were welcoming and offered us food, drink and some “talking story” along the way.  It was inspiring to see how successful and happy these artists are, living in this beautiful place, creating beautiful things.

We made our way to Black Sand Beach, which included a lava tunnel hundreds of years old. The tunnel, filled with perfect, smooth black lava pebbles, led to an opening to the ocean. The opening acted as this perfect frame for the bluest water you can imagine.  We stopped for lunch at this amazing outdoor Thai place called Pranee’s in the center of town in Hana. It’s only open when Pranee feels like being open for business, and she only serves you if she likes you. Pranee is my kind of lady. The food was outstanding and the atmosphere was very charming.

We hiked through Haleakala National Park at Kipahulu, also referred to as O’heo Gulch, which included the Seven Sacred Pools. On the way up, you are treated to beautiful bridges, large banyan trees, and a serene bamboo forest. The bamboo forest was absolutely breathtaking. It was so quiet and perfect, all you could hear was the rustling of the tiny leaves atop the bamboo. When the wind is strong enough it forces the bamboo stalks to knock together creating an eerie natural wind chime sound that reverberates throughout the forest.

After our hike, we went to Hasegawa General Store to get some dinner ingredients. Thankfully, we were able to stay at Cheya’s friend’s amazing home in Hana on Saturday night. We made dinner, celebrated life through a few beers, and turned in early after a long day. Kent and I slept on the lanai and woke to the sound of the ocean and a beautiful sunrise.

It was time for our last stop on the Hana trip: Red Sand Beach. When researching Maui it seemed to be one of the places talked about the most. Now I know why. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and definitely the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. This tiny bay is surrounded by a steep cliff composed of a deep-red lava rock, all situated on a bed of beautiful deep-red sand. Scattered around the bay and somehow thriving on an impossible incline are bright green pine trees and palms. The backdrop to all of this is the most aqua blue water you have ever seen. The water was churning in the distance but the shore was wonderfully calm, due to a perfectly placed lava wall protecting the beach. It was one of those places where you just take a deep breath and are so thankful to be alive. I think we may have both turned into hippies that day.

It was such a great weekend with such great people. I can’t wait to make the trip again with family and friends once they make it out here.

Actually that’s our old house being tented by the new owners for termites. Just a couple days ago I saw Bud’s laundry hanging on the clothesline and now he’s back on the mainland, new people own the property and the house looks like a carnival freak show. As crazy as Bud made us, we will still always have a soft spot in our hearts for our first house in Hawaii. I felt a little sad when I saw it empty and covered up like this.

We have been in our new place for about 3 weeks now and we have fallen in love with it for many reasons. Let’s see, those reasons include, in no particular order… it’s super bright and sunny, clean, new kitchen, hardwood floors, very private, tons of storage, 1.5 baths plus an outdoor shower, big wrap-around lanai and best of all a view of the ocean, Molokini, Haleakala, the West Maui Mountains and Kahoolawe… all from the couch! Well, maybe best of all is the absence of Bud’s endless singing and enforcement of intrusive, pointless rules.

The new house is actually the same size as the previous cottage but looks smaller because we no longer have the huge ceilings or the extra bedroom. The law in our neighborhood limits cottages to a size of 700 square feet and I believe this one is on the books as 699 sq. feet. The amount of storage is fantastic though, we have a carport with a storage room, another outdoor shed and various large closets. We like this way of life because it forces you to be organized and only own what you really need, kind of like the theory behind those glass Mid-Century homes purposely built with few places to hide un-needed stuff.

I love my new desk and chair! After using a free hand-me-down desk for the last decade, I finally bought myself a REAL desk. I spend enough time there, I might as well like it. I also scored Darlene an awesome solid mahogany desk on Craigslist that weighs a ton. Good desks are not easy to find here so we are happy to have these.

My other obsession with this house is the outdoor shower. In fact, I have only showered indoors 3 times since we moved in. I love to be out in the sun with the trees over my head and a handful of green geckos waiting for me to finish so they can come lap up the water drops. I’m addicted and feel like I have to have an outdoor shower for the rest of my life.

OK, enough babbling, here’s a walk through of the house. Make sure to read the captions to better understand what you are looking at.