Hawaii

We took a day off from the beach today and headed up to the hills on the north side of the island for a hike. The Waihe’e Ridge Trail started up in the hills past a few farms, overlooking the ocean. Jean, Trent, Rob and the little baby came along on the 4.5 mile trail.…

Merry Christmas from sunny Maui!  Rob and Trent went off this morning for a 74-mile bike ride around the south west part of Maui (I’ll share those details later) and the rest of us were very lazy at home – making calls back to all our siblings and friends on the “mainland.” After the guys…

Happy Christmas Eve from Kihei! We had a great busy day at the beach to celebrate the holiday. Rob and Trent headed off before us by bike – they just rented two road bikes for the week.  The rest of us drove over and found a shady spot under a big acacia tree at Po’olenalena.…

On Monday morning, we woke up at 5:30 (ugh!) for a snorkeling cruise off Maui. The sun was just starting to rise over the island when we arrived at the harbor, bustling with tourists locating their ships for the day. Our small boat run by Aloha Blue Charters looked almost exactly like the S.S. Minnow…

We are settling into the pace of life here in Maui. Everything is so much slower (and warmer) than San Francisco.  Our neighborhood is a palm-filled suburb straight out of the movie The Descendants. We’ve been waking up pretty early with the little nephew’s schedule.  Mornings have been filled with local Maui Grown Coffee and oatmeal…

Our first dinner in Hawaii was a make-your-own rice bowl feast featuring flavors of the island.  Inspired by one of my favorite dishes at Pacific Catch in San Francisco, this is a healthy and easy way to feed a large group with the help of a few prepared dishes: Each bowl starts with a base…

Our 20-day adventure in Hawaii started with a 5:00am wake-up call this morning. Relatively stress-free process of getting through airport security with my parents and then a nice four and a half hour flight on Hawaiian Airlines. They give you free food, drinks and even an actual metal fork on the flight – imagine that! Jean…