Maui Day 6

On Tuesday morning October 6th one of our cars packed up for two different adventures. I’m happy to report that Katie and Andrew were done being sequestered and ready for our Molokini adventure. Only four of us opted for Molokini, Andrew, Katie, Greg and me. Josh and Dan were our drivers for the adventure. After they dropped us off for our check-in, they carried on south for their Golf tee-time. They would return in time to pick us up at 1:00 pm. Our trip started at 8am and their tee-time was at 8:30 am.

We are headed to that crescent shaped crater where you can see other boats docked for snorkeling.

Here we are with 100 of our fellow passengers! Our excursion offered breakfast, lunch and snorkeling gear. They had lifeguards out on the water and also offered any help you might need including instructions for snorkeling.

Katie ordered corrective snorkel masks for herself and for her dad. Those were game changers for them. I’m not sure if Andrew needed them, I did not. They did not cost much more than regular snorkel gear.

We were told that we were very fortunate to be at Molokini on this day since the waters were calm compared to the day before.

The temperature of the water and the clarity viewing the fish and coral reef was exceptional.

The birds were also interesting to watch on the crater. This bird might be the ‘Iwa (Great Frigatebird), a large seabird frequently seen soaring above Molokini Crater. ‘Iwa means thief, the bird is known for stealing other birds’ food.

It really was a gorgeous day to be out on the water.

 

While our sons were golfing at the Wailea Golf Club with views of Molokini, they sent us this photo! They could see the boats at Molokini.

They were very impressed with this beautiful golf course and all the amenities it offered.

From Molokini our boat anchored at a turtle bay before we headed back to the docks. Katie was the only one of us who actually spotted a turtle on this part of the anchoring. We enjoyed a barbecue lunch while the boat was at this spot. By the time we arrived at the turtle area the water wasn’t as calm or clear at this spot.

After docking we walked back to our drop off location for our sons to pick us up and take us all back to the resort. This was at 1pm and the air was so still and hot with humidity above 80%. We missed the lovely breeze that we enjoyed on the water! While waiting for our ride, I found a wood carved turtle that fit the bill for JJ’s wish list!

Mahalo for stopping by…

Sometimes a Light Surprises ~ Hymn

Sometimes a Light Surprises

Sometimes a light sur­pris­es
The Christ­ian while he sings;
It is the Lord, who ris­es
With heal­ing in His wings:
When com­forts are de­clin­ing,
He grants the soul again
A sea­son of clear shin­ing,
To cheer it af­ter rain.

In ho­ly con­tem­pla­tion
We sweet­ly then pur­sue
The theme of God’s sal­va­tion,
And find it ev­er new.
Set free from pre­sent sor­row,
We cheer­ful­ly can say,
Let the un­known to­mor­row
Bring with it what it may.

It can bring with it no­thing
But He will bear us through;
Who gives the lil­ies cloth­ing
Will clothe His peo­ple, too;
Beneath the spread­ing hea­vens,
No crea­ture but is fed;
And He who feeds the rav­ens
Will give His child­ren bread.

Though vine nor fig tree nei­ther
Their wont­ed fruit should bear,
Though all the field should wi­ther,
Nor flocks nor herds be there;
Yet God the same ab­id­ing,
His praise shall tune my voice,
For while in Him con­fid­ing,
I can­not but re­joice.

Words: William Cowper, 1779.

Maui Day 5 Evening

Praise the Lord, on Monday evening Andrew and Katie made it out of the condo and down to the beach. We were all happy to see them outside and feeling better. They both felt good enough to plan on going on our scheduled trip to Molokini on Tuesday morning.

This was a quiet evening for our crew to enjoy the sunset and evening swimming for the littles.

Tuesday morning would be an early start for Molokini and Golf. Till then Aloha and Mahalo for following along on our Maui Adventures.

Truth for Today #204

Friday October 23rd

On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s continue to dig deep into God’s truth.

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you.

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as we see the Day drawing near.

From Vera:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭130‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”

From Leonard:

Jeremiah 31:3-4

“I have loved you with an everlasting love. I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. I will build you up again, and you will be rebuilt. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful”

Maui Day 5

This will be part two of our Monday October 5th adventures.

Monday October 5th had a variety of activities with fewer participants. Dan and family left early to deliver Granny and Granny Great to their Helicopter ride. Dan and family enjoyed breakfast at a restaurant close to the helipad while they waited. The waitress brought these to Addy and JJ ‘on the house’ because she thought they were such a cute family. Addy’s dream come true to drink out of a coconut!

The rest of us had a leisurely morning before our car left the resort to meet up with this crew after the helicopter ride. We would meet at the Maui Zipline company on the grounds of the Maui Tropical Plantation.

These six brave souls were our zipliners. Granny Great (85) decided to take over Katie’s spot since Katie was still being sequestered on this day. Andrew was feeling a lot better.

The staff are in the bright yellow shirts. Besides our six there was another family of five.

Granny and Granny Great!

Gramps!

After three platforms Granny and Granny Great opted out of any more rides.

JJ and Auntie LoLo in the distance making videos. JJ knew he did not want to zipline. Me, Jamie and LoLo opted out and preferred watching along with JJ.

Addy was a trooper and had the time of her life!

The grounds were really beautiful and the farm grows over 65 varieties of tropical fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs and flowers.

I’ll save the rest of this day for another post or two. We were a little bummed that by the time our group was done with ziplining the whole farm had shut down so we couldn’t peruse the gift shop or get a refreshing drink. On the way back we stopped at a roadside grouping of shops and food trucks for some refreshment before making it all the way to our resort. Leoda’s Bakery Cafe specialized in all kinds of house made pies like turkey, beef, chicken and sweet pies. The sweet varieties were banana cream, chocolate macadamia, coconut and apple.

Fall Back Hodgepodge

This photo of JJ and Addy covered with leaves is from Fall 2019 after the leaves fell with the famous Western Larch tree in the background.

Here we go again with some fresh Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions. Thank you, Joyce!

1. This week’s Hodgepodge lands on ‘Back To The Future Day’. October 21, 2015 was the date the movie characters (Marty McFly, Doc, and Jennifer Parker) traveled to in the future in the 1989 film Back To The Future Part 2. 

Did you see the movie?

I think I’ve seen the movie…

Tell us a something about what was happening in your life in the fall of 2015. 

Looking back at October and November of 2015 was emotional for me. This was the most significant family event that took place over October and November. Our brother-in-law, Nick,  had a major health event prompting me to get on a plane to spend time with my sister and her family on October 19th. I stayed in Southern California with my sister through October 26th. Nick was airlifted from Hoag in Newport Beach to Cedar Sinai in Beverly Hills the day I arrived. My family and others rallied around our sister Vera and our niece and nephew. I was able to see Nick in intensive care and tell him one last time that I loved him. I knew it would be the last time. He passed away on October 29th. We all flew down to Southern California again for his funeral which was on Veteran’s Day at Riverside National Cemetery. Nick was a Viet Nam Veteran and the Patriot Guard Riders of Southern California showed up to honor Nick.

2. Which -ber month is your favorite? (September, October, November, December). Explain why. 

I love all the ber months for different reasons.

September ~ Greg’s birthday, getting back into a more regular routine and for Fall Bible Study

October ~ the colors of Fall and the annual trek through the corn-maze

November ~ Thanksgiving meal and time with family

December ~ Our anniversary and Christmas

3. Red, yellow, orange, bronze…your favorite fall color to wear?

Red is a color I have in my closet but it is not dominant.

To eat?

I enjoy butternut squash and sweet potato, so orange is my answer.

To see in nature? 

One of the things we look forward to in the Fall is our Western Larch/Tamarack trees changing from green to golden…

4. What do you miss most about being 20? 

I was 20 in the year 1971. I wouldn’t want to go back to that time but I do miss my sharper 20 year old memory, my 20 year old flexibility and my 20 year old stamina not to mention my youthful skin.

Back to the present, I’ll choose joy in all the glory of growing old which includes experience, retirement, being further along in my sanctification, and enjoying dinner at 3pm!

5. We’re roughly three quarters of the way through the year. What’s one goal, habit, or mindset you want to purposely carry into the final weeks of the year? Elaborate. 

I want to plan something fresh/different at least once a week to enjoy for dinner! Woohoo after answering this question on Monday, I actually made something new, a Lemony Orzo. Thank you, Sandy.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 
We are still enjoying our memories/photos of our time in Maui. I’m just on Day 5 in my journal memory posts on my blog with several more to come.
Although my computer screen says 9:21 we were three hours behind in Maui so it was actually 6:21 am while I enjoyed the sun rising from our condo deck.

Maui Day 5 Early Morning

On Monday early morning Greg and I finally walked on the beach to see the sunrise.

Just outside the main lobby we stopped to say hi to one of the resident cats.

Our walk at dawn was a beautiful peaceful way to start our day.

Later in this week we did see one of these sea turtles come up out of a wave. Too fast for any camera to be able to capture.

We made it back to our room for some breakfast before heading to our zip lining destination.

Before we left I saw this boat out on the water and had to take a couple shots!

Off to our next adventure…

Maui Day 4

After a busy Saturday we had a free to relax day on Sunday October 4th.

There were early morning walks before the pools opened at 8am. Others had their early morning walks for some specialty coffee.

It was an egg breakfast in the condo day with a healthy shake (everyday). A beach day, pool day, quesadilla in the condo lunch day with drinks and Calamari at the poolside. A shopping across the street day at a one of a kind Island souvenir store. JJ had two items on his wish list, a shark tooth necklace and a wood carved turtle. This store had the necklace! Addy wanted a purple sweatshirt with Hawaii in bigger letters and Maui in smaller letters. She’d have to keep shopping…

Snorkel practice time in the pools before doing some big time snorkeling at a bay.

On this day we had strong winds and some rain, too. The white caps on the ocean were telling.

 

Dinner was a trip to the food truck park which is right across the street from our resort. Everyone could choose their own treats from the variety of trucks housed here.

We had evening milk and cookie times, cuddle times and puzzle time, too. Auntie LoLo brought the Hawaii puzzle for us to put together which we completed by day four and we started on a World Cup Puzzle that I brought after this one.

Both Katie and Andrew were sequestered on this day but we were happy to hear that Andrew’s Fever broke and he was feeling much better. We were able to bring them some dinner from the food trucks. We were praying that Katie and Andrew would be well enough for our Molokini trip on Tuesday.

 

Father of Omnipresent Grace!

Father of Omnipresent Grace!

Father of om­ni­pre­sent grace!
We seem agreed to seek Thy face;
But ev­ery soul as­sem­bled here
Doth nak­ed in Thy sight ap­pear:
Thou know’st who on­ly bows the knee,
And who in heart ap­proach­es Thee.

Thy Spir­it hath the dif­fer­ence made
Betwixt the liv­ing and the dead;
Thou now dost into some in­spire
The pure, be­ne­vo­lent de­sire:
O that e’en now Thy pow­er­ful call
May quick­en and con­vert us all.

The sin­ners sud­den­ly con­vince,
O’erwhelmed be­neath their load of sins;
Today, while it is called to­day,
Awake, and stir them up to pray,
Their dire cap­tiv­ity to own,
And from the ir­on fur­nace groan.

Then, then, ac­know­ledge, and set free
The peo­ple bought, O Lord, by Thee!
The sheep for whom their Shep­herd bled,
For whom we in Thy Spir­it plead:
Let all in Thee re­demp­tion find,
And not a soul be left be­hind.

Words: Charles Wesley, 1767.

Maui Pineapple Farm

After our trip up above the clouds to Haleakala Volcano we made our way to a Pineapple Farm. By the time we arrived at the farm our daughter Katie was feeling very sick and our son Josh volunteered to take her back to the resort. There were now 9 of us taking the tour instead of 12.

This was our second adventure on Saturday, October 3rd.

Before we got on the air conditioned bus we walked through some of the areas where the pineapples are processed.

On the bus we drove down the road to the pineapple fields.

We enjoyed some breezes that brought some moisture from the rain forest that the farms were situated adjacent to.

When we were done on the pineapple farm Josh arrived from his roundtrip to take Katie back to the resort. What a guy! We packed up our 12 pineapples and made our way to Whaler’s Village where we had reservations for dinner at the Hula Grill. The ten of us were able to be seated together which was nice. We were refreshed from our long day of adventures with some good food and a nice breeze.

After some photos on the beach at sunset we had a little time to shop at the ABC store before driving back to the Resort.

Saturday was done and we looked forward to a free day on Sunday.