Category Archives: Fall

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 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.

Maui Day 3~Haleakala National Park

On Saturday October 3rd, I watched the gradual start to the day enjoying my cup of coffee.

This was going to be a long day that got the best of some of us. Andrew was already down for the count sequestered in his room with a fever. The rest of us got into our two cars and started the trip to Haleakala National Park. This will be part 1 of our experiences this day.

“No place can prepare you for the experiences and feelings you will have on the summit of Haleakalā volcano. The landscape—deeply sculpted, richly colored, and forever changing—is unlike anywhere else on Earth.”

Stephen Tyng Mather

“He laid the foundation of the National Park Service, defining and establishing the policies under which its areas shall be developed and conserved unimpaired for future generations. There will never come an end to the good that he has done.”

If you’d like to read more about the legacy of Mather click here.

This trip was not for the faint of heart. Although it was only 53 miles from our resort with the hairpin turns going from an elevation of 500 to 10,023 it took close to two hours. The Pu’u’ula’ula summit was our destination. We were above the clouds at this height and above the path of several planes we saw, too. Our grands were traveling troopers! Some of our crew suffered severe altitude issues with their ears.

The Haleakalā High Altitude Observatory (HO) site is located near the summit of Haleakalā on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The site was formally designated for observatory use by an executive order of the Governor of Hawaiʻi in 1961, and has been managed and operated by the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) to support high-quality, high-impact research, education, and space surveillance since then. HO is not part of the Haleakalā National Park and is not open to the general public. (Top photo of the collage above)

You can learn more about this National Park here.

We were all excited that Laura captured a sighting of the NeNe Birds! Click on NeNe for more info.

This caution was heeded and it was hard to walk with confidence at this elevation. I was a wee bit light headed and not confident of my steps.

Thankfully the trip down the mountain elevations seemed quicker. We stopped at the lower park headquarters and visitor center and enjoyed some sandwiches we made for this trip. It was so good to get back on relatively straight roads for our next adventure. That will be another post.

A Curious Hodgepodge

Anyone for pie from Leoda’s Bakery Maui? We have Leoda’s Banana Cream and Chocolate Macadamia.

Hello mid-October Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce!

1. Do you think you’re driven more by curiosity or comfort? Explain. 

Oh boy, this one is tough. I am a very curious person but I choose to seek things out in comfortable settings. I love to discover new places and historical sites etc., but I’m not traveling to unstable regions of the world to see those places. I won’t walk into dangerous situations. Enough of my curiosity can be satiated in comfort and safety.

2. What non-food item is in your refrigerator or freezer? 

Cold packs for our shopping trips to Costco which is 90 minutes away from us.

3. Are you comfortable with silence? If you’re home alone, do you like silence or do you need regular background noise? Do you seek out times and places to be silent? What’s your favorite place to find silence/be silent? 

I do enjoy worship music being on while I do household things but I don’t consider that noise. I’m not a fan of background noise in general.  After very noisy functions I let out a sigh of relief as we get in the car and head home. I like quiet in the morning while I read my Bible and other books and make my lists for the day.

4. Carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping…which skill would you most like to possess and how would you put that skill to use today?

Landscaping with a lot of muscle included so I could clean up my planters and know what to prune, what to pull and what to leave alone.

5. Do you lean more towards being too needy or too independent? Which do you find harder to deal with in others? 

I lean more toward independent and less needy. Sometimes being independent doesn’t serve me well in ministry, though. I’ve had to learn to ask for help more and more the older I get. I’m not a great recruiter. I admire people who are good at it! Genuine neediness is okay with me. Professional neediness drives me up the wall and what I mean by professional neediness is those who think the world and those around them owe them everything without a hint of gratefulness for what they are handed.

6.  Insert your own random thought here. 

We just got back from a trip to Maui with our family plus our DIL’s mother and Granny. I’m starting my posts of our time there. As usual there will be a lot of photos from our days and our adventures while there.

 

Maui 2026~Part Two

 

Do you see the window washer?

Our son Dan did all the preliminary planning of the more involved events like snorkeling, zip-lining, pineapple farm, etc. so the drives would be coordinated instead of zig zagging all around the island. Thanks, Dan.

On Friday October 2nd he planned a relaxing free day with no special events.

We had pool time and beach time and lots of photo time. We ended the day with dinner at Duke’s Restaurant which was right on our resort property.

Greg and I were captured on the path as we walked to Duke’s for an afternoon refreshment.

Granny Great got hit by a wave! Walking to find some famous Hawaii Shaved Ice…

A Wheelchair was rented to save Granny Great from the extra long stretches of walking.

There be three gentle and goodlie things
To be here
 To be together
And to think well of one another
~
L.M. Montgomery (from Pat of Silver Bush)
~
Thank you, to Lorrie (Fabric Paper Thread) for posting this quote I lifted for our time in Hawaii.
~
I was reading an article from Paul Tripp Ministries while in Maui and the title of a new teaching series (Mercy Triumphs over Judgement) where he shared his favorite verse of 2026,
James 2:13:
“For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
~
As I sat amongst the twelve of us in Maui with different quirks and different personalities I thought this was a perfect verse to dwell on and consider…
Our third day was a full travel to experiences day. Saturday will take a few posts to cover.

Maui 2026 Part One

Our travel journal begins early on Thursday October 1st as we picked up our Colville family for our ride together to the Spokane Airport at 6am. The ride to the airport is about 2 hours from our homes. Our son dropped us off at the Alaska terminal with all our luggage that he tetrised into the back of our vehicle masterfully. I should have taken a photo!

We established our base camp and waited for the first leg of our flight to Maui which included a change of airplanes in Seattle.

Our kids from the Seattle side of the state were on a flight from Seattle earlier than our flight would be.

They arrived at our resort before us and paved the way for our easy entry.

We had the last two rows on the short ride from Spokane to Seattle. The flight attendants gave us some good laughs before we took off.

Mount Rainier was visible on our flight into Seattle.

The Puget Sound on our descent. We had enough time at Seatac airport for a quick bite before we boarded our next flight that would be approximately five and a half hours to Maui.

All aboard and ready to go on our final leg to Maui.

We saw a lot of the Pacific ocean before we finally saw land!

What a welcomed sight!

I took this photo above from the airport in Maui. Our Seattle crew of four secured two vehicles for our time in Maui. Our vehicle was waiting for us in the parking lot just across from our terminal exit. Another tetris job by our son and we had luggage for 8 and seating for 8 all set and ready for our hour+ trip to our resort.

Our daughter and daughter-in-law met us as we drove up to the resort with our room codes and to show us the lay of the land. Our first glimpse of our view from the condo was jaw dropping. The twelve of us enjoyed two condos side by side for the duration of our stay.

After we settled into our rooms, a walk down to the beach was on the agenda.

Looking back at our lodgings, Honua Kai Resort and Spa.

Looking north.

Looking South…

 

One of our side by side decks with some of our crew.

Our Seattle crew of four had already made the trip to Costco to stock up on water, snacks, breakfast and lunch items for the week. Our dinners would be eaten out at restaurants or the nearby food truck court.

Thursday was done and we were all looking forward to a relaxing Friday with nothing on the agenda.

Mahalo for stopping by today. More adventures coming tomorrow.

Happy Columbus Day here in the U.S.A. and a very Happy Thanksgiving Day to our friends in Canada! 

Tropical Escape

This has been our view from our home away from home for the last 8 days. Our travels home started on Maui time Friday October 9th and we arrived in the wee hours of Saturday October 10th. I’ll be recuperating before I flood my blog with our Maui adventures. Aloha and Mahalo for stopping by today.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Ellen B. is still away from her computer until next week but wanted to leave you with this recipe since we have entered pumpkin season.

My family has a favorite easy Spice Cake that I’ve made over the years and I decided to switch it up a bit for pumpkin season. Instead of using applesauce that the original recipe called for I used 100% pure canned pumpkin and pumpkin spice instead of nutmeg.

Pumpkin Spice Cake

Ingredients:

  • 1 pkg. yellow cake mix
  • 1 pkg. 4 serving size Jello instant vanilla pudding (3.4oz.)
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup pure pumpkin filling (not sweetened)
  • 1/2 C. water
  • 1/4 C. oil
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. pumpkin spice

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl of electric mixer and blend then beat at medium for 4 minutes.
  3. Pour into well greased and floured 10 inch tube or fluted tube pan or angel food pan.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
  5. DO NOT UNDER BAKE.
  6. Cool in pan for 15 minutes then remove and cool on rack.
  7. When the cake has cooled and before serving give it a dusting of powdered sugar.
  8. It’s good by itself or served with vanilla ice cream.