Tag Archives: Maui 2026

A Golden Hodgepodge

Got leaves? We chased down some golden hues of Autumn this past Saturday.

And just like that it’s the last Hodgepodge of October. Thank you, Joyce!

1. What most recently gave you goose bumps? 

There have been a few nights in the last couple of weeks that our night sky has put on an amazing show of stars. With no street lights or big city close by we enjoy stars in such an amazing display it will give you goose bumps. I could never be able to capture the sight in a photo.

‘In the stars His handiwork I see’, did any of you sing that song in the late sixties or early seventies?

The stars, a glorious sunrise or sunset turns my mind to their creator, the one true God.

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. Psalm 19:1-2

And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. Daniel 12:3

Who are these like stars ap­pear­ing,
These be­fore God’s throne who stand?
Each a gold­en crown is wear­ing;
Who are all this glo­ri­ous band?
Alleluia! Hark, they sing,
Praising loud their heav’n­ly king.

2. What does Halloween look like in your home and/or neighborhood these days? Do you participate? 

These days the only trick or treaters we get are our favorites, our Grands. We live in the country on a road that does not have lights and where there are acres between homes. That is not conducive to having trick or treaters. We get special treats for our Grands and always love to see their creative costumes.

Our church has a very popular Harvest Festival with Trunk or Treating and we have had up to 1500 from our community come to enjoy the creative trunk or treats, the smores, hot chocolate and indoor bouncy houses. Our church membership donate up to 500 pounds of candy for this event. We always include a handout with a clear presentation of the Gospel.

3. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia…your favorite seed on the list? What’s something you like to make/eat that calls for one of these seeds in the recipe? 

I have been a fan of good sunflower seeds (semechki) since my childhood. Growing up we would stop by the seed man after ‘Big Church’ in Boyle Heights (Los Angeles) to buy packets of ‘plain’ sunflower seeds that came in brown paper packets and pumpkin seeds that came in clearer paper packets.

Boyle Heights — Tucked into a small red box of a building on Lorena Street, A&Z Nut Wagon had been a local source for all sorts of treats, from nuts, of course, to jerky. But after several decades in business, A&Z Nut Wagon closed up for good at the end of February.

There is nothing in my regular repertoire of cooking that calls for seeds.

4. What’s the most (or one of the most) ‘fall photos’ you’ve ever taken? Share it here. Just one. 

I’ll choose this one from 2012 for the color and for the memories. This was taken on a hike on our son’s first property in Chewelah, Washington. Our hike in the Fall afforded us the first views ever of Larch/Tamarack trees and the all encompassing gold this time of year. Little did we know then that we would be moving to this county in 6 years time.

5. Somehow we’re rolling in to November next week. If your October were a chapter in a book, what would the title of this chapter be? 

Twelve Celebrating in a Tropical Paradise

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

After Addy’s first basketball game of the season on Saturday, Greg and I chased down some October Gold. We drove south to Chewelah for lunch and enjoyed the golden treats along the way.

Maui Day 7

On Wednesday October 7th one of our cars would travel to Kapalua Cove to snorkel from the shore. The rest of us hung out at the resort and walked down to the artisan fair that set up just at the edge of our resort.

We could see the pop up tents going up.

All Six bedrooms in the two condos we rented had beach views, which was nice especially for Katie and Andrew when they were sequestered.

Greg and I walked down early to check out the wares that were being offered.

It was already hot and humid.

After scoping out the tents and what was being offered we headed back up to pick up Granny Great so she could do some shopping and to say goodbye to the crew who were going snorkeling.

They found a great shady spot to set up camp for their morning of snorkeling.

An adult was with our Grands the whole time they were in the water snorkeling and they had their life vests on and also used a pool noodle to help them stay steady as they snorkeled. The water was very choppy on this day and they had to cut their time short but Addy and JJ were excited about all the fish and eels and other creatures they were able to see.

Meanwhile back at the resort, Granny Great, Greg and I walked down to the beach and then did some shopping at the craft/artisan tents.

It was wonderful to have this daily view of the island of Molokai.

We bought fruit bowls and fruit smoothies for our lunch. Back in our rooms we were relaxing when the resort alarm and loud speakers in our rooms asked us to please exit the building via the stairs.

We headed next door to get Granny Great and found the stairs and exited down the 6 flights of stairs. Once outside we were informed with an apology that it was a false alarm. Yikes.

Our snorkeling crew made it back to the condos for showers and lunch instead of eating their packed lunches at the cove.

Wednesday afternoon was poolside with poolside orders of appetizers and drinks. Later in the evening after a last minute shopping trip for souvenirs and gifts we gathered at the food trucks again for our evening meal.

At this stage my recall from our time might have gotten mixed up with some things out of order. I do remember the major events but some of other things are foggy in my brain.

We did finish our second puzzle.

Thursday would be our last full day and it was packed from morning to night. It will take a few posts to cover our last day.

Mahalo for following along.

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.

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.

 

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.

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.