Paguirigan Family Christmas

We spent Christmas with the Paguirigan family this year. As usual, there was an over abundance of food and presents....but just enough holiday cheer. It all began at eight in the morning for us and ended at about nine at night. I had Ty's cousin's, Brandy and Brianna, over on Christmas Eve to help make christmas cookies for santa. Although our cookies tasted great, they seemed to have morphed into unusal shapes in the oven. To be honest, we really couldnt tell which was the angel and which was the bell. We iced them anyways and licked our fingers along the way.

Look its Bumblebee!

This dog is more my size.

Thanks Nana and Papa!!!!!

Haleakala National Park

We took the winding road and endless number of switchbacks to the top of Haleakala. The summit is 10,023ft. above sea level. The temperature at the top around 3 oclock was about 52 degrees. Not really short weather. Most tourists visit Haleakala for the sunrise...but with two small children not an option. The temperature at sunrise was said to be 32 degrees or below. The inside of the crater looks like what I think Mars would...large red sand dunes. Its not often that you are above the clouds!

Hiking Maui

Ty really wanted to go hiking in Maui. We took a short hike on the northwest side of the island. I was really taken back by how loud the waves were when they crashed into the cliffs. It is very tempting to lean over the cliffs just to get a better look....one false move and your gone. I kept a safe distance and a strong grip on Ty.

Road to Hana

We took the winding road to Hana which has breathe taking views of the island. From water falls to steep cliffs to lush mountian views. There are parts of this drive that I have to admit had me grabbing for the oh sh_t handle. I can't tell you if it was mainly Henry's driving or the fact that my babies were in the car. To break up the drive, we stopped off at Wai'anapanapa Black sand beach for a swim. This was my favorite part of our trip b/c I have never seen black sand before. There was also a short lava tube that you could walk through that put you out on the beach. The water wasn't too rough and it wore the boys out enough to continue the drive around the island.

Maui

Henry surprised me by telling me he had a week off before Christmas. Although I was excited, I was wishing he had told me earlier than a few days before his vacation started. I went ahead and checked to see if there were any cheap tickets to Maui. We got lucky and left 2 days later. Talk about spontaneous! We had a great time and the pictures do not do it justice. I told Henry that I think we are living on the wrong island. Maui is very beautiful and still very country. The slow pace lifestyle of the islands can really be felt on Maui. I had to break up the posts b/c there is just too many pictures. This first set is of the Maui aquarium...the boy's loved all the colorful fish.

Can you find the fish?

The video is of a very active Tako (Octopus)...couldn't resist filming his swimming abilities.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I had a rare opportunity to cook my Turkey in a Hawaiian Imu. This is the traditional way Hawaiians cook whole pigs to make kalua pork. The pictures are of the large fire pit that the turkeys are cooked in. My friend's son, Adam, was nice enough to stand with me for a picture. We dropped of the turkeys the night before Thanksgiving and picked them up the next morning. I have never had a turkey this moist before. The meat just fell off the bone....yum!

Ko Olina

In November, our friends from Oregon came to visit. They invited us to stay with them out at the Ko Olina Resort. Who could resist a vacation so close to home. We had a great time catching up with Greg and Jennifer not to mention meeting Allen for the first time. We showed them around the island and just relaxed. Something Henry and I both needed. Hopefully, we will make it out to Oregon to visit sometime soon.