So, as I prepare to re-enter the working world, I’m asking myself this question… should I care?

My blog, be it fairly open and somewhat random, really doesn’t contain too much unsavory information. I’m usually fairly tame in what I post here. Even if a potential employer searched me out, and discovered this blog, would it be an issue? I’d like to think that my blog reflects a well rounded picture of me – I feel like written communication is one of my strengths, and hope it comes across here as such. The only place I see it might be an issue is if an employer is anti-family, but (aside from the illegality of this) that’s probably not a job I want anyway. Please, go ahead and screen me out of that one. You’ll be doing us both a favor.

I have the option of using my formal name for anything job related. It creates one additional layer to peel back before stumbling upon the rest of my public information, but maybe that’s all I need. A cursory google search reveals nothing other than my Linked In page, which is perfectly fine by me, as that only contains professional information. Entering my common name, the one everyone knows, pretty much points you straight here. Just check out the third entry in google.

So now I ask you… should I care? Should I be doing more to obscure my blog from probing eyes?

I’ve been pondering this question a lot lately. Is it individual acts and things, or is it the bigger picture? My guess is that a lot of little things add up to the bigger picture, so, in fact, the answer is both.

De-cluttering our house has led me to start examining my life, my person, my self, and see where clean up might help. Are my actions leading me to that fabled place of happiness? Or am I seeking short term fixes that detour my path? I have a feeling it’s a bit of both, and I have a strong desire to explore those things that bring me long term and enduring happiness. Things that keep the ultimate goal in sight and make me a happier person in general.

I’m goal driven. I know this about myself. I’m also ridiculously competitive. I’m not sure if this is something that I do a good job of hiding, or if it’s so obvious that it’s pointless to state. Often, I am fixated on a goal. An end result. Making something. Seeing something come to fruition. Standing back, admiring it, then moving on to the next. The journey isn’t my primary focus, the goal is.

In life, though, this approach doesn’t really work. How’s that saying go? It’s the journey, not the destination. Yes, I lose sight of this all too often. For example, when hiking, I have a destination in mind. I’ll push myself to get there, blinders on, focused on the goal ahead. How much do I miss by taking this approach? What am I giving up by focusing on the target ahead, completely oblivious to the beauty surrounding me in the moment? I know I miss a lot. When I reach the destination, I stick to my schedule. I mentally check each thing my list – reaching the goal, spending the obligatory time taking in the nature around me, snapping photos,consuming lunch/snack/water, starting the trek back.

I enjoy hiking, but I don’t know that it’s for the right reasons. I enjoy being outdoors. I enjoy being away from civilization. But mostly? I enjoy having a goal in mind and seeing it get done. At the end of the day, recalling that we had a plan for the day, and we were successful in setting it in motion.

I don’t think being goal driven is always a bad thing. It pushes me to do things I might otherwise pass up. But I don’t know that it, or things on my lists, bring me happiness. In fact, I’m fairly certain that they don’t. Maybe I can use the goal driven side of me to increase my happiness factor overall. Seeking out things I enjoy, new and old, and setting goals around them to keep them at the forefront of my life. The best of both worlds.

I have a plan for all of this… stay tuned for more.

(tagged – the happiness project)

So how did it go? Much like everything else on this trip so far, very well. Well, with the exception of me not sleeping. Insomnia struck last night. Such a bummer on vacation, but the blow is softened slightly knowing that Ben is around to help with Claire, so I can take a nap if needed. I woke up around 3 a.m., wasted some time in the living room watching shows on Hulu and exercising a bit. Then I made my way out to the lanai at 6 a.m., had some tea and listened to the waves. All in all, not a terrible way to spend a morning.

Today, we checked out at a local breakfast favorite, the Kihei Caffe, and gave ourselves a morning off from cooking. Breakfast fully met our expectations. Seating is outside, and all the ordering is done inside at the counter. After standing in line for about ten minutes, we found ourselves at the front, chatting it up with a friendly cashier. To start, we ordered a few coffees and a massively gooey cinnamon roll to share. These were ready immediately for us to carry out with us. For breakfast, we ordered Claire a whale pancake, Ben had a meat lovers omelet, and I balanced things out with the veggie scramble. We carried our coffee and cinnamon roll outside to find a table and wait for the rest of our meal to arrive. Claire had no problem diving in to the cinnamon roll, and probably would have made that her entire breakfast, had they not been speedy with the rest of our order. Everything was delicious.

our deliciously gooey cinnamon roll... half eaten (we couldn't wait)

claire enjoys some cinnamon roll (btw, the red blotch on her arm is a little mermaid temporary tatoo)

claire loved the whale pancake, but was most excited about the butter, powdered sugar and chocolate chips... I'm not even sure this counted as breakfast. :)

veggie scramble, cooked to perfection. yummy!

ben poses with his meat omelet

After breakfast, we walked across the street to the park to play for a bit. Claire loved swinging and running around in the play structure. We loved the view! The ocean was the backdrop to the park, just a few hundred yards away from where we stood. It was a fantastic park. Even better? They had a dinosaur tic-tac-toe and the ASL alphabet up on their play structure! How cool is that? If the ocean wasn’t enough to sell me, those pushed me over the edge.

claire loves swinging!

dinosaur tic-tac-toe!

ben and claire check out the asl alphabet

We had a nice dinner out tonight at Sarento’s. Our nanny* came back to watch Claire and we set out with hopes of actually seeing our first real Maui sunset. We arrived during happy hour, so we got some wine for half price, then took it to our table to catch an amazing sunset. The best thing about this place (besides the amazing food)? The view. Below is a photo I took while sitting at our table. We got a fantastic table, right next to the beach, but they all looked pretty great. They even had an in house photographer to capture a photo of us as the sun was setting, so, again, we paid the outrageous tourist price for a single print. Considering it turned out great, it was well worth it (to be posted – I haven’t scanned that one in yet).

the sunset view from our table... perfection

ben looks over the menu at sarento's

so many good dinner options to accompany my half price glass of wine :)

It was a beautiful day, sunny weather, not too windy and oh so warm. Perfect temperature, really. I think we’ve acclimated to the humidity, as it doesn’t feel as sticky as it did when we first arrived. Such a fantastic trip.

Link to Maui, Day 6 photo gallery -

2010-01-20 Maui, Day 6

*At some point, I promised to post about this, so here’s more info about our nanny. We used The Nanny Connection, an island wide service available on Maui. They come to your condo/hotel/wherever to watch your kid(s). They bring their bag of toys and keep them fully entertained. In addition, all the nannies are CPR certified and background screened. Our nanny, Andrea, did a fantastic job with Claire. We never had issues with separation anxiety – Claire was very happy to run off and play, leaving us behind! If you’re visiting and need this service, please request her!

We spent our morning walking down the beach, headed to the local farmers market. Cloth bags and list in hand, the waves lapped our feet as we walked. Claire had fun splashing about. It only took ten minutes to get there, and we took in the beautiful array of fresh fruits and vegetables. Picked up a few pineapples, lemons, grapefruit, starfruit and corn. We sampled the chips and dips. They were all delicious, but we settled on getting the guacamole and bean dip. The best part of the trip was yet to come, though. We got a fresh coconut. They cut the top open with a machete for us so we could drink the water inside. Then, using the machete again, chopped it in half to expose the delicious, fresh coconut meat. Using a spoon, we scooped our the insides and slurped them down. It was like nothing I’d imagined. Very yummy.

Click for video of the coconut getting machete’d!

From 2012-01 Maui, Day 5

Click for video of Claire drinking coconut water…

From Album 2012-01 Maui, Day 5

Nap time came early today. Claire was asking for it on our walk home from the market, so we put get straight to bed when we got back. And then, it was time for us adults to relax. Guacamole, chips, drink and book in hand, I found my way out to the lanai for some sunbathing. I’ve been reading “Hunger Games”, a book on loan from a friend, and am completely sucked in. I can’t get enough. I only wish I had more time and energy to spend reading. I’m nearly through with book one, though, and I only brought this and the second with me, so it’s probably not a bad thing that I’m forced to pace myself.

Nap time done, we drove up to Lahaina. The plan was to walk around, get some coffee and check out the town. We spent some time in the local park, checking out an awesome banyan tree. It looked like twelve individual trees, but upon closer investigation, we discovered that the branches intertwined with one another, and the roots were all connected as well (this part we couldn’t see, but surmised). Roots shot out, sprouted as new trees, and then the branches above connect. It was crazy! Claire played around the trees for a bit, having fun running in the gravel and getting some energy out.

Click for video of Claire running around the Banyan Tree…

From 2012-01 Maui, Day 5

After seeing numerous signs for Hawaiian “shave ice” during our trip, we were intrigued. We stopped at a local place and tried it out. We opted for the “lava flow”. Peña colada and strawberry shave ice over ice cream, topped with cream. DE-licious.

We enjoyed our shave ice, then made our way to the docks, walking along the pier and out a rocky moor to the ocean. We say and watched the surfers and boats glide effortlessly through the water. It made me want to be more adventurous in the ocean. Watching ten year old kids manage the crashing waves without fear made me feel guilty for not trying it myself. We have yet to venture much more than waist deep in the water on this trip. I’d say I have a healthy fear of the ocean. I’ve never considered myself a strong summer, but I make due. I’ve braved the ocean waves off the coast of California, never really enjoying it. The cold, the crashing, the getting my hair wet… yeah, not for me. The only time I’ve really enjoyed it? Florida. Yup, those beaches were AMAZING. Give me those calm waves, bath water temperatures and I’m happy. Too bad the sharks love those conditions, too. Just can’t win, can I? I guess I’m more of a lounging on the beach girl.

In the evening, we had a sunset dinner cruise booked, hoping to see some whales while dining on the ocean. We had yet to see a sunset on Maui – timing seemed to be off or we were distracted and missed it. We attempted to watch it last night, rushing to the lanai minutes before it set, only to find it shrouded by clouds. So, with whale watching and seeing a sunset both on our Maui bucket list, we booked a dinner cruise from Lahaina.

The cruise departed late about twenty minutes late, which was disappointing because we lost precious whale watching daylight. It was equally disappointing that, once again, clouds rolled in over the ocean, blocking our view of what I’m sure was a spectacular sunset. Even seeing the edges of it behind the clouds was amazing. The sky painted with beautiful shades of pink and orange. Making up for the disappointments were the whale sightings. Amazing. A mother and calf swam closer and closer to the boat, breaching and spouting as they approached. Claire was incredibly excited to see them, too, and kept calling them “baby beluga” (a Raffi song about a little white whale).

From 2012-01 Maui, Day 5

Another great day in Maui. Can’t believe this trip is halfway over already.

More pictures from today (click to see the full album):

2012-01 Maui, Day 5

You’d think a three day fast would be a piece of cake after a seven day one, but mentally, it seems harder to get back on track. You know the challenges that await you. It’s harder to face the bad stuff a second time, especially when it’s so fresh in your head. Adding on, the first three days of a fast are always the worst. The hunger pains don’t quell until after day 3, so by doing a shorter term fast, you really are subjecting yourself to the worst parts of fasting. But, despite the hunger pains, you do still derive benefit from even a short term fast, so we embark on this journey once again.

I have it dialed in a little better this time. I know what to buy in bulk from Costco, and what to hold off on and buy from Trader Joes. I try to stick to organic as much as I can, especially when juicing. I also have weekly farmers markets that are at my disposal, which I will take better advantage of this time. I stumbled upon one last Tuesday, and I have already found my favorite farm there. Although they’re not certified organic, they are pesticide free, so you get organic quality for non organic prices. My kind of deal. In a pinch, I’ve discovered an awesome website to search out all the other local guys – http://www.localharvest.org Yes, I’m revising my previous statement of laziness and searching out organic farmers markets for a portion of my produce. I’ve decided to skip the csa box delivery for now, instead seeing what $25 at farmers markets will get me (which, incidently, is the cost of the smallest box we can have delivered to us). So far, I walked away from the Tuesday market with the equivalent of a box of produce for $9. Now that? That makes sense to the numbers side of my brain and makes the little accountant locked up inside of me quite happy.

We are making the most of the sunny weekend here and getting out. Saturday is free museum day here, so we’re heading to the train museum. Later in the afternoon, we have some organizing planned at home. And Sunday? We’re getting out and finding a hike. Maybe somewhere in the auburn area. It’s great to live in California!

Seriously printer? A phantom media jam… again? You really are irritating me these days. Your status alternates between that and “Incorrect Black Cartridge” (a constant reminder than we opted for the cheapy, off brand version instead of the name brand that cost thrice as much). I would throw you out you if I didn’t have other reasons to love you.

We have a konica minolta magicolor DL. It’s a laser printer and a solid beast. It was $350 from costco six years ago, and has seen a full gamut of work thrown it’s way. Everything from wedding invitations to 10K reports. It’s a workhorse. It’s also finicky and high maintenance. It’s very particular about the type of paper it likes and will behave like a spoiled four year old if it doesn’t get it’s way. Puttering out, giving a sigh and flashing “media jam tray 1″ until you coax it back to life. It doesn’t like too much paper in the tray (forget about filling it up to the “max” line). It also doesn’t like too little. Err on either side, you’ll find out soon enough. It doesn’t like labels – you have to manually feed them in one sheet at a time, giving a little shove when you feel the rollers grip the edge of the page ever so slightly. Don’t push too much, though, or the machine will protest. Same goes for photo paper, card stock or any other non standard type of paper.

The reviews online actually rank our printer one of the best for the money. We’d have to move up to the $1,000 range to find comparable features in a replacement. So, I really shouldn’t complain too much.

Here’s the “love” part of this machine. It’s reliable. Although it has it’s quirks, and requires a lot of hand holding and babysitting to get through the most basic of tasks, it works. There are days it works flawlessly. You feed it the right kind of paper, just the right amount, and send the right documents over? It’s perfection. My favorite part, though, is something I stewed over with ink jet printers for years. There’s no ink to dry up. In six years, we’ve replaced our black cartridge twice, and our color cartridges ONCE. We’ve saved hundreds in not throwing out dried up ink cartridges that meet their demise early. That part? I love. It negates almost all of the cons. It allows me to forgive my printer for it’s neediness and bad attitude.

The final con, though, is one that can’t be offset. I’m constantly underwhelmed by the quality of photos from our printer. I realize laser printers are just not built for this kind of job, so I can’t fault our specific printer. It just comes with the territory – the pictures that print out are probably going to suck a little. What I don’t get is why the laser printer companies profess how wonderful the pictures come out? When we bought this printer, the demo photo was a guy on a snowboard, thrashing down the side of a mountain, snow spraying the trees in the foreground, beautiful blue skies in the background. Why did you let me think this printer could be anything more than it is? That it could function as a substitute for printing family photos? That it would address all of my printing needs?

It’s a good thing it’s so cheap to print photos at costco… and they do a fantastic job, at that. Otherwise, printer, we might have to find you a little brother or sister to handle those photo printing jobs.

We made a game time decision to drive the road to Hana today. Claire hasn’t been sleeping as much as usual, and it’s starting to show in her temperament. Really, the same could be said for Ben and me, too, but we have coffee to get us through the day. So, we gambled that a nice drive might give her the time she needs to get a decent nap in. We figured she’d sleep in the drive in, we could bookmark the places that interested us, then stop at them on the way back.

Speaking of bookmarking, we used a GPS audio tour called “Maui Free” for our journey on the road to hana. As we approached various gps coordinates on our drive, the app recognized them and gave us a narrative on the nearby attractions. The attraction points were mapped by GPS coordinates, so even though you couldn’t see the map due to data loss, the application still recognized when you got to various locations. We could add “pins” to the locations of interest, so they were easy to come back to. Pretty nifty.

The drive was beautiful. And it was ideal to get an idea of what there was to see before committing to stopping. Knowing that we had to turn around and come back the same way was comforting in a way. It gave us a chance to take it all in.

We dove right in to the excitement from the beginning of the trip, with an attraction not on the map. We spotted the bright, colorful birds from the car, drove past, then turned around to go back and check things out. A man from some sort of “conservation” group was posing these birds for photo ops. As we approached, the guy told us it was $20 to take pictures, but that he was a photographer, would pose the birds for us and snap the pictures. Sure, why not, we figured. So, here are a few of the shots we got. The photos turned out great. I’m skeptical that he was really a part of any not for profit group, but that really wasn’t the point of it for us.

On the road again, and Claire dozed off as we took in the sites. Unfortunately, she didn’t nap as long as we’d hoped. When we made a detour at a local fruit stand for bananas and a thai tea, she woke up. A mere 45 minute nap. Not nearly long enough. The stop was worth it, though. We met an energetic lady at the stand, who was enamored with Claire, snapped pictures of all of us to put on her wall, and told us stories about her son, the lead guitarist for weird Al. We got a refreshing thai ice tea, some coconut candy and mini bananas. Man, I love those mini bananas. Not only does Claire look adorable eating them, but they are delicious!

We stopped for lunch at a black sand beach just outside Hana. It was a great break. We’d enjoyed our packed lunch, swam a bit and soaked in the sun.

Claire was getting tired by the end of lunch, so we put her back in the car and drive on, hoping she’d take another nap. We drove on, taking in most of the sights from the car, bookmarking as we went. The plan was still to hit most on the way back. Sleep didn’t come, though.

We’d traveled nearly to the end of the line, the road was narrowing and would turn to dirt shortly, and we decided we were ready to make the trip back. We were just about to turn around when good fortune smiled upon us and I spotted what looked like a whale. We pulled over at the nearest spot, got out and rushed down to the beach. Within minutes, we saw it again, a fin, a head, a flipper, spouting. Then, full breaching. Incredible. Whales are such majestic creatures. It humbles me to see them in the wild.

Whale breaching

Saying "hello"!

Mid air! Wow!!

A new found excitement about the drive filled us. The whale sighting alone was enough to make the long drive worth it. On the way back, we stopped at a waterfall to hike out and take pictures. It was one of the easiest hikes along the road to Hana, but it was breathtaking all the same. Claire wanted, so badly, to swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall. We, however, weren’t ready to get wet again, or manage the slippery rocks with a tired two year old, so we stayed safely aloft for our photo ops.

Claire finally fell back to sleep just as we were nearing Twin Falls, a spot we really wanted to check out. Still, even awake she was in no mood to explore, so we let her sleep and made a plan to come back. Luckily, the falls are at the beginning of the drive, and we had lunch reservations scheduled nearby for Sunday already.

A side note – the mosquitoes here love me. And, brilliantly, despite the fact that I packed bug spray for the road to Hana yesterday, I failed to use it. I didn’t notice any mosquitoes while we were out, but they must have been there – I have the bites to prove it. And, yet, Claire and Ben came out unscathed. I’ve found eight bites so far. Eight. And mosquito bites are not kind to me. They itch like crazy and swell up to quarter size, minimum. You know the toothpaste trick? The one where you coat blemishes with toothpaste for a cheap for acne treatment? The itching was bad enough tonight that I tested it out on my bites. If it works on zits, maybe it will dry out these bites as well. The verdict? Helps quell the itching, didn’t do a darn thing for the bite. Oh well, worth a shot. (A few days later, Ben told me that’s actually a sanctioned mosquito bite remedy. Guess I wasn’t the first to think of it!)

The verdict? Road to Hana – totally awesome. Mosquito bites – not so much. Take your bug spray with you… and use it.

(As a side note, I tried to get this post up last night, but ran in to infuriating technical difficulties – namely, error messages from wordpress servers. So, these hawaii posts are going up slower than anticipated, but I hope you’re all enjoying them despite the delay!)

It’s unfair that I don’t get that high that so many others feel after pushing themselves through an exceptionally hard workout. That addiction that pushes you to keep going and makes you want more. That reward for your hard work. Sometimes I see brief glimpses, but for the most part, I hate every minute of the activity known as “exercise”.

There it is, folks. My shameful admission. Because you’re supposed to like exercise, right? Or at least not detest it. Or exhibit some emotion about it other than disdain. Especially when you’ve been doing it faithfully for several months. It’s supposed to get easier. Better. Less horrible.

Some days are better than others. Today was an off day. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Drained. Had to smile and fake it through the day though. Days like this, I like to keep busy away from the house. Lots of activities, playdates, etc, to keep us actively engaged. Ballet this morning, playdate with friends, naptime at home for Claire, reading and (blah) exercise bike for me, a visit to the chicken park to swing and feed the chickens (swing Claire, not the chickens), then to Barnes and Noble to finish out the final hour before Ben came home. Yup. Busy day.

Here’s the deal. I’m having a bit of trouble getting my brain around the whole “going back to work” thing. While I feel like it’s time, I’m feeling a bit nervous about it. It’s been, what, six years since I last interviewed for a job? Since 2006. And nearly two years that I’ve been out of the work force. I realized that this is the first year since I was 16 that I haven’t gotten a W-2 form. Whoa! Where’s my piece of paper quantifying my value for the past year? Showing my contribution to society? How do I determine my worth if monetary terms are out of the equation? Certainly, the bright, delightful, sweet girl sleeping in the room next to me fills some of that gap, but in a system like ours, where qualitative measures aren’t of much use, it leaves me feeling a bit lacking. There’s no resume line item for “Worked my a$$ off at home with my daughter”. No reviews to show my boxes were all marked “satisfactory”, or “exceeds expectations”. No referral I can provide for the work I’ve done over the past two years. Unfortunately, in terms of my career, it’s as if I took that time off.

So here I am. Anxious to get back on the horse, but nervous and scared at the same time. I will mourn the loss of my time with Claire and my flexible schedule, but will gain things like lunch hours with unlimited freedom to go wherever I want and get things done on my time frame. Oh yeah, and a paycheck.

I’ll likely still have two days a week home with her, so life as we know it will not be going away completely, but will be more complicated as we add commitments such as preschool and work to the agenda. What happens when she’s sick? What of there’s a special event I want to attend? And here’s the really, really scary question for me. What if I just can’t hack it at work? What if I’ve lost those great ideas that used to flow effortlessly to me? What if pregnancy turned my brain into mush? I know I was off my game during pregnancy, and even still during the three months I went back to work, but I chalked that up to hormones and sleep deprivation. What if that wasn’t it, though?

Although I have a few interesting job paths I could look into, I’m thinking I may ease my way back in through temp accounting work. Here’s the bad thing with that, though. Aside from the fact that jobs may be scarce as the applicant pool has ballooned, I also won’t have much flexibility if, say, Claire gets sick while at preschool. With a permanent job, I think such a situation would be handled with a bit more forgiveness. But when you’re already filling in for someone else who couldn’t make it? That’s probably awful form.

Job search starts next week, I think. Maybe by then I’ll have wrapped my brain around things a little better and be slightly less anxious about the whole situation.

So, this morning is “me” time. I’m on my own until 12:30 pm. At that point, I’ll collect Claire and bring her home for nap time. We have her enrolled three half days a week right now, but will most likely bump it to three full days once she acclimates. Hopefully I’ll have found some part time work by then, too. Back to the “me” time thing, though… ah, yes. I’m tempted to check things off my to do list, given the opportunity to do so without distraction, but, really? It’s been so long since I’ve enjoyed any length of time in our house alone. Aside from Saturday mornings, which afford me an hour while Ben and Claire attend Gymboree, I can’t think of the last time I was home alone since Claire was born. Maybe once when I was sick. So this morning, I’m ignoring the chores that are calling my name and the bills that should be paid, and am sitting on the exercise bike, reading and blogging.

It’s lovely. Just lovely.

So, an early morning wake up call prompted us to roll out of bed and get the day moving. We’d talked last night about visiting the Iao Needle this morning. Time seemed to be on our side, as we were up early enough to head out there. After breakfast at the condo, we piled in to the jeep and got on the road aground 7:30 a.m. The morning haze was hanging on, obscuring the tops of mountains and blunting the suns bright rays. They would break through soon enough, but for now, we were enjoining the cool, damp air of the morning.

Iao Needle was a fantastic area. Just enough of a hike that we all felt satisfied with the $5 parking fee, but not so long that Claire reached a melting down point. Finding that balance can be tough. She wants, so badly, to do things on her own, but refuses to accept that she might have physical limitations. We brought the ergo along, just in case the hike was too much for her. We were happy that it turned out to be just right. She was getting tired by the time we came down the steps, but was determined to make it on her own.

Claire & Dad walking up the steps.

Family shot, Iao Needle behind us.

Nap time has been interesting here. Claire’s internal clock is still set to California time (hence the 5:30 a.m. wake up), so she gets tired early. She was dozing off during the drive home from our hike, which we readily discouraged. We had a nanny scheduled to arrive at 10:30 a.m., and I wanted Claire to meet her before we took off for the afternoon.

Our adult time away went off without a hitch. We explored the area and checked out a local brewery and coffee shop. Claire enjoyed her time with the nanny, playing in the and a bit, getting a nap in and reading some books.

Look at those beautiful taps – Maui Brewing Company

Descriptions on the wall

Decisions, decisions…

Milk of Amnesia

Ben approves.

Macadamia Nut Brown for me

YUM.

Coooofffeee…

Cappuccino, yay! (Can you tell I’m tired here?)

After our time away, we reconvened for the afternoon and dinner. We spent our afternoon playing in the sand on the beach. Claire was obsessed with building a sand bunny, as we’d seen one on the beach the day before (a sand one, not a real one) and she desperately wanted to recreate it. So, we did. Here’s my best attempt…

Sand bunny!

Claire & Dad playing in the sand.

For dinner, we attended a luau and had such a fanatic night! We opted for a local luau, the Polynesian Village Luau, rather than one of the more commercial dinners. The biggest difference? Lower cost and no free booze. No problem for us – we didn’t really care about spending extra money for three free drinks anyway. We’d much prefer to spend that money elsewhere. They still provide the virgin versions of piña coladas and strawberry daiquiris, so if you’re really hard up, you can bring a flask and mix your own beverage to taste. The other big difference? This was a family affair, and it definitely felt that way. From the time you arrived, you felt warmly welcome and a part of the family. We got to try our hand at making lei’s, dancing, spear throwing and basket weaving. Then, the show began. The host was funny and entertaining. Despite the small audience size, he made jokes, kept us engaged and remained in a great mood. The food presentation was an event by itself, but in addition to that, we were entertained by dance and fire from various polynesian cultures around the world.

Picture of a picture, so it’s a bit fuzzy

Love this expression!

Dinner’s on!

While engaged in the “lei making” activity, we chatted with the girl helping us. She said she was born and raised in Hawaii, and had never really been anywhere else. There was another couple there from Canada, too. They mentioned how snowy it is there right now (negative 40°), and the Hawaiian native said that she’s love to see snow. It’s weird how it all comes down to perspective. The grass is always greener, I guess.