Vacation Day 6-7

Sunday morning, Brandon tip-toed out of the room around 6:15 a.m. He had a tee time on the Plantation course at Kapalua. Alex wasn’t invited for this round. The Plantation is home to the Mercedes Championship on the PGA tour. This course is a big deal. Brandon played it the last time we were in Maui with his friend Joel. I was impressed with his resolve to play the course again not knowing with whom he might be paired. There seem to be a lot of older Japanese gentlemen, who may or may not choose to speak English, in search of a fourth. As luck would have it, Brandon ended up with a guy from Cincinnati on his honeymoon and two guys who work for Enterprise Rent-A-Car, my first illustrious 90 day career. He had a great time playing one of the most scenic courses in the world.

I don’t know why Brandon felt the need to sneak out, as the kids and I were up and about seconds after the door closed behind him. After breakfast, we headed for the beach.

I’m not a huge beach person, as we all know. I (sort of) got used to the sand in Gulf Shores, because I can deal with soft, warm, fluffy sand much better than any other kind. However, the kids were so excited to go to the beach and who doesn’t go to the beach in Hawaii?! So, off we went. After taking 75 pictures, I turned the kids loose. Alex wanted to do nothing aside from dig.

Meredith wanted to crash into waves.

The beach is breathtakingly gorgeous. It’s encased by two lava-formed peninsulas and the black contrasting with the blue water is spectacular. The sun was shining, it was breezy, and the temperature was 82 degrees. It doesn’t get much better and I even told someone that as Meredith and I were walking along the water’s edge. Then we got into the waves. As Alex watched us from his archeology site, Meredith and I body surfed and splashed around. We finally coaxed Alex into the water and he was cracking up trying to avoid being pushed into shore by the waves.

As we were having our laugh fest, a big wave hit us, and Meredith squealed and grabbed my face, catching my left ear. I was instantly nauseous. I suddenly remembered I was wearing my diamond studs. I felt the back sticking to my ear but realized the stud had just fallen to the bottom. Meredith started sobbing, and was practically inconsolable no matter how many times I assured her it wasn’t her fault at all. I told her it was “just a thing,” not to worry. All the while wondering if people sold one .5 carat weight earrings on eBay. I tried to push it out of my mind and have just fun, but it stung. Those earrings were my 30th birthday gift from Brandon. I wore them everyday and it didn’t even occur to me to take them out.

Moving on!

We then went to the pool for an hour or so. The kids swam until they reached exhaustion and we guessed Dad’s round was finished. By the time we got showered and ready for lunch, Brandon was home and we went back to The Aloha Mixed Plate, which is a deck where they serve food on paper plates and it is fantastic! Meredith ordered a scoop of rice. Delicious?

Sunday night, we went to The Old Lahaina Luau.

This would be the third time Brandon and I have gone to this particular luau, but I still get excited. They’re grounds are along the shore and just beautiful. It’s lit with tiki torches, is landscaped to make you feel like you’re in an ancient Hawaiian village, and they have an open bar. The show is an overview of Hawaiian culture using the hula as the guide. It’s spectacular!

We sat with a family, who also had a girl and a boy, and happened to be staying at our resort. The mom was a doll, the kids were a little surly, and the dad was a total weirdo. They were from Canada. He asked me 1,000 questions about our family and simply could not believe we would fly “all the way from the East coast” to come to Maui. Aside from needing a map, he was obnoxious. “Why wouldn’t you just go to south Florida?” We’ve been to south Florida, it doesn’t look like Maui. “Isn’t the snorkeling better in The Keys?” Well, we like other things aside from the snorkeling. “Why don’t you just go to Europe instead?” We have. We like vacationing in Maui better. It went on and on and on. The mom was shirking in embarrassment. The kids were scowling at each other.

They went on to tell us they went horseback riding that afternoon. Brandon said, “Huh, they don’t have horses in Canada?” Priceless.

All of this didn’t distract Meredith from the show, which she LOVED. She also tried really hard to draw attention to herself, by dancing near the end of our table. She had every hope of being pulled on stage. It didn’t happen. Alex just watched the coconut bras, completely embarrassed and I thought about how different a return trip with a 12-year-old boy might be.

Monday morning, was our last full day in Maui.

We rented a jeep, mostly for Alex’s sake, and drove to Hana and around the back side of the island. Hana is about a two hour drive from Kapalua, but you don’t just drive to Hana to drive to Hana. It’s a very scenic drive around 600 turns on a two-lane and sometimes one, road. There’s one store. The Hasegawea General Store. They sell everything from popsicles to box fans and electrical wire. It’s truly a general store. If they had a clearance aisle, Brandon would never leave.

The drive to Hana is shady and rainforesty, really pretty easy with several scenic stops along the way. The drive home around the back side of the island is gorgeous, but barren, severe, dusty, and hot. I started to question why we left an Escalade in the parking lot to bump around in a jeep all day. I questioned this as I reapplied sunscreen to the sleeping kids as they were slumped over, using the roll bars as pillows. Nevertheless, it’s an adventure! The kids better remember it.

That night we had a reservation at one of the top ten sushi restaurants in the US, Sansei, which just so happened to be on resort property. O.K., here’s the deal with sushi and me: I only started eating California and vegetable rolls about four years ago. I’ve nibbled a bit of ahi tuna, here and there, but could never quite get my head around the whole raw fish thing. I’m completely over it! Sansei, has earned it’s position. Brandon ordered for the table and I told him to go out on a limb, I was throwing caution to the wind. It was the best meal I’ve eaten in the ten years we’ve been married. PHENOMENAL! Meredith wolfed down several California rolls and couldn’t get enough of the asparagus rolls. Alex ate everything we put in front of him. It’s a good thing I decided I’d go back to Weight Watchers after the trip.

We walked back to the hotel knowing it was our last dinner in paradise and dreading the trip home. We stalled as long as possible, stopping at every store the resort had, and lingering in the lobby to listen to live music. I wanted to clap my hands and stop time!