Ramblings of a Crazy Woman

Today we ventured out of Lahaina not quite sure where we were going. We thought we would go to see the crater but when Waze said it would take 3 hours to get get to we ditched that plan. We drove around aimlessly but then we realized we were near I'ao Valley, a placed I had booked marked as cool to go to. I really didn't we would have time to visit but since we were in the area we decided to check it out. It turned out to be really awesome and the perfect activity to fill the time slot we had for this morning. With beautiful views and fun dips in a creek it's a perfect spot to spend an hour or two. The first thing we did was climb the steps to the top. We were rewarded with this pretty view. After looking around and taking a few pictures we started to wander around other pathways. We found a pathway that was along a creek. We found a few places that you could get in an swim. Of course, Penny wanted to go in so Dad helped her amongst the rocks but she soon found o...

Traveling with a 2.5 year old is exhausting! Mainly because our toddler does not run out of steam. Although there were a few days on this vacation where she just passed out and didn't wake up for a good couple of hours. We decided to be lazy Thursday morning. We stayed a little longer in bed and got in some ocean and pool time before heading down south to the Maui Ocean Center aka a big aquarium. Once again Penny made a friend, Jude, who I think reminded her of Logan and they were inseparable for a while. I am not sure if the boy was sick or had a breathing problem but his mom kept asking him to slow down. I could tell that they weren't tourist but rather locals. The boy wasn't slowing down and when we turned our heads she ran off with the boy. Penny was good and confused and tried looking for the boy and we would have helped her but the mom obviously didn't want her son by Penny any longer so we told her we went away. It took a second but she seemed fine. There w...

After spending the morning at an animal farm, we drove a few miles to our friend's Dave and Rona's beach front house in Lahaina. They were hosting a picnic lunch for the Bride and the Groom and all of the guests of the wedding. Penny's friend's Liliah and Dominic were there along with Gabriel and a few other kids, so to say that Penny had fun was an understatement. Actually, all of us had a good time in the ocean and playing on the beach. It was a really nice afternoon. Hubs and I forgot to put suntan lotion on our backs and we were burned to crisp. More hubby than I. You'd think living in California we'd know better but we don't. After an afternoon of fun we need some food so Hubs, Penny, and I head to Star Noodle to check out their food. Another Yelp finding, the place was practical empty when we showed up at 4pm but hopping by the time we left. We had noodles, salmon, salad, wontons, and donuts. Everything just hit the spot after a long time ...

Pre-vacation I did a lot of Yelping as I wanted to find new places to eat and new places to visit while on Maui. My searching for kid friendly activities lead me to look at the Lahaina Animal Farm. It would seem that they just opened in February and according to the many 5-star reviews a can't miss for small children. So I put it on our schedule as a place to see. After breakfast at The Gazebo we drove back in the opposite direction and started up a bit of a hill. When we got to the top we found a beautiful view of the ocean and we found the farm. I was quite impressed with the signage. With all the trouble I had in Upcountry I certainly appreciated the signage to get to this location. We drove in and again followed the signs "Park Here" and "Sign In Here." Penny immediately found some bunnies to play with as we waited for 9am to arrive. Around that time a woman headed over to the "Sign In Here" tent. She immediately began taking tickets o...

We woke up refreshed and decided to venture out for breakfast. One of YELP's suggestions for breakfast was "The Gazebo." Located on the ocean in an actual Gazebo I had read that people start lining up before the doors open. We happened to get there 30 minutes early and they were right, a line had formed. Luckily we were like the 4th or 5th people in line so when it opened we got an amazing table overlooking the ocean. The waitresses were very friendly and very capable of running a full restaurant. I was impressed that our waitress was so on top of everything. I asked her what was good and she told me the top 3 items people order so we got the first two. The Banana, Pineapple, Macadamia Nut pancakes and a 1/2 order of fried rice. We also got the Mickey Mouse pancakes for Penny. We all digged in and gobbled up everything up. Penny ate a ton! For a half order the Fried Rice was huge. Hubs ate way more than he intended he said. The breakfast was really, really go...

After years of avoiding this tourist trap we decided to visit it after a long morning in the ocean. We called up Dave and Verona to see if they wanted to join but they needed to drive to Costco to get supplies for tomorrow's beach picnic. I asked what Mary was doing and they said staying at home. I offered to take her to lunch and the offer was accepted. Due to her fall Verona was very worried about her mum but I promised to take good care of her. It's funny, Verona is normally the one watching my child and now I was the one doing the watching. Mary met us at the restaurant. I got us seats on the bottom level overlooking the ocean. I can see why people come because the views are amazing, the food however, is just okay. Cool Cats has better hamburgers and its just down the street. They don't have the view though. Regardless, it was fun to go somewhere new and I had a lot of fun talking to Mary. Penny and hubs took off after Penny decided she was done with the pla...

After spending all day Monday, running around Upcountry we were tired when we woke up on Tuesday. We partook in the hotel's early riser breakfast but afterward instead of rushing out to see something we decided to hang out at the beach and get some R & R. Penny was excited to return to the water and it wasn't long before she made friends with two little boys, Christian and Frank from Toronto. Their nanny was with them and she got the 3 children building elaborate sand houses. Christian took one look at me and asked where our nanny was. It was really funny that he knew I was the mommy. I told him our nanny was taking her own vacation away from us. He looked at me weird and walked away. It was nice getting to know those two boys but the relationship with Penny didn't last too long as they were quite particular about how things were to be done and I think Penny pissed them off. After the glory of meeting people her own age wore off she was back to grabbing Dadd...

We left the store and headed to the Surfing Goat Diary, again, this was a second trip for us but what was different this time is that we scheduled an hour long tour. Last time we arrive right before closing and were rushed. We spent a fair amount of time there exploring before the tour. We tried their cheesecake, we met the cats and dogs that roamed the place, we played in the playground, we pet and fed the baby goats that were penned up, and pursued the little store. Penny was eager to get her hands on the chocolate goat milk truffles. I must admit they did look good. I had my eyes on a t-shirt and a mug. Our tour started at 3:30pm that day and we met all the goats and learned all about the farm. But the most exciting part of the tour was getting the opportunity to milk the goats. Penny was quite a good milker. A friend later reminded me that Penny was breastfed (wink, wink). By the time the tour ended we were extremely hot. Maui was hot but also humid. We were ready to...

With our first full day ahead of us, we jumped in the car and headed out for Maui's Upcountry. Our first stop was in the cowboy town of Makawao to get some pastries at Komodo's Bakery, a 119-year-old family run bakery. We enjoyed our tasty treats and proceed to walk around town. Penny was fascinated with the chickens that roamed freely around town. We must have arrive a bit too early as none of the shops were open. We did go into the General Store and an Art Gallery that was open. With our bellies full, we left Makawao and heads a bit further north to Ali Lavendar Farm. We had been there once before and really liked it so we thought we would take Penny. With sweeping views of Maui's shoreline and the most wonderful lavender fields we were surrounded by beauty. They offered a children's scavenger hunt which we explained to Penny was like the Disneyland Easter Egg Hunt. She quickly related to that idea and soon were were wondering the Farm trying to find th...

Loaded up with our goodies from Costco we drove 40 minutes to Lahaina and checked into our resort, The Royal Lahaina. Penny immediately found the ice-cold pineapple flavored water in the lobby while I checked us in. We gave all of our luggage to the bellman and proceeded to our room on the 4th Floor, 4023. We opened the door to our room expecting a garden view but once we went out on the balcony we discovered we had a good view of the ocean. Of course, I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures. We immediately started unpacking our crammed suitcases finding homes for all of our items plus the Costco items. Penny started jumping on the king sized bed. It took us a good 20 minutes before we got into our bathing suits and headed down to the beach. Penny saw the pool and wanted to go in but when she saw the sand at the beach and the ocean she quickly forgot about the pool. She ran to the water and found that it was warm on her little feet. Then she discovered the big wa...