Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Maui, Summer 2014

These are pictures taken on the trip we went on with Brian, Norma, Will and Sierra.  For Christmas 2013 they gave us tickets for a trip to Hawaii with their family. What a treat that they would invite us along!!  Once more, I'm posting the picture taken on my I Pad as my I Pad traveled with us to Hawaii. We begin with meeting up in our condo.  Greetings include exchanging Hawaiian t-shirts. After delays and have a night stay at the airport in Honolulu and it was pure pleasure meeting up.




Taking selfies with the ipad.

 Below Brian, Will and Norma pose in the shirts they made before traveling.  Unfortunately, Sierra didn't wear hers that day.  I thought I'd be able to get a picture of them all later in their shirts, but it never happened.


Views of the beach near our condo below.  These pictures were taken the first evening of our stay.







Our First Day of Travel on Maui










Taking a break and eating papaya at a roadside stand.  


The biggest Banyan tree in the world.  Located in Lahaina.




Below are pictures of our trip to Mount Haleakala
Travelin' up the mountain--temperatures are cooling down!


This mountain has a name, but three years later can't remember!!  But isn't it beautiful!?


Now we're traveling by foot to see another view of the mountain.



These are called silver swords.  What interesting flora--perhaps unique to Mount Haleakala.

Another view of the silver sword.  Its more evident why it has that name in this picture.

Below are picture of Mount Haleakala Crater and the family enjoying this beautiful place.

Norma's lookin' FBI or CIA.

Why did we pose like this?? I don't know! I can't remember! But I do know that we felt very clever : )

Below are pictures of a Chinese celebration that we enjoyed.  It's fun to experience different cultures that influence Hawaii.
Cute little girls dancing!

Cute Norma and Brian dancing!


More dancing!


I couldn't pass up this opportunity to learn a Chinese dance! I'm the Caucasian in the khaki pants and black jacket.


The following pictures are a day of exploring some ancient Hawaiian ruins.
Sierra is ready for adventure wearing her multi-purpose bandana!

Posing in front of ancient wall.



It's so interesting to see the yellow flowers growing in the black lava.


Look at what the water did to the lava--made a whole right through it!

Discovering together.


Making our own artifacts and taking pictures.


What do you think they found?  An eel!!

Searching the tidal pools for sea creatures.


Searching, searching . . . 

Still searching . . . 

Close up of searching in close quarters.  Must have found something to share with each other!


Below are Sunday's pictures.  Since Norma and Brian met some  really niceTongan folks at this ward on their last trip to Maui, so we returned to the same Tongan Ward this trip.

Sierra lent me her black and white kukui nut lei to match my outfit.

We were invited to dine with one of their old friends, and this is some of the spread--fish and so much more! We were so surprised! He treated us real good!


Such a nice guy.  He was also a craftsman and carved decorative fishing hooks from bone.  He does a lot of contract work and also has a little stand in Hana where he sells some of his things.  We visited it while there, and both Sierra and Will bought souveniers from him.
Below are pictures we took at an arboretum we stopped at on our way to Hana.
We were curious and wondered what these hard blueberry-looking fruit might be.


Can you find the toad in this photo?




These trees are soooo tall!


It's s-o-o-o-o-o  t-a-l-l!

Posing on the bridge. I can't help it--I just have to say don't they look adorable--like the Bobbsey Twins!  However, their stories would read a little differently.

Here's the view from the bridge.  Roland, Brian and Will went down to explore while Norma, Sierra and I explored along the road.

What a beautiful place.  Love the black sand of this beach, but its hot and the sand is really more like rocks!



Below are the pics of the luau we went to in Lahaina.  We got to go at a greatly reduced financial cost because Brian and Norma endured a timeshare presentation.  Roland and I played at the beach with Will and Sierra in their absence.  Who got the good end of that deal!!?
Happily waiting in line to enter the luau.

The photographer (Brian) of the picture got playful and found a way to make fire escape from Roland's hat.  

Maori face paint.  The look of a fierce Maori Warrior.  

Two fierce Maori warriors.

She's smiling!  Even with her tongue sticking out.  So much fun!

Watching the pig get placed in the imu.

Kalua Pig baking in the imu.


Enjoying the luau feast.

Will captured the sun going down at the luau.  Love this view!

Sierra and I take a hula lesson.  So glad she had a red muumuu to wear.  She's got talent!

After the performance, we got to meet some of the performers.

We had a wonderful time in Hawaii with the Provo Roberts.  When we left Hawaii, we had to part ways so that they could return to Provo, while Roland and I returned to Knoxville.  Love these memories!