Ok, so I have a few stragglers from our “Christmas switch-up” I want to keep track of on here. One of the things I want to remember is the glory of the Bamboo Forest hike filled with waterfalls on Maui.

But first some other stragglers.

As anyone who has read this blog for a while knows, I like to pack things into a trip. I love to be on the run and cram everything I can into visiting a place. But this Christmas trip I willed myself to be still. And chill. And kept reminding my kids to remind me of that. Ha! I mean, we do have a baby and a beautiful pregnant girl, and also a girl who can’t see very well and likes calm surroundings.

So for the most part we were chill.

And oh! It was so great to just talk and be together!

We walked.

We basked in beauty.

We happened, out of all people in the world to be walking along that oceanfront walking path, to run into one of my dearest friends. And we happened to be wearing matching outfits.

Is that crazy or what??

One morning we went to my favorite breakfast place called The Gazebo.

We got there at 6:45am to wait in line (which worked because of the jetlag).

Not a horrible view.

We did a little exploring right by where we stayed in Kaanapali.

Honolua Bay

My brother Eli who lived on Maui near my other brother for a year or so has a pretty awesome list of the best things to do on Maui. One of the things was so close to us we ventured out and went. It was a small little banyan tree forest between the parking lot and the bay at Honolua Bay.

It was a little hidden gem.

The Giving Machine at Whalers Village

Whalers Village was also right by us and as luck would have it, my brother Jonah (who lives on Maui) and his family were the volunteers for the Giving Machine one of the first days we were there.

So of course we went to see them. Lucy loves Jonah (and Elsie who is her age and the rest of the family of course) with all her heart.

Jonah, of course, brought us some bounty from the trees near his house.

This is the family who lived here in the desert for a year and also the ones who employed Lucy on Blakely Island last summer. We LOVE them!

If you want to know more about Jo and his family you should definitely watch Wagon. A pretty incredible “mini-movie” put together by Ana my niece.

Ok but there was also lots of this:

And this:

We obviously cannot get enough of Miss Murphy.

And this:

There’s nothing in the world like just seeing my family I adore lined up there on the beach.

We also did this every night:

Games and discussions about our book and the world to our heart’s content.

The Bamboo Forest Hike

For the ones ready for an extra adventure on our last day, we had a good one.

We’ve called this hike “The Bamboo Hike” ever since we took it when I was in high school and my brother Josh broke his finger swinging on one of the ropes.

And now my brother Jo happens to live relatively close to it so we decided to join up with he and my sister’s families on our last full day to hike that sucker.

…while back at our airbnb Max, Abby and Murph had a pretty grand time themselves, and Lucy had a pretty grand sleep-in.

The rest of us took the first part of that winding road to Hana…

…and met up with my brother and his family. Who were waiting for us with healthy cookies.

(of course)

And all packed up to the gills to go camping in Hana with my sister.

I love how they live life.

Saydi and fam joined in too, and we headed out.

This is the same hike I did a while back with my high school friends and I had to re-enact a photo for them…

… since they were getting together for their annual Christmas breakfast in Utah at the exact same time.

Through the bamboo…

…to get to…

The First Waterfall

You have to climb those ropes and that ladder to get up to the next spot:

Another waterfall:

The Swim

You have to jump in and swim for this part…do you see the top on the right where we jumped from below?

Then swam to climb up the next waterfall:

More hiking:

The Top Waterfall

Then finally arrived at the grand waterfall at the top:

…where we all jumped off and awed in all that beauty.

Oh how I adore these siblings!

Swimming back down:

Scary Jump

There’s a spot en route back where my nephew took what I call a SCARY jump. Yikes.

Can you see him up there??

Thankfully he had done it before so he knew he wasn’t going to die, but yikes again. See him jumping out on the left below?

So of course Carson had to do it too.

…with a little worry from Dave, ha!

And some claps all around.

I love this adventure crew!!

As well as this bigger one.

Love them all so much it makes my heart ache.

The Last Night

We got back to the rest of the crew who had enjoyed the calm.

The sky gave us the perfect “send-off” filled up with pink, everyone bathed in yellow light on the beach.

Lucy swam alone, delighted in the ocean then was joined by Grace.

I love how sunsets are such natural gatherers. Look at all those people basking in that glory below!

I helped Lucy whip up her favorite enchiladas for dinner. One last book discussion night on our patio led by Lucy and Grace this time.

My dad always talks about the “speed of going slow” and we felt the beauty of that this trip. And I will hold that in my heart, feeling so lucky we got to have this time.

We sure missed Claire, who was probably not going the “speed of going slow” over in Australia Ha! That girl likes to run. But she had a pretty good but different Christmas herself, feeling pretty calm about that grand adventure coming to an end.

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4 Comments

    1. They keep changing the rules. It is really frustrating and bordering on ridiculous. Car seats intended for safety have been around for 35 years. Why so many changes?

      She is in a car seat. Grandma should but out. Uncle and aunty that live there drive very old cars it’s a miracle a car seat would work in one forward facing just using a seat belt. There are no latch attachments on a 1980 wagon.

      I just read Hawaii moved booster seat use to under 10 instead of under 8. Seriously? Certain height restrictions can get you out of it.

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