New Replacement Phone Arrives

Having gone 2 days of no phone, it was an interesting experience.  Just didn't realize how much the phone is integrated into my daily life nowadays.  I think back to just I think two years ago, when I didn't have a 'data' phone, and I rarely used it.  It felt pretty weird in the last two days to not have access to the phone as I was walking down the hallway, or driving and using it for GPS...

Even though the new phone has arrived, all my lobster photos and videos are in the old phone... :(

Phone breaks...

Today my phone started endlessly rebooting.  Pretty annoying as it kept vibrating each time it does it.

All my photos :*(... if only I had been auto-saving to the cloud...

Victory well worth it...

Woke up early and drove back from Vanc just to make this game.  

Very worth it :).  Was too tired though and can't do the double header like i wanted.

Final score - 3-2!

Wintermelon Galore...

Went to Vanc this weekend for a wintermelon outing. 

Ordered the the large one (usually for 8 person table)... for 4 ppl.. wuhahahaha..  Had so much wintermelon.. Yummy... 

Car Nice Again…

Throughout the trip, the car people have been calling to say that they were done with fixing the car.  But since I was out of town, there was no way I could pick it up.  It was pretty cool of them though to basically have taken care of the repairs in a few days.

Picking up the car, it is nice again.  Sweet!

Week in Hawaii - Day 9 - Maui Day 4: Last Day

Today I decided to sleep in while little friend hit the beach one last time.

We bought some tuna from a grocery store, and ate outside the airport.  It was pretty yummy and delicious, but felt a bit ghetto... 

A short plane ride later, we were home... to the cold

Week in Hawaii - Day 8 - Maui Day 3: Bike Ride and Luau

Today's plan.  Wake up super early (~2:30am), then get bused up to the top of the volcano, catch the sunrise early, then bike down.

The bike ride was pretty cool.  The sunrise was pretty nice.  I did wish we could go faster when we were biking down.  It was a nice relaxing ride.  There was a minimum amount of pedaling, and it was pretty safe all throughout.  

Getting back to the base, went back to the hotel and took a nap... A 2 hour one  haha.. Everyday wehave been waking up early, and it is catching up to me.

After waking up, we had a drink and wings by the poolside.  The drink was very yummy.. Don't remember what it was now (lava flow I think its called - strawberry, coconut, and rum.. Mmmm)

Then we went to the Luau at the Grand Wailea.  It was funnnn AND we got really good seats.  We also the waitress from last night attending with her family.  She remembered us!

Our server tonight was great.  He gave me 2 drinks of everything.. And so within minutes table we had more glassware than the entire table! :)

Week in Hawaii - Day 7 - Maui Day 2: Road To Hana

Today we embarked on the Road to Hana.  Supposedly a super nice drive, rewarded by the 7 Sacred Pools at the end.

So we started at…10.45am (was suppose to start at 8.30) but got to milepost 10 by 11:21am.

Stopped by the aboretum along the way - and got bit 5 times.  There were lots of flower and it was pretty tropical.  It was hot and humid, and I was food for mosquitos.

At 12:30pm-ish we started going again... Didn't take any stop other than this beach as part of detour.. Pretty nice beach (this was past Hana between post 47 and 51). 

Finally we reached the 7 scared pools.  It wasn't all that cool.  It was more like 5 ponds with drippy waterfall (think it was low tide so the water wasn't overflowing).  So we pulled into the Chinese bus tour bus style mode.  We did a Quick Hike (0.5 miles), then pics, then jet.  By 2:50pm, we started heading back with no stops, arriving back in Kihei (Grand Wailea) by 5:32pm.

So Road to Hana: started at 10:45am, returned by 5:32pm from Kihei with three pit stops.  The distance itself isn't long, but it is the drivers and the curvyness of the road that makes the drive a 2.5 hour drive.

For dinner, we went to Humuhumunukunukuapua at the Grand Wailea, and I had a 3 lb Hawaii spike lobster.. They were doing half price per lb.  So a 3lb lobster regularly priced at $174, at just half that!  Lobster was huge… and yummy!

We also got there during the sunset, and it was pretty nice.  The pictures taken though weren't :(

Finishing up dinner, we got back to the hotel at 8.45pm, and got ready for tomolo's 2:40am pickup to go bike down a volcano!

Week in Hawaii - Day 6 - Maui Day 1 - Motokini Crater, Timeshare, and Mama's

We woke up at 5:30am to go scuba diving at the Motokini crater.  We went to the wrong meeting location in the beginning, and barely made getting onto the boat!

Getting there though, the crater itself was pretty non eventful.  The second dive closer to the coast was much cooler.  Saw stingrays, and a bunch of other cool fishes!

Still early in the morning, we walk to get snow cones for breakfast.  We then come across a booth that was doing cheap tickets for attractions and went to see what the catch is.  Turns out by going to a timeshare presentation, we can get cheap ticks to luau and bike ride :) - so we did that!

Sitting air conditioned for 2 hours, we were tempted about investing in your own life with vacations.  It was a pretty interesting pitch (saying that you can lock in the price of your stay - and if you plan to go to Hawaii once a year, then this is a pretty sweet deal). 

In the afternoon, after a nap, we went to the smooth sandy beach @ Kihei

For dinner, went to Mamas seafood restaurant ... Delicious.  What we ate:

• Home made bread
• Wasabi crusted calamari
• Mahi mahi with lobster n crab
• Octopus laua, wild boar
• Opakapaka

Did so much today!

Week in Hawaii - Day 5: Last day in Waikiki, Onwards to Maui

Today we were beach bums.  Spent the first few hours bumming around the beach.  Soaked in the sun, and also lounged around the salty ocean and floated around.  Because of the salt, it was super easy to float - so it was like lying on a water bed.  Nice and relaxing.

To finish it off, for lunch we went to a place near our hotel for some lobster sashimi.  When I first arrived, I had an Australian one, and today, I would be having one from Maine.  The best part about the whole experience was that when they served the lobster sashimi portion of the meal, the lobster actually moved!!!

The airport was crazily busy.  It was madness!  However, things did sort itself out and we got to Maui.  We walked to the nearest mall, found a place to eat dinner. Then went to sleep (since we had an early rise tomorrow).