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We went on a hiking day today. My mom stayed at home because she’s gotten a cold. Ugh. I feel so bad for her. But she’s feeling a little better now.

I took the rest to a trail I’d been on with my pastor. It’s a vigorous, but not too challenging trail. Lots of walking over rocks and boulders.

And some bamboo.

We went down two of the three branches of the stream. The first branch ends in a cool-looking pool, but the waterfall into it is kind of hard to see.

The second branch we took led to a big waterfall. It made the walking and hiking worth it. So beautiful.

The rest of the day and evening, we just hung out at home. We’ve been keeping a pretty brisk pace, and it was nice to slow down a little. After all, it IS summer vacation.

Yesterday was a beach day for us. I wanted to show everyone Big Beach. It’s a beautiful stretch of clean sand and blue water. It didn’t disappoint.

Its like a postcard.

The problem was that it was a surf advisory day yesterday. The waves were big and powerful. We tried to swim anyway, but it was strong waves. Tim and I went out farther than we should, and had trouble getting back in. Tara got wiped out by a crashing wave closer to shore. After we got back to safety, the lifeguard made a loudspeaker announcement about how it was unsafe to swim and was not a family-friendly beach. We left.

This was when we first started trying to go in.

We went to the beach near my apartment – Sugar Beach. It was perfect. We swam and bobbed in smaller waves and had fun. It was a proper beach day.

Beth took this picture of her feet.

She didn’t notice that we were in the background. It’s a funny picture because I’m face down in the water. I had just body-surfed a wave.

Yesterday we started the day with a trip to the mall. It was fun to shop around a little.

After pizza for lunch, we dropped the kids off at my apartment and headed for the the vodka distillery here on the island. They give tours, and I’ve always wanted to go.

The tour was fun. Our guide was one of the best tour guides I’ve ever experienced. She made me want to invite her to have dinner with us. She was so personable and funny.

The distillery is cool. They have a master distiller who sounds really inventive and clever. Their process makes a really smooth vodka.

Those towers are for distilling.

The vodka is made from fermented sugar cane juice. They have many varieties on site, and in fact are doing their part to preserve some heirloom varieties. I thought that was super cool.

They all had a different look and, according to our tour guide, a different taste.

They let us actually go inside the distillery. It was so exciting to see the actual process instead of some mock-up or model.

The two silver tanks are a still and a blending tank.

And of course there was a tasting at the end. They make vodka and rum. We tasted both. I don’t usually drink either of those spirits, but these were good. I got a bottle of each to add to my home liquor supply.

Our tour-mates were fun people.

We ended the afternoon my making a quick trip to Lahaina. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time there, but we did walk Front Street and see the big banyan tree. Now we can check that off the list.

Yesterday was our trip to Hana. The point of driving to Hana isn’t really arriving there, it’s the journey. There are many fun sights along the way. One of the most notable is the black sand beach. It’s always fun to walk the beach, but yesterday was more full of excitement than usual. There was a big crowd, and the waves were crashing hard.

We did a few posed pictures, but I like this candid one.

On the trip back, we stopped at an overlook. It was a beautiful view.

There are so many breath-taking ocean vistas.

Our last stop of the return trip was at Ho’okipa Beach. It’s a popular surfing site, but it is also a constant and well-known sunning spot for sea turtles. It is against the law to touch them, but we could get pretty close and watch them.

If they weren’t so cute, I think they might be scary. They’re pretty big creatures.

My family members’ first day on Maui was fun. We met Andrea and her family at a beach they like to go to in Kihei. We swam a little, messed around with surf boards a little, and played in the sand a little.

Tim pointed out that it was his first time in the Pacific Ocean. I captured it on film. Wait, you can’t say that with a digital camera. I captured it on phone?

After our time at the beach, we were kind of tired. We showered (which took a while for all of us to do), then had some shave ice and headed to Kahului for Target and KFC.

The evening was kind of laid back and comfortable.