Maui, It's Been Fun!

Our final full day on Maui. It was a great 2.5 weeks, even though we had our share of overcast and rain. Even so, Ally is still leaving with a very nice tan. Had our last pool/tanning session this morning, under a rather hot Maui sun.

Then it was off to Kihei to pick up some last minute gifts. Note to anyone visiting Maui: Tutu's Pantry in the Kihei Kalama Village shopping center has the best Maui-made jams, sauces and rubs.

We had to be back at the condo by 5pm for the Bridgeport Education (WTF?) Holiday Bowl, featuring our own UW Huskies (Woof!). All for nothing, though, as the game on before the Holiday Bowl went two OTs...so the game started without us being able to watch. We dialed up the radio broadcast on the internet and heckled Tennessee and UNC to get their game over.

Finally we got the UW telecast, and settled in to enjoy the game with our dinner. Ally considers herself an honorary Husky when it comes to football, since Pepperdine doesn't have a football team.

Great game...great effort by the Huskies. Great way to end our vacation.

"V is for Vabulous!"

(more on the title in a bit) Good Maui sun today for a change. Stayed extra long at the pool as our time in dwindling. That's the worst part of coming to Maui -- having to leave.

Shopping time this afternoon. Ally and I went to the Kihei Kalama Village, where they have lots of booths selling all kinds of Hawaiiana. There was a great booth selling soaps, lotions and candles in tropical scents and made on Maui. So much cool stuff...so hard to choose. Another shop was selling all kinds of Maui-made butters, jams and food stuffs. Again...so hard to choose.

We have been laughing about another new island product - Spam flavored macadamia nuts. There are other flavors as well -- wasabi, green chili, etc -- but who thought the world needed Spam flavored anything (other than Spam).

We saw a couple of old guys wearing UW t-shirts with Oregon hats. A bunch of young guys passed them, and yelled "Go Dawgs!" and whooped. One of the old guys said "How about Oregon?" and the guys replied "Eh -- not so much."

We excitedly awaited the start of tonight's classic Hawaii Five-O episode - part three of the "V is Vashon" trilogy. It was all there -- the wooden acting, the stilted dialogue -- and oh so much more tonight. McGarrett was framed for murder, and was suspended from his job. This meant we got to see him in clothing other than his works clothes...and oh, what a treat! First was the white suit and the white Panama hat -- a similar look to what he was wearing back in 1968 when we happened to see the actual Jack Lord striding into the Holiday Mart in Waikiki.





If the white suit and hat wasn't enough, there was the pink ascot. Yes, a pink ascot. Jorge said he looked like a gay caballero. I don't recall seeing the ascot at Holiday Mart. So while McGarrett was taking a bit of a "gay-cation" his crack Five-O team kept on investigating.

They brought their findings to Casa McGarrett, and there was Stevie holding court on a lounge chair wearing nothing but a yellow robe. A short yellow robe. And he was showing lots and lots of leg. Ally and I nearly tripped over each other trying get photos of the screen shot. V is for Vabulous! We're gonna miss classic Five-O when we get home.

Happy Happy Happy Hour

Still a little overcast today, but that didn't stop us from taking a morning walk along the beach. Still ample debris from the storm, but the beach was more passable today. It was sad to see they had cut down our favorite trees along our route -- they were milestones as we walked, not to mention places where I've shot pics of Ally every time we visit. So we had to walk a bit further to find another grove of trees suitable for a photo.

We did another of those late lunch-early dinner things today. Decided to hit the happy hour at Moose McGillycuddy's in Kihei. Figured we could watch the Tuesday night football game and take advantage of happy hour prices. Both Ally and Jorge enjoyed a "lava flow"...which is basically a pina colada with strawberry puree added. When we were eating at Leilani's the other night, the manager saw them drinking pina coladas and asked if they had ever had a lava flow. He told them if you have a couple, you won't be able to stand up. Looks like Jorge can hardly wait to jump right in there! Good drinks...good meal...and we got to root on the Vikings because B. Favre wasn't playing.

We enjoyed another episode of classic Hawaii Five-O, a continuation of the story that began last night. Again...ridiculous acting, ridiculous dialogue...fun time! We did figure out that Jack Lord's Steve McGarrett is the model that David Caruso based his CSI: Miami character of Horatio Caine on. The hair...the stiff acting...the even stiffer dialogue.

I wondered if anyone else shared our theory...so I went online and found that indeed they did. I found a webpage titled "David Caruso Revealed: Jack Lord II" with this description: "David Caruso is the most wooden actor in the history of television since Jack Lord. He delivers every line as though he was getting a prostate exam."

"Book 'em, Danno."

Not a good day today for beach or pool. No rain, but very overcast. It was a good morning for Ally and Jorge to watch the Arsenal-Chelsea match on TV...while I read out on the deck. I didn't mind the mild temp and soft breeze.

Decided this would be a good afternoon to finally go malling at the Queen Ka'anhumanu Center. Jorge opted for a movie at the mall theater (wise choice). Disappointing shopping...I was hoping they would have brighter colors in jackets for Ally, but it was the same old black-navy-gray that we have at home. At least Ally found her 2011 Bunny Suicides wall calendar.

Tonight was another barbecue night at Sugar Beach. We had chicken that had marinated for 48 hours in our Azeka marinade. The guys at the grill next to ours were doing dozens of hot dogs. The entire grill - upper and lower -- was filled with wieners. I asked if they were feeding an army, and they said "you haven't seen our boys eat. they eat a lot." So they must be with the young college guys we've seen around.

The barbecue on the other side of them was the show of the night. It was a guy and his daughter, and they had rather nice looking steaks...possibly filet mignon? He must have had the temperature up too high, because when he opened the lid on the grill, flames shot skyward. It looked like his steaks were frying in the flames of hell! I'll bet even Ruth's Chris doesn't flame steaks like that. He fiddled around but couldn't figure out how to lower the temperature, and seemed too embarrassed to ask for help...so he just closed the lid. Ally and I were chuckling as we could see the flames going crazy inside the grill. The flames were a good foot high when he removed the steaks...and muttered something about "the way we like them" and scuttled off into the night.

Meanwhile, Jorge was cooking our chicken to perfection. We also grilled more onions (one a Maui onion and one a sweet onion from Peru) and some sweet potato fries. We added some great one minute microwavable sticky rice, and it was a delicious dinner! I practiced some plating with the drizzle of teriyaki sauce on the plate. (l to r: onion, chicken on top of rice, sweet potato fries).

We relaxed after dinner with one of our favorite island pass times - watching an episode of classic Hawaii Five-O. We watch the new Hawaii Five-O, which is actually quite cheesy. However, next to the original with Jack Lord, the new version is an Emmy winner. Laughable plots, atrocious dialogue, god-awful acting...what more could you want? Tonight's episode also featured a rare running sequence by McGarrett, a hairy guy in a too-tight swimsuit, and a crook tripping McGarrett by tossing a pillowcase at him. But they saved the best part for the end. With the criminal dead in a car crash, McGarrett says "finish up here, Danno" and walks back to his big black mercury. What does Danno do? Stumbles along behind him, gets into the car and they drive off. Laughter ensues.

"That Mai Tai Really Hit Me Hard!"

Tonight we traveled up to Kaanapali for our "big dinner" of the trip. We make nearly all of our meals at the condo, but at least once a trip we treat ourselves to a really nice dinner. Ally did some restaurant research online, suggested Leilani's up on Kaanapali Beach, and made a reservation.

We got there a little early, so we went to have a drink at their lower-level beach cafe (seen in photo). I had a diet coke, while Ally and Jorge had pina coladas...with the requisite mini umbrellas. When we got upstairs to the dining room, we had a table with a nice view out on the ocean for sunset. We saw three catamarans full of people come in...probably a whale watching trip or something. The catamarans pulled right up on the beach; then the stairs were lowered and people started to disembark.

So many gooood choices for dinner! After careful consideration, I selected pistachio-crusted mahi mahi...Jorge took fish and shrimp...and Ally went for the gusto -- a Flintstone-sized serving of baby back ribs.

While we waited for dinner, Ally remarked "Wow - that mai tai has really hit me hard." Jorge laughed and said "Apparently so...because you had a pina colada...not a mai tai." Me thinks the pina coloda might have hit Jorge a bit hard, too



The dinner was fantastic. Ally made it through a little more than half of the ribs; the rest will make a tasty lunch tomorrow. She had to save room for dessert - hula pie! We shared a piece, and even Jorge went at it with gusto.

Before I Forget...

A few memorable exchanges that have occurred during our vacay:

Gail: "The Sounders home opener is March 15 at 6:30. Isn't that kind of early?"
Jorge: "6:30?"
Gail: "No, March 15th."
Jorge: "Yeah, 6:30."

---

Ally points out two guys at the pool both reading the same Jon Krakauer book.
Jorge: "Who's Jon Krakauer?"
Gail: "He's the guy who wrote the book that the movie 'Into the Wild' was based on."
Jorge: "So...he wrote the book 'Into the Wild'."
Gail: "Yeah."

---

Woman at the barbecue: "Did you SEE the whales out here today?"
Jorge: "Do you know my mother-in-law? Did she tell you to say that?"

---

"Did You Hear Any Rain Last Night?"

Apparently we all slept quite soundly through last night's rainstorm that caused all kinds of flooding in Kihei, and the middle-of-the-night evacuation of a condo complex to the south of us.

Didn't know anything was up until we went into Kihei this morning. Our normal route along S Kihei Rd was blocked by a Maui Police car and barricades. So we took the highway down to the Pi'ilani exit.

I dropped Jorge and Ally at the gym and was going to run a couple errands, but found the intersection flooded. So I parked the car and got out to take some pics. This section of the road was also blocked by police -- one blockade just at the McDonalds, and the other at the intersection by the church. The roadway was covered with water. The few cars that got through splashed up a lot of reddish-brown water. Saw a guy on a bike try to peddle through...he was going so slow that I don't know how he kept upright.

We went back to the condo and our usual routine of pool and tanning. We don't know why, but there were no kids at the pool today. Not a one. After-Christmas sales? It was nice. We had the pool to ourselves the entire time we were in it -- planted in our Old spot, of course.

The only bummer was the closure of the hot tub. We'd noticed that it was closed last night when we went down to the barbecues. One of the other barbecuers told us that the hot tub had been packed with people a bit earlier, and one of the maintenance guys came and took a water sample...then ordered everybody out and closed it down. Speculation is high that it's the result of all the little kids peeing in there. Not only was the hot tub closed, it had been drained. Sad face from Ally.

After lunch, we decided to walk south down the beach (we normally walk north) and see if there was any damage to the condos that had to be evacuated. Surprise - the beach was full of debris and so much of the sand had been eroded. Pretty grodey looking.

We even found a dead fish...about 6 inches long and colorful...that had gotten caught up in the debris and stranded high and dry. It's expression looked a bit like the "Dramatic Squirrel."

"Don't Forget the Junior Mints!"

Our Christmas Day continued at the movies. We did get tickets to see True Grit at the theater in Kihei. Once we got there, we remembered that we didn't like this theater a bit. Old-fashioned, flat floor with low-backed seats. Very uncomfortable low-backed seats.

Not many people in the theater, so we took seats on the aisle, in the middle. So with all of the empty seats in the theater, these three women decide to plomp down right in front of us.

Not only do they compromise our view, but they were annoying (read with an outrageous NY Jewish accent):

Woman #1: "I need money for CANDY!"
Woman #2: (handing her money) "Don't forget the Joon-yur Mints!"
Women #3: "...and the Snow Caps! And maybe a Nestle Crunch Bar."

So we moved back a row. Then just before the movie started, two people wandered in and picked the seats in front of us. Geez. And he was really tall. So we were up and moving again. This time we went further down front, and sat against the wall. Movie was good...an old-fashioned western.

We went back to the condo and decided to enjoy the Christmas Day sunset on the deck with a bottle of champagne...and some whale watching. Gramme insists the whales should be leaping and frolicking right off the beach. We watched for an hour, sipping our bubbly, no whales seen.

It was a really nice time, chilling on the deck with our champagne and wasabi peas, talking about Ally's upcoming graduation and and such.

Then it was time to head down to the barbecues and see if our second Azeka marinade recipe was legit. We were barbecuing pork and some Maui onions. Jorge threw them on the grill, and we settled in for some good conversation with others at the barbecues. It's always fun to see what others are making. We shared a grill with a guy from Calgary who was fixing three lobster tails (procured from Eskimo Candy). There was chicken, shish-ke-bobs, hamburger patties, sweat potato fries, zucchini, and shrimp.

Food done, it was back upstairs to add the sticky rice and plate everything up. It would have looked better on something other than a plain white plate. Wish I had thought to drizzle some sauce on the plate first.

But most importantly, the recipe was right on! This is the Azeka marinade! It was excellent on the pork, and we still have chicken marinading for another night. For those who want the recipe for the Most Excellent Azeka Marinade...here it is:

In a bowl, mix the following ingredients:
2 cups soy sauce (prefer the Aloha brand of sauce)
1.5 cups water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 Tbsp sesame oil
4 to 6 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
4 to 6 large cloves of fresh garlic, minced
4 cups dark brown sugar

Mix well in the bowl until sugar is dissolved. Place the meat (beef short ribs, chicken, pork, etc) in a large ziplock bag and pour in the marinade and seal. The recipe calls for marination for 4 days in the refigerator, mixing and shaking and bag twice a day. (We marinated for 24 hours, and it was fine).

Grill over medium heat. Don't cook too fast or the sugar in the marinade will burn. You want the sugar to give you nice toasty edges without the meat being too hammered. Enjoy!

Had a very pleasant dinner to end a very pleasant day in paradise.

Merry Christmas!

Nothing like walking the beach on Christmas morning! We had great weather for the walk, but we could see a big dark cloud brewing in the distance. Now, a couple hours later, that dark cloud is pretty much taking over the horizon. No rain yet...but it's coming.

Must be more people here, as all of the lounges were taken by the time we got there. of course, most were taken by kids who laid out their stuff and then disappeared into the pool. First time ever at Sugar Beach that we've not been able to get a lounge. :( So we just went into the pool and hung out, then went back to the condo. We'd gotten good sun on our walk, so no suntanning loss for Ally.

We're heading out to the movies. Hoping to see True Grit.

What? No Shepherds!

That's right. After the big build-up...no shepherds. No kids' pageant at church tonight. Ally thinks I sold her a bill of goods. There was a kids choir. They tried really hard, but... And as those things go, the kid with the worst voice had the loudest voice.

This picture is the altar after they lit the lights on the trees.

One other thing that has always bugged me about mass at Christmas and Easter. The church is packed. It's always packed. Yet people still show up 5 minutes before mass is to start and act shocked that there are no seats left. So they wander up and down the aisles...then try to jam themselves into a row that's already full of people who arrived early enough to get a seat. Hey, late comers -- stand in the back.

Came back to the condo where we dined on what we like to call "Mexican Teriyaki Fusion" cooking -- leftover teriyaki chicken re-cooked fajita style with onions and green pepper, tortillas, rice, beans. That does mark the last of the Great Chicken Barbecue from earlier this week.

Merry Christmas to all...and to all, a good night!

Sure Doesn't Feel Like Christmas Eve

Really nice, sunny day today...only a couple of puffy clouds in the sky for the sun to duck behind.

We actually got moving earlier than usual today. I dropped Jorge and Ally off at Powerhouse Gym in Kihei, then braved the crowds (and I mean crowds) at the nearby Safeway.

As you can see, store shelves were already getting a bit thin. This usually happens between Christmas and New Year's, when the regular food shipments take a "hang loose" approach to arriving. I grabbed the next-to-last jug of POG, and there wasn't a panettone in sight. Fortunately we still have one left, plus one that's squirreled away in the locked cabinet for Gramme.

I stocked up on things we'd been needing for the next couple of days because of weird holiday hours and such. We're going to try the second Azeka recipe, this time on pork. The second recipe uses dark brown sugar instead of white sugar. The recipe says the meat needs to marinate for four days. I think we'll give it about 24 hours.

We made it to the pool by 11am...not bad for us. More than half of the lounges were still available, which we like...but it's not typical for this time of year. Jorge and Ally decided their first stop was the hot tub. Their theory is to sit in the hot water, then they will be cold when they get out, and the less-warm pool water will feel great by comparison. Yeah.

Here is a trio of photos showing their hot tub action. In the first, they are employing the same trepidation and freaked-out looks that they have when they enter the swimming pool. Not sure what that's all about.

In the second, Ally realizes that I'm taking pictures...so she gives me that two-finger acknowledgment that really says "I love you, mom!" Or so she says.

Finally, they are all settled in for the duration. After the wussies got warmed up, it was time for all of us to hit the pool. There were several kids in the pool already, but we headed to our Old spot. While we were standing there, this 8-9 year oldish girl started swimming underwater and she swam right through the middle of us. Ally thought this was horrendously rude. She did this a couple more times, with Ally's indignation rising. Jorge said it was fine for the girl the swim through us, and added that as a young Peruvian he had swum through strangers' legs many times. "As long as she doesn't kick me in the nuts, it's fine," he said. Then thinking about what he'd just said, he added "maybe it's not so fine. Let's close up the circle."

We spent about 45 minutes doing nothing in the pool. (click on the photo of the pool to enlarge it, and you'll see our Old spot) I remarked how my mom and aunt had done the same standing around the in pool when I was a kid...but they usually stood by the edge of the pool instead of in the middle, as we were doing. Ally wondered why, and I said it was so they didn't get their hair wet by us kids being idiots and splashing. Did have to laugh when no sooner had we left the pool, two old ladies took over our Old spot.

Sunbathing was the usual...iPods, headphones, reading material. Ally's tan is coming along quite nicely, which is what she's all about when in Maui. She does help her darkness along by wearing white t-shirts.

In case anyone is wondering...no, we have not yet seen a whale. Jorge did walk briefly onto the deck, look right and left, and declared "no whales."

It's now the afternoon calm. Jorge is back to his beloved Kindle. Ally is on the sofa watching something on her computer. I'm blogging. Ally has promised to go to Xmas Eve mass with me tonight. We're going to the kids mass at 6pm. It's usually amusing, what with the kid's acting out the Christmas pageant in their little shepherd costumes and all. Then it's back to the condo for yet another variation of the leftover chicken -- this time fajitas.

Merry early Christmas, everyone!

Lots of Sun. Lots of Rain.

Decent day this morning...other than the hordes of kids at the pool. Funny how sunshine brings everyone out of the woodwork and down to the pool. I had to return to the SPF 50...got a little bright pink on the SPF 30. Ally seems to be doing fine with the SPF 8. Jorge, of course, uses nothing. I don't think you could burn him with a blow torch.

Interesting cast of characters at the pool. Ally was amused by a very fat baby. There was the skinny kid with Alfred E. Newman ears. The white dude too old to be wearing the Samuel L. Jackson-style hat. And our old friend the "Frasshole" was back for another big dive into the pool followed by a few laps. Once again he almost plowed into Jorge while we were bobbing in the Old spot...but at least this time he muttered "sorry, man".

We decided to combine a late lunch and early dinner at the Sports Page...a sports bar in Kihei...where they'd be showing the Thursday night NFL game. Of course, that game started at 3:30 Maui time.

Typical sports bar, though a bonus that it was a smoke-free bar. Lots of pennants and team memorabilia around; Ally laughed at the lack of any Pepperdine pennants. Place was full, so we shared a table with an old dude. We appeared to be the only people there not rabidly rooting for the Steelers.

Did I mention the place was full -- and there was only one waitress? It didn't bode well for fast service...but we didn't have anything else to do, so why not? The menu was fun - all of the dishes were named after athletes or sports teams. Had to laugh at the "Lance Armstrong" which was a French Dip sandwich. Also something kind of gay about the "Tom Brady" being tuna.

It took a while to get our order taken, but the food came surprisingly fast. Ally had the "LA Kings" - a barbecue pork sandwich; Jorge had the "NY Giants" - a burger with mushrooms; I stuck with the home team (even though they suck this year), the "Seattle Seahawks" - a burger with barbecue sauce. The chow was actually quite good. All-in-all, a pretty good time...even though the game didn't end up going the way we'd hoped (Ben Rothlesberger is a jerk).

As we were eating, people were coming in commenting on how much it was raining outside. Yep...it was pouring! It was a downpour even by Seattle standards. of course, we'd parked a block or so away because the bar parking lot had been small and full. Ally's gaze turned to Jorge...and comments were made about his having the least hair to get wet.

We waited around and caught a break in the storm -- scurrying to the car in a light rain. We made it just in time before the storm started dumping again. I shot a few picks as we were driving back to show how much water there was.

One last picture...just what would make Ally brave the downpour? This shot shows the southbound end of a northbound Ally heading quickly to the gelato store at Azeka Place. The only thing that would get her willingly out in the rain.

Sunset...by Jorge

Jorge shot this last night...and we've been trying since last night to get it to load to the blog without any luck. Enjoy!

Tonight's Adventures - A Special Guest Blog by Ally

Hellooooooo everyone! Ally here. I've decided to add my two cents to this blog, mainly because we finally did something interesting. Not that staring at each other and watching Bones reruns on Netflix isn't interesting...but it isn't.

Anyway, after spending a good chunk of our afternoon staring at each other and watching Bones reruns on Netflix, mom and I decided to head down to Wailea to take in some Hawaiian music at the Shops. The concert started at 6:30pm, so we left the condo around 5. We didn't want to hit any bad Maui rush hour (haha). Dad stayed at home to read his Kindle...typical.

15 minutes later we arrived at the Shops (must have missed the "rush hour") and stopped by the ABC store to stock up on some quick sustenance. We then took a seat at the place where the music was going to be and sat back to do some people watching. There wasn't that much to look at. Just the few annoying kids and some old people wearing inappropriate attire. There was even an old white lady wearing a mu-mu with a flower in her hair and one of those rat tails that only 3-year-old boys have.

We waited and waited and waited, and the singers still hadn't really shown up. Finally, someone resembling a singer showed up to start setting stuff up. This was at 6:15. The singer looked like a white guy that maybe had been on the island for a while. Mom said he looked like Ed Grimley from Saturday Night Live. As he was setting up his table, "Ed" pulled out an enlarged photo of his CD cover. Apparently his name was Leokani Pryor. A white guy named "Leokani?" His real name from probably Leonard. To make things more awkward, every time Leo bent over, his ass crack would decide to say hello. Way too much for me.

The most amusing part of our waiting around was the annoying woman sitting in front of us. She came over earlier to meet up with her other old people friends and at one point said that she was from Bothell. Ugh (sorry to people from Bothell). Anyway, a little bit before the concert she turned to her daughter, who was sitting next to us, and said that Fleetwood Mac had some paintings showing at the gallery upstairs and that after the concert she was going to meet him. The daughter was a little puzzled and said she was pretty sure Fleetwood Mac was the name of the band, not a person. But, oh wait!, the mom maintained the band was named for the guy, Fleetwood Mac. The daughter then pulled out her iPhone to prove that there was no man named Fleetwood Mac. Instead, the band Fleetwood Mac consisted of Mick Fleetwood (Fleetwood), Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, and John McVie (Mac). The mom looked like a total dumb ass. While this exchange was happening, mom and I tried to do all we could to keep from laughing out loud. I even started to chime in with some Fleetwood songs. Apparently I do a good Stevie Nicks (and I saaaaaaaaw my reflection in a snoooooooow-covered hiiiiiiiills).

Finally, 25 minutes and three mic checks later (meanwhile we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes), Leo and his partner were finally ready to sing. Leo's singing partner definitely looked Hawaiian. In fact, he looked a lot like someone from the Tuiasosopo clan...and knowing how big their family is, he probably is a Tui. The two sang some songs from their hometown of Hana (and they kept reminding us that they were from Hana before every song...it got old).


For some of their songs, there were accompanied by a male hula dancer named Opaka (although...he looked way too much like a "Gary" to me. Who names their kids Opaka?). He also freaked me out because of the look in his eyes and the way he moved his hips. Male hips should not move like that.

After some Hana songs, the dynamic duo of Leo and Tui decided to get with the season and sing us a Christmas song. The settled on "White Christmas." I didn't find their rendition very convincing, since I don't think they have a lot of white Christmases in Hana. After a couple more songs, mom and I decided to get the hell out of there. Too many mosquitoes. But it was an interesting night.

"Hey - is that...the Sun?"

Yes -- the sun was shining this morning in Maui! It felt really good. The only drawback was a few more people in the pool, but even that was okay.

Our Old spot in the pool was taken over by a young couple with a cute little ginger baby -- just a little younger than Ally was when we first brought her here. She was sure enjoying the pool...so we moved our Old act off to the side.

While at the barbecues last night, we counted 40 Sugar Beach units that either had lights on or decorations hanging on the decks. Definately more people are the pool today, but it's hard to tell if they just arrived or perhaps have been here but found it not sunny enough to visit the pool.

Lunch was wonderful chicken burritos...our own riff on Qdoba.

After lunch, Jorge retires to the deck with his Kindle. The two of them are inseparable.

Early Morning...

Just up. Jorge gets out of bed and opens the curtains, looks out at the ocean, and says "Is that Santa Claus out there in that canoe?" Ally takes a look and says "No, daddy...it's just someone in a red shirt and a white hat. It might even be a woman."

The Azeka Rib Experiment

Okay...it was chicken and not ribs. But tonight we tried out the Azeka marinade recipe I found online. The chicken had been marinating for the required 24 hours...now it was showtime!

We headed down to the barbecues, Jorge carrying our precious cargo.

Also at the barbecue tonight were several folks from Seattle and Redmond.








So Jorge loaded the barbecue with our chicken. Yes, it looks like a lot for the three of us...but we decided to cook a lot and then have it on hand for lunches. Lots of lunches.

The grill next to ours was cooking ribs...though they had underestimated how frozen the ribs were and were wondering when they might ever get done. They were also grilling bell pepper halves stuffed with portabella mushrooms.

Jorge and Ally enjoyed another cold one while we waited for the chicken to grill. It looked and smelled amazing.

When done, we scurried back up to the condo to dig in. The verdict: while it was not the exact Azeka taste we were trying for...it was damn good chicken. It tasted an awful lot like the chicken you get at teriyaki places..and that's not bad.

High Noon at Sugar Beach...

...and there's no one in the pool! It was still overcast, but we decided to head to the pool anyway. Got in the gate and it was a ghost town. So we staked out our lounges (choice of any in the house) and "tanned" for about 30 minutes. About then, the sun emerged through a slight crack in the clouds. We decided it was time to hit the pool.

Of course, when I say "hit the pool" I actually mean slowly ease ourselves in and get acclimated to the colder water. Why is it that when the pool water hits your exposed back, it seems extra cold? We finally made our way to the "Old" spot in the center of the pool. We'd been there just a couple of minutes when suddenly the fair-weather sun bathers, having caught site of the slivver of sun, started showing up. We watched in dread as a string of little kids started running down the stairwell - destination: pool. ARG!

As we held our Old spot against the onslaught, we noticed we were being watched by an old lady sitting on her third floor deck. I said "she's probably wondering what those old fools are doing in the pool" and Jorge said "no, she's wondering what those YOUNG people are doing in the pool."

Oh yes...I made the bold move from SPF 50 to SPF 30 today. Figured I could risk it as the sun wasn't all that bright (yes, mother...I know you can still burn in the overcast). Ally is starting to show signs of some color, and pulled out the Maui Babe lotion today.

Lunch today was an excellent salmon stir fry by Jorge, using the last of the big Costco salmon we barbecued the other night. The leftovers were also used yesterday in salmon burritos. Tonight...we're back at the barbecue with chicken, marinated in what we hope will be close to the Azeka ribs marinade. I searched the Internet for the recipe, and found a verion in (of all places) a John Owen column in the Seattle P-I from 2000. He claimed he got the recipe from a friend who had a condo at Sugar Beach Resort (!), who claimed he'd been given the recipe by mama Azeka herself. We'll see. It calls for soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, green onions, garlic and ginger. According to the article, the actual Azeka recipe sauce is available in any grocery store in Canada. You can only guess how Ally feels about that!

What Happened to the Rain?

Imagine our surprise when we woke up this morning to no rain. According to the forecast, it was supposed to rain all week. Oh well. I'm sure we'll have rain sometime later today by the way it's looking.

Got a late start because Ally and Jorge wanted to watch some mindless, senseless soccer game before going to the pool. By the time we got to the pool, there was really no need for sunglasses, nor (I suspect) my SPF 50 sunscreen. We layed around for a bit, then ventured into the pool. Yeah...not exactly warm by any stretch of the imagination. We staked out our "Old" spot and bobbed around for a half hour or so...then made the dash to our towels and back upstairs.

Stormy, Stormy Night

Wasn't able to post after we got home last night because the rain storm apparently knocked out the cable and internet (c'mon TimeWarner!). Ally was at a loss - no TV and no internet. "That must be what it was like in the old days" she moaned.

We went to the movies last night at the Kaahumanu Center in Kahului and saw "Fair Game" - the movie about the government exposing CIA operative Valerie Plame. Much better than that ridiculous "The Tourist." We came out of theater and you could hear the rain pounding on the roof of the shopping center. The roof is a series canvas structures that cover the inside of the mall, with different levels so there are also openings that allow air inside. The sound of the rain beating down on the canvas roof was really something - sounded like Niagara Falls.

We grabbed dinner at the mall food court (Maui Tacos, of course!) and hoped the rain would let up because our car wasn't exactly parked close by. No such luck. Ally appealed to Jorge to go get the car because "you have the least hair to get wet."

As we took the escalator from the second to the first floor, we were totally rained on. Jorge went to get the car, and we recorded the rain outside the mall. I'd hoped to embed the video here, but we've been trying for hours and it just doesn't want to post. So a still will have to suffice. Make your own loud rain sounds.

Once we got home, there wasn't much to do because of the internet/cable being out. Ally stretched out on the sofa and fell asleep.

The Only Ones in the Pool

Not exactly warm in Maui this morning...but hey, we're from Seattle so what's gonna stop us from going to the pool? So there we were, all alone in our favorite "old people" spot in the middle of the pool. A sign of how questionable the weather was - not a kid in the pool. A few souls were in the hot tub, but we were all alone in the piscina.

Then we were joined by the guy we've nicknamed "Frasshole" because he has that look of an over-steroided, entitled frat guy (no offense to any frat people reading this). He enters from the deep end of the pool with a cannonball (of course) that sprays us. It must be noted that in order to do this. Funny thing was that when he serfaced, some old lady outside of the pool area started bitching him out about the jump. It might have been his mother. Frasshole then proceeds to backstroke up and down the pool...at one point going off course and nearly backstroking into Jorge. But the capper came a bit later as he was on his back, propelling himself up and down with his legs. We could see he was heading off course, and we watched excitedly as he ran his head into the side of the pool. Hahahah! The he gets up so stupidly like "duh?" Fortunately he didn't stay in the pool long, heading instead over to the hot tub, where he must have stayed for less than a minute. Before you think we're obsessed with the Frasshole, you have to realize there wasn't much else to watch.

It was getting less warm, but the only thing worse than staying in the pool was the thought of getting out and the long, cold walk to our lounge chairs and towels. So we stayed in. Before long, parents were herding their kids in from the beach...it was that cold. We finally made a run for it...and it didn't turn out to be all that bad. There is a heavy cloud cover and the waater is quite choppy. Nice for the guys out with the boogie boards.

Thinking this might be a good day to do a little shopping (Jorge is already on high alert: "shop?! what for?") and take in a movie.

Fun at Pool

Our day started with - of all things - an earthquake. Ally and Gail were sitting on the couch when it started to shake...they both looked at each other and went "Whoa - earthquake!" Jorge was walking in the room at the time and didn't feel it. Read later that it was a 3.8 quake, centered under the small island of Kahoolawe, which we can see from our deck.

Today was our first pool session with tanning and pool time. Went down a little early since it was our first time in the sun and we didn't want to overdo it. After a half-hour of sun, we hit the pool. Just us a a handful of little kids in the water...a nice time before the crowd arrives.

Jorge brought along his new little toy - a tiny underwater camera. It's about 2 inches by 2 inches and we had a hoot with it in the pool. Ally was trying to replicate the moves of "Bond Girls" coming up out of the water. Here's a video:












Turns out Ally doesn't like having water in her nose, which gave us a lot of amusement. Jorge was trying to convince her that she didn't need to hold her nose underwater...she just needed not to breathe in. Didn't have a lot of luck with that!

When we go to Maui, we usually take the DVDs from a couple of TV shows that we haven't watched, but want to get started with. Today we started with Modern Family, which is a riot.

We hit the barbecue tonight with some salmon and corn on the cob. Here were are hanging out at the barbecues with some cold ones while waiting for dinner to cook. No sunset tonight to speak of, too many low clouds on the horizon.

Let the Fun Begin!

Ally had an early start today -- up at 4:30am to get her shuttle to LAX. Fortunately, she remembered the two hour time difference between LA and Maui and only texted us when she had boarded the plane.

We were finishing up projects around the condo before heading to the airport to pick her up. We did get our first pool time today (finally!) and it felt sooo good. Not many people here at Sugar Beach just yet, so it was just us and a couple little kids in the pool. We went to the pool's center, where the water is just deep enough to come up to your neck while still standing. After a few minutes, I had to laugh and tell Jorge that as a kid, we'd always wonder why old people just stood around in swimming pools...and here we were, doing the exact same thing. He said "I'm good with that."

We also put up the Christmas lights on the deck, and they are twinkling as I write this. In KMart today, I found the Hawaii version of Santa.

Another item I've seen around is the Obama dashboard figure. It's like the dashboard hula girl (or guy), only it's the prez...always giving the "hang loose" finger wiggle. There are several different kinds -- my favorite is him with the surfboard. Hope there's room in the suitcase to bring some back!

No room in Ally's suitcase -- of course, she had to pack for both Maui and Seattle weather. She was very chipper considering she'd already been up a long time...but it's looking like she's starting to struggle to keep her eyes open. As she requested, we got takeout from Maui Tacos for dinner.

When Does Vacation Start?

Another day of puttering around the condo and running errands (Hello, HomeDepot). We're trying to get all of the "work" done before Ally arrives Friday afternoon - then we can have fun.

Took some nice sunset photos, but I promise not to be obsessed with shooting the sunset every night. It's so tempting, because of the great sunset view we have from the deck of the condo. But I must already have hundreds of sunset shots from past visits.

I had to chuckle at the two old broads sitting on the beach below watching. They had their booze and cigarettes, and occasionally picked up a camera to shoot some pics. Guests in the condo below us were sitting out in their lounges snapping pics. Pretty laid-back.

We're really excited to have Ally arrive tomorrow. She took her last final today, and was excited to head back to her apartment and pack for Maui. Her airport shuttle is coming very early in the morning (5:30am), but she doesn't seem to care.