January 25th Already?!?!?

Almost three full months have passed by in Maui. How does time go by so fast like this!? And I have been absolutely horrible about keeping up on my blog!

 I came on this trip hoping it would point me in a solid direction for my life. And while I have felt more confident in a life path I have found that I have learned so much about myself. I have been learning so much, not just about myself but who I want to be and become and VERY importantly who I do NOT want to be.

A lot has happened since my last update. We work hard every week and spend almost every afternoon and day off at the beach or exploring this beautiful island.

Every sunrise is unique and gorgeous! (I think I've seen 2...)

January 6th we went to see the I'ao Needle in the I'ao valley where Hawai'ians used to live. 

There is the needle. Warriors would climb to the top as lookouts. Its amazing!

There was a walk all around the valley. It was very beautiful!

Walking around the valley!

We went on a snorkeling trip to Molokini on January 8th. I was petrified to go in the water but in the end I did go in! I braved my fears of sharks (thankfully I didn't see one) and had an amazing time! We rented a digital underwater camera and were able to take some awesome photos!

Hang Loose! 

Look at the cool fish!!! I wore a wetsuit top as we went out at 7am to beat the big snorkeling crowds so it was pretty chilly! 

Cool fish! We saw so many neat colorful fish out by the small island of Molokini. We also saw so many huge whales! It was absolutely amazing! This is the time of year when the come down here from Alaska to have their babies.

Swimming with these huge sea turtles was absolutely incredible. There is nothing like swimming right next to one of these!

This is such a goofy looking fish! It's called a unicorn fish because it has a little pointy thing in front of its face.

Very happy after the amazing snorkeling trip!

We then took our snorkeling gear and headed to the most amazing beach in Wailea. It is hands down my favorite beach ever!!!! The water is clear, the waves are manageable and the beach is so sandy and soft!

After the beach we went out to eat at Life's a Beach which was a yummy mexican restaurant. 

Here are some random work pictures. Nic loves feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs!

This is the Rainbow cottage where we clean and prep for guests.

Doing laundry in the laundry room!

Chopping down bananas! Nic's favorite thing is chopping up trees and chopping down the bananas with big sharp machetes! :)

On our way to a trip to Lanai'i. Lanai'i is a small island off Maui. It's where Dole used to grow pineapple and produced 85% of the worlds pineapple! We saw SO MANY whales on that trip it was so cool! I also saw a flying fish and some dolphins! It was about and 1.5 hour trip over and back. There wasn't a whole lot to do and see on the island. We went on a Sunday so most everything was closed as everyone goes to church on Sunday. We walked around the small town and some of the big resorts and then spent the afternoon on the beach. It was hot and the waves were huge! We went to Lahaina (back on Maui) for dinner and then home after a long day!

A cute little elephant outside a store! :)

A cool sign! (Nic loves taking pictures of signs)

This is a pineapple!! It's soooo cute! If you chop off the top of the pineapple and plant it in the ground, a pineapple grows out of the middle!! HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?!

These are koi fish.  There were a ton in a pond by one of the resorts. There were so many and they were weird!

Oops! Don't know why this is sideways? But this is also at the same resort and this is a cool chinese gazebo thing!

Same gazebo thing...super pretty!

On the beach at Lanai'i putting on sunscreen! Don't want to get burned!

We went up Haleakala on the 17th and boy was it cold!  I'm sure not as cold as back home but since we aren't used to it it was sooooo freezing! We even saw frost at the top.

We were a little over 10,000 feet high. It took about 1.5 hours to get to the top. One of the top celestial observatories in the world was at the top of Haleakala!

Sitting on the cool lava rocks, freezing our bums off! 

Nic sitting near the crater. It is amazing!

Nic being a goof. He thinks he's being tough in a t-shirt!

Standing in the clouds!

Both of us in the clouds!

When we got home we had a little friend on the counter checking out our banana bread! These little geckos are all over the place!

We found this really neat nest hanging from a branch. It was woven to hang like this. I don't know what kind of bird uses it but it was so cool! (Bonnie I'm sure you know the answer!!)

Weed whacking! It's a hard job here because there is about 2 days worth of weed whacking here. I have like 3 blisters! OUCH!

We went to the beaches Ka'anopoli for the second time on the 22nd. I don't remember which day was the first time we went...but these are some birds we saw there! They look like mini puffins.

Nic and I took the buses on the 23rd back to the beach in Wailea that I love! We got a little bit burned since we spent the whole day on the beach BUT I did reapply 3 times so the burns weren't too bad. We had so much fun just relaxing on the beach playing Scrabble and then jumping in the water when we got to warm!

We spent some time in Wailuku yesterday at a little cafe. We got an amazing cappuccino with chocolate powder on top. YUM!

Nic and Kai love to spend time boogie boarding at Paia Bay Beach. Yesterday the waves were huge! They had so much fun!

Riding the waves like a boss!

Yay for the beach!!!!

<3<3<3

Anniversary, Christmas and my birthday!

December 6th was our full 1 year anniversary. (meaning we hadn't broken up or anything:) ) Nic took me to Lahaina where we stayed at a beautiful hotel right on the ocean. It was amazing! He took me out to dinner at Penne Pasta where we had delicious pesto pasta, salads and garlic bread. After which we wandered around town looking in the shops where he bought me a gorgeous plumeria necklace. (I will be posting a picture later!) The next day he surprised me with a couples massage which was AMAZING!! We had a fantastic weekend away! Oh AND Nic bought me an iPad which I love!!!

At the restaurant!

Heading down to the pool and hot tub!

View from our deck.

Yummy shave ice!!

Be jealous Micah!!! You would love this stuff!

Right after the amazing massage!

Yummy chocolate cupcake!

Pretty pictures I got from my sisters!

The week after our anniversary we went to the Aquarium which was so cool! I saw real life sharks!!! SCARY! We were going to go see The Tourist but Nic wasn't feeling well so we decided to call it a day.

A few days later we were on the beach in Paia and I had my purse stolen! I ended up getting the purse back but the thief had taken our camera, video camera, Nic's phone and both our iPods. It was a terrible day! :(

The next Saturday we went to the mall and bought Christmas presents for friends, family and ourselves! We also saw The Tourist which was FANTASTIC! Such a great movie and well worth seeing! On Christmas day we went to Wailea with the other wwoofers (Pam, Peter and Brendan) to Secret Beach which was absolutely gorgeous! We then went out to eat and had delicious sweet potato fries and vegi burgers. Next we went to see The Little Fockers which was very entertaining! 

Unfortunately I have no more photos to add as we have been unable to take any pictures! We did however buy a new camera and just got a memory card for it so new pictures are coming soon! Today is my 20th birthday. (I feel so old :( ) Nic and I went out for coffee and pastries after he very cutely brought me a breakfast of Eggo waffles in bed! We then did a little touristy shopping in Paia, went to the beach with Kai, Sharyn and Brendan and then bought an ice cream cake for later tonight! Hopefully we will be able to play a few games and watch and movie!! We were going to go bowling but the place was closed. :/ Oh well! Other than missing my family and friends it has been a wonderful day! And that is a very brief summary of things going on here in Hawaii! I promise I shall try to be more consistent with the blogs!!!

Hana (I Need To Do A Lot Of Other Catching Up!)

WOW! Over a whole month has passed by since I have updated on my blog! And so much has happened! On November 27th we drove along the windy road of Hana. If you get a chance look up the road on google maps. Its ridiculous! It was the most beautiful, crazy, sick and scary road I have ever been on! We got up early to beat the tourists! The road started out windy and there were two lanes so we thought, what the heck! this isn't so bad! And then the road narrowed substantially and really there was only room for one car. Every turn led to another and another and another. We were nauseous by the eighth mile along the road! There were small bridges everywhere and turns over 180 degrees were not uncommon! It was so scary driving along the road because here I am inching along at around 5-10mph (which is really all you can do) and the locals come flying around corners going so fast! I swear I though we were going to die at least 100 times!! With all the stops for mini hikes and pull offs for taking pictures and checking out beaches, it took us 2.5 hours to get to Hana (which was 30 miles away). 

Unfortunately none of these photos are in any real order....its kind of annoying and difficult to post and then move around photos!

This was at one of the pull offs. The waves were huge and were crashing all around us! It was breathtaking!

Eating fresh warm banana bread from a stand on the side of the road....YUM!!

We went into a lava tube, this is the opening. I was sooo scared! It was so dark!

 It used to be a nuclear fallout shelter!

There were lots of cool rocks and stalagmites and stalactites! This lava tube used to be a beef slaughterhouse. The owner had 10,000 pounds worth of bones removed before anyone could go down and tour it.

This was at one of the state parks. It was absolutely gorgeous! Lots of black sand beaches.

Signature pose!

We are behind the church where Charles Lindbergh is buried!

Here is the church where Lindbergh is buried.

His grave!

Another picture of the church. We weren't able to go inside but it was a beautiful quaint old church.

Behind the church again enjoying the gorgeous view! Lindbergh certainly picked a beautiful location!

On a short side hike.

We heart the trees!

Nic being a goof!

Pretty flower along the path!

Nic is about to try and pull a Tarzan and climb up the vines. (Oh and he failed by the way!)

Taking pics of a pretty waterfall! There were so many amazing waterfalls along the side of the road to hike into!

A black sand beach.

Black sand!

Another beautiful flower!

AMAZING view!

Waterfall!

Once we got to Hana, there was literally nothing. It was the lamest town! But we didn't mind because it really wasn't Hana we were going to see, it was the drive there. Nic was totally car sick at this point, and so was I! Although Nic was a sweetheart and let me drive, otherwise I would have been vomiting! We were hardly over with our trip though as we decided to drive around the other side of the island instead of going back the way we came. The drive changed from jungle to almost New Englandy with rolling hills and farms, lots of green and even some pine trees! Then it turned to total desert. It was the craziest thing! All in all it was an amazing drive. We finished up the day with going to the movies to see Unstoppable, which we highly recommend!!

There are lots of cattle ranches on this side of the island.

Total desert!

 I will most definitely write about our anniversary and the other things we have been up to tomorrow but its 10:12pm now and I have to work tomorrow and I'm super tired so I think I'm gonna head to bed!!