adventures in hana, and beyond!

Christy and her parents picked me up at 7:30 and we headed to Paia to eat breakfast at Charley's (the place Willie Nelson owns!). Macadamia nut pancakes, french toast, home fries, and coffee. Drive on. Bamboo forest. Wicked. I love it in there. Huelo Lookout-kinda lame. Eucalyptus rainbow trees. Beauty. Kae'nae. Mango, banana, and guava. All growing on trees. Photos. Mango shaved ice. Owl City tunes. Ching's Pond. No jumping it today. Black Sand Beach. Names on the sand. Wainapanapa cave. Freeeezing water. Good talks with the Rendall rents. Turkey and lettuce sandwiches. Diet Coke. Hana. Cloudy. Hasegawa. Drive on.

Venus pools. We trek through the barbed wire and make our way down to the water. A woman follows us down to the cliffs and she's alone. A solo vacay. Ilsa (ill-sa) is her name. We try to convince her to jump off the biggest one. "Just doooo eeeeeeet! Gooooo!" She's hesitant. I ask her if she wants me to go first. Yep. Cliff edge of doom. Dominated it. Oh hey salt water in my nose. Ilsa takes a breath and follows me down. Christy jumps off a cliff too. Done. On to 7 pools. Very touristy. The fresh water is refreshing. Ilsa is there too. Warm black rocks + people watching= amazing. Time to embark on our way around the island. Longer than I remembered. But good. Beautiful drive home. Completely wiped out by the end.

My favorite memory from this past week was when the Rendall's invited us over for dinner on Sunday night. We had a delicious meal and then Steven busted out the guitar and we sang music from the 90s and Christy's dad got his little shakers out and we just had a blast singing and laughing. A quick swim in the pool and hot tub. Good conversation. God is so great.

My current music playlist this week: Bon Iver, Iron and Wine, Brandon Heath, Kari Jobe, and Album Leaf.

Love you all!

Risa

re-amped!

My page needed a facelift. And an update! It's been over a month!

Things I've learned in the past month:
-God loved us first.
-Making s'mores over a fire pit under the bright stars at Laperouse with friends is the ultimate way to spend an evening!
-Mind set on the Spirit= LIFE and PEACE.
-Being 22 is waaay cooler than being 21 :)
-My family on Maui was borderline EPIC!
-The sun rising from the top of Haleakala was stunning. Also, at 10,000 feet high, the frigid weather can be compared to a Canada winter!
-Having a good cry is always worth it. Vale a pena.
-If the West Maui Mountains are burning, don't drive to Lahaina. It took us over 4 hours to go around the west side of the island (the only way back to Kihei!) but we had a blast! And the sights weren't bad either :)
-Being a tourist on Maui is much much different than living and working on Maui.
-Arrested Development is the best show ever!
-Shaved ice from Local Boys is 38429 times better with ice cream.
-Flying to Oahu for a day to see Pearl Harbor, eat Baja Fish Tacos at Dukes, window shop expensive/high end stores, and ride in a limo is completely do-able :)
-The Lavender Farm Upcountry is the ideal place to mellow out and chill.
-Pens, in fact, can explode and get all over you. In church. And dye large chunks of your hair blue. So be careful!!
-Bocce Ball with family and friends on a summer's night will be a precious memory forever.
-My trust IS the Lord.

AGAPE.

Reese