Maui, first part of Day 3 (December 28, 2025)

The Nakalele Blowhole, as described in the Maui Revealed guidebook, is like "a jet engine roaring into the sky." The man-sized hole is in a lava shelf undercut by incoming surf that blasts through the hole. Don't lean over it! Someone was sucked through it and swept out to sea in 2011!

Mya, Brandy, Ryder, and River wait for the next 100-foot explosion. We had to scramble down about a 200-foot trail from the road above, over a lot of rock, to reach the blowhole.

Mya and Piper stood close enough to be covered in spray.

Maui, first part of Day 2 (December 27, 2025)

 We started the day shopping for floaties and noodles.  Not $22 each at the resort shop, but around $4 each for the identical items at a store down the road! Piper's catching some sun after snorkeling.

The bay is sheltered from pounding surf. But the coral reefs can skin your knees!

River's almost ready. The water was cold at first!

Brandy and Tom relaxed on the beach. Brandy eventually rode her floatie out to see the Hawaiian green turtle. It poked it's head up right in front of Ryder's face!

Papa, Mya, Ryder and me calling it a day. I couldn't have done it without my kickboard. I'm not a strong swimmer. On to Hawaiian shaved ice!

Maui, second part of Day 2 (December 27, 2025)

THEN: Ryder and Brandy honeymooned in Maui after their lucky 07/07/07 wedding in Vegas.
 

NOW: A mere 18 years later and Piper, River, and Mya have joined the family!

After snorkeling at Kapalua Bay--where we all saw a Hawaiian green turtle! (except Papa who stayed on the beach)--we stopped at Aloha Shave Ice in Lahaina. The shave ice is made with fresh fruit and if you request it, a snow cap of coconut condensed milk. So refreshing!

We finished the day at the resort pool. River conquered the slide!

We're all together! (December 26, 2025)

We couldn't check in until Ryder showed up in person as he'd made the reservation. The wait was short and pleasant. Our room is Piper's birth date!
 

Piper couldn't wait for a swim! Mya watches.

First full day in Maui (December 26, 2025)

 Due to the Austin-Maui time difference, we had a 28-hour Christmas Day. We spent most of that time at ABIA, flying to San Diego then Maui, and 2 hours in the Budget car rental line. Oh! I was so discombobulated I left my carry-on luggage at baggage claim. Thank goodness for the long car rental line which gave me time to realize the suitcase was missing! I ran back into the airport and everything was closed except for the United Airlines customer service office. They had my bag and were about to send it to lost and found! 

We enjoyed coffee at Kanaha Beach Park, where we watched windsurfers. We then visited the botanical garden of native plants.

A traditional island shelter

We then shopped at Costco and headed to the Outrigger Ka'anapali Beach resort near Lahaina to wait for the Moraga Lewises to fly in that afternoon.

Big Boy wants to drive Xena too (December 21, 2025)

Big Boy likes to jingle the car keys. If he ever takes them off the hook, we'll have no idea where to find them. Once, when Ryder was a crawling baby, I let him play with my car keys. I just happened to see him slide them under the refrigerator. I would never have found them if I hadn't seen that!

New shorter style (December 18, 2025)

Went with a long shag to let natural curl shine. I think the color's too red. Miss my black hair! Also, the curls only work until you run a brush through them. Someday I'll have a long silver braid down my back. Not ready to be treated like an old lady yet though.

Jim's Christmas concert (December 16, 2025)

Grand-nephew Jim plays viola in the McCallum High School orchestra. 
 

Christmas cactus right on time (December 12, 2025)

Enjoying Martin's Christmas cactus for the third year. How does it know it's December?
 

Meet Xena! (December 5, 2025)

I've missed the Zoomer since hail did it in back in 2022. Losing Max became the big chance to find a stick shift replacement. I wanted something with reasonable mileage and a reasonable price, preferably a Toyota, Honda, or Mazda. We found only ONE car in the entire Austin area that fit the criteria! Apparently nobody drives standard anymore. The Toyota dealership near us came through with a 2018 Mazda3 with about 76,000 miles on it. I had to drive it for the gas fill up because the salesperson didn't know how to drive stick! We knew Xena was the right choice when they put on the new license plate and it ends in "6-7," the 2025 word of the year. Nod to Otis for defining the term for us. :-)

Bye-bye, Max! (December 3, 2025)

 Max needed a new engine. No rebuilt engine was available because Max is a 2011 SUV. A junk yard had an engine with 100,000 miles on it. Repair estimate: $7,500. Sorry Max! You faithfully took us many places, mainly to the bee hives. We'll miss you!

Sold to a junk dealer for $350. Hopefully Max's good parts will be useful for another Mazda CX7 owner.

From Danny to Fox (December 1, 2026)

 Danny's clean closet became Fox's bonanza. She loves the leopard pajamas! 

Very classy!

Break down! (November 27, 2925)

After Thanksgiving lunch with Greg, we were on our way to the bees, nearly to Georgetown, when Max lost power. Tom was able to get across a few lanes of traffic to the shoulder before Max died, thank goodness!
 

As luck would have it, a TxDOT Hero was behind us. They monitor I-35 for breakdowns. He pulled over, set up cones, and took a look under the hood for an easy fix such as a dead battery. No go. He advised us to call a tow truck.

Couldn't believe how easy it was to get a tow truck to our favorite mechanic Dan at Elite Auto in Austin. We got to see Greg again. He met us at Dan's and took us home. Thanks, Greg!

Happy Thanksgiving! (November 27, 2025)

 Okay, the Pilgrims didn't celebrate with Mediterranean food, but we did! We met Greg and Tammy at Dimassi's for Thanksgiving dinner.

We did have turkey with our pita bread, hummus, tabouli, and falafel.

So many delicious choices!

Danny on the "All is Calm" advertiser (November 26, 2025)

 Danny's Irish and German accents were big pluses at the "All is Calm" auditions at Stage West in Fort Worth. Danny made the cast and was featured in the flyer for the play! The play commemorates the moment that British and German soldiers left their Great War trenches on Christmas Eve to sing carols and play soccer. 

No, no Colette! (Friday, November 21, 2025)

If we don't serve her food on the buffet fast enough, she jumps on the forbidden island to eat.

She can balance and eat at the same time.

 

Happy Thanksgiving week! (November 21, 2025)

 Anjanette, Fox, and I met at the Velvet Taco on Burnet Road before their road trip to Los Angeles with Jay and Laura. We didn't try the Thanksgiving taco with turkey, dressing, and cranberry sauce.

Almost Thanksgiving, and our garden is still producing (November 17, 2025)

These crisp, sweet just-off-the-vine bell peppers and Carmen peppers (not spicy) are so delicious in our dinner salads!
 

Tons of serrano peppers to add to Papa's delicious black beans and other dishes too!

Rare Northern Lights in Central Texas (November 11-12, 2025)

My friend Sharon Reed in Georgetown sent me this photo of the Northern Lights as seen from her driveway on November 11. 
 

We drove as far north as the Walburg exit (about 40 miles) in hopes of being far enough from Austin's light pollution to see the Northern Lights. We ran into a traffic jam north of Georgetown. Apparently the lights came and went. By the time we reached the dark road to Walburg, the lights were gone.

Our consolation prize: glow-in-the-dark Oreo cookies. Greg gave them to us earlier in the day after Tom removed a deep splinter from Greg's thumb for him. We traveled to Iceland in November 2017 specifically to see the Aurora Borealis. The sky was overcast the entire time. Seeing the lights is on my bucket list. Could there be a winter trip to Fairbanks, Alaska, in our future? 

Another house gone in our block (November 4, 2025)

We returned from Portland late on November 3 only to wake up to sounds of heavy machinery four houses away. Well, only three houses away now.