Maui'd with Children - Maui Day Two

If you want to read what happened to us on Day One, click here.

Oahu Summer 2012 slideshow click here.

Oahu Spring Break 2014 slideshow, click here.

Family selfie at Makena Beach

The Trouble with Time Change
Since I started my new job, the projects that have been assigned to me, a West Coast guy, have all been focused on the East Coast (3 hours ahead). This means that I start my days very, very early....we're talking 5am California time. I actually don't mind getting up in the wee hours of the morning, I feel like I get a lot of things accomplished from a work-perspective, and when the day ends for my East Coast counterparts, I still have the rest of the afternoon to work or take care of other important things. Now that we're on Maui, I have to do the reverse since Hawaii time is 3 hours behind my time in California. Since we were exhausted yesterday, we did have a good night's rest, but I still got up at 3am (Hawaii local time). Go figure! I tried to go back to bed, and failed. It could be worse. Well, that was the time I wrote my blog from Day One.

Why I blog...
Many of my friends have suggested that I write a blog. I obviously post a lot on Facebook/Instagram, and they said, "you might as well write a blog" - so I did. For our vacations/getaways, I write after-hours, when it's quiet, when all are asleep. Writing feels like therapy. It's good for me and my memory (I'm not getting any younger). I've also shared my past blogs to friends who wanted to find out what we did when we went to XYZ place. Lastly, the family and I, during our downtime, we like to look back and recall the events that took place when the blog was written. So there....that's why I blog. I rarely tweet, but if you want to follow me on Instagram, follow me at @mac4daddy.

Maui-sadas


Breakfast Moco

After writing my blog, I finally had the nerve to wake up my family (gently). It was around 6am local time. Hey, that was 9am back home. I was able to convince Madison to come with me to Home Maid Bakery. It was only under 3 miles away, but with a 2-lane Kihei Road, it took us around 10 mins to get there. I've had malasadas on Oahu (Leonard's and Agnes Portuguese Bakery) and Kauai (I think it was from the Malasada Lady outside K-mart). According to the oh-so-reliable Wikipedia, a malasada is a Portuguese confection, made of egg-sized balls of yeast dough that are deep-fried in oil and coated with granulated sugar. In plain English, it reminds me of a donut with no hole....but it's quite moist, and the flavors are enhanced by the different types of sugar. Home Maid Bakery served 2 kinds...plain sugar and cream (kinda like a warm-custard). It was pretty good, but I'm quite biased. My favorite malasada in Hawaii is from Agnes Portugues Bakery in Kailua... simply the best. Oh, I also ordered the Breakfast Moco, egg, rice, burger patty and gravy. That hit the spot.

Beachfront access
When I booked this condo 3 weeks ago, it received 5-star reviews from previous guests  who booked using VRBO. Was it too good to believe? No one rated the place under 5-stars? I had to see it for myself. For today's entry, I'll share with you that we're probably close to 100 yards from the beach....just enough for me to use my 9-iron to get to the hole (I haven't played golf in so long). That's how close this condo is to the beach. It's not beachfront per se. To get there, we had to cross a 2-lane road, and voila, we're at Kamaole Beach III's parking lot. With just a few more steps, we passed by the restroom facilities, outdoor shower, playground, a wooden ramp, and then, the golden sand. The picture shows the property...it's the downward L-shaped looking property that's facing the ocean.

ALS Challenge and our morning at Kamaole Beach III
Ethan was challenged by his friend, Jackson, to take the ALS Challenge where he had to pour a bucket of iced water. Since we had no access to a bucket, we found a mixing bowl in our kitchen, and that's what we used. We shot his video at Kamaole Beach III...click here for the short clip.

Ahi Limu Poke

After that, we just spent the rest of the morning swimming, riding the waves via body board and skim board. Caitlin and Evan got in the water but they enjoyed building a sand castle in the shape of a shark, but it had to have windows. Oh kids and their imagination. After spending our morning at the beach, we walked back to the condo, had lunch, and rested for a bit.


Ice, Ice, Baby

We drove toward Ululani's Shave Ice to help cool us down from 90 degree sunny summer day. We were in line for quite a while, so we did what every reasonable parent does (at times). We asked Ethan to stay in line for us!  :-P In the meantime, Nancy and I walked in to Sugar Beach Bake Shop. They're well known for their Lilikoi Key Lime Pie, but we weren't in the mood for a Key Lime flavor, so we opted for their Dossant (Donut-Croissant aka cronuts). I ordered their Dossant with lilikoi berries and cream topped with macadamia nuts. That was very good.For the actual shave ice, I ordered blue hawaii, pineapple, and tiger's blood topped with mochi. For Ethan, mango, passion fruit, and guava. I'm quite picky when it comes to the ice itself. Out of all the shave ice on Oahu, nothing compares to Waiola General Store in Waikiki,  IMHO. But I gotta tell you, Ululani's ice was quite fine, perfectly fine. 

Makena Beach
The rest of our afternoon was spent at Makena Beach. The waves, as I remembered them from years ago, were kicking. This is not a good beach for little kids to simply "play" in the water. Caitlin and Evan played in the sand, enjoyed covering themselves in sand. I, on the other hand, played with Ethan and Madison and enjoyed the strength of the waves at Makena. 

Not all Candies are bad for you

It was close to dinner time when we decided to leave Makena, and at this time, we got hungry again. I looked at my list of what's near the area, and decided on Eskimo Candy - another local find, somewhat a hole in the wall, off the beaten path in Kihei. I thought it was going to be just seafood type of dishes, but to my surprise, there were many other regular plate lunches. I ordered Coconut Shrimp and Ono combo, the rest of the fam ordered Kalbi Ribs and Teriyaki Chicken. From what I've read, looks like this place is also known for their Poke bowls....since we got there during the day, they ran out of poke....maybe next time. 

Coconut Shrimp and Ono Combo

That was our Day Two....I expect Day Three to be quite hectic....stay tuned. Mahalo!