An open letter to my husband •

05 Monday Mar 2018

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui, Thoughts from Jenn

Tags

Dreams, family, first time mom, goals, growth, Happiness, Life, love, Marriage, married life, Maui

Dear Husband —

I SEE you over there.

Waiting, watching, wondering, where your wife went.

For 2 years you’ve loved me as I slowly gave myself away day after day, hour after hour, second after second. You supported every decision I made as you watched and cheered me on, helping every SINGLE step of the way. You supported me unconditionally and I have often times let you down.

I promised myself that I would always put our relationship first. That our foundation would always be my first priority and that everything else would ALWAYS come second. I’ve lost myself in Motherhood and found myself and lost myself, over and over again. Sometimes in the same day, others in the same minute. I tell myself on the daily that I’m going to do more, give more be better and day after day I fail, but there you are, loving me anyways, always helping me find my way back to you.

You love me so hard and so fierce and so unconditionally. You remind me who I am, who I want to be, and who I am working so hard to become. You continue to love me without limits or judgment or condition. You allow me to give myself to our son day after day, night after night, hour after hour without hesitation without resistance, without blame.

So my husband, my one true love, thank you. Thank you for loving me, thank you for accepting me and sticking with me. Thank for making me feel beautiful and loved and limitless. Thank you for waiting for me. For believing in me and for loving me anyways.

I SEE you. I miss you. I can’t wait to get back to me and you. You are (still) my best friend. You are (still) the one I have the most fun with. You are (still) the ONE.

I SEE you. I see us. I see all of our dreams coming true. I see our life being built. I see our son living a bright and happy future because of who we are. I see YOU.

You are my past, my present and my future. There is no me without you. There is no us, no dreams, no tomorrow. YOU are it today, tomorrow, forever.

I don’t tell you enough but I hope you never forget how proud I am of you. How proud I am to be your wife. How proud I am that you are Cash’s daddy. How proud I am for the selfless, hard working, funny, light hearted man that you are and who you are continuously trying to become for you, for me, for our son.

I hope you know that I am more IN LOVE with you today than yesterday and I know tomorrow will be even more than today until forever!

We are a Family of 3 (plus Kailea)

15 Wednesday Jun 2016

Posted by Making Magic in Baby Stew Diaries, Life on Maui, Thoughts from Jenn

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family of 3, life with a baby, Maui, mom life, parenting, staycation

…as I laid in a giant pineapple in the middle of the pool, at my favorite place on Maui I couldn’t help but laugh at the fact that I had an almost 6 month old sitting on my belly “splashing” away. I looked up and smiled at Colt, we had done it, we were parents, mom and dad respectably, going on 6 months and we were not only “surviving it” we were having the time of our lives. It was in that moment that I realized two things 1). We were a family and 2). How easy we had transitioned from us two (and Kailea) to us three (and Kailea) without even really trying. Life hadn’t stopped or even slowed down it just keep charging full speed ahead and here we were.

It was a surreal and exciting moment a “heck yes” we are doing it moment. A moment that takes your breath away because you are so happy and so grateful that you almost have to pinch yourself to really believe it. These past 6 months with Cash have been some of the best days of our lives but I can confidently say that the last 72 hours spent this past weekend as a family of three was hands down the best time yet.

Cash is at such a fun stage and we are eating up every moment of “firsts” with him! I wish I could just freeze time and keep hitting rewind to watch it all over and over again until my heart bursts because it can’t take anymore, but since I can’t I guess I’ll just jot it all down here to freeze the memories and come back anytime I feel nostalgic or need a minute of peace.

I never imagined this next chapter for us would be even better than our first but life has a funny way of surprising you and having a child brings a whole new world of magic to everyday things. Watching Cash experience new things for the first time is like being a kid all over again only this time you get to really remember it and do it your way. Parenting is a blast and we are so thankful for a happy, healthy, easy-going baby boy!

Checking in to the Grand Wailea on a Friday was such a special treat, it meant we had a whole extra 24 hours of fun, sun and relaxation!

This was Cash’s third trip to the Grand, (can you say spoiled) but what a difference 6 months makes!

Here are some of our first photos at the Grand Wailea with Cash at 3 weeks old!

And then photos from this past weekend at 5 months & 3 weeks old.

It was a weekend of so many fun “firsts” including his first time loving the pools and going under water!

His first underwater dunk came on Saturday June 11, 2016! He did so great and only cried for maybe 20 seconds when Colt came back up and then he went right back to splashing and playing like nothing had happened. He is proving to be such a water baby and we couldn’t be more happy!

After some family play time on Saturday we were also lucky enough to get some adult time in while Aunty Anu hung out with Cash and Kai. It was really fun to have some grown up “us” time to act like big kids – LOL!

That night we were also treated by my father in law to a nice dinner for my birthday. We went to Duo for some steaks and while we were dining we gave Cash his very first food experience — Molokai purple sweet potatoes! As you can see he loved them which made losing his virgin gut a little easier on me (wahhhhh)

First food experience on Saturday June 11, 2016 at Four Seasons Duo restaurant. 5 months & 3 weeks old. It was certainly a day and night to remember!

We wrapped up the weekend with a lazy Sunday at the pool floating and sliding and napping in the shade. Papa even came out to play which made it extra special!

Cash also got his hands on his second taste of Maui — earths candy! I’m pretty sure he’s going to be a food monster!

As we left the Grand Wailea on Sunday evening I was overwhelmed with feelings of love, happiness and gratitude. To be able to raise our son on this beautiful island that we get to call home is almost to good to be true and we feel so very blessed.

Until next time remember happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You have to fight for it, strive for it & insist upon it. You also must participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. The most important thing is to enjoy your life—to be happy—it’s all that matters…”

xoxo

A Month of Love & Thanks

11 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Making Magic in Baby Stew Brew, Baby Stew Diaries, Life on Maui

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Baby Boy, baby shower, baby stew brew, family, love, pregnancy

October was hands down my favorite month so far of pregnancy! The whole month had us smothered in love and laughter and celebrations. Being able to share the first few weeks of our last trimester with family and friends truly meant the world to us. It also made us realize how truly blessed not only we are but how truly blessed Cash is [already].

October covered weeks 28 through 32 which means we are officially in the last trimester of our first pregnancy, how this is even possible — I have no idea! If my belly wasn’t so big I wouldn’t believe it BUT baby boy makes that kinda hard with his non-stop kicking and punching and moving and growing. It’s so fun to be able to feel him all the time now and to never have to worry if he’s doing ok in there. If I want to know all I have to do is place a hand on my tummy and within minutes he lets me know he’s doing just fine. The connection we continue to grow every day just takes my breath away. He already seems so strong and so resilient and I just can’t wait to hold him. Thinking about looking into his eyes for the very first time just puts me into an immediate tail spin of giggles and butterflies.

Ok enough of me swooning over Cash and back to swooning over October. I will also add that pregnancy has made me a total sap. I’ve never been one to get overly emotional about anything but lately forget about it, I will see a sad or heartwarming commercial on tv and I’m toast. So with that you can imagine how overwhelming it was to have a month completely surrounded by love and family.

We kicked off the month with Ashley and our friend Jaye flying in from California. October 10th was our set baby shower(s) and of course it wouldn’t have been complete without sister Stew in town to celebrate. They flew in a few days early which was great since I was on fall break so we had plenty of time to relax and play tourist before the festivities of the baby shower weekend began! They also got to come with me to my specialist appointment to see Cash which was so special for me since up until then only Colt and I had been able to experience that.

Ashley meeting the baby bump for the first time

Playing tourist all over the island

By Thursday baby shower mode was in full effect. Anu and Ashley were working hard on putting together an amazing morning brunch of just close girlfriends while my family was working hard on our co-ed Baby Stew Brew BaBy-Q. I knew my mom, dad, sister, Mike, Deni, Amelia and Meghan were all flying in from Oahu for the fun and festivities but what I didn’t realize was that my best friend Kristen was planning the biggest surprise ever and flying in from Florida to be here. I knew she had been helping out a ton with the shower but we had talked about her coming and we decided that it was too much for her to come twice and that I really just needed her to be here to meet Cash after he was born. We were both (or so I thought) really sad and jammed up about it but little did I know she had been plotting and planning on being here for months and I had NO clue.

Thursday night my parents flew in and the next morning the rest of my Oahu family. We were was so excited to have my parents, sister, Mike, Deni, Amelia and Meg all here for the shower. They all got straight to work on Friday with shopping and crafting and baking and cooking while Colt and I had to go to work. Clueless I went to my afternoon shift feeling eager and anxious to get off so I could get back home to enjoy my weekend with my family! Little did I know that as I ended my first class I would look up to find Colt watching me with a girl standing beside him. At first I couldn’t register that it was Kristen standing in Maui at my school but then my brain caught up to my eyes and I lost it!! It was her!! Kristen was here in Maui! I couldn’t believe it as I ran over to give her the biggest hug, it was honestly a dream come true to have her here.

Kristen loving the baby bump for the first time

…and the fun never stopped

The weekend kicked off and both showers were absolutely without a doubt perfection. The love, hard work, time and attention to detail that went into both of them was felt on every single level. We couldn’t have asked for a more magically perfect day for our baby boy. We were surrounded by so much love near and far and we are so thankful to each and every one of you for loving us and Cash so much.

These two, hostess with the mostest. You girls really out did yourselves.

We absolutely loved all the video messages sent from all of our family members and friends, it truly meant the world to us to see and hear your voices on such a special day

Brunch was amazing and having all of my favorite girls in one place to celebrate Cash was so surreal. Thank you Anu for opening up your home and turning it into a baby shower wonderland, I’m so grateful for all the time and love that was put in to every single detail to make it so very special!

After the morning brunch we transitioned right over into BaBy-Q mode and got ready for our co-ed shower. My dad and sister and mom had spent all day Friday cooking and setting up and baking to get ready for the day. The boys woke up early to go set up the tent and tables and hold the area. It couldn’t have been a more beautiful set up. Every detail was exactly Colt & I’s style and it was just so amazing to be surrounded by all of our closest family and friends.

My mom made a clothesline of handmade onesies as a decoration and they were so awesome! Anu’s brother in law let us use his heavy duty tent set up which was a lifesaver with the wind!

Deni made us this awesome and crafty diaper cake it was so perfect and so special

Kristen got these awesome koozies made for party favors they were a huge hit

The day was filled with great food, yummy drinks, baby blue desserts, fun games and lots of laughs.

One of the best parts of the day was when my Mom busted out these bean bag sperms that she made for cornhole! They were so awesome!

We are so grateful to my Mom and Sister for all their hard work and planning. Also to my Dad, Mike, Mark, Sam, Joe, Meg, Kristen & Deni for all your help with set up and break down. And of course to Amelia for being the easiest & happiest baby in the world!

As the day came to an end we were blessed with a perfectly magical Maui sunset! It was a great ending to a beautiful day!

We honestly can’t say “thank you” enough. With both showers along with all the presents we are receiving in the mail daily we are officially ready to start checking a lot of items off our list and we couldn’t be more excited or grateful! Next up operation nursery but not before a few days of some much needed rest!

30 days until 30

23 Friday May 2014

Posted by Making Magic in Coach Jenn, Life on Maui, Runners HI, Wanderlust

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…2 days until Anu’s Bach party, 6 days until the end of the regular school year, 7 days until my Moms 50th birthday in Oahu, 15 days until my Uncle Rays Maui wedding, 30 days until my 30th birthday, 50 days until Anu & Joe’s wedding, 55 days until Colt’s 30th birthday, 81 days until Lika’s wedding, 94 days until our 2 year wedding anniversary and 113 days until Kevin and Kristen’s wedding in Florida! (whew, are you exhausted yet?!?)

To say I’ve been busy would be a total understatement but not the kind of busy that you hate and all you want to do is pull your hair out, but more of the kind of busy that your non-stop living your life and wishing that there were just a few more hours in everyday. With that being said you can only imagine my surprise when I jumped on my blog to renew my yearly dues and I realized I haven’t posted since December (shame, shame) so here it goes!

This school year of coaching has been nothing short of amazing! I’ve learned so much and grown not only as a person but also as a coach. I’ve established an irreplaceable relationship with my students and I couldn’t feel more blessed to wake up everyday and go to a job that I truly love! It’s been such a positive and enlightening change in my life and I often wonder how I EVER (ever) did anything else!

On top of coaching full time and Lightning Electric part time I’ve also recently started a new adventure with a long time friend and his production company. The role is still evolving but I’m excited to be apart of yet another successful small business on Maui that I believe in. It’s such a big (and rewarding) change after working for corporate all those years!

Aside from my professional life my personal life has also been delightfully busy and filled with all of the things that I love which include but aren’t limited to being a wife to Colt, being a maid of honor to my best friend Kristen and Anu, spending time with family & friends, running, beaching, exploring and traveling!

The Warrior Dash in Oahu, I finished in the top 20 woman in my heat which was a huge accomplishment not to mention a blast!

The run till your green race was my fastest 5k to date!

The happiest 5k on earth, need I say more!

I also took a girls trip to Tahoe with Anu to celebrate her upcoming wedding. To say it was the best girls trip EVER would be the biggest understatement of the century.

After Tahoe came my favorite trip of the year which is going to Cali to visit sister stew, go to stagecoach (watching Lynyrd Skynyrd perform free bird live is now at the top 10 happiest moments of my life) and of course we couldn’t leave without saying hello to the mouse!

As you can clearly see married life continues to get better by the day. Being married to your best friend is truly life’s greatest blessing. I fall in love with Colt more and more everyday and being away from him (even only for the work day) is truly hard. I love being by his side, he makes my life richer and me better. I can’t wait to celebrate our 5 years together, and 2 years married in August!

When I woke up this morning and realized it was 30 days until 30 a part of me felt really sad to know that my 20’s (the best years of my life, thus far) were coming to an end. Yet part of me felt so incredibly overwhelmed with excitement for the next year to come! 30 — three zero — the fact that I am now a walking and talking adult is still extremely weird and overwhelming to me on the daily and now to know that I’m a soon to be thirty year old is even weirder!!! Especially when you hear things like “make sure you have a good a skin-care regimen if you don’t already” and that my exercise routine will now be a necessity rather than a leisure which I can’t lie scares me a lot. But on the flip side I am also ready to find out the good stuff like why they say life begins at 30 and to experience all the new adventures, lessons and blessings that are yet to come.

As for the rest, they say counting time isn’t as important as making time count..” and I fully intend to do just that!

Our December

07 Tuesday Jan 2014

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui, Thoughts from Jenn

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Christmas, December, Happiness, Life, Maui, staycation, time off

I am officially in mourning as I take down Christmas around our house. We had such a beautiful December spent doing the things that we love and really just enjoying Maui.

I am so grateful that we were both able to get Christmas and New Years off and that I had some extra afternoon down time since my elementary schools were all on break and my office work was light with my father in law on vacation. He went on holiday for the holiday so Colt and I stayed on Maui this year so we could handle biz (literally).

December was mellow and fun and we enjoyed it and each other very much….

We got our tree on black Friday. It was another perfect pick and I’ve enjoyed having it up very much. The smell, the beauty. It’s still up as I type I am just looking at it and wishing it didn’t have to come down (ever)…

Once the tree was up we had our typical Christmas card photo-shoot (thanks Anu) and as you can see it’s not Colt or Kai’s favorite part of the holiday but I love it.

A Stew’s Christmas 2013!

We spent a lot of time playing at the beach working on our tans. I think we went to the beach more in the last 2 weeks than we did in the entire year of 2013 but hey better late than never!

We also spent a night at the Grand (Colt and Joe) surprised Anu and I and of course it was awesome!

We spent our Christmas Eve at the beach, went to the candlelight service at church and then Anu and Joe had us over for a really nice chicken dinner.

Christmas Day Colt made a big breakfast buffet just for the two of us and we relaxed, ate and exchanged gifts while enjoying the morning.

This was Colt’s favorite gift (it was $3.50) a koozie that says “Drop Shaka’s not Bombs,” it has also become his 2014 motto.

Later that evening we went to Anu’s parents house and had a wonderful dinner and played games. We of course missed both of our families very much but we are so blessed and grateful for our Maui Ohana.

6 days into January and my head is still floating in beautiful memories of December. It was a good year, a year of transition!

We are both really looking forward to an exciting and adventurous 2014!

New Year, New Stew

Thank•full•ness

29 Friday Nov 2013

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui

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family, holidays, love, Marriage, Maui life, ohana, Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving day, thanksgiving holiday

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It was the first year Colt and I actually had Thanksgiving day off together since 2009 and we were really looking forward to hosting it our new place. I spent the whole week shopping so we had a ton of food and although it was different then what we had originally expected it was still perfect which made it easy to count our blessings rather than our worries.

This was Colt’s second year preparing “the bird” 23 pounds of pure delight Nothing like morning squats to get that bird to fit in the oven My 2nd year making Colt’s favorite “green bean casserole” Adding some extra love He was so happy and it came out so GOOD…

it was juicy, seasoned and not dry, whew! I was one happy girl. We asked Papa to do the honors of cutting the bird and as you can see he was thrilled Teaching the boy how to carve the turkey The Thanksgiving spread Love these two men Me and Papa Dessert time with friends

My favorite Man down, the turkey coma hit the Stewart household hard

Wrapping up the thanksgiving holiday is always bittersweet for me. I LOVE Thanksgiving, it’s truly my favorite holiday. My father in law asked me last night why it was my favorite and it’s an easy question to answer, it’s still the ONLY holiday that is family and friend focused, not based on what we don’t have but rather on what we do have and what we are thankful for plus it’s food focused rather than present focused. What’s not to LOVE?

This year although grateful for so many things including the acceptance this Thanksgiving has brought to me. I would have to say above all I am most grateful for my beautiful marriage, new traditions and my amazing husband. He is kindhearted, caring, loving, giving, funny, supportive, patient, understanding but even more than all that he strives to be the best husband he can possibly be and I couldn’t be more thankful for that.

I hope you all had a blessed and FULL Thanksgiving filled with the people and food that you love! As we officially kick off the 2013 holiday craziness, I am wishing you all a happy, healthy, stress free & non-humbug season.

Happy Slappy

27 Sunday Oct 2013

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui

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experiences, Fun, Maui, one of a kind, pancakes, restaurant, saturdays, slappy cakes

…or really Slappy Cakes but I was so excited about going to this new restaurant that you could certainly call me slap happy.

I woke up this morning at 8:07 a.m. and rejoiced in the feeling of “sleeping in” I needed a day off from my alarm clock and I felt relaxed and rested when I opened my eyes. I had a plan, I wanted to fly (well really I wanted to travel) but since that wasn’t likely on such short notice I figured flying would be the next best thing and lucky for me there is a flying trapeze place in Lahaina.

I asked Colt what he wanted to do with his day and he told me it was “my day” since he always watches football on Sundays. I told him I had the perfect Maui day planned in my head and to get ready. As he got in the shower I googled Slappy Cakes to ensure they were open and called the trapeze. I found that slappy’s was open until 2 but the trapeze place was having a private event and closing early. I was bumming but hoping that Slappy’s would do the trick.

By the way for those of you who do not know what Slappy Cakes is, it’s a pancake breakfast restaurant. It’s new to Maui and only has 4 other locations, one in Portland and the other 3 overseas. I have heard only great things about it and from what I thought it was an all you can eat, create your own pancake buffet (but boy was I wrong).

We arrived at 10:45 a.m. and that’s when all the fun began! The host asked us if we had ever been to “Slappy’s” and we told him no. He asked if we would like to sit in the “regular” restaurant dining area or the “cook your own pancakes” area (umm, does a bear shit in the woods?) COOK your OWN pancake section? We were so IN.

Each table has a built in griddle top for you to cook your own pancakes!

You are able to choose from a variety of pancake batter and tons of toppings.

You even get your very own spatula

They have a delicious drink menu with fresh squeezed juices and amazing cocktails.

We tried the rumsicle & a lavender-gin-mimosa

Since it is October they had a seasonal pumpkin batter option which was INCREDIBLE!

We got one pumpkin batter and one buttermilk batter. They have all kinds of different batter including gluten free options. For toppings we went with sausage, goat cheese, lavender, papaya, banana, granola, cinnamon-whip cream and bacon!

All of their menu items are fresh, local, organic and made from scratch with hormone-free dairy and meats which makes it very easy to enjoy yourself!

This was Colt’s first creation of the day.

Buttermilk batter, goat cheese, sausage and maple syrup.

I know it sounds disgusting but really it was the BEST one of the day.

So sweet and savory hmmm mmmm good. This is me being a chicken and making a “baby pumpkin” one to taste.

It had pumpkin batter, granola, cinnamon-whipped cream and maple syrup.

Since both of our “trail” pancakes came out delicious we immediately turned into pancake making machines.

All the fixing’s Not so pretty, but pretty delicious. Loving life. Chef BoyarColt
…and then he got creative and made a pumpkin He really is so cool.

My attempt at a heart

(haha so not as cool)
Pumpkin perfect, heart not so much.
We were like little kids just having the time of our lives This was called the “meat lovers special” My McSteamy …and then for the grand finale pumpkin batter, goat cheese, bacon, sausage, cinnamon-whip cream and maple syrup

The price was more than reasonable for the amount of food you get and they even offer a 15% local discount. If you live in Maui and haven’t gone, GO.

If you are visiting and have never been to the Portland location or overseas, add it to your must do list!

It was an amazing experience and we can’t wait to go back. We already have plans to take Papa and Anu and Joe there, but beware you will need a slappy nappy after this one-of-a-kind dining experience.

Hana Relay 2013

17 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui, Runners HI

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Tags

fun runs, hana relay, health & fitness, healthy-living, Maui, runner

This past Saturday I ran in the Hana Relay. The Hana Relay is an incredible fifty-two mile journey along 617 curves and over 56 bridges through the most breathtaking scenery in all of Maui. It was the best last minute decision I’ve made in a while. About 3 weeks ago my friend Anu connected me via Facebook with one of her friends from high school, who was looking for a sixth runner for their relay team. Since I am training for the Honolulu marathon and needed to do my training run anyways I decided to join. I can honestly say it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Since the race is 52 miles instead of running it on your own you run it with a team. Each team consists of 6 members. Each member must run 3 legs of the course which are approximately 2-3 miles long. Some legs are a lot harder than others and the longest leg is 3.5 miles. Each leg has it’s own beauty and offers it’s own challenges. There are 18 legs total.

The race starts at 5:30a.m. sharp in Kahului at the junction of Palapala and Mua street with your first runner. As your first runner takes off on foot the rest of your team takes off in your race vehicle to meet the runner at the next hand off point. Teams & vehicles dress up in all kinds of themes and shanangians and as Colt kept saying it feels more like a moving parade than an actual race.

My team was team #47 which was 3 guys and 3 girls so this placed us in the “mixed” division. Since most of us had only met the night before we didn’t have time to go all out with costumes and a theme so we decided that the girls would wear tutus and we would just have some fun with it. I was assigned leg’s 3 (3.0 miles), leg 9 (2.7 miles) and leg 14 (2.4 miles).

My first leg was from Baldwin Beach Park to Hookipa. It had a slight gain in elevation with rolling hills. It was a beautiful run and my adrenaline carried me most of the way. Leg 9 was between mile marker 9 & 10 on the road to Hana and was my best leg. The scenery was amazing and I was filled with so much gratitude as I ran the winding road. I set a personal record on this leg for my fasted mile which I ran in 7 minutes and 41 seconds. My overall pace for that 2.71 mile leg was 8:02. My last leg was leg 14 which was mostly down hill. This was probably my “easiest” leg for running but it ended up being my hardest because I had a lot of time to cool down in between. I still however managed to do my best and finished with an average pace of 8:32.

Overall I was proud of my efforts especially since I found out only moments before that headphones were not allowed (so music wasn’t going to be an option). The reason for the no headphones rule is because the road to Hana remains open so you have to be able to hear all cars coming in front and behind you. It makes sense (safety first) but it also made for a much harder run (mentally).

After my legs were done I went into full cheerleader mode to get my team through our last 4 legs and to the finish line. Everyone did their part and you could feel the team work and camaraderie through it all.

Below are pictures of the entire day from Colt’s perspective, I was so lucky to have him by my side as my #1 supporter, fan, driver and picture taker.

and it begins…

….it NEVER fails, LOL

First leg pass off from Ramona One of the members from another team called the “Hana Ho’s” tried to run me off the road because I was running faster than his team! Seeing him in his thong and man bra was motivation enough to make me run even faster, hahahaha

Kale our team captain giving me a high five as I complete my first 3 mile leg in 21 minutes and 30 seconds

My baby girl cheering on her mama!

Hydration straight from the source before starting leg #14 …and again….handing it off to Devin on my last leg, boy did that feel GREAT! Devin, Ramona, Cameron, Chris & Rhonda finishing strong!

So proud of team #47! I love that even though we only met a few hours prior to this race we were still able to come together as a team and kick some serious butt!

Our ranking per the Hana Relay website is below:

We finished in 7 hours and 28 minutes with an average pace of 8:37.

Division Ranking:

We finished #43 out of 89 teams

Overall ranking:

We finished #96 out of 219 teams.

I am so thankful that I got to be apart of this wonderful race and I am sooooo READY for the Hana Relay 2014!

Spon·ta·ne·i·ty

23 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui

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Freedom, Happiness, leisure, Life, Maui, spontaneous

Spontaneity is something that I have always loved the idea of and wanted to be, just saying the word in itself gets me excited, spontaneity. Living on a whim, redirecting because of a feeling or emotion, taking off at the drop of a dime…but no matter how much I love the idea of living this way if I’m being completely honest I’d have to say my quality or state of actually being “spontaneous” in my day to day life is about a two. Ok, maybe a one (really its a zero) because Monday through Friday I am the most vanilla and least spontaneous person you will probably ever meet. I love my routine, sticking to a schedule and planning my days ahead. Now don’t get me wrong we can make plans but it better be 24 hours in advance (at least) and I will most likely pass if it keeps me out past 10pm! See, like I said vanilla no rainbow jimmies, no waffle cone just plain ol boring vanilla.

However like with everything else in this life with one extreme comes the other so it would only make sense that my weekend self (Friday night to Sunday afternoon) likes to live life undetermined and much more spontaneously. I like to stop thinking about schedules, time or money and I like to just go off and do whatever it is I feel like doing. I like to jump in my car and drive or go for a walk until I find what I am looking for. I like to wake up on my days off at 6am (just because) and lay in bed thinking of all the amazing things I want to go and do. I love feeling the excitement of endless opportunity and the unknown.

So with all that being said this weekend was no different. I woke up at 5:30am on Saturday with thoughts of beaching, hiking, traveling, exploring or camping running through my head. Around 8am Colt got up and asked what his options were, a few hours later we were out the door.

…and we’re off, destination Hana! drive time 3 hours, purpose camping at 7 sacred pools, coolness factor it happened to be a full moon! Car packed, bags packed, dog packed…ready, set, gooo!

The road was so busy and so was the campground! This was the most construction, cars and groups I had ever experienced when driving up to Hana!

But even with all the unexpectedness we still made great time and we were chilling & grilling in no time.

Later we were joined by Anu and Joe who also decided very last minute to come up and join us!

We gave them lots of props for driving all the way to Hana on a moments notice but I think the full moon, the fire pit and the s’mores made it all worth it!

Sunday morning we woke up with the sun, it had rained pretty hard over night but it was so peaceful to listen to while we slept. The smell of rain and damp grass embodied us in the tented moonlight and it made the experience that much more memorable.

Once we were up Colt cooked breakfast for us all. He made bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches on a croissant and I’d have to say he gets the best breakfast for campers award because these were nothing shy of delicious!

Shortly after breakfast we cleaned up and hit the rode. We had a long trip back and a few more last minute pit stops on the way.

We have seen this sign for Thai food every single time we’ve been to Hana but not until recently had we paid it any mind and today it seemed to be screaming my name. We stopped by and I honestly felt like I had been time warped into the heart of Thailand! The restaurant Thai Food by Pranee, the sign, the people, the fresh made house specials they were all so perfect and lucky for me a lot closer than Thailand!

One of todays specials was the green chicken curry and we both loved it! It was so delicious and the closest taste to Thailand we have got since being back on the island. I am so happy we stopped to experience it!

After our Thai stop I wanted to photograph this sign (with my new Nikon) to canvas for the house! To me it is a great reflection of organized chaos and makes my wanderlust skyrocket.

I really just love it so much!

I photographed it from all angles since each side had a new variation of wonderful-ness!

After this stop Colt was on a mission to get home so I kept myself entertained.

WARNING objects in the mirror and in the car may appear closer or more naked then they really are;)

and last but not least for anyone who has ever been to Hana with Colt & I no trip would ever be complete without making a pit stop in Pāʻia at flatbreads! hmm hmm good!

As the week begins and it’s back to reality I cant help but think how thankful I am for my day to day life and my spontaneous weekends.

I am so blessed to live in such a beautiful place with a wonderful job and the best people surrounding me. I have Colt as my best friend, my husband, my life partner as well as my partner in crime. I love that we can do anything or nothing together and still be happy. I love that he loves me like no one else ever has. I love that our love is deep, real, fun, funny, passionate and supportive.

I love who we are, who we are becoming and that we love with a love that is more than love.

Until next time…love whenever possible, it is always possible….

13 Crossings

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by Making Magic in Life on Maui

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

13 Crossings, Hiking, HIlife, Maui, nature, paradise, Trails, waterfalls

This morning we hiked Makamakaole Stream which is also often referred to as 13 crossings. The obvious reason for this name is the number of times the trail crosses the stream before you eventually end at a series of waterfalls.

This hike isn’t particularly hard as much as it is tricky. It starts with trying to find the path head which is almost impossible to find unless you already have an idea of where it is. We got to what we thought was the trail head around 10:30a.m and headed down only to find an extremely over grown forest so assuming this couldn’t be the hike we continued down the road. As we continued to walk we came across a second trail head and decided to head on down.

It was a pretty over cast day so the ground was extremely wet and slick which made it very easy to lose your footing, but since this is pretty typical for Maui hiking we continued to wonder down the trail until we eventually came to this.

It was a beautiful lush area with this swimming hole which also happened to have a tree ladder accompanied by a rope swing. It looked like natures playground and had we not been so preoccupied with trying to find the 13 crossings hike we might have stayed and played but instead we continued on. We found a stream but it only brought us to a few other swimming holes and a lot of dead ends so we decided to head back up to the road to look for another trail head.

As we headed back up and over the stream there was a medium sized jump from one rock to another to clear the water and as Colt jumped over effortless I stopped. It seemed my legs were too short or maybe the rock was too wet or maybe I was just a chicken but I couldn’t jump. I quickly looked for another way and found one just a short distance down the stream. As I walked to the area I scolded myself for being such a wimp! I told myself that wasn’t usually like me and as I walked and wondered why I was all the sudden such a chicken …BOOM…. down I went into the stream. As my foot slipped on the mossy slated rock all I could see was Colts back still hiking up ahead and as I watched him walking away all I could hear was the sound of my own scream, it was broke, I knew it was broke. As the scream met Colt’s ears he quickly turned around in shock to see me in the stream screaming that it was broke. He rushed over thinking it had to be my foot until I told him it was in fact my tailbone. As he picked me up from the stream and put me on my feet I immediately fell to all fours crying out in pain. My breathing swallowed and I felt like I was going to pass out. As I sat there on all fours whimpering all I could hear was Colt laughing, did he actually think this might be a joke?! As I calmed down and caught my breath I finally managed to tell him I was actually hurt and in a lot of pain and that’s when he went right into husband mode. As he got me up slowly I realized that I could actually stand but the pain was at about 7 and getting worse.

Once I was steady on my feet I realized that besides the constant pounding in my tailbone the pain was manageable so we continued on and by the time we got to the road I was in pain and pissed. I came to hike 13 crossings and that’s what I was going to do hurt or not. So I insisted we walk back up to the car to look up the trail head on our phone because we were going in!

Colt got the GPS going and we quickly found out that the original path head that we started down with the over grown path was indeed the hike (if only we would have kept going my tailbone would have been spared) but none the less we headed down.

Other than a lot of over grown plants and bushes the trail was beautiful and the stream was clear and rushing with water. The pathway was pretty easy to hike but the actual crossing of the stream was some what of a challenge (mostly because the rocks were really slippery and I was in pain) but Colt didn’t seem to have any issues (it must have been his big bad water shoes).

The hike itself offered a wide range of beauty including meadow like fields, bamboo forests, exotic trees and lots of open clearings.

Don’t let this smile fool you I was hurting but too stubborn to admit it.

The only evidence left from the dreaded fall (besides the constant pounding of course…)

After you pass the last crossing there is a split in the road, one looks like a continued path and the other a rock bed you actually continue up the rock bed and that’s when you finally reach this beautiful waterfall and swimming hole.

From here you can also climb up to a second landing where you will find a double waterfall. I guess there is also a third fall but you have to scale a rock and I wasn’t really up for the challenge today!

This hike in total is about 3 miles long, 1.5 down and 1.5 back and it took us about 2 hours because I was moving slower than usual and we stopped for awhile at the waterfalls and swimming hole. Overall this is an awesome hike with diverse views and a killer swim at the end that I would highly recommend.

I too look forward to hiking it again on another day….when my ego is better and my butts not so sore!

Chasing the Maui Son ✨

Category Archives: Life on Maui

An open letter to my husband •

We are a Family of 3 (plus Kailea)

A Month of Love & Thanks

30 days until 30

Our December

Thank•full•ness

Happy Slappy

Hana Relay 2013

Spon·ta·ne·i·ty

13 Crossings