Once again the Maui energy was lovely and our visit this year included enjoying it with a number of other people. Colleen, Allan, 
Grady and Joelle were there for 10 days of our trip - all of us arriving New Year's Eve. It was so much fun to do beach time (including making giant turtles in the sand), mojito time and dinners with them, and Grandma would have been quite happy to see it. We were even able to connect with Grandma's previous neighbours, the Hipwells, getting a couple of visits in with such wonderful friends of hers.
Grady and Joelle were there for 10 days of our trip - all of us arriving New Year's Eve. It was so much fun to do beach time (including making giant turtles in the sand), mojito time and dinners with them, and Grandma would have been quite happy to see it. We were even able to connect with Grandma's previous neighbours, the Hipwells, getting a couple of visits in with such wonderful friends of hers.
Other visits included a great dinner out with Yvette (a friend from work) and her family, catching up with Colleen, a friend (and distant cousin!) that I knew from my time in New York and her mom. A family that we met a couple years ago in Maui from Kelowna were back on the island and we had coffee and met up on the beach - Natalie's family is so wonderful (burying their brother) and her one son Jake could be another twin to Davis! Even Dad caught up with an accounting colleague from Regina when we had dinner with him and his wife. We also took in another crazy amazing night with Willy K - he still is my close second to Elton John for favourite musical entertainer.
Lots of great people. And food. And sun. And flowers. And mojitos. And sunsets. And snorkeling with the turtles. And weddings (1
minimum per day on our beach). And whales (even caught a 
birthing just off our beach). And aside from Dad taking a terrible fall on a bike trip 
down the Haleakala crater which took him out of boogey boarding for over a week (luckily no fractures, just scrapes, bruises and about every muscle he knew pulled - but still smiling), Maui was perfect. It's amazing how I could sit and watch the waves, whales and tiny crabs pitching sand on the beach for hours. In our "normal" life, it's hard to sit and watch TV for an hour! I had to do bloodwork 3 times while I was there, as my counts are still hanging below normal (likely due to the medication) but even that was easy - a nice clinic only 10 minutes from our condo, that got the results to the bone marrow doctors faster than when I am in Calgary. And while I continue to be anemic (low red blood cells) which reduces my energy, it didn't stop me from catching as many waves as I wanted and snorkeling with the raccoon butterfly fish, humuhumunukunukuapaua's, trumpet fish, unicornfish and Sergeant fish.
birthing just off our beach). And aside from Dad taking a terrible fall on a bike trip 
down the Haleakala crater which took him out of boogey boarding for over a week (luckily no fractures, just scrapes, bruises and about every muscle he knew pulled - but still smiling), Maui was perfect. It's amazing how I could sit and watch the waves, whales and tiny crabs pitching sand on the beach for hours. In our "normal" life, it's hard to sit and watch TV for an hour! I had to do bloodwork 3 times while I was there, as my counts are still hanging below normal (likely due to the medication) but even that was easy - a nice clinic only 10 minutes from our condo, that got the results to the bone marrow doctors faster than when I am in Calgary. And while I continue to be anemic (low red blood cells) which reduces my energy, it didn't stop me from catching as many waves as I wanted and snorkeling with the raccoon butterfly fish, humuhumunukunukuapaua's, trumpet fish, unicornfish and Sergeant fish. 
Maui was a perfect start to a new year, a year I plan to be more of who I am, do more of what I love to do, and see more of the people I love to see. It's hard to figure out what exactly is the pull of Maui - the warmth, the people, the ocean, the sun, the calm - but every time I go all I want to do when I return is figure out how to get back. Aloha.
