Pug pop art

I miss my sis!

Downtown is not the same without Brittany. Right now Phil is at a Rangers game with a friend, so I'm hanging out with a new friend of my own. Her name is Courtney Lynn. She looks a lot like Brittany, but some would say she's maybe a little bit prettier. Here's a photo of us hanging out together tonight. We died our hair a few days ago and we went to swim practice tonight at SMU.

Final Hawaii post....

We're home from Maui and back to real life! Brittany left so we are empty nesters now! Ruby misses Aunt Bea very much. She has been "littering" in the dining room to express her frustration at Aunt Bea's sudden absence.

I have posted all the rest of our Hawaii photos to Kodak Easy Share if you want to see them in full.

Now it's time for me to get into cycling shape! I will be participating in the Waves to Wine MS 150 bike tour in San Francisco on September 29-30.

Maui 'Aumākua 2.4 Mile Swim

Happy Labor Day! This morning was another early one, since we had to drive about an hour to get to the Wailea area of south Maui for the 'Aumākua 2.4 Mile Swim. This was an amazing event. First of all, it was a lot less hectic because we didn't have to deal with a boat.

The race started at the beach in front of the Maui Prince Hotel and the entire course was in shallow water. In fact, most of the course was right over beautiful coral reefs and I spotted not one, not two, but THREE sea turtles below me as I swam! It was so much fun that I didn't even try to swim fast - I just wanted to enjoy the scenery.

At the 2 mile mark there was a submerged coral arch (about 15 feet down) and if you swam through it, you received a bracelet which entitled you to 1 minute off your final time. I did it, which made my final time a very unimpressive 1:06 instead of 1:07. But it sure was fun!!!


Pre-race smile


Trying not to let the guy behind me get ahead of me


My finish


Whew! I'm done!


Obviously this isn't me - but it's a picture of the coral arch I swam through

The Road to Hana

Sunday was a day sans swimming events, so we decided to take the opportunity to see a little more of Maui and explore part of the Hana Highway. We didn't want to go ALL the way to Hana, since it's apparently an 8 to 12 hour adventure, so we just went about halfway - a trip which held just enough excitement for us.

First we stoped by a roadside fruit stand for homemade pineapple-guava and banana-passionfruit popsicles. Unfortunately I left the camera in the car or I would have taken a picture of their funny tip jar - "Big Tippers Make Great Lovers." Shout out to Mama Roxie. :)

Next, we drove on for a few miles and got out at a place where our guide book described a hike to 4 pristine waterfalls. We crossed a treacherous little sunken stream, hiked through an amazing bamboo forest, and then came to the first waterfall, which was quite small. We were going to keep hiking but we were ill-prepared with flip-flops, a bulky bag, and my decision to wear a skort. So we turned back after the first waterfall.


Phil in the bamboo


The first (and only) waterfall we made it to.


Me posing next to a big lava rock near the waterfall.

We kept driving after that little adventure and we were treated some amazing views which reminded me of the setting for the movie "Jurassic Park". It was breathtaking. I took video of the coastline on the Road to Hana, so I will post that later. Finally, our last stop before turning around and heading back to Kaanapali was at a black sand beach, which I was so excited about seeing. Of course, it was beautiful to look at, but it was NOT a good beach for swimming! It was rocky and it hurt our feet and caused all kinds of scrapes and bruises. Plus, it wasn't really the deep, shiny black sand I had imagined. The sandy part looked more like cigarette ashes.

The Misadventures of Team Windtex and Cap'n Ted

On Saturday morning, we all woke up early because we had to meet our boats and make it across the channel to Lanai for the 8:00 relay start. My team met our boat captain, Ted (who reminded me of the stoned old guy from "That 70s Show") and looked over his little sailboat with skepticism.

After Ted finally worked out the dinghy situation, the 7 of us (6 relay team members plus Phil) FINALLY made it onto the boat and left the harbor around 6:30, which should have been more than enough time to make it to Lanai before 8:00. Unfortunately, the motor on the sailboat must have been powered by hamsters. Two hours later, we STILL hadn't made it to Lanai, and the race director was holding the start just for us. Another team was kind enough to zip out to us, pick up our lead swimmer, and take him back to the beach at Lanai so that the race could start.

It took "Team Windtex" 5 hours, 10 minutes to cross the 9.5-mile channel. Keep in mind that this was while we had to deal with a completely clueless boat captain who actually RAN OVER one of our swimmers! We also lost our lead swimmer for a while since we weren't with him at the start. What a day.


Laura #1


Laura #1 finishes her 30-minute leg and Laura #2 starts her 30-minute leg


Me taking a breather on my 30-minute leg. I thought for sure I was almost done so I rolled over and swam a little backstroke so that I could ask them how much time I had left. I had only been swimming for 15 minutes!


Enjoying teddy grahams and propel to get the saltwater taste out of my mouth!

Old Lahaina Luau

Last night we went to the Old Lahaina Luau. It is supposed to be the best luau in Hawaii and it was just a 5-minute drive from our hotel. We were NOT disappointed! The music was amazing, we had a view of the ocean from our table, the food was delicious, the mai tais were plentiful, and the entertainment was amazing! I don't have any pictures of the hula dancers, but I did take videos and I'm going to try to make a movie of our trip when I get home.

We watched as the men dug up the roasted pig in the imo...

A man was standing next to me with his 2-year-old son. His explanation of this event to the little boy was, "Look, it's Wilbur from Charlotte's Web! We're going to eat him!" Poor kid.