Mele Kalikimaka and Hau’oli Makahiki Hou! [Merry Christmas and Happy New Year]
We wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a fantastic new year!
We pause in our summer trip report series to reflect on our past year and think about the things that bring us joy. We greatly enjoy our home on the beach. We enjoy sunny morning tea time interacting with our green gecko guests, watching the birds play in their bath, listening to their songs, and watching the ocean. We enjoy visits with our friends on our lanai overlooking the ocean (there are usually warm scones involved). We enjoy time with our parents in their island homes. 
We enjoy home cooked meals and preparing foods with locally grown fruits and vegetables as much as possible. We enjoy the garden surrounding our home and picking (and eating!) fresh mangoes, papayas, and coconuts. We have already written a couple of posts this year about our most recent gardening projects. This year, we only had a few mangoes from our favorite tree (the one over our house) but they were spread out so we harvested them as late as October! We also had the great fortune of discovering a new favorite mango tree (at an undisclosed location 🙂 ) and we stuffed the fridge, thus providing us uninterrupted fresh mango breakfasts until mid-December. Yum!
I also enjoy exercising my creativity by writing web sites like this one and ones I’ve done for clients. Our friend Roger Stephens asked me to create a nice web site for his business. It was a lot of work and fun and we’re all happy with how it turned out. Here’s a link to look at it if you’re interested: Picture It Framed, Maui. I also helped our friend Ginger Book create an appealing web presence to offer her ohana for vacation rental: Serenity Villa.
It was an eventful year with family graduations, a wedding and a college reunion on the mainland. My niece Madison graduated from Nursing College in May. My great-nephew Quentin graduated from eighth grade in May. My nephew Will graduated High School in June. Neil’s daughter Ariann married Eric Schultz in July. A group of my college friends had a reunion in August. I wanted to attend all but knew multiple trips weren’t going to work out. My mom Audrey, sister Pamela and her husband Chris represented the family at my niece and nephew’s graduations in Maryland. 
Neil and I traveled to Montana for Ari and Eric’s wedding and spent the rest of the month of July traveling. Neil flew home to Maui while I flew to Ohio to visit with my Dad and Jane and with the Kreischer side. Returning to California, I spent a fun-filled weekend with my college friends in San Luis Obispo area before returning to Maui.
Before the summer trip, we started “training”—hiking training! We realized we would be in the mountains of Montana with Ari and Eric where outdoor adventures abound and we wanted to be ready to keep up with them. We alternated our hiking days with steep climbs and other days doing longer level walks. Our endurance hike was the Lahaina Pali Trail. The trail begins and ends at sea level with a 1600 foot elevation climb and covers 5.5 miles. On the steep ascent, I felt like I was climbing an uneven rocky stairs the entire way up. I only made it 1/3 of the trail the first time and each time increased the distance. 
We eventually hiked the entire trail several times. 😉 What incredible views at the top! We were glad for our training on the several great hikes during our trip.
I had a wonderful October birthday month. This year was about pampering! Neil gave me a deluxe manicure/pedicure appointment on my birthday before taking me for a wonderful dinner. I spent my birthday money on massages and a spa day at the Grand Wailea Spa. It was perfect way to spend my birthday.
My Mom and Bill are living part time on Maui and part time in Ridgecrest. I am glad it is working for them and enjoy them when they are here. I often walk the beach with Mom in the mornings and we sometimes join them for sunsets on the rooftop patio of their six story building. They volunteer at the church food pantry on Fridays and twice a week Mom has water aerobics while Bill goes snorkeling. Neil’s mom Jean and husband Morley are right next door and we have been able to help out when needed. Morley was in the hospital with pneumonia over Thanksgiving but we are happy he is home now getting back to his routine. They enjoy a mid-day beach walk when the tide and wind cooperate. 
Dad and Jane continue in fairly good health in Ohio and Dad stays busy keeping up with his home acreage and being active with the Lion’s Club. I got to help with a few various projects when I was there: putting a new top on the chimney, and sweeping the soot out, sorting antiques from scrap metal, and cleaning the Lion’s Club sausage trailer. Muffin the cat likes to follow Dad up the ladder and inspect the projects. All Muffin needs to look official is a little hard hat and a clipboard.
Quentin turned 14 this October and is a freshman at King Kekaulike High School. And he has a girlfriend! I know, right! He does well in all his subjects but especially enjoys his electives of media (video) and drama. He plans to take these same elective classes all four years and has joined the drama club. He is teaching himself piano and really has an ear for it. He is quite good in just a short time. He enjoys running and was considering joining the track team except the coach expects them to be a practice 5 days a week even in the off season. That was too much commitment when he has other interests. I understand from Vajra that he is looking for a job. I don’t get to see him as much now that he is so busy. Vajra is balancing a few jobs giving herself a variety of work.She has a boyfriend too! She is finishing her last class for her Master’s in Public Administration.
Neil’s daughter Mailea left Maui in January for Ireland! She lived there for four months and returned to Maui for a month until Ari’s wedding. Fall semester she lived in Washington and continued work on her PhD project. Right now she is in Australia for Christmas! Ariann and Eric’s wedding was beautiful and is described in a previous post.
My siblings are spread between California and Maryland. Pamela works for the Lawndale Library and Chris continues in his 16th year as co-pastor of Centinela Baptist Church. Their son Jason is in Oklahoma. Melanie and Will recently moved to a new home in Maryland. Melanie continues with MaryKay and as a personal trainer while Will continues with the Bureau of Engraving & Printing.
Their daughter Madison recently started as a nurse for an Endocrinologist, her husband Dennis is a fireman, and Will IV works at an Italian restaurant while he decides his next steps after graduation. Warren is in Bakersfield and continues working as a plumber/handyman.
Wishing you a warm and happy holiday!
This post has a gallery with lots of other fun pictures which you can view by going to the website. (I can’t fit them all in the text.) Clicking on the first photo brings up a larger view with a description. Depending on your browser, you can use the arrow buttons or keys to move through the gallery photos.
Our family gathering for Madison and Dennis’ wedding in Maryland was the first time in seven years that the whole family had been together. I was trying to remember the last time my siblings and parents were together and Pamela reminded me that it was when we were all in Ridgecrest and helping the Levy’s pack for their move to Maryland. I can’t believe it was seven years ago that they moved! Time really does fly.
Madison Levy (my niece) married Dennis Shelton on May 19, 2012 in a beautiful outdoor ceremony set in a lovely garden in La Plata, Maryland. Madison is the daughter of Will Levy III and Melanie (Harter) Levy, and sister to Will Levy IV, of Waldorf, Maryland. Dennis is the son of Teresa Shelton, who flew up from Florida to join them on this special day.
