Flint Hill Elementary School was having a holiday craft fair on December 6, so we took the girls to go check it out! The school is the elementary school that I attended growing up, so it was nostalgic to walk through its halls again, decades later and with my own young children. Our primary purpose of going was to see Santa Claus, since we had read that he was going to be making an appearance there, but sadly his visit had been cancelled. (This seems to happen often with us.) Mio was discouraged, but she got to enjoy some holiday crafting before we left:
Mio with an ornament she made.
She looks perplexed.
Decorating a pinecone ornament this time.
She was fascinated by all the older kids around her.
Carefully placing the pompoms…
“Where’s Santa? I need to tell him I want pink octopus for Christmas!”
Alas, visiting Santa would have to wait until another day…
We didn’t have any strict plans for the rest of our time in Maui after my brother left, so on our eighth day, we decided to explore more of the Wailea-Makena area (the southern part of the island) to do more snorkeling and visit the beaches there.
Mio, Miwa, and I by our cottage in the morning.
Our first stop was the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Reserve, as we’d heard that Ahihi Bay is a good place to snorkel.
Arriving at the Ahihi-Kinau Natural Preserve
Snorkeling time!
It seemed a little murkier than some of the previous areas we’d snorkeled in Maui, but we still got to see a lot of coral and fish.
Back from snorkeling, on the shore with Mio.
Rock those shades!
Mio and Mama under the hot Maui sun
After spending a couple hours snorkeling, we headed over to La Perouse Bay, which had the most beautifully clear blue waters! According to the people there, though, it wasn’t a great place to snorkel, so we just walked around and admired the views.
Miwa by the gorgeous blue waters!
Family picture at La Perouse Bay
Yokoyama picture! Kosei looks so stoic… lol
Our next stop was Makena Bay. Mio had fallen asleep in the car ride there, so my brother Kosei stayed back to watch her while Dan, Miwa, and I had some fun on the beach.
Miwa and I at gorgeous Makena Bay
Wave coming in!
Dipping our feet in…
Dan and I in paradise
Dan’s romantic message in the sand… heehee*
Aloha!
Sisters with our shaka signs
Silly poses!
Running away from the wave!
Miwa pushed me in while we were frolicking around…
We couldn’t stop laughing! We felt like kids again.
Letting the waves crash against us.
We could see the Molokini Crater in the distance.
Sad that our time in Hawaii is coming to an end…
By the trees at Makena Bay
After getting our beach time, we stopped at Bubba’s Gourmet Dog Shack for a quick snack…
Garlic fries from Bubba’s Gourmet Dog Shack! Dan also got some shave ice.
We also saw a craft market by the road, so we stopped there to get some souvenirs.
Everyone’s in here! Even Mio… sort of.
We went back to Kihei to go to the Whale Watching Center / Sanctuary Education Center.
It was nice and cool inside, and there was even a little play area for kids.
Entertaining Mio with the fish!
Uncle Kosei playing with Mio
Mio clinging to her newfound friend, the stuffed turtle.
Death by turtles.
We then headed over to Eskimo Candy Seafood Market & Deli for a late lunch — they’re known to have awesome poke! 🙂
Shrimp taco plate for me!
Shoyu and furikake ahi poke… yum!
We then went back to Makena Bay (because we loved it so much there), laid out on the beach for a couple hours, and then went back to Kihei for some shave ice before going home.
Miwa with her shave ice from Surf Monkey Shave Ice.
Dan and I sharing a shave ice together.
Oh, and of course Mio too!
The following day would be our last full day in Maui! I’m sure everyone is starting to get sick of these posts, so you can breathe a sigh of relief that the next one will be the last of our posts about our trip! 😉 It’s been a lot of work to upload all the pictures and document everything for me, too, so I’m relieved as well! haha* 😛
Last Saturday, Dan and I attended the 2nd Annual Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco. Held at the festival pavilion in Fort Mason, over 200 craft artists came together to show off and sell their goodies — all things handmade including clothing, jewelry, stationery, bath soaps, ceramics, posters, plush dolls, even cupcakes! We had a great time exploring all the crafts that the huge variety of artsy fartsy vendors had to offer. You can get a glimpse at some of the lovely items here, although I admit I was too busy checking out the goods to take too many pictures.
They had a photo booth there, and Dan and I had some good fun snapping some silly shots:
The Renegade Craft Fair toured four big cities this year — Brooklyn, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. I already can’t wait for it to come back next year!
