Dreaming, Planning and Reality

Back in 2010 I sat on a balcony. Laughter, squeals, chattering, from both folks below and birdies above, wind rustling through the frons of the palm trees and the faint sloshing of waves fed my soul. I just finished photographing about a dozen or so colorful little birds, about the size of a parakeet. I tempted them with Maui Chips and a few still lingered, staring at me, pleading for a few more crumbs. With legs propped up and a chocolate mocha in hand, I stared out at that beautiful island across the water. Then I thought, you know, it would be pretty dang awesome if all the kids could be here right now. By kids, I mean the whole Blended-Brady-Bunch that we have. Grown-up girls, spouses, boyfriend and of course Cupcake Girl. I pondered, I dreamed and then I smiled.

Later on I mentioned this to The Captain (my sweet husband). We had randomly talked about it a few times previously, but this time I was serious. Really serious. You know, before things get too busy. Life things. More grandbabies. More school. More moving. I think we need to do this in 2012. That’s the year, I just know it. So we told them. Told them 2 years in advance, knowing that things come up. Unplanned things. But try to make it happen. Put it on your future schedule. Make it work! Looking back I’m not sure they really believed us. Heck, I don’t know if I really believed us. But that tiny seed was planted and I wanted to make it grow.

So, the planning began. Occasionally I looked at airline ticket prices, accommodation options and logistics. We also reminded the BBB (Blended Brady Bunch) of Maui 2012 throughout the year. I’ll get the dates to you as soon as I know. I knew we would arrive on Saturday and the kids would leave on Friday. We would stay over a few days and hopefully visit our last island, Molokai.

Time passed. Soon, it was only a year away. Things would need to be booked soon. Golly, how do you find a place big enough for all of us. Sure, the Hyatt would suffice, but that kind of defeats the purpose. I mean we all need to be under one roof, not one main roof with a thousand sub-roofs and a thousand other folks. Then I found it. Bale Hale Villa (after you click, scroll down a little bit then click again on Bali Hale). Oh disappointment, it only has 4 bedrooms. Wait, what? The media room? She said it makes into a bed. Someone could sleep there.

Now it’s time for a public service announcement. The folks at Exotic Estates, specifically Jen, were totally awesome! I vividly remember the day she called and said the media room is a 5th bedroom and someone could sleep there. Those were words from heaven. The Captain and I could take that room. No problem! I remember during my accommodation searches seeing this property over and over. I fell in love with it and I knew it would be perfect for our BBB. Each individual family unit could have their own bedroom/bath and one of the bedrooms had 2 queens, just right for Cupcake and her parents. Perfection! Book him Dano! (For those of you that don’t get the previous sentence, it’s from and old/new television show Hawaii Five-O.)

Want to know something funny? After viewing the Bale Hale video (link at the bottom of the post) for probably a hundred times, my biggest fear was that we would pull into the driveway and it would be a total dump. Yes, a total dump. Some shack with a green pool and a fake view. Ha! Then my BBB would look at me and say this is it? I mean, could something as truly wonderful as the home on that video really exist? Really? My fear was not a reality.

So folks, this is the view that greeted us when we walked in to our beautiful home-away-from-home…

This is the sunset that greeted us after our very long day…

And this is the sunrise that greeted us the following morning and every morning thereafter…

And finally, these are only a glimpse of what filled my heart and soul the first full day…

Yep, these kids, this place and this time truly filled my heart and soul. To the brim and overflowing!

More to come folks, more to come.

P.S. For whatever reason, I didn’t take very many villa photos, so here is a link to my sweet daughter’s blog and her beautiful villa pictures! Just click HERE!

And to get an overall view of Bali Hale Villa you can view a short video courtesy of Exotic Estates here. Again, a BIG SHOUT OUT to Exotic Estates! Thanks Jen! I owe you some Moon Pies from Chattanooga!