The 'Iao Valley in central Maui is a Maui must-see. It gets over 400 inches of rain a year, which makes it incredibly lush and green. Although a tranquil site now, it was the sacred burying place for chiefs and is where Kamehameha invaded Maui and killed thousands of people. 
This area is normally cloud covered or raining, but we got lucky and hit on a pretty warm morning. 
We climbed the many stairs to the lookout point for a great view of the 'Iao Needle, which was a warrior lookout point... 
and got great views of the valley and Kahului in the distance. 
The girls had fun playing in the stream and trying to find a way across without getting too wet.On our way back from our hike, we stopped at the Maui Tropical Plantation, hoping to see the macadamia nut trees and tropical grounds. We got a little sidetracked by a cute little farmer's market that was set up for the weekend. It had cute booths with local treasures, yummy treats and a nice Hawaiian music group playing ukuleles and dancers dancing the hula.
It turned out to be quite an adventure when a sweet Korean lady turned nasty and accused Allison of stealing a $1 bracelet from her booth. Allison first spotted the bracelet when we arrived and paid the lady $1 right away. However she spent more time looking through the treasures and when she tried to leave, the woman told her she didn't pay for the bracelet she was wearing. Taylor had also purchased a $3 bracelet from her and I think she was getting confused with the two transactions. After much arguing and Allison in tears, I gave the lady the bracelet back and walked away completely fired up! Like a mother protecting her cub, I couldn't let it go (maybe not the best idea) and went back to confront the woman about the accusation and the fact she made an 8 year old cry over $1.
She followed me out of her booth, yelling and poking my shoulder, telling us "She no pay." and "You listen to me!". She kept telling us it was her land and we needed to leave. By now, Allison was at the car scared to death and Matt went to find the owner of the market (who happened to be the previous mayor of the town!) Kimo was so shocked by the situation, offered us the world and apologized for what had occurred. Although we wanted nothing in return, he did give Allison a pretty anklet as a gift. It helped her understand that it wasn't her fault and brought a smile to her face. I can't think of the last time I was that angry, but once removed from the incident, we have actually laughed about the crazy lady's behavior quite a bit and the kids all love pretending to talk like her.
Allison quickly had a smile back on her face when we returned to Kahana Beach for some afternoon boogie boarding. We ate Aloha Mixed Plate at the beach and rested our tired hiking legs. 
I took the big girls out pretty far on our boogie boards looking for Matt and Hank who were snorkeling for whatever treasures they could find. All they found was a car engine and an algae-covered frisbee! 
We headed over to the Lebitski's condo for dinner and spotted this cruise ship leaving Lahaina right at sunset. 
Poppy treated us to a wonderful chicken and rib dinner that Hank perfectly barbecued. We had a bananagrams rematch which really brought out the competitive side of Hank and me. Hank had previously reprimanded me for using ZIT in my puzzle (he said it was a slang word), but conveniently used it in his puzzle tonight! We did learn that Eek is not a word, but Baa and Moo are. Who knew? :) 
