I just returned from two wonderful weeks in Maui. Yep, that’s right. Two weeks. In Maui. Lahaina, to be exact. Our “excuse” was Rick’s 60th birthday, which we celebrated in fabulous style.

After a horrific first four months of 2013, it was time to get away and do a little deep breathing. And since my favorite way to deep breathe is through a snorkel, off we went, to the land of sunshine, palm trees, and tropical fish!

We got a condo just three blocks from the world’s most famous banyan tree and spent most of our time lazing in the sun or splashing in the pool.

I plan to write about our adventures “in the islands” in what I’ll call “The Aloha Series.” These posts will regularly appear over the next three or four weeks, and have interruptions only for events of more a immediate nature.

Maui was a demi-god, an instrumental part of the Hawaiian creation story, who captured the sun from the top of Mount Haleakala to bring sunlight to the islands. It turns out that sunlight and warm weather go hand in hand, and the temperature was in the mid-eighties the entire time we were there.

Aloha means both hello and goodbye, but it also means love, compassion, welcome, and good wishes. So Aloha!

I hope you’ll be reading along as I share our tropical vacation experience.