november 2011 • keiki cover models

Mahalo to the Pedroza family for sharing our brother and sister cover models this issue! Jenistee Lyric Pedroza is seven-years-old and attends the second grade in Lahaina and she was ecstatic a year and a half ago to welcome her little brother Ryzen Matteo Pedroza to the family. Mom is Natalia Pedroza who works as Assistant Spa Director at the beautiful Kapalua Spa and dad is Stephen Pedroza who is a doorman at The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua. The family lives in Lahaina and both parents shared with us, “Jenistee really enjoys dancing and she loves to listen to all kinds of music.” Ryzen is only one-and-a-half years old but loves to play baseball, “he can actually hit the ball with the bat,” they shared. The Pedroza family stays busy running after both of these active kids. Mahalo Natalia and Stephen for sharing your beautiful keiki with us this month!

choice health bar…there’s no such thing as a “healthover”

As I sit here inhaling a latte from the coffee shop who will not be named, I recall the highly energetic version of myself, typically the one that comes from grazing at the Choice Health Bar in Lahaina.

I never thought I’d get hooked on vegan until I walked through the bummer-free zone of conscious consumption envisioned by founders Emily Kunz and Kathryn Dahm. Maybe it’s the bright green wall of menu boards with wacky names, or the LCD Soundsystem channel on Pandora that sets the mood for a Ram Dass book. Either way, the space is so welcoming that before you can google spirulina, you are downing a shot of Force Field and getting 2Legit2Quit with an extra dash of shilajit.

where the wild things are…kealia pond national wildlife refuge, south maui

When I first visited Kealia Pond National Wildlife Refuge, shocking news about thousands of birds falling from the Arkansas skies had just circulated. After experts weighed in, along with your apocalyptic theorists, the culprit for the massive deaths were pegged to loud fireworks and collisions as a result of getting startled in flight. Though it was a freak occurrence, it shows that when the ecosystem is sent off its tipping point, the result can be fatal.

maui country farm tours… sharing maui’s agricultural beauty

Those of us fortunate to call Maui home are well acquainted with the island’s rich agricultural heritage that continues today. Visitors, on the other hand, see phrases like “farm to table” and “locally sourced” on restaurant menus, and many, I’m certain, would like an opportunity to see some of these farms up close and personal, but haven’t the foggiest where to begin. Enter Rick and Marilyn Jansen Lopes’s Maui Country Farm Tours.