Maui

To Celebrate our 5 year anniversary we headed to Maui.  I took the kids to Utah the day before and then flew home to get ready for our 'vacation'.  I really appreciate my parents being willing to watch 2 kids for 4 days!  We had a wonderful time.

Maui -Day 1

Sleep in !  go running with Dave.  Finish packing in a rush.  Get Exit row seats with lots of leg room.  

Fly 11 am-3 (watch 2 Castle episodes, do Sudoku and Crosswords, Sleep, etc)

Rent a car

Drive to Costco for dinner

Drive to West Maui : Ka’anapali beach resort (get upgraded to a cottage with a King bed!)

Walk along the beach looking at the stars.  Feel the sand between the toes and wind in our hair. 

Watch Wedding video 

Go to sleep early (9:00 pm)

Day 2

Wake up at 5:00 (it’s 8:00 our time!)

This is the morning full moon.

Eat breakfast at the hotel (we packed in our own food!) 

Drive up the coast to hike. 

Hike down the Kapalua Coastal Trail.  It starts with “Dragon Teeth” Large lava formations jutting up from the ocean.  Love the sea raging and crashing against the shore.

Enjoy Oneloa beach.  Explore tide pools at Hawea point.  See a sea turtle.  See Namalu bay.  Wade in Kapalua beach.  Hike back to car.

Head up the coast more.  Stop just past Honolua Bay to walk in the Tropical Jungle.  See chickens.  Discover foliage we never knew existed.

Hike out to the Nakalele Blowhole.  The ocean was raw and ravaging.  The wind was intense.  We felt the power of the earth here. 

Ate lunch (homemade) at Napili beach.  Gorgeous, secluded but busy. 

Head back to hotel and to Ka’anpali Beach.  Relax, swim, boogie board (get run over by a wave- sand everywhere) ruin a camera (#3 for us!)

Head to Lahaina, buy a cord, rent snorkel gear.  Snorkel near Black Rock.  Spend the entire time figuring out how to fix my snorkel gear.  See some cool fish and coral.  Shower off. 

Play shuffleboard and bocci.  See the sunset on the beach talking to a nice couple from Washington. 

Head to Lahaina for dinner.  On Front Street see all the shops and eating areas.  Get the best seat in the restaurant at Cheeseburgers in Paradise.  STARVING!  Enjoy the atmosphere and live music (as well as the ocean waves coming in just under our table and the wind rushing through the window).  EAT!! (Love it!)   Talk to the couple next to us.  (LDS!)

Walk the streets (it is a mini Park city here).  Pick out souvenirs for our kids and parents. ( the lady working the cash register is my distant cousin – link found in St. Johns AZ – also LDS!)  

Crash at 9 pm at home!!  What an amazing, beautiful, gorgeous, awesome day!  Love this place. 

Dave and I love it.  We love spending time together.  The kids are with Gma and Gpa in Utah (I flew to Utah to drop them off and flew back to phx to catch the Maui flight).  Thank you for watching them so we can get the most awesome vacation ever.  We decided that if we flew to Maui for only this day it would be worth it (That is of course assuming the flight was free . . . thank you US Airways!)

Day 3: 

Wake up at 5:30.  Check out of hotel and begin long drive to Hana.  First hour is mostly dark and uneventful.  Then we start the real ‘road’ .  It is a 10 mph road that winds along the coast for 30 miles!  We had a guide book and stopped to see many beautiful and amazing sights, waterfalls, bays, jungles, etc.  The rain never stopped falling so the waterfalls were just gushing (and pretty muddy too).  I wish the photos did it justice, but our memories will have to do!

We attended a small branch in Hana for church.  There were probably 40 members present.  It was so small and intimate, but the sliding doors surrounding the chapel were all open and we could hear the birds chirping, rain falling and ocean coming in.  It was beautiful!  Since it was a small branch, they only had 2 meetings and then, they were gracious enough to share leftovers from their ward party with us.  We were running out of food from out suitcase, so we were thankful it was provided and we didn’t have to go out to eat.   It was humbling to associate with these beautiful members.  Since they were so removed from the hustle and bustle of busy life on Maui (Is that irony or what?) they were humble and relaxed.  I felt like the commercialization of Christmas was completely lost out there.  Also, despite the fact that the members knew were would only be their one week, they were so friendly, warm and welcoming.  It was incredible!

 

We traveled another 10 miles down the really slow road and saw some great waterfalls, one that even the locals had never seen in 2 years.  It was REALLY raining hard.  The 7 sacred pools were more like the raging rushing river meets the torrential sea.  I would have like to see the serene scene created in the pictures, but maybe next trip we’ll do that. 

We were exhausted by the drive home, but still enjoyed the amazing scenes created as we drove through the rain forest.  We saw an amazing sunset in South Maui and checked into our hotel there.  We crashed early (9 pm)

Day 4

We were up early and tried to make an ‘un’plan for the day.  We just wanted to relax and enjoy our time on the beach.  We did an early morning jog along the beach trail and then enjoyed Wailea beach while reading and sitting.  We checked out of our hotel and then tried out Big beach (where Dave was smashed trying to boogie board).  We drove to Black Sand beach and REALLY enjoyed the crystal clear water and black sand.  We made a sand castle, went snorkeling and relaxed.   We didn’t have a place to clean up, so we tried to get as much sand off as possible at the public beach showers. 

 Did I mention that Dave can walk on Water?  Yeah . .  . he's that amazing!

We went back to West Maui and ate in Lahaina at Bubba Gumps, right over the ocean.

Then we went to the most amazing magic and comedy show I’ve ever seen!  It was called Warren and Anabelle’s.  First, there were appetizers served in a ‘parlor’ as Annabelle (the ghost) played requests on the piano.  There was no one sitting at the piano, but the keys played and any song you yelled out was immediately played!  It was incredible.  Then we went into the magic show.  Dave  and I were invited to sit up front and be teased by the magician.  It was awesome to be so close to the magic and still not be able to see what was going on and how he was doing it!   The first thing the magician said, after spotting our 2 waters was, “Mormons?”  To which we affirmed and he was shocked!  Luckily there were not too many more Mormon jokes the rest of the night. He did card tricks, ripped up a card and fixed it (while in someone else's hand).  He changed the time on a watch (while in someone else's hand who was picking the number to change it to).  He burned a $100 bill and then re found it inside an unopened lemon!  He linked 3 wedding bands together (from audience members)  He dropped not one, but TWO bowling balls out of a hat.  Not to mention vanishing things all the time.  He was incredible.  on top of that, I was laughing hysterically the entire time!  What a comedian!  All off the cuff based on the audience.  It was a crack up.  Best show I've ever seen! 

It turns out that the Sunday night flight was cancelled at 2 am . . . and they rescheduled the flight for ½ hour before our flight on Monday night.  I was so glad we weren’t planning on taking the Sunday night flight home.  That would have been disappointing (not to mention exhausting).
But we got on our scheduled flight and slept surprisingly well for 5 hours.  Dave headed to work and I hopped on a plane to Utah to visit family for the next few days.

UTAH :
I struck up a conversation with the guy next to me, before I realized that I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep.  He kept talking and talking.  Eventually, I was hardly responding at all.  He finally stopped talking and I feel asleep immediately.  It was SO good to see my kids.  I sure did miss them!
Utah was perfect, too!  I got to see many of my old friends (thus, Jackson got to see his old friends) as well as my brother who is currently living in Grenada and both my grandmas.  It was so nice to catch up.  The flights back to PHX were PACKED (I'm talking NO seats the whole weekend) except the late night flight Thursday.   So at 7:30 pm we were at the airport.  I like to look around and see other mothers with kids and get ideas of how to best move through the airport with kids.  I saw this mom with 3 kids and was thinking 'WOW! That is awesome!"  Then I look up at her and it is my bestie SANDRA!  I was so excited to cross paths with her, even if only for a moment.  How wonderful to run into people you know and love in places you didn't suspect!  Jackson was SO good on the flight and he fell asleep right after the drinks just as he had planned.  However, Hallie refused to fall asleep and was overly hyper.  I only had 1/2 my lap free to entertain her.  I had to keep her from kicking, hitting or grabbing Jackson.  It was quite the juggling act for the past 45 mins of the flight.  Then came the REALLY hard part.  With Jackson asleep I have no hands to carry anything else (and he doesn't wake up enough to walk, he just slumps down and fall asleep on the floor)  Luckily, a kind woman pushed my stroller AND pulled my carry-on as I held Jackson all the way down to the passenger pick up.  Thank goodness for the goodness of strangers!

Perfect vacation, I'd say!