Days 7, 8 & 9

I thought when we started our trip to Maui, I would write a little each day to journal our fun experiences. I did pretty good the first part of the trip but the last 3 days we were at a different hotel, which was a lot smaller so there wasn’t much quiet time to blog. So here I am a 3 days after coming home finishing my blog posts.

Day 7

We checked out of our hotel early in the morning and headed up to Napili bay, to a popular highly recommended restaurant called the Gazebo that serves breakfast. We heard from friends and locals that this place was incredible so naturally we wanted to try it. Since we were going to leave the area and head to Wailea, Friday was our only day to go. We had a full day planned: Breakfast at the Gazebo, a Whale Watch out of Lahaina harbor, Shopping in old Lahaina, and a Luau at our hotel in Wailea.

When we got there it was crowded and we were running a little behind schedule. Chris waited in line while the kids and I walked down to the rocky area and looked in the tidepools for interesting creatures. While we were down on the rocks we saw 3 sea turtles body surfing in the waves. Carter thought it was pretty awesome.

The line took longer than anticipated to get into the restaurant and we were getting very close to our whale watch cruise time so we decided to get our food to-go and eat it on the way. It was absolutely delicious! I’m sure it would have tasted a lot better sitting right next to the ocean and listening to the waves crash. We had macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup and fried rice. Mmm… Scrumptious! We drove down to Lahaina harbor as quick as we could to catch our boat. We were literally running!

The whale watch was one of the highlights of our trip to Maui. I had no idea that most of the humpback whales that migrate to warmer waters in the Winter come to Maui. Apparently Maui at this exact spot is the best place to whale watch. How cool is that? Anyhow we saw lots of action on our whale watch. Here is a video of a competition pod of at least 16 male whales competing for one female whale. I don’t think the kids realized what a neat experience this is. (They started playing Jaws music to be silly when the whales were really close)

After our whale watch we walked around the old town of Lahaina which used to be the capital of Hawaii. There was a huge banyan tree that is one of the largest in the world. It covers an entire city block. The kids had fun climbing it and it was just gorgeous.

While we were in Maui, Carter admired the many tiki statues that he saw. He begged us to get on from one of the vendors carving them right on the street. We met this guy below and it turns out he is also Mormon, and served his mission in Riverside. He was very sweet and his children were there with him. He even carved the kids names on their carvings. (Maddie and Sawyer got turtles)

We went to a Shaved Ice place (or as they say in Hawaii- Shave Ice) called Local boys and had some delicious shaved ice with ice cream in the bottom.

After spending some time in Lahaina, we headed to our hotel in Wailea. Carter and Sawyer played in a large pond out front and found these teeny frogs. At first I thought they were holding bugs but nope, they are frogs! Crazy huh?

After checking out the pool and getting all cleaned up, we headed right outside our hotel room to a Luau. I’d always wanted to go to a Luau and Chris and I were able to score tickets by doing a timeshare presentation at our previous resort. The tickets are usually $100+ per adult. We each received our own lei and overlooked the beautiful ocean at sunset. The kids enjoyed the endless drinks, virgin pina coladas were my favorite.

I had heard that Hawaiians traditionally cook a pig in the ground for a luau but I had no idea they were actually really going to do it at this Luau. Sure enough they blew a conch and announced it was time to get pig out and prepare for dinner. They literally dug up the dirt, lifted the banana leaves and revealed a pig that had been cooking all day long. It was fascinating! As we watched the chefs shred up the meat to serve us for dinner, the kids looked at the pigs face, complete with teeth and all! The chef told us that it was good luck to kiss the pig and dared us all to do it! The kids and I all ended up kissing that nasty looking pig! I was trying to be a good sport for the kids so I did it. And, No, you will not see the picture here!

The food was very good. The pork was tender and very tasty. Look at my two boys plates… Carter is very picky and only got steak and a roll. Sawyer on the other hand loves salad and vegetables and wanted to try most everything. Carter held up his plate to me and said, “Mom this is an all you can eat place, this is ALL you can eat” pointing to his food. (My funny little boy takes after his dad!)

There was a great show after dinner and we were entertained by dancers and fire!

Whew! That was an action packed day!

Day 8

Saturday was our last full day there so we wanted to spend as much time at the pool and beach as we could. Our hotel room was not a villa like we had in Kaanapali so we were all in one room with 2 beds and a crib. It was definitely not as comfortable but we made do! Libby spilled an entire box of Apple Jacks on the floor!

The kids really enjoyed the kids pool area at our resort. There were 2 big waterslides and a splash area with a small waterslide. We also went out to the beach and snorkeled some more, played in the sand and rode some waves on a boogie board.

After getting all cleaned up we went for a walk along the beach area and watched a beautiful Maui sunset. I was sad that the next day we would be leaving. I tried to relish the moment and told myself that I HAD to come back to this wonderful place soon!

Day 9

Our last day in Maui was a very long day. We checked out of our hotel at 1 pm but our flight wasn’t leaving until 11:45 pm.

Chris had gotten some free tickets to the Maui Ocean center earlier in the week from work so we decided it would be a good day to go. The weather started getting a little rainy and windy so it was good day to be inside the aquarium. We took our time at the aquarium (cause we really had nowhere to be until 9:30 pm)

It was a very cool aquarium and the kids had a great time learning about the different kinds of fish. Carter was excited to learn the name of the state fish: humuhumunukunukuapua’a. Libby just loved looking at the aquariums.

Carter loves sharks and even bought some shark teeth at the gift shop afterward.

We left the aquarium at 5 and the rest of the day we just drove around while the kids took naps in the car. We did make one more stop to get Shave Ice in Kihei. It was a long day and we were living in the car (It kind of felt like driving to Utah!)

Finally it was time to go to the airport and wait to board our plane. The boys liked playing on the motorized walkways. The kids were getting excited to go home. I was sad, not knowing when we’d be back.

The flight went very well. The kids all slept and luckily we had an extra seat to put Libby to sleep. She tossed and turned a lot but she slept and we got a little sleep too. I think red eyes are the way to go! We didn’t have to entertain the kids at all! When I woke up from sleeping I saw this beautiful view of the sunrise from my window.

Immediately upon arriving home, I was pretty sad and depressed. It was a little hard getting back to life (and still is). The truth is that Hawaii was such a break from reality. I didn’t even think about home the entire time I was there! I told Chris, we MUST plan another trip to Hawaii, I NEED to have something to look forward to! It is an amazing place and I hope that someday I’ll get to go again. (I hope it is sooner than later).

If you read all of my posts, sorry they were so long. This blog is sort of a Journal for our family and since the trip was such a big deal for our little family, I wanted to document all of it!

After looking through all my pictures, I didn't realize that Maddie wore the same outfit almost every day! To her credit, I only brought 3 outfits with us because we had to pack so light. I guess it was her favorite!