Maui 2013

I can't believe we've been home from Maui almost a month already! We had a wonderful time and it was so nice to look out the window and always see the ocean. Not to mention lava flows and lots of shopping!

We had an early flight and had to wake up at 4:30am but the girls were up and ready to go, full of excitement.

The flight over was long (almost 7 hours) but the girls stayed busy and my leg pain was tolerable.

It helped that I had to take the girls to the bathroom constantly because walking around relieved the pain.

When we finally arrived in Maui, we got our minivan, ran into Walmart for a few items and then drove to our resort. We went down to the beach so the girls could run around since they've waited months for this trip.

It was all fun and games until Natalee fell in the water and the wave soaked her and covered her in sand. Needless to say, she was extra careful the rest of the week anytime we were around water.

Saturday was our first full day in Maui. The girls wanted to go swimming in the pool so we started our morning doing just that. I'm pretty sure swimming in the pool at the resort was the highlight of Natalee's vacation.

That's all she wanted to do and she became quite the little fish.

Saturday night we went to the Drums of the Pacific luau.

The food was good,

the view of the ocean was beautiful

and the entertainment was awesome.

Oh, and free drinks....say what? Haylee was cracking up watching the dancers shake their butt. It was hilarious.

Dustin enjoyed his birthday and we all had a wonderful night.

 (2009 on the left, 2013 on the right. Same luau)

Sunday we drove the north end of the island. We stopped at a little beach area where there we tons of baby frogs hopping around.

We also stopped at a little stand on the side of the road (because the guy was literally dancing in the middle of the road so we had to stop) and bought fresh pineapple, tropical mix and fresh coconut water straight from a coconut.

Our last stop was for homemade banana bread, a popular item sold on the side of the road in Maui. We ate dinner at Kahului Ale House which is owned by my uncle's sister.

We got pizza and wings and it was delicious!

That night we took the girls in the pool to practice snorkeling with their kick boards and masks so they'd be prepared for our snorkeling cruise the next day.

Monday started with our snorkel cruise to Lanai where all 3 girls passed out within 30 minutes of being on the boat.

As we were making our way to Lanai the boat took a turn the other way which we quickly learned was because the captain saw wild dolphins ahead.

It was absolutely amazing to watch these dolphins in the wild swimming and jumping around our boat.

There must have been over 50, it was so neat. Highlight of the trip for sure! Once we made it to Lanai and got in the freezing water, it only took the girls about 10 minutes to start whining that they wanted back on the boat.

Natalee kept getting salt water in her mouth and Haylee's mask was hurting her face. I don't think any of them ever saw a fish underwater but I did as I was dragging Haylee back to the boat. Party foul. They did feed us yummy breakfast and lunch though so we still had a fun time. Oh and Dustin who was NOT getting in the water (due to recent shark attacks in Hawaii) had the most fun of all of us. He was diving down and swimming all around having a blast.

After we got back to the dock, I walked down Lahaina searching for coconut purses for the girls. I had the hardest time finding them, but once I did, I started seeing them everywhere. All 3 girls got one and carried it around with other souvenirs inside the rest of the trip.

That night we ate at Aloha Mixed Plate. My Mom has all her favorite places to eat in Maui so she had our dinner places picked out for every night. This was authentic Hawaii food where you picked your meat and it came with rice and macaroni salad.

Tuesday was my favorite day, the road to Hana!

We stopped at McDonalds for a quick breakfast so we could hit the road. Our choices...spam, eggs and rice or haupia (coconut) pies?

We quickly became obsessed with the coconut pies and even brought home 15!!! Our first stop on the road to Hana was this little stand on the side of the road where we got coconut candy. Then we stopped at the "bird guy" so we could get our pictures taken with beautiful birds.

 It was so adorable to see the girls holding these big birds like little babies.

The first waterfall we stopped at was a disaster.

We had to "hike" back a little bit to see it and by the time we got back to the car we were covered in mud and had a few mosquito bites too.

We stopped at Keanae Penisula to eat lunch and watch the water slam against the rocks creating an awesome effect.

We went to a black sand beach where we saw these weasel things running all around,

got more shaved ice (another daily ritual in Maui)

and stopped at the 3 bears waterfall.

We made a few other stops along the way.

I just love the roads and how they are covered with trees!

And I love the peace and quiet when all 3 girls fall asleep :)

And then we arrived in Hana which is nothing exciting, but instead of turning around like my Mom always does we decided to go the whole way around. Mistake?....yes and no. As we were driving through Hana we saw a honor system stand (there are a lot of these off the road to Hana) that had fresh leis so we bought the 3 girls each one and they loved it.

Then as we were driving along, we turned a corner and BAM right off the road was the biggest. most beautiful waterfall we had seen all day.

Just stunning.

We stopped at the 7 Sacred Pools but I think the water was low because it wasn't anything special.

That was our last stop before we headed home. And that's when the adventure began! First of all it was dark and raining. It was a single lane road, on the edge of a cliff with the ocean below and most of the way was unpaved. As if that wasn't scary enough we kept coming upon signs warning us of "road narrows" which I didn't think it could get any narrower to begin with and then "limited sight distance" and then we couldn't help but laugh when we saw "warning cattle on roadway next 18.6 miles".

Miraculously we made it home safe after becoming delirious at the drive thru window at Burger King. We were all laughing so hard we were crying. Josh couldn't even talk to the worker so he pulled up so that Dustin's window was at the drive up so he had to pull it together fast. Fun times.

Wednesday we decided to try the Reef Dancer glass bottom boat since snorkeling didn't quite work out with the girls.

We did the later tour which takes you to a second spot where you are more likely to see turtles. Sadly, we only saw one turtle at the bottom and he never came up or swam around. We saw a lot of fish and the divers brought up some stuff from the bottom of the ocean.

I was fairly disappointed since we didn't see turtles so I don't think I'd do this again. We ate nachos at Hard Rock for lunch, spent some time poolside with lava flows for happy hour and the girls had fun writing in the sand.

For dinner that night at Cool Cats. They have the best burgers in Maui and boy are they yummy.

Thursday was our last full day in Maui. Mom had been eyeing this huge turtle right in front of our resort and since she had yet to snorkel with one, her and Josh grabbed their snorkel stuff and headed out there.

He stayed right where he was eating the coral while Josh and Mom swam with him trying not to land on him since the waves were pushing them into him. Mom was a happy camper! For lunch we ate at Maui Tacos, finally some Mexican food! We enjoyed our last happy hour at the resort pool

and had dinner at Bubba Gumps on the water. We finished up the night shopping and getting shaved ice one last time.

Friday we packed up, took some pictures on the beach and headed to the airport.

We had an uneventful ride home and landed around midnight. Since we were all on Maui time we slept in till 11am the next day, it was much needed.

(This was the morning we left Maui. Haylee didn't wanna wake up to leave)

Maui is so beautiful and we left with a lot of memories. It was nice to spend a week with my brother and mom along with my little family. Sadly, I don't think I truly enjoyed my time there since I was worried sick about Haylee but I still had a fun time. Definitely need a redo. Maui 2015 here we come!