Aloha from Maui!

Here we are in paradise and I've learned how to blog. Our latest partial family vacation is about to come to an end in a few hours as Hilary and I board the plane back to what I hear is a winter wonderland in Utah.

Our trip was wonderful. We ate at our favorite place L&L on our first night on Maui. We enjoyed the warm rainy and sunny days with temperatures in the high 70's for the past 10 days. We stayed on Ka'anapali Beach in West Maui for the first part of our vacation where we enjoyed seeing some new sights like a blow hole on the coast in black rock, the Olivine Pools which the wind was blowing and the sea was raging at the time of our visit. We spent a lot of time at the swimming pool soaking up the rays. We visited Napili Beach where Adam and the kids boogie boarded while I discovered that I love to read. I finished three books and am working on the fourth right now.

Adam and I went Scuba Diving two mornings while Hilary and Marshall enjoyed staying with Rachael and playing the Wii. We saw some really neat coral, fish, a baby reef shark and a sea turtle swam right into Adam while he was taking in the scenery. What a neat experience to be under the sea. We also saw many whales, a couple jumped all the way out of the water.

The last part of the trip we stayed with the James Family. They took us to see some GREAT things at La Perouse Bay. It is a field of lava rocks with tide pools everywhere. We saw lots of lava and some real interesting locals. We were glad that it was a windy day or those lava rocks would have been HOT.

We also went to Po'olenalena Beach where the waves were huge and the boggie boarding was awesome.

We decided this trip we had to take the road to Hana. This was the most beautiful scenic drive through the rainforest that I have ever experienced. This is on the East side of Maui and it is an all day excursion on a small narrow windey road with bridges that were built in the 1800's and early 1900's. We saw some breathtaking waterfalls, a volcanic black sand beach at Wai'anapanapa Park, and lots of greenery. One of the highlights of the drive was stopping at a little vendor off the side of the road to get some banana bread. WOW, it was so moist we didn't even need butter to eat it.

Adam and Marshall went home a couple days before Hilary and me so we could have some girly time. We did lots of shopping. We went to an open air craft market and enjoyed the best shaved ice in the world. We also went to the shops at Wailea (where Tiffany's and other real expensive shops are) and then we did lunch at a golf course. We ate outside on the lanai with a beautiful view of the ocean. On our last day we slept in to prepare for the red eye flight. We spent the afternoon at Keawakapu Beach where Hilary caught some crabs in the tide pools for Rich to put into his aquarium. Hilary and Rachael make cookies while I tried to pack the suitcase so it didn't weigh more than 50 lbs. We will be going to the airport in a couple hours.

Aloha!