Maui!

OK, this is long. If you just want to see the pictures, go to my facebook.

Heath and I celebrate our 10th anniversary in June, so we decided to go to Maui for the occasion.
Who goes to Maui in June though???
So, we went early :)
It was an amazing week.
No kids, gorgeous island, no kids, lots of fun stuff to do, no kids...

So here is our Maui Top Ten:

10. Its a tie: The Road to Hana and Island Shopping.

Hana: Our first full day, we thought we would do the road to Hana as the weather was not so great-the trade winds were blowing pretty good, it was cloudy and a bit rainy at times and the temp wasn't even in the 80s (however, a poor weather day in Maui is still pretty great). It is a 3 hr trek on a road with like 600 curves, and 54 one lane bridges. Lots to see along the way. Our guide book says its not about the destination, but the journey. It was very scenic and lovely waterfalls and beaches along the way. However at one point, Heath says, "This looks just like Kent!" Its true, being from Western Washington, I am pretty familliar with lush green forests. Highlights along the way: the $6.00 banana bread, it was good, seeing all the maui weasels (later discovered that they were actually mongooses), and Black sand beach. Hana itself was as advertised: not much. Heath did get a big diet Coke there though.

6 bucks for banana bread! it was even a mini loaf!!!

See that little guy peekin around the garbage can? Pretty cute!

Shopping: yeah, ABC stores galore! We loved Whaler's Village in Kaanapali. Close second was the boardwalk in Lahaina. We enjoyed strolling around looking for souviners for the kids(who were at home with Grandma and Grandpa, not running around hiding and me yelling at them to stay with me). Fun resaurants in Lahaina that we ate at were Cheeseburger in Paradise and Hard Rock Cafe. The Maalaea harbor village was fun to look around too. Loved the cookie store.

9. The hot tub. Felt so good on my aching back and Heath's sore knee. We were sorta pathetic with our ailments, but hey, we got to use the handicap parking. The Mahana, where we stayed, seemed to not be very crowded. We sat in the tub by ourselves every night. One night it sorta rained on us, but that was OK. Not real popular during the day, but great after the sun goes down!

8. Yummy Food. I think our favorite place to eat was the Barefood bar and Grill in Whaler's Village. It was on the beach, in the sand. Live music and some really tasty moonfish. mmm.
7. Watching the sunrise on Haleakala. Everyone says you gotta do it. Since the 3 hour time differance was on our side, why not. So we got up at 3am to trek up the mountain. It was so COLD! Who brings their winter coat to Maui? Not me. The top of the mountain is above the clouds so when the sun pops up, its quite spectacular. It was a bit shocking to see tons of other people half frozen, half asleep, all waiting for the sun to come up. Heath thinks its a scheme of the Maui businesses, convince the tourists to get up extra early to have more time in the day to spend money.






6. Whale Watching. We were at the "tail" end of whale season. From our Lanai, we could watch the humpback whales frolic in the ocean. So cool! We went on a dinner cruise and talked to a naturalist who told us all about the whales. The cruise would have been on the top 10, but we chose a very windy night and the boat got tossed all over. No whale sightings either because it was dark.


This is the view from our room. I can't think of much that's more relaxing than watching the palm trees sway with the trade winds along with the crashing of waves in the sand.

Our view!


5. Old Lahaina Luau. I won us a free ticket to the luau! It was a traditional luau, no fire dancers (Heath was a bit disappointed) but the food was great and the show was too! Loved that it was on the beach and we got to watch the sunset. Great service there too!





4. The Lounge chairs. Oh, paradise found! We loved these loungers for napping in the sun. We did find out that the vinyl removes sunscreen-poor Heath looked like a zebra after laying down on his chest for a bit, then flipping.
You can see the island Lanai in the background shrouded in clouds.

3. The Big Island Breezer. Yes, an ice cream sundae from the Hagen Daz store is #3 on our list. Really, it was amazing. 2 scoops of pineapple, coconut ice cream, 1 scoop of macadamia nut ice cream, hot fudge, short bread cookies and whipped cream. We shared it. However we did go two separate times. so good.


(total side track, but on our honeymoon, we had a phenomenal sundae at the Ghirradelli shop that we still talk about-we like our ice cream!)

2. Snorkeling. We rented snorkel gear on our last day. We checked out Black Rock at Kaanapali beach, down a ways from our hotel. So awesome. We were both worried that our injuries would limit our fun, but it was not too taxing for either of us. The fish would swim right up in our faces-perhaps a bit too friendly for my tastes. We saw the famous humuhumunukunukuapua'a. Heath worked hard on that one. I wish we would have attempted snorkeling earlier in the week because it was so cool. Guess we will just have to go back sometime and do it again.
1. Helicopter tour. There are just not words. So amazing!!! We toured the West Maui mountains and Molokai. Breathtaking! I got the front window seat so my view was as good as it gets. The Molokai sea cliffs were awesome, 3000ft, the tallest on the planet. The pilot pointed out a 20ft tiger shark swimming in the coral near Molokai, sorta made me want to stick with the hot tub.

Early Easter

Sage and I found her dress when we were in Seattle last. We both fell in love with it. We decided that Marlee needed something just as fancy and thought this dress matched fairly well. Both were so pretty. To complete the look, Sage and I found this shirt for Hayden. Love my shopping partner, Sage!


Gotta do eggs! one of my favorite activities! Heath was burning the midnight oil at the office trying to get things ready for a week's absence. Just me and the kids Friday night. Set up took FOREVER! We got table cloths and smocks and egg holders and crayons. The kids were so excited to color eggs. Finally, I gave the green light and, for the next two minutes we had a blast. It was over so fast! For some reason, I figured that 18 eggs would be plenty. Hey, I wasn't going to be around to eat any of them anyway right? 7 for Hayden, 7 for Sage, and 4 for Marlee (she needed a whole lot of supervision so that she didn't drink the "juice"). Not nearly enough.
Note to self, eggs are cheap and lots of fun...next year, two dozen at least.




We arranged for Easter to happen on Saturday at our house this year as Heath and I were departing early Sunday morning, long before any bunnies get up. It was really nice, and I think I might make similar arrangements next year. We got up and discovered lots of surprises in our baskets. The bunny was a bit generous with the kiddos this year. (Was it guilt for leaving them? yeah, probably!) They each got a spring outfit, a new game, books, some silly little toys, and a bunch of candy.
We loaded up on chocolate bunnies and then headed off to the girl's daycare egg hunt.

It was a beautiful day for an egg hunt. Marlee didn't really get it, but when she is told to get eggs with candy in them, she can be persuaded. Sage frolicked about the eggs, while Hayden's style was more frantic. The eggs were jamb packed with candy and I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of sugar we were taking home. Both girls were pleased to wear their pretty dresses, but Hayden was mostly ticked off that I would suggest such humiliation. He was sure he would be the only boy not in jeans. Lucky for me, lots of other moms are just as terrible.
The big, creepy bunny showed up. Marlee had already had enough of him and kept a good distance from him at all times. The ever popular refrain of "where did the Money (bunny) go?" was repeated over and over to make sure he didn't sneak up on her. Sage however needed more time with him and made sure to chat and visit and get some hugs in. She is a lover, that girl. She loves the bunny and made sure to thank him for all her surprises. Such a thoughtful little gal.
Hayden was too busy staining up his church pants with all the other boys to even notice.





Grandma and Grandpa arrived in time to go to our Bishop's house for another egg hunt and picnic with lots of friends and food. Again, more candy. The day was so busy, Sage had a birthday party somewhere in all that! (Can you believe that she got more candy in her goody bag from the party???)