Maui with Grandma & Grandpa

Hawaii!

I have been looking forward to this trip for months! Seeing whales with my kids has maybe been the number one thing on my bucket list for years now, so heading to Maui during their migration season has been a bright spot on the calendar for weeks and weeks. Here's our summed up day-by-day and then details under the pictures.

Saturday:

Landed late, had to stop for gas in LA which was like a second layover, quick Safeway run, $10 gallon of milk, unpacked while putting boys down in our one-week home

Sunday:

9am Lahaina church, amazing testimony from a fire clean-up worker, back home to change, I’ao state park and picnic, Haleakala national park, Costco for shopping and dinner

Monday: 

Boat and snorkel tour, Ululani’s Shave Ice, Ulua beach, lasagna at home

Tuesday: 

The Gazebo for breakfast (famous pancakes and fried rice), Napili bay (boys getting rocked in huge waves and loving it), sandwiches on beach, nap time and cleaned up, quick stop to spot turtles and saw a few so close, then a fun luau 

Wednesday: 

Twin falls hike and swimming, coconut truck and surf lookout, lumber store, My Thai, absolutely INSANE drive along the northern crazy road, blowhole, Napili bay sunset

Thursday:

Coastal walk, Kapalua bay, such fun snorkeling, teriyaki chicken at home, watch basketball and doing laundry, date night to The Seahouse Restaurant, turtle on the beach 

Friday:

Drive to farmers market store, hula pie stop, Kapalua bay, snorkeling with the boys this time and seeing turtles right by us, grilled fish at home, pack up, sunset beach walk, turtle on beach again, big rainbow

Saturday:

Fly home through San Jose, quick easy layover, fly to Denver, Wendy’s drive thru, home :) 

Michael sat by Westin and Asher and I sat by Bennett and Camden.
The kids were champs! Especially with an extra 60-90 minutes because our plane stopped to get gas in LA, so it kind of felt like two layovers.

I really didn't think he was going to sleep. What a sweetie.

They loved sticker books and water painting for a lot of the flight.
But we still packed in 3 movies :)

Asher's nap moved onto Westin's lap while he watched basketball.
Just living that big brother life.

We forgot to get a church picture, 
but I'ao State Park was our first stop after Sacrament Meeting.

We had a picnic lunch here before heading to Haleakala National Park.

This crater view was pretty out of this world!
So amazing to be above the cloud line.

This is the only place in this world this silversword plant grows.
Hawaii's ecology is fascinating.

Boat tour for day 2! We were so excited to see some whales!

On our drive to the harbor we all guessed how many whales we'd see.
Our guesses were all between 8-18.
Final count was 60+!
Whales are so special.

I loved being out with all four cute boys.
At one point I was holding Asher while he was kissing me,
and a sweet Hawaiian song was playing about how you have everything you need when you focus on what matters, and it was such a sweet moment.

Camden didn't love being out with me for very long,
but he was a good sport to try it!

Asher on the other hand was SOOOO happy in that water.

Whale spotting!

Up front with grandma and grandpa!

Grandpa has fun stories :) These kids were so happy to spend days with grandparents.

Had to try breakfast at The Gazebo!
The fried rice and the macadamia nut pancakes were so good.

Found a hammock on a walk. Had to!

We stopped at this spot on the way to our luau to try and spot a turtle.
We saw a few right by these rocks! There were stairs walking down to them, too,
so we were able to be so close to them.

See the turtle?

They're so hard to spot in pictures but they sure were fun to watch.

Luau night! This was so fun.

Asher was actually totally entertained by the dancing.
I thought our hours here were going to feel like Sacrament meeting hours,
but he was totally enthralled!

We couldn't swing the Road to Hana on this trip with our majorly carsick Westy boy and four boys in carseats. But we did to the Twin Falls hike near the beginning of the trek, and it was just gorgeous.

The sounds this HUGE bamboo made when wind came through was so fun to stop and listen to.

All the boys came under the waterfall with us except Camden,
who was very content trying to catch tiny fish by the shore :)

Watching the surfers!
Surfing just blows my mind.

Westin was on a mission to find a fresh coconut the whole trip.
We bought one from a stand since we wouldn't let him drink all the semi-rotten
coconuts he collected. :)

Refreshing! Ok I actually really don't like coconut water.
But it was fun to see how they prepare them.

Then we drove the northern route home instead of the southern route we'd done multiple times.
Oh my word, wildest drive of my life. One lane hairpin turns, cars reversing for each other, fallen rocks all along the path. Poor Westin... had to come sit up front to survive.
Made us glad we skipped the Road to Hana but I want to go back and do that someday!

This guy missed the whole adventure!

Stopped at the blowhole.

Then headed straight to the beach after the boys had been cooped up in the car.

I love parenting on the beach.
No No's, Don't touch that's, Calm down's...
Just be :)

The next day started with the coastal walk just north of Kapalua bay.

The boys loved scrambling over these rocks.

"I just love this rock! Thank you for taking me on this walk!"
-Sweetie Camden boy

Buried our Westy boy.

Asher was concerned about this.

But then he was fully on board with burying daddy.

We went on a Jungle walk that accesses Honolua Bay and it was
seriously breathtaking. Such gorgeous trees! It really was incredible
and all of us loved it so much.

A hen and her four chicks. And a hen and her four chicks.

Ed found some wood to harvest.

This tree!

"Daddy, take picky of me!"
-Cute little Asher, such a trooper on the trip

Michael and I went on a date that night and spotted a turtle on the beach by our restaurant.

They just seem so wise and sweet to me!

Spot the turtle

This was called 60-second ceviche and it was delicious.

Hula Pie for second breakfast!

Our last sunset on the beach. Wanted to freeze time.

Same turtle, same spot! She must like this spot for nights. 
She yawned and spit out a bunch of water. That was weird.

Such a sweet boy. 
Finally got in the water during this last sunset, first time of the trip :)

These boys are at really fun ages. I just loved this trip so much.

So funny how much the turtles look like rocks.
The first night we saw it I said to Michael, "I thought that rock was a turtle."
Then he looked over and said, "......it IS a turtle." 
Haha dang it. I technically spotted it first but even still, Michael kinda did.

Home from the airport after a super smooth travel day. Way easier than getting there for some reason.

Then a little jetlagged baby had a hard time with bedtime Sunday night.
I kind of loved him falling asleep by me, that never happens.
Then I loved it less an hour later and we gave up :) But he sure is sweet.