Aloha!

We just returned from our best vacation yet. We went to beautiful Maui for 10 glorious days. Rick has a eye conference in Hawaii every year at different islands and this year it was at the Hilton Grand Wailea in Maui. Hello 5 stars! We had a blast every day so there is a lot to share. Day one we woke up nice and early around 5:30 am. Cali time would have been 7:30 and we would have been out the door on our way to school. We sat on our balcony and watched the sun rise and drank our coffee. We played in the pools for a couple of hours before a storm was to hit. We had lunch, put the kids in kids camp and went and had a couples massage. Very romantic (even though Rick fell asleep and started snoring! The storm came and went. We picked up the kids and went to have dinner, watch a movie and go to bed. Our kids love room service! Day two was another fun day at the pools. There was like 10 different pools and they were all connected by water slides. Then there were 2 big water slides and a water elevator that took you to the top. Crazy fun! I think we had as much fun as the kids did. Lava flows and lunch by the pool, what is better than that! That night we went to a luau and our sweet shy little Ryley wanted to get up and do the Hula when they asked for participants. She marched right up there and did a perfect job. Rick and I just kept looking at each other with our jaws dropped. She was the cutest little thing with her little blond hair and serious expression. Of course my camera battery died at that very moment so I only have one lame picture that you cannot even see very well. I did get a little video though before it went out. I missed most of it though. I have accepted it and moved on so I will not continue to go on and on about how distraught I was that my shy little baby had the courage to get up on a stage in front of hundreds of people and learn a dance. OK so you get how upset I was, as would any mother. We went on a spectacular hike in a rain forest. I love how our girls just love adventure. They were at the front of the pack hiking along, eating all the edible plants, nuts and fruit that our guide showed us. We got to swim in waterfalls and I jumped off one. I am sure I could have talked one of the girls to at least climb up there but I figured I'd better not. There was another waterfall that had a rope swing. I had to climb up the roots of a giant Banyan tree and tuck myself into the roots while the guide held me up there and handed me the rope. I hesitated just a moment, Rick swears it was because I was in this position with our HOT tour guide, but truthfully I could not see how if I let go I would not just fall down the roots. When I finally let go I loved it! It was so fun I wanted to do it again and again. Another fun thing we did was go on a snorkeling trip to Lanai. We sailed on a catamaran and had people waiting on us hand and foot. I think I had a steady flow of Mai Tai going the whole trip! There were whales jumping out of the water all around us on our way to the island it was amazing! We watched the captain real in a Mahi Mahi and give it a beer to make it stop flapping around (otherwise to kill it)! Crazy! We got to the island and snorkeled around for a little while. I love that our kids just jumped right in and swam around without fear. Ryley is 4 still! I think that is awesome. I loved the snorkeling. The fish were so bright and beautiful I did not want to get out! After snorkeling we had lunch on a little beach called Hulopoe Beach by the four seasons on Lanai. There were all these spinner dolphins jumping out of the water and swimming all around in the cove. I looked at Rick and he knew I needed to swim out to them. I borrowed a mask and swam out there and yes I was surrounded by about 50 or so wild dolphins! Jumping out of the water swimming all around me, so close I could touch them! This was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. I swam in and told Rick he had to go out there. He is not quite as adventurous as I am but he swam out there and he loved it. I tried to swim holding Ryley so that she could experience it but I couldn't get far enough. Ryley of course was mad at me because I could not get her out far enough to them. I tried to tell her that mommy was drowning but she just could not forgive me for a good 20 minutes after that. On the way back to the dock in Lahaina the captain stopped the boat in the middle of the deep ocean. He said here is where you can jump in and free dive down to hear the whales. I was a little nervous about being shark bait but there were several other people in the water so I figured the sharks would have options. I jumped in and dived down a little ways I did not hear whales but the water was so beautiful and blue I have never seen anything like it. It reminded me of when my dad would just jump in the ocean on a deep sea fishing trip. I felt like he was there with me. Again I did not want to get out of the water. Right before we got to the bay a baby humpback whale totally breached right out of the water! As I was fumbling around with the camera it's mother did the same. It was such an amazing sight. The baby jumped again and I got a picture of it out of the water. I felt like our snorkeling adventure was complete. That was by far my favorite day. We had lots of fabulous dinners. Our favorite was at Mama's fish house. We went with some friends who have two girls that Luca and Ryley just adore. If you are ever in Maui you must go to Mama's. It is right on a world famous windsurfing beach. The windsurfers were flying around on some crazy waves. It was really fun to watch. We also loved our dinners at Humahumanukunukuapua'a (the girls had been practicing saying that for weeks and can say it pretty fast now), Serento's and Spago. Spago had a beautiful view over the beach we had been playing at every day so it was a wonderful way to end our trip. Some other highlights from our trip were jumping on the water trampoline, watching the whales from the beach, Kayaking, shopping (OK so a highlight for me), kids camp (the kids wanted to go everyday and night), spending romantic evenings with Rick, working on our tans, playing with the kids all day in the pools and at the beach, my spa day, Rick's golf day (he always plays an awesome game in Hawaii, last year he had 2 hole in ones), lots of yummy drinks, ordering ice cream sundaes and watching movies, Rick getting certified to do botox :), sleeping with the doors open so we could fall asleep to the sound of the waves, and really just connecting as a family. It was so nice to just not have any chores to do or anywhere to be. All we had to do was be together. I love Hawaii and I know that each and every year we will just add to all our memories there and someday our girls will look back and remember our time there. This year we will be going back fairly soon because Lexie is getting married there in May. Till then Maui.