Maui Vacation Summary

I promise I won’t harass you with too many Maui pictures at once—I’ll merely split it into multiple posts. :)

Our trip began with dropping the boys off to my parents in Bend on the fourth of July. I guess Seth and Sam LOVED fireworks (a complete 180 from them bawling in the house from fright last year). And apparently Seth told my parents that he really like “that” music, i.e. country music that was playing in my dads’ truck. Ben and I watched fireworks just the two of us from a field by our house while eating homemade kettle corn.

We got up bright and early (3:45) for our flight. We knew our vacation was off to a great start when Ben won a Hawaii guidebook on the flight for guessing the exact half way mileage point between San Fran and Maui. Our arrival time in Maui was 11:30, meaning we had a whole afternoon to explore!

Here’s the view from our room:

We stayed at Makena Beach Resort in South Maui…a great decision for us! The only negatives we had read in reviews were that it was “really quiet” and “had no night life.” We thought that sounded perfect! The hotel had it’s own beach literally a one minute walk from our room and the most fabulous court yard full of Hawaiian foliage and a huge koi pond which we ate an amazing buffet breakfast by each morning.

Our rental car ended up being a “upgrade” to a Lincoln town car (apparently they ran out of medium sized sedans and apparently they think a Lincoln town car is an upgrade). We got a lot of laughs because of “Bert” our HUGE, old person car. (We ended up trading it in for something smaller so that we could tackle the roads of Hana and Haleakala). Here’s a picture of Ben and Bert: Ben is getting ready to go golfing at the Makena golf course (an activity which he thought was totally awesome!).

That evening we ate dinner at a fancy restaurant that was sitting on a deck built over a fish pond. We had an amazing view and enjoyed watching the fish swim under us. We also went for a walk along the beach, with some of the fancier resorts on the mountain side, which is where we saw this amazing tree:

Here’s us at dinner at Humuhumunujkunukuapua’a (I dare you to say that!):

Two of the days we did some snorkeling. Truth be told, I had a really hard time snorkeling in Maui. The waters were much rougher than those of the Caribbean (my only other snorkeling experience, 7 years ago). I’m not much of a water person to begin with, so sticking my head in the ocean with waves crashing around me is definitely out of my comfort zone. We rented a boogie board for me to float on, so that helped with the fear. I’m glad that I went out, however, because we saw some amazing fish, a huge striped eel, and a couple of turtles (and thankfully—no sharks!)

Walking down to snorkel at Honolua Bay

We were one of two sets of people at Honolua Bay when we arrived there

We spent an afternoon in Lahaina shopping and eating the BEST shaved ice ever at Ululani’s:

This is all ONE tree (Bayan tree in Lahaina)

That evening we watched the sunset at Haleakala which was one of the coolest visual experiences ever. Here’s a couple of photos, but I’m saving the best ones for a sunset post I’m planning on doing later:

Imagine the sun setting over these clouds…

Haleakala crater

Our final day we wanted to stay close to our hotel and rest and sit on the beach (the entire previous day we spent exploring the road to Hana—a post all of its own). Ben went body surfing and I looked for shells and relaxed.

Our final evening we splurged and ate at the Five Palms restaurant, one of our favorite experiences of the entire trip. The food was AMAZING and you can’t beat the location of the restaurant. Not only overlooking the ocean sunset, but only feet from the shoreline.

And that’s our Maui trip in a nutshell. Overall: we LOVED Maui and would travel back again in a heartbeat. You can’t beat the travel time (only 5 hour flight from Portland) and the people there are so nice. We spent a lot of time talking about “when we come back” or, “when the boys are older and we bring them here.”

So Maui, thanks for the wonderful trip, we’ll see you again some day (hopefully sooner rather than later)!

The Sands of Maui

This past week Ben and I were blessed to go to Maui, Hawaii for five nights—just the two of us! Each set of grandparents took Seth and Sam at their houses for several nights (we’re so thankful!) and it sounds like they had a wonderful time as well. I missed the boys more this vacation than I had on previous trips; perhaps it was because I could picture them doing fun things with us in Maui. We hope to go back some day with them!

Maui was amazing! It was both Ben and I’s first time to Hawaii and we fell in love. I don’t know how many times we looked at one another and said, “This IS paradise!” Of, course I have hundreds of pictures, but today I just have time for a quick post (we’re leaving this afternoon to go camping at Crooked River with Ben’s extended family).

One of the coolest experiences we had in Maui was visiting beaches with different colors of sand. Let’s be honest: Oregon sand sucks. It gets EVERYWHERE…in your eyes, ears, hair…or is that because the wind is always blowing? Regardless, the sand in Maui is amazing. It is so soft and wonderful to walk in. You can pick it up and actually see the shells and coral that are being crushed into tiny particles by the waves. If that sand (white sand) wasn’t cool enough, we got to see black sand…made by a lava flow. And then, we got to visit a beach with red sand, made from volcanic cinders. What an experience!

White Sand on Big Beach

  Black Sand at Wai’ananpanapa State Park

Red Sand at Kaihalulu Beach

Tree Climbing

Ben found Sam half way up this tree—all on his own. So like any good dad, he decided to teach both boys how to climb up safely…and warned them not to climb unless we were underneath them!

Seth in green jersey; Sam in orange. (Disclaimer: the boys dressed themselves. We didn’t purposely put one in Ducks and one in Beavers…but a lot of people at the mall noticed them and thought this was pretty funny!)

Week in Review

Looking back over the past week, I just have to chuckle to myself. I wouldn’t have assumed that laying on my stomach coloring with Seth and Sam, or sitting with both of them on my lap would be the highlights—but they were. Sometimes it takes crazy to appreciate simple.

I knew this week would be really busy. Not only were we hosting Ben’s brother, Levi, all week while he attended a basketball camp, but I was also going to attempt Vacation Bible School at our church with the boys for the first time. While our usual “routine” includes slowly waking up, getting dressed and eating breakfast by 9:30ish, going to VBS every day meant that we had to be leaving the house by 8:45. Also, my afternoon would now include driving 30 minutes each way to pick up Levi from camp.

Monday morning we arrived at church at 9:02 (which I thought was quite “on-time” for our family). However, it seemed that all kids were already registered and sitting in on the opening presentation. I walked the boys to the front row with the other pre-schoolers, sat with them for a bit, and then quietly told them I was going to be walking around doing my volunteer job of taking pictures. Seth and Sam have always done great in our church nursery, and while I was anticipating shy, I wasn’t prepared for the WAILS that ensued when I walked away. One hour later, same story. Screams as I tried to leave them in the classroom, begging to come with mommy. The poor teachers tried everything, to no avail.

As we were driving home from a rocky first day of VBS, I asked the boys why they didn’t like it. Seth informed me that he didn’t like that everyone kept trying to talk to him. Sammy told me that he didn’t like that everyone was staring at him.

I was sure Day 2 of VBS would be better. The boys knew what to expect and I had given them a great pep talk. But, it was even worse. They wouldn’t even step foot in the classroom now; within about 15 minutes of effort, I aborted and took them with me as I snapped photos.

That evening as Ben asked them why they didn’t like VBS, Seth response was, “I don’t trust those people.” Are you kidding me? What three year old says stuff like this?

By the time Wednesday morning arrived, we were all exhausted. Beyond the trauma at VBS, we had also visited the doctor for an ear infection for Seth (which meant a horrible nights sleep as well). I was spending my afternoons picking Levi up from camp, and then in the evenings we were out and about doing fun stuff with Levi. Our house was cluttered with toys and teenage socks and clothes. Oh, and Sam had gotten a bad case of the runs and was spending a lot of time in the bathroom.

Day 3 of VBS I had given up, and was just going to have the kids play by me as I took pictures. We arrived late and I pulled out my camera to a dead battery. Of course, in all the chaos of our life, I had forgotten to charge the battery. My only volunteer job was to take pictures, and now I had NO CAMERA. A moment’s consideration told me: just cut your loses, and head home…it’s what we all need anyways.

And this is where coloring on my belly and reading to the boys is the highlight of my week. Here are some conclusions about the week:

• I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our slow pace of life at home. I’m so thoroughly thankful to be a homemaker. I’m so thankful for my peaceful home. I’m so thankful that I don’t ever have many activities on our schedule, or places to go.
• I’m so thankful that Seth and Sam don’t want to leave my side yet. Somebody at church jokingly commented to me that it was “time to put them in preschool” because they were having such a hard time being left in class. I thoroughly disagree. They have their whole life for school, I’m thankful that they aren’t ready for it yet.
• There is nothing developmentally wrong with Seth and Sam because they wouldn’t stay in class. They are just shy, and (apparently) don’t easily trust others. This is a true reflection of their personalities: they have always stood back and judged situation before jumping in. I believe this will serve them well in life.
• Sweet moments of doing simple things with just me and my boys are THE BEST. I wouldn’t trade this time of my life for anything.

So, while our week wasn’t exactly what I expected, we made it through. Seth and Sam had a blast with Uncle Levi here playing with them, and Ben I got to switch off doing fun stuff in the evenings (going to the NIKE store, going to a movie…oh, and I got a haircut while I dropped Levi off at arcades). And it had a perfect ending for me: Ben’s dad was in town to pick Levi up from the camp, so he spent all Friday morning here with Seth and Sam—which meant I got some rare independence!

Thank you God for busy weeks that allow me to really value the quiet times!

UNCLES ARE THE BEST!

Catching Up…a Wonderfully Busy June

This is my favorite time of year—why does it seem to go by so quickly? Since the boys’ birthday at the end of May, we’ve been staying quite busy. Here’s what we’ve been up to:

• I celebrated my 29th birthday with a wonderful date night with just Ben and I. We had a slow dinner, went to watch The Avengers, and topped off the evening with Frozen Yogurt. I’m looking forward to a fantastic last year of my 20’s!
• Seth and Sam had their first dentist appointment. Our hygienist, Erin, encourages families to get their children in while they are still pretty young to get them comfortable for later appointments. The boys did surprisingly well, although were their normal shy selves at first. Eventually they let Erin brush their teeth and even let the dentist get a peak inside their mouths. Now they are very excited about their new dentist tooth brushes.
• Last weekend Ben and I went our separate ways: he went on a “man trip” to Diamond Lake with some childhood friends, and I braved the 6.5 hour car ride down to my parents in Lakeview BY MYSELF. It went about as to be expected—we were all ready to kill each other by the end, but made it.
• We celebrated 7 years of marriage on June 18. The boys’ and I drove back home from Lakeview that evening, so we met Ben at a restaurant for dinner and all celebrated together. Although it was far from a romantic date, it was really fun to all be together again as a family.

The next few weeks are going to fly by as well. Here’s what we’re looking forward to:

• The kids and I are going to Vacation Bible School at our church next week. I am taking pictures for the church, and the boys will be in their first little preschool class. Can they really be that old? I am looking forward to the week, but am interested to see how we’re all going to handle getting up and getting out of the house by 8:45 every morning (I know, pathetic, right?)
• We have Uncle Levi here all next week while he’s going to a basketball camp. We’re so excited to have him!

But the REAL thing that we’re looking forward to is…going to Hawaii in a couple of weeks! Woo hoo! Just Ben and I, no kids, for five nights, in Maui. Both sets of grandparents are graciously going to watch Seth and Sam for us. I think it’s going to be a wonderful adventure for all of us!

Here’s some pictures from our Lakeview trip:

Sam, Seth playing in Papa’s fishing boat

These train tracks are only a couple blocks from my parents house. There was some pretty awesome engines parked there! It was a boys’ dream:

This is exactly what I did as a child to smell flowers! Seth has so many of my little quirks!

Seth and Sam spent most afternoons out in my dad’s beautiful yard playing in the pool. Here Sam is trying to get Seth to play the “trumpet” with him. Seth joins in:

And check out this Woodpecker that flew right into the tree next to us. (How nice does my dad’s yard look?) I was so bummed that I didn’t have my zoom lens to take closer pictures of it.