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15 July 2010

Wow-wee…

Posted by Jenny Hoelter | File under Beach, Vacations

Maui! We’d had enough of a rainy spring, said “pooh-pooh” to a 5 hour flight with 3 little kids and headed to Hawaii for some sunshine and adventure. Peter and I honeymooned here 11 years ago and have been itching for a swim in the warm ocean ever since we left.

We had the extreme good fortune of being “test guests” for Julie Mercer’s (Auntie Jen’s Mom) condo in Kihei. Very comfy digs, I tell you. If you find yourself headed to Maui, we highly recommend contacting Julie for details! (By the way, we ARE available to test other people’s vacation homes, as well!)

Our days started early, on the beach like this, (at Big Beach in Makena)

And included lots of sand castle building and unbuilding, (at Ka’anapali Beach)

And digging big holes, (at Ulu’a Beach in Wailea)

And eating sand

And some body surfing/getting rolled around in big waves. (at Ulu’a Beach) Owen became quite the body surfer!

One day we drove to the top of Haleakala, the volcano that makes up the south end of Maui, over 10,000 ft high! Here is Owen peering down into the “erosional valley” at the top (not a crater, we learned). It was amazing to be up ABOVE the clouds and the views on the drive up/down were great, too.

Another day we went to Lahaina for a ride in a Yellow Submarine (this delighted our 3 year-old Beatles fan). While not REALLY a submarine, we did ride below water level over a shallow reef and saw corals and lots of fish.

We also rested at the “World’s Largest Banyan Tree” and attempted a picture of our fantastic 3. Drew was attempting a “moon”–tough to do in a onesie!

Another day we took at drive to the other side of the island (the wet and rainy side) and took a hike in a bamboo forest

to this waterfall. Owen and Peter scrambled up a 12 foot rock wall to get to another one as well!

In the afternoons, we napped and then swam at the condo pool which had a big tile Orca in the bottom. Sara was never fully convinced it wasn’t going to bite her. This was Owen and Sara’s most favorite thing–swimming every day.

We ate our share of Maui pineapples and mangos, and (at Owen’s request) bought a coconut at the farmer’s market. A woman with a big machete chopped off the end and stuck in a straw! We all tried it, but Drew was the only one who went back for seconds and thirds and fourths…

After dinner, we would seek out a sunset (at about 7 pm!) across the street from the condo

or along the fancy Wailea Beach walk

We took some self-portraits

And finally got a picture of everyone looking in the same direction! Taken by a mother of three (teenagers) who Drew very effectively charmed (a recurring theme!).

We had a GREAT time and are still cleaning off the sand. We’ll be back someday!