A New Tradition for New Year's Eve

Mike and Hayden spent the afternoon taking pictures with the underwater camera they had rented.  Hayden had a lot of fun, but not quite as much luck, trying to catch the fish on film before they swam away.  If you look close, you can usually see a few fish in each shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made a nice dinner to celebrate New Year's- hamburgers on the grill! And the girls and I made a cake and decorated it with some loose flowers we had found on the property. 

 

Goodbye 2012- Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us!!

After dinner, we lit some sparklers on the beach.  We waited a little too long, by the time we arrived on the sand it was pitch black and we had a hard time stumbling around and lighting the sparklers. 

 

 

Happy New Year!!!!!

 

A blustery day?

I just loved our schedule in Maui: 1.  Get up
                                                       2.  Eat some breakfast
                                                       3.  Go for a nice walk
                                                       4.  Hit the beach
                                                       5.  Relax in the condo
                                                       6.  Eat dinner
                                                       7.  Get a great night sleep
                                                        Rise and Shine
                                                        Repeat steps 1- 7.

We spent our "Hit the beach" time at Kapalua today and it was super windy and a bit chilly according to Maui standards.  The girls had a great time, nonetheless.

 

 

 

 

Just another sunset.....

We went out for our morning dose of coffee and tea and then went grocery shopping in Napili.  We ate lunch at the Aloha Mixed Plate before heading back to a different section of Kaanapali Beach where Hayden and Mike snorkeled and Rian did some amazing swimming in the ocean.  We had a relaxing late afternoon sitting on our lanai watching the waves (and a seal that had ventured close to shore).  We called my dad and sang him a very happy birthday over the phone and walked down to the park to watch the sunset. I have to admit that we did spend a LOT of time taking sunset pictures.  But to my defense, the sunsets in Maui are so spectacular we felt like we had to capture them ALL on film!

 

This was taken at Pohaku Park- otherwishe known as S-Turns Park

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Olivine Pools

We had heard the Olivine Pools were a "must do" in Maui, so we headed out mid-morning to see what all the fuss was about. 

The Olivine Pools are natural lava swimming pools that sit in the midst of an ancient lava shelf, offering a safe place to swim with the ocean pounding at you on three sides. 

 

Before making the trek down the loose lava rock in order to reach the pools.

Some of the pools were shallow, some were deep, but they all were fantastic!

This was one of the deepest pools, and was like swimming in a giant fishbowl.  There were little fish everywhere and the water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom. 

Mike posing on top of one of the lava shelves.  You really have to watch the surf, because in some places, a big wave could come and knock you right off!

Not a great shot, but it gives an idea of how long and treacherous the hike was back up to the top.  The girls all did much better than I had expected, and I was very glad that none of us had worn flip-flops!

 

This is the position Rian assumed anytime we were in the car for more than ten minutes.  I don't know if it was the small size of our rental, or the windy roads, but neither helped with her tendency towards motion sickness.  We were all starving from all the swimming, and headed to lunch at the highly-recommended Star Noodle- the garlic noodles were the best, but we also had Vietnamese crepes and steamed pork buns.  The girls swam in the pool at the condo again in the evening.  It was great because Mike could watch the girls swim while grilling on the BBQ, and I could make the rest of dinner upstairs in our condo. 

 

 

Jessie's photo shoot

I headed out for a brisk early morning walk while Mike and the girls headed to the store.  We packed a lunch and spent the day about a mile further down Kaanapali beach than we had ever been before.  We were delighted to find this stretch of beach, as there was much more sand and fun mellow surf to play in.  This would become our FAVORITE beach spot, one we visited many, many times over the course of 19 days.  Hayden and Rian played in the ocean together for hours.  Mike got a terrible sunburn on his white belly.  And Jessie just wanted to sit by me in the sand and have her picture taken......with her new fancy wrap, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike and the Tiki Man

Mike has been taking one girl at a time out for a treat in the morning while he gets his coffee.  They walk up the street from our condo to the local coffee and pastry shop and enjoy a little one-on-one time together.  They all have been loving the 'daddy attention'.  We headed back to Lahaina today and met the Tiki Man, aka. Big Joe. 

Well, those of you who know Mike won't be surprised that he couldn't pass up a "big purchase" even while trying to be frugal on vacation!  This tiki is made out of monkey wood and each individual carving within it represents a deeper meaning. The deal was sealed once Big Joe offered to throw in a separate large turtle carving and free shipping back to Colorado.

We ate our picnic lunch at the park near Lahaina library and the girls ate their sandwiches up in the trees.

 

 

We headed back to our condo, grabbed our swimsuits, and spent the rest of the afternoon at Kaanapali Beach. 

 

Rian had so much fun being silly.

                            

 

 

Hayden got the hang of boogie boarding really quickly.

 

 

We strolled along the boardwalk in front of all the major resorts.

I just loved all the hibiscus flowers wherever we went.

 

We stopped and said hello to the penguins at the Hyatt.  They had to build the wall extra high on one side because one of the penguins kept climbing the tree, hopping the wall, and making a break for the ocean!

And here I had always thought pineapples grew on trees!

 

We just loved all the flower gardens everywhere we turned.

 

Just another day in paradise!!

 

When we got back to our condo, we found a new little visitor (a bird!) had somehow snuck inside and was hiding next to our couch.  After frantically flying about and  much screaming from Rian, Jessie and I, the poor bird found it's way back outside to the lanai and flew away!