Maui Day 5: Snorkling explorations at Kahekili and Napili beach.

We had rented some snorkel gear and wanted to put it to use at some recommended “family friendly” snorkeling beaches. 

First stop was Kahekili beach park… while this was a fun beach to play in the waves, the girls weren’t feeling quite ready to try to snorkel in it.

Brad did get some good snorkel time in though (although wasn’t super impressed with the snorkeling).. and also got in some good boogie board rides..!!

Girls and I did a walk up to Black Rock to see if we could see some turtles hanging out (on my never ending quest to show them some sea turtles!)… but no luck.. was nice to walk on the beach for a bit though…


We packed up there and headed to the hotel to refuel (i.e. get some lunch).. then made our way up to Napili beach..

The beach is beautiful and had a calmer area to the right that was a good spot for the girls to play and Soph to give her snorkel gear a bit of a go.. she did get out and swim a bit but didn’t feel comfortable swimming out far enough to see the fish.. I think a snorkel tour from a boat might be a better way to go for the kids..

Brad and I got some snorkling in though which was fun. Wasn't a huge amount of fish at the reef but I was treated to a surprise visit from a sea turtle.. (yeah!) Love watching them swim underwater - felt pretty lucky to stumble across one. 

Surprise, surprise, we all hit the pool for a little swim time when we got back ... and Zoe got some time at her favorite grassy patch to chase balls..(while I watched the sun go down :)



Dinner = Fish market tacos.. can’t get enough!

Maui Day 4: Whale Watching and pool time

(photo credit: @jbself20)

We headed out with Pacific Whale Foundation to see some whales.. (yeah!).

We took the 9:00 tour (which was good, because the 11:30 would be been too hot I think). Other then Caitlyn getting a bit seasick (poor girl), the trip was great. We saw a ton of whales and at one point was “mugged” by 2 of them…!! (which basically means they were circling us on the boat so we couldn't move any where for a while - no complaints here :). I think Sophia counted 7 whale tail sightings (3-4 of which were about 10 feet away from us!) Super cool and the Jr. Naturalist program on board was a nice touch for the kids. 

In Lahaina we hit up the Paia fish market for lunch (which was great) and then cooled off a bit with some Local Boys shaved ice… Next stop: pool.

For dinner tonight we hit up the Fish Market for some fish tacos, kailua pork tacos and ceviche (and after we finished decided to eat that every night until we left.. so delicious!)

Maui Day 3: Nakalele Blowhole and Olivine Pools

This was one of my favorite days on Maui… 

Zoe was up early so we snuck out for a nice walk up the beach path to Black Rock and were treated to some sea turtles playing surf along the rocks.

Once everyone was up and fed, we headed up the northern coast to the Nakalele blowhole. Beautiful coast line drive and I loved the hike down to the blowhole … it wasn’t putting on too much of a show, but did provide some good entertainment for the girls…
 

From there we headed up to the Olivine pools.. These pools are amazing, naturally protected from the ocean, clear, and deep! After some good cannonballs, we were treated to a front row view of a pod a whales making their way up north.. so amazing!! Even saw one flapping it’s tail on the water over and over again. This was my first time witnessing whales - they are such amazing animals.. couldn’t get enough of them!

And a beautiful sunset to round out the day (this time we wore bathing suits!)

Maui Day 2: Pool and Caitlyn’s 7th birthday!

Sleeping in would have been nice this morning, but we weren't so lucky...  Soph was up bright and early so we went to go explore the grounds.. great pools (3 of them actually + a slide :). We also scoped out all the good baby/Zoe friendly spots. … and the beach just steps away!



After enjoying some coffee on the lanai it was time to get the festivities rolling for Caitlyn's birthday. We kicked it off with some fish shaped pancakes and a scavenger hunt for bday presents then headed to the pool... (and stayed at the pool pretty much all day thanks to poolside drinks and food from Duke’s :) We retreated from the pool finally late afternoon and Soph and Z took some much needed naps while Caits and I did some shopping. (stocked up at the local Farmer’s market store, fish market and Times grocery store).

 
Once everyone was up and back, we wondered down to the beach to catch the sunset… girls had changed out of their bathing suits but couldn’t resist the lure of the waves… By the time the sun had set both girls were soaked head to toe, but having a blast jumping in the ocean.

We enjoyed some music from the “Wild Hawaiian” at Dukes before heading up to make Caitlyn’s bday dinner!

Caitlyn’s dinner request: Spaghetti, Apple sausage and asparagus. So, while not very “Hawaiian” we rolled with it. And somehow managed to bake and decorate a birthday cake (with fairly limited supplies!). We went with a “ocean & dolphin” theme as you may be able to tell! We could seem to track down a lighter so Caitlyn gave it her best “pretend” blow out the candles impersonation..

Maui Day 1: Arrival in Kaanapali

We decided to book the later flight into Maui because 1. it was cheaper, and 2. it allowed the girls to go to school on Thursday as they were going to miss the next 4 days of school for the trip.

Hind sight being 20/20, I think we’ll go with the early flight next time. We arrived around 11:00pm (Hawaii time, 1am Pacific time). Let’s just say by the time we arrived, the girls were exhausted and super excited all at the same time (= forget going to sleep any time soon) and well, as for Zoe, the second plane ride got the best of her and she threw up all over me about an hour before we landed..  ... this isn't the first time this has happened to me on a flight, but hoping it's the last!!  Unfortunately, I made the rookie mistake of not packing an extra set of clothes so I got to hang out in my awesome smelling clothes until we got to the hotel (you could smell us from a mile away!!)

We stayed at Honua Kai, room 612.  It was a nice size room, had 1 bd + a little den the girls could use and had a nice lanai that looked out at the mountains (ocean view would also be nice, but would also be much for $$!) Brad did a late night grocery store run so we could have the all important coffee & Hawaiian sweet bread as well as some breakfast makings for Caitlyn’s bday … as for me, I never been so happy to see a shower in my life…

Hawaiian adventures in Maui!

We decided to go for a "pre" spring break trip this year to celebrate my 40th and we also got to celebrate Caitlyn's 7th birthday as well! We've been to Hawaii a few times and Maui once before but never with the kids, so was fun to bring them along for the adventure!


Day 1 (Thurs): Arrival in Kaanapali

Day 2 (Fri): Pool and Caitlyn’s 7th birthday!

Day 3 (Sat): Nakahele Blowhole and Olivine Pools

Day 4 (Sun): Whale Watching and pool time

Day 5: (Mon) Snorkling explorations: Kekehili and Napili beach.

Day 6 (Tues): Road trip to Le Perouse Bay

Day 7 (Wed): Final Day.. Pool and Ho’okipa beach

Skiday Bday for Sophia's 9th...

Sophia requested a Skiday for her birthday this year...  so we rallied the troops and managed to actually coordinate about 9 girls on the slopes for a day..!!

We hit Timberline as that's our hill of choice these days (and where we have our passes)... I don't think we could have been any luckier with the weather and thanks to a great support crew we were able to wrangle this crew for some awesome skiing! (We even managed to ski the Glade home!!)  So fun to see girls this age have fun together skiing.. makes me smile.

...  and special thanks to Brad for some amazing photographs to capture the day!

Blog - back in action!

After a 4 year hiatus or so, I've decided to get the blog back in action... and given that we're now a party of 5, i'm evolving the blog a bit from Sophia's spot to now be Self Party of Five.. as a way to reflect, keep up and share some of our family adventures along the way.