Maui - Day 5 (Part 2)

It was only 12;30 when we got back to the marina, so we decided to go to the Maui Ocean Center for the afternoon. It's a remarkably good aquarium and we make a trip there every time we're on the island. The marina is about a block away, so it made sense to do them both the same day so we wouldn't have to make another trip up there.

The exhibits were basically the same as last year. They did add a tank with baby turtles, which had letters on their shells to identify them. The kids thought that was kind of fun. The octopus was out and swimming around it's exhibit, and our youngest was absolutely fascinated by that. She watched for probably 15 minutes as it swam up and down and dug around in the sand with it's tentacles. I love octopuses, so I was happy to stand there with her. Our son really enjoyed the marine mammal exhibit this time. There are a lot of hands-on activities in that room and because he reads so well, he was able to check them all out and understand the point of them all. His sisters were not nearly as interested, so we finally had to drag him out of there to head to the shark tank.

The largest tank at the aquarium is the shark tank. It has a big room with a large viewing window, and next to it, there is a tunnel where you can watch the animals swim over the top of you. There is also one spot in the floor that is plexiglas and you can watch the fish swim underneath you. The kids have all loved that window in the floor and they lay down and become road hazards as they look down. This tank also has a tiger shark, which is rare to see in an aquarium. It has been there for quite a while - we've seen it on at least 3 trips now - and it's a cool shark to watch.

We headed to the gift shop from there and the kids were each able to choose something from either there or the next store. Our older daughter got a pretty necklace and the other 2 decided to wait and choose something later. We got a couple of things for the people who took care of the cats for us as well.

We were done with the aquarium, so we walked over to the Pacific Whale Foundation store, another one of our standard stops. Our son and younger daughter both chose stuffed animals from here (an angelfish and a dolphin) and I got 2 new rash guards. They have some of the best rash guards I've found and I was needing a new one since one of the ones I brought was completely stretched out. Got one more gift and then we were done.

We headed back to the condo for a quiet evening. We went down to the pool to swim until sunset and then went back and made a frozen pizza for the kids. I went out and picked up sushi for Mike and me from Sansei to round out a very big day.

Maui - Day 5 (Part 1)

Something different today!

We decided on Thursday that it might be fun to try a snorkeling trip with the kids, since both older kids had become so comfortable in the water. Mike and I hadn't done the trip to Molokini in years, so we thought that if we could get a reservation for one of the boat trips, we'd give it a try. We had no trouble getting on a boat, so that's how we spent the morning.

I tend to get miserably seasick, so I wasn't completely enthusiastic about the trip to start out. I did take Bonine ahead of time and I felt fine the whole trip, luckily. It was a bit rocky getting out there, so I was glad I had taken the drugs. The kids enjoyed the boat ride and had no problem at all. The little one did end up falling off of a bench and scraping her knees, so we had to do some minor first aid, but that was the only hitch.

Once we got out to Molokini, everyone got in the water to snorkel. Mike and the two older kids went off together while I tried to deal with our youngest. She was less than thrilled with the idea of being out in the ocean, even with a life jacket and riding on a float, so she and I got back on the boat and waited for the others to return. The kids didn't want to stay in for very long; even with wetsuits, it was cold for them. So after a turn around the reef and seeing some of the fish, they, too, got back on the boat. Mike took some time to snorkel on his own while I rode herd on the kids and when he came back to the boat, the two older ones spent some time going down the slide and jumping off the side of the boat. Our son even did a flip off the side at one point! There was a group of guys and girls who were maybe in their early twenties who were doing tricks for each other, so our son had to follow their example. They were really nice and very sweet to the kids, so it was fun for all of them. Mike came back on the boat after a while and I went in to snorkel for a bit. It was super clear and neat to see the amount of coral along the walls, but the fish life wasn't any more exciting than what we were seeing right off of the beach by the condo.

On the way back to the marina, the boat stopped at an area just off the shore at the north end of Kihei where turtles tend to hang out. There were 24 of them that our son counted, and many of them were huge. Definitely the biggest turtles I've ever seen out there! That was probably the highlight, as far as sea life was concerned.

We all had a really good time on the boat and I'm glad we decided to do it. I think we even managed to avoid major sunburn out there, which with our complexions can be the biggest challenge.

Beach blog

As if we didn't get enough beach time in Maui! It's ridiculously hot at home today, so we headed to Half Moon Bay to hang out at our favorite beach. It's gorgeous out here - about 70 degrees, sunny, light breeze. The kids are running between the water and the flowers and the dog has been chasing his ball like crazy.

Can't think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Maui - Day 4

Yep, more of the same.

Our mornings are very relaxed when we're on vacation. The kids wake up first (why they feel the need to get up at 6:00 every morning is beyond me!) and turn on PBS Kids (Maui has extensive kids' programming on PBS). I take the little one's diaper off and let her watch TV with the older kids while I go back to bed. I admit it, not qualification for parent of the year, but at least I get to sleep some more. When Mike and I are ready to get up, we do breakfast for everyone, which is generally Cranberry Almond Crunch cereal. I don't know why, but this is the cereal we eat while on vacation, and only while on vacation. Sometimes we'll have bagels as well, but it's mostly just cereal. Mike and I have tea and juice, too, and it's always our personal challenge to find a decent loose-leaf tea in other places. We lucked out this time and found one at the gelato shop across from the Paia Fish Market our first day, so we were set for the week for tea. Then everyone gets into bathing suits, we do the ritual sunscreening, and then head down to the beach and pool. We generally manage to get ourselves out the door by 9:00.

Today was our son's turn to go snorkeling. Mike took him out the same way he took our daughter out yesterday, on the boogie board, so he wouldn't have to swim that far. He could swim that far, but he's a bit intimidated by being far from shore, so this way he was comfortable and able to enjoy looking at the reef. They actually saw a turtle this time, which was very exciting for our son. He thinks it's neat to check out the reef, but he's not that impressed by just looking at the fish, so seeing a turtle made his day. He swam around out there quite a bit before they headed back in. The girls played in the sand and our older daughter snorkeled in the shallow water right by the shore. I snorkeled after the boys came back in, but the turtle was gone by then.

We went back to the pool for a while and then went up for lunch. We had a bunch of random food in the fridge, so we just did that for lunch instead of dragging everyone out again to eat. The little one was falling asleep in her seat, so she went down for a nap pretty quickly.

Our son was given a big packet of work to do while we were gone, so each afternoon he took it out to do several pages while the little one napped. He is amazingly independent and did more than I would have expected without being nagged or complaining. It was actually really impressive to see him work so diligently on his own and he had no problem finishing all of the work he was given.

After nap, we went back down to the pool to watch the sunset and let the kids swim again. It's amazing to me that they don't have gills by the time we leave with the amount of time they are in the water! We left after the sun went down and had pizza delivered for dinner. Our son was so tired that he barely ate and then went straight to bed.

Maui - Day 3

We started the day at the beach once again. Our older daughter was very excited to try snorkeling (and as anyone who knows her will understand, she can be very, um, persistent when she wants to do something), so Mike took her out to the reef with him first thing. He towed her out on the boogie board so she wouldn't get too tired swimming out there and then she was able to slide off when she wanted and look around and get back on if she got tired. She absolutely loved it and is actually a really good snorkeler. She has no problem using the snorkel and is strong enough swimming with fins that she can comfortably hang out and look at the fish. Our son spent his time playing in the waves on the other boogie board we rented, while our little one played in the sand. Someone dug a huge hole that she co-opted when we got down to the beach, so she spent her time hiding out at the bottom of it.

After I took my turn snorkeling, we went back up to the pool for a while. Our little one much prefers the pool at this point - it's a bit less intimidating - so she was happy to have her water time. By about noon we were all getting hungry, so we went back to the condo, got cleaned up, and then headed for Taco Bell for lunch.

Nap time came next and our youngest took a killer nap - over 3 hours. When she woke up, she was seriously crabby and sweaty and clingy and complaining about her ear hurting. Before we left, I had taken her to the doctor to have her ear checked again and was given a prescription for antibiotics in case the fluid turned into an ear infection. I was pretty sure that's what was happening, so we trekked over to the pharmacy at Safeway to get the prescription filled. Mike took the two older kids to the bookstore next door while I waited for the medicine and they came out with a couple of new books each (Dora/Diego and Star Wars).

The shopping center right by our condo is called the Shops at Wailea and every Wednesday evening they have some sort of entertainment, which they call "Wailea on Wednesdays". We have lucked out in the past and seen hula dancers and musicians there, which makes our older daughter very happy - she loves to watch hula dancers. Last year, it was just a musician, so to satisfy her we did a luau, which we all ended up really enjoying, but we didn't plan to do another one this year. We lucked out this time and got to watch a hula dancing school put on a performance, so there were dancers there ranging in age from about 5 to 18. It was great fun to see the kids doing the dances and our girls both loved it. When they were done, we had dinner at Cheeseburger and then put everyone to bed as soon as we got back to the condo.

Photos to come soon - we don't have them on our home computer yet.

Maui - Day 2

No one slept very well last night, even after getting up early, travelling much of the day, and swimming in the evening. The youngest was up a couple of times during the night and all 3 kids were wide awake at 4:45 this morning. We were NOT happy. Everyone was sent back to bed, but they were up again at 5:45 and I finally turned the TV on for them at 6:15. Needless to say, I was in pain, so Mike let me go back to sleep while he got breakfast for the kids.

Once I dragged myself out of bed, we all went down to the beach and pool for the morning. It's not super hot here this time, so it was really nice by the water. Mike and I took turns snorkeling around the reef and the kids got used to being in the waves and using snorkels and masks again. The little one did a bit of swimming between us and seemed to like being out in ocean once she got used to it. After we were done with the beach, we spent the rest of the morning at the pool.

We headed back up to the condo to change and then had lunch at Maui Tacos, another one of our regular places to eat (there's one in Gilroy, for anyone in northern California). We stopped off at Maui Dive Shop to rent a couple of boogie boards and got new snorkels for Mike and the two older kids. then we went back to put the little one down for a nap. She ended up sleeping for 4 hours, so Mike took the other kids back down to the pool for a while. I had some quiet time to read and check my mail. We had pizza delivered for dinner and then the kids all went to bed. They were all exhausted, and even the little one went right back to sleep. Hopefully they will all sleep well tonight and we can head back down in the morning for more water fun.

The one unusual thing we're seeing this time is vog. When the winds are just right, the smoke from the volcano erupting on Hawaii blows over Maui, resulting in really hazy skies. That's vog. Kind of ruins our sunsets, unfortunately.

Hello From Maui!

I'm trying my first mobile blog, so bear with me as I try to figure this out.

We left yesterday morning for our yearly trip to Maui. Yes, we pulled the kids out of school for a week, and no, I don't feel the least bit guilty about it. We'll make the trip as educational as possible - learning how to snorkel and surf and about the various local fish are all very educational!

The trip out was fine, with the exception of the little one peeing in her pants -twice - on the flight. Grrrr. I, of course, only packed one extra set of clothes, so she wandered around the Honolulu airport in her shirt, a diaper, and pink sandals. The looks we got from the Japanese tourists were priceless. I was finally able to put some shorts on her when we got our luggage in Maui.

The luggage was it's own story. In Honolulu, there were two flights to Maui at neighboring gates leaving about 20 minutes apart. Mike and the kids watched our bags being loaded onto the OTHER flight, which was supposed to leave first. It didn't. So we ended up beating our suitcases to Maui and then having to wait around baggage claim, checking each of the carousels as bags were unloaded. It wasn't that long, maybe 30 minutes or so, but it wasn't how we wanted to start the trip. Everything made it, though, and we got the car without a problem.

We had lunch at our favorite right-off-the-plane stop, the Paia Fish Market. Still as good and as casual as ever. We also went to a new gelato place right across the street that was fantastic. We'll
definitely go back there next time we're in Paia. We got our youngest a new hat (hot pink with a dolphin and a turtle embroidered on it) and then headed for the condo. Had a nice evening swim and got everyone to bed at a decent hour.

So that's how it all began. I'll update as time allows.