Maui – Day 3

On Monday morning of our trip we decided to take a short car trip up to Flemming Beach and watch the locals surf on the big waves. It was sooooo amazing to watch and listen to the pounding surf. They had lifeguards there and tons a warning signs so that the tourists like us didn’t try to boogie board on a beach like this and end up dead!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we went and packed up our beach stuff for the day – we were heading down to Kaanapali to snorkel at Black Rock and see all the resorts. We had a tough time finding parking and so eventually just paid 20 bucks for a good spot. It was so pretty there. Definitely a different feel with the resorts all around. I think I prefer the quieter setting at Napili Bay, but it was a great beach for sure!

After we got our fill of sun, sand and snorkeling – we went back to Napili to watch the sunset and have dinner in the Condo. Later that night we went into Kahului to see Avatar 3D.

A day doesn’t get much better than this!

Maui – Day 2

The condo provided us with some beach chairs that had backpack straps, so after we got our snorkel gear for the week, we packed our chairs and took a short walk over to Kapalua beach. We did a little snorkeling there and saw some amazing fish and coral.

Later we headed back to our condo for a quick bite to eat and then laid out on our own beach at Napili.

Kurt thought it would be fun to do a little boogie boarding.

After a few hours of soaking up the sun, it was time to go get cleaned up and head to Lahaina. We had reservations for the Old Lahaina Luau. It was so beautiful there and the food was great! We even had a surprise during the show – a streaker!! I actually thought he was one of the performers and snapped a picture JUST as he ran by (see below – don’t worry, it’s censored). We laughed soooooo hard!

After the luau we walked along Front Street in Lahaina and checked out all the shops. We stopped at Kimo’s for a drink before heading back to the condo for the night.

Maui – Day 1

In September of 2009 I turned 40 and Kurt and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary. We decided that we should celebrate with a trip to Hawaii. We thought by going in January we would be able to escape that bad winter weather of the Northwest and get some sun when we needed most. We were so excited – this would be my first trip to the islands and I couldn’t wait!

After arriving at the Kahului airport at about mid-day Maui time on Saturday, Jan 16, we made a quick stop at Costco and Wal-Mart for some groceries. We also stopped at the Safeway in Lahaina. Once we got to our condo in Napili Bay, we were greeted with a really nice fruit basket from the owner. The condo was SO nice and we had an amazing view from our lanai.

I found this note from Ashley inside my suitcase…

After we got everything unpacked we had just enough time to walk down to the beach in front of our condo to watch the sunset. It was beautiful and really set the tone for our trip.

Afterwards, we went back to the condo and finished settling in. We decided to hit the hay early to adjust to the time change. This was going to be a good trip for sure.

Elke’s big 4-0!! Woo Hoo!

On January 9th we had a big party to celebrate Elke turning 40! Bryce planned a really fun karaoke party called “Rockin’ Through the Decades!” They had yummy Mexican food from Canyon’s and lots of silly singin’ fun. Bryce got a bunch of video clips from all of her friends and family and we made a slide show/movie for her. It was a blast and it was a night I will never forget!

Happy New Year – Trip to Oregon

For New Years we decided to take a trip to visit my Dad and Joan down in Grants Pass, OR. Originally we had hoped that my brother Kevin and his daughter Holly could come, too, but it didn’t work out. He’s gonna try to come another time. So, we still went down and we had a great time together. The girls were absolute lounge lizards on their hide-a-bed in front of the TV - almost the entire time. We did make them get out for a walk every now and then. This wasn’t too hard to do, since they enjoy taking KC (Dad and Joan’s dog) for walks. We also went out to dinner and a movie one night, too. Mostly, though, it was nice to just relax.

Bringing in the New Year was fun! Joan got out a bag of all kinds of fun noise makers and masks, etc. We had fun playing with it all and being silly. At Midnight we went out on the back deck and made a bunch of noise. Then we all crashed – actually I think the girls watched TV for a while longer!!

Dad got out his jewelry making supplies at one point and we had a bunch of fun with that. He also gave Lauren some painting instruction. She is such a natural artist. It was so cool to see how well she listened to him and the paintings she ended up creating were beautiful!! While Lauren was painting with Poppy Clyde, Ashley spent some time with Joan learning about proper skin care. Joan used to work at the Clinique counter and had lots of great tips.

Kurt and I had a chance to ask Joan lots of questions about Maui. She had tons of good tips for us since she used to live there. She also gave us some authentic Hawaiian slack key music to take along for the trip.

When it was time to go, we were all sad to say goodbye, but we knew it wouldn’t be long before we can see each other again.