- This was a much more laid back week. We didn't try to do so much, and spent more time watching TV than normal. Our list of things we want to do is shorter this week, so we're not acting so frantic to get all the things done.
- Our list still consists of: dragon tooth trail, baby beach, tour of the west side of Maui, the gazebo, hula pie, Iao Valley and hikes in the mountains, and, hopefully, snorkeling in Honolua Bay
- Brooke loved listening to the Shaka Guide on all of our driving tours on the island. It's adorable how much she enjoyed it. She kept asking me to turn it back on every time we got back in the car. She liked the history and the legends and stories that he told on the drive; also the little songs and music that were interspersed with all the other stuff.
- Jack is getting more brave with hiking and climbing rocks and playing in the ocean this week. It only took him a couple of weeks to overcome his anxiety of doing things.
- The trees with the orange flowers are my favorite! All the flowers are beautiful.
- The weather was super nice the first 2 weeks we were here, and this week it's more overcast and we've had rain almost every day.
Sunday
- Played piano in primary at local ward we went to
- We spent some time relaxing during naptime today;
- We took a walk down to Honolua Bay with Gramma and Grampa; it was such a cool little hike, we had to show it to them. Then we went driving along the west coast, and took them to the Nakalele blow hole. We didn't hike all the way down with them, because it was quite a difficult hike down. But we stood on the cliffs over the water and saw it from a distance. Gramma and Grampa loved the views up there.
Monday
- Mom and dad flew back home today, so Brooke and Sawyer and I took them to the airport. We stopped at Costco on the way home for a few things to tide us the rest of the week. This took up most of the day.
- After Daniel was done working, we drove down and hiked the Dragon Tooth Trail in the evening, and had a picnic dinner by the beach of Costco muffins, chips and salsa. It was a nice little hike, and the rock formations really looked like we were walking in the jaws of a dragon, with the spiky teeth on the edges! We saw the hugest spiders living in the bushes on the way down. The kids did not want to get too close to them, but they did look really cool.
Tuesday
- I took the kids on a hike, the hike I really actually wanted to do. It was a super long trail, like 17 miles round trip; but I was just planning to take the kids a couple of miles. They were pretty good about it, only complaining a little bit. It was a little rainy when we were heading out, but we waited in the car for a few minutes, and the rain let up. So we just went for it! But when we were almost to the one mile mark, it started raining pretty hard! We tried to wait it out under a bunch of trees for a little bit, but it didn't really ever stop. So at one point when it wasn't raining too hard, we kept hiking for a little bit until we reached a mile up the trail. And then we turned back. It basically rained the whole way back to the car, and we got super wet. Camille was not amused at all. She actually loved the hike and was our little trailblazer at the beginning. But she didn't like hiking in the rain. Brooke and Jack loved it, and played in the rain when we were waiting under the trees. They thought it was pretty cool and fun to go in the rain. And Sawyer, who was riding on my back, didn't seem to mind in the least. He was very quiet for the whole experience.
- We got back to the condo for Sawyer's nap, and we did school while he was napping. And we went swimming at the condo pool in the afternoon after we were done with school. Daniel joined us at the pool after he was done with work.
Wednesday
- We did school first thing in the morning today, and had a lazy day watching TV in the afternoon, while Sawyer was napping.
- We went to Baby Beach when Daniel was done with work; we went to a part of Baby Beach one of the first days we were here, but Daniel's coworker said we went to the wrong part of the beach. We liked Baby Beach more at this other part we went to. It was shallow really really far out, and there were rocks in the water where we could do some snorkeling and see some cool fish. The girls and I went snorkeling out there together, the girls taking turns using the kid snorkeling mask. We got to see a sea turtle out there as well, eating plants from the rocks. It was so cool for the girls to be able to see sea turtles while snorkeling.
- I had this moment of pure joy at Baby Beach. I was holding Jack's hand, and we were wading in the shallow water together and looking for fish. And I just turned around and took in all the beauty of the palm trees and the mountains in the distance. I loved being there with my favorite little people, spending real time with them, in such an amazing beautiful place, and able to experience all the cool things that we were doing. Later, on the way back to the car, we saw a double rainbow. It was so beautiful.
- On the way back home, we got a fish dinner from the local fish market right next to our condo. Daniel brought it home while I went back to get the kids cleaned up. The fish was delicious!
Thursday
- I did a 3 mile run along the beach listening to nostalgic 90/00s rock. It was so fun and felt so good, and the run was beautiful.
- We didn't do school today, we swam in the condo pool in the morning instead, and the palm tree "groomers" came while we were there to cut down the mini coconuts and old palm fronds. The kids were fascinated with this whole process, and asked some of the workers for little pieces of the coconut trees. They loved taking all the coconut seeds out of the pods and pretending with them.
- Our afternoon was lazy, just sitting around watching TV while Sawyer napped and Daniel finished with work.
- We went to Kapalua Beach in the afternoon as a family. It was a fun beach, definitely not one of our favorites. The beach was a little too rocky where the water came up to the shore, and the waves were really big and really strong. Daniel went out snorkeling while I stayed with the kids. Brooke and Camille loved playing in the waves, and after a while, Camille came and dug and played in the sand with the boys.
- One of my favorite moments of the trip was playing with Jack in those waves. They pulled back so strongly. So I held onto his hands, allowed us both to be pushed onto the shore by the waves; and then when the waves were pulling back into the ocean, Jack got swept off his feet and pulled backwards while I was holding onto him. He LOVED it. He had the time of his life doing that together! And I did too! It was fun for me, too! And just the pure enjoyment that he was having in the waves ... it was just so good.
- Favorite line of the trip: Jack, when I said we needed to pull up his shorts: "The waves are being bad. It was the waves. They pulled my shorts down."
- I woke up early and got the girls up early and ready to go. We went out to The gazebo for breakfast, and the girls and I went earlier than the boys to wait in line. We got there right at 7 (I think it opened at 7:30am), and there was already a long line of people waiting to get in! I think the girls and I waited almost an hour and a half until we could get in. The boys joined us sometime around 8. We understood why it was so popular! It had this amazing location right on the beach, it was such a quaint fun place, and the food was SO good! Probably the best food we had on the island. We got pancakes for the kids, a pancake with pineapple, coconut and banana and this amazing whipped cream and coconut syrup and a delish breakfast burrito. Daniel said, "If this place didn't have such a long wait everyday, I would've suggested coming here a few more times!" There was also this awesome tree next to the restaurant that was full and alive with butterflies. Such a cool place!
- After breakfast there, we walked down this little path to see some tide pools right by the Gazebo. They were really cool ones! There was this one pool that had at least a hundred little sea anemones, and it looked so cool!
- Daniel bought all the kids some souvenirs at the little souvenir stand by the restaurant before we left. He got Brooke and Jack some stuffed sea turtles, and Camille chose a little sea turtle painting project. And I found out later that he bought me some cute little dangly pineapple earrings.
- The rest of the day was filled with doing a West Island tour with the Shaka Guide. Our first stop (because we'd already done a bunch of things on the west side of the island) was a little 1 mile hike on the cliffs over the beach. It was quite warm and there was no shade. But it was nice to get out a exercise and stretch our legs a bit.
- Driving on the west side of the island was crazy and a bit scary. There were beautiful green hills and cool plants, but also scary one lane roads. At one point, we had to back up and find a place to pull to the side of the road to let other cars pass. It was crazy! But such a cool drive.
- We stopped at Lorraine's for banana bread and shave ice. She directed us to the backyard of her house, and we ate out back with view of the hills and beach and river; it was so beautiful and picturesque and amazing. She was the nicest lady. She came out and talked with us and showed us these cringing plant things that sort of shrivel up when you touch them, and she showed us her banana trees and taught us about them. She was such a sweet, kind lady. It was so fun meeting her and talking to her and eating her banana bread.
- One of the things I really wanted to do was to drive to the Iao Valley, up in the mountains. It was beautiful! Much more like what I imagine Hawaii to be: huge green, cliffs; vines and green plants everywhere; rivers running through. We had picnic lunch up there, hiked a tiny bit to get a view of the Iao Needle, and then we hiked down and played in the river. Camille spent like 10 minutes trying to get her swimsuit on so she could swim in the river, without letting people see her naked and also without getting her clothes wet, all to swim in the river for 5 minutes (it was pretty cold) and getting her clothes wet anyway. Silly goose. It was lovely up there, and I loved spending time in the green mountains.
- Jack's quote of the day, when I was pulling up his pants so they wouldn't hang off his bum: "I don't need a wedgie."
- We drove back down the highway towards Lahaina, and stopped for a fish sandwich and mini pies at Leoda's. We drove to Lahaina, to the big banyan tree and ate our food before heading back home. I think the banana cream pie was the favorite.
Saturday
- We did Baby Beach with the kids in the morning, and then Daniel took Sawyer back for nap while I stayed with the others a little longer. After going home for lunch, we went to Honokawai beach (that cute little one by the condo) for a short little 45 minutes before we had a babysitter coming.
- We had a local girl from the ward come to watch the kids, someone that Daniel's coworker had had babysit for them, and Daniel and I went snorkeling at Honolua Bay for date night. It was a kind of scary swim, with some shallow parts that were hard to navigate, and the water was really murky in some places because it'd been raining a lot this week and Honolua Bay was an outlet for a river, and it was hard to see. We took a really long swim, all the way out of the bay on one side, swimming over to the other side of the bay and then back into the shore. Daniel lost the breathing hose for one of our snorkeling masks when we were way out in the ocean, and it was really deep. We were pretty tired at the end, it was quite a long swim and a great workout. On the way back in, I swam so close to a big turtle, it kind of startled me, but it was so cool. And I also saw and came close to the hugest fish I've ever seen in person. That one really scared me, too. I kinda stopped and stared at him, and he stared at me for a minute, and then just swam away. So fun!
- We went and watched the sunset at Dragons Tooth after our snorkeling swim, and then went for food at the food trucks. I got the poke bowl and Daniel got some Mexican. Mine was definitely better.
Sunday
- We went to church one last time in Hawaii, and then stopped at the little outdoor market that was right by the church building to get some sarongs for Aunt Melanie and Aunt Sammy. Camille also got a whale tail necklace, because she was dying for one ever since seeing one at the stand next to the Gazebo.
- At home, Sawyer went down for a nap, and Daniel and I started working on packing and cleaning the condo in preparation for leaving the next day. We went back to Kapalua and took a walk on a walking trail starting near the Dragon Tooth trail. We stopped on the lawn and did our Sunday lesson and scripture study before going home to dinner and bed.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
- We got up early, and I took my last run in Hawaii. Just a quick one. I think it was only a couple of miles, but it was wonderful. I got a picture of the cutest little church I fell in love with, right next to our condo. We finished packing and cleaning, and left around 9am to get to the airport.
- The flight to LA was uneventful, rather challenging to keep the kids occupied. They watched movies and the boys took little naps, and it felt super long. We got into LA pretty late. We just rented a car, got to our hotel and went to bed
- The next day, we had plans to visit with our friends in Santa Clarita, and Aunt Liz and Uncle Bob were able to come see us as well. We had lunch at a park, and people came to the park to see us. It was nice to see our old friends again, but it for sure made me glad that we had moved away; they had such terrible things to say about living in California for the past 2 years.
- We got up and flew from LA home to Utah on Wednesday. Again uneventful. Dad Holbrook came to pick us up from the airport. We were all a little sad that our amazing Hawaiian adventure was over. Now comes the task of sinking back into real life at home.
