Week 1 in Hawaii!! Heaven on earth!

Mele Kalikimaka!! What a wonderful way to spend the Christmas season!! We were in Hawaii for 2 weeks with Blake's entire family and we had a blast we didn't want to come home. We came home on Christmas day so we had something fun and exciting to come home to. I do have to say that it doesn't really seem like Christmas there so I was missing all the decorations, the tree, baking cookies, Christmas music, and even the snow falling. But we had so much fun there that I wouldn't trade it for anything. We played on the beach, did a lot of swimming, and snorkeling, and shopping! Before we left, Blake gave me my Christmas present which was a new camera! I LOVED it! So I took tons and tons of pictures! Here is the Rundown -

Thursday Dec. 10 - Drove to Vegas in the middle of the night and boarded our plane. Arrived in Maui in the afternoon got our rental cars went to our condo and got settled in and ate pizza for dinner!

Friday Dec. 11 - Went for a jog on the beach this morning it was beautiful! We did a little morning swimming and then went shopping for food and diapers at Costco, Wal-Mart, and K-Mart. All the usual places. Went for a walk on the beach with Brock and Corbin while the twins had a nap. And then went out to dinner at Moose Magillicuddy's in Kihei. Saw a beautiful sunset!









Saturday Dec. 12 - Jogged down to the harbor this morning and saw all the boats. Then we went to a beach near Kihei Surfside and found out when we got there that they had temporarily closed the beach to swimming due to a shark sighting. It was the rumor on the beach that some surfers encountered a 13 ft. tiger shark. So we sun bathed and played in the sand for a while and then eventually got to play in the waves and boogie board. Brock and Corbin did some boogie boarding and they loved it! Blake even took Brock snorkeling for a little bit, thankfully they didn't encounter the tiger shark! The babies all loved to just play in the sand and get completely covered from head to toe in it. We had packed a lunch and ate lunch then went for a drive down to La Pourouse Bay while all the babies napped in their car seats. The bay was so beautiful and had crystal blue water amongst the lava rock. It is said that there is really good snorkeling there and if you come early enough in the morning you may even see dolphins that like to play in the bay. Maybe we will do that on our next trip to Maui! Then we came home had dinner and all zonked cuz we were soooo tired!










Sunday Dec. 13 - Brock and Corbin went to church with Brianna and Danon and Lorie. They liked how everyone who stood up to speak started with saying ALOHA! And everyone in the congregation said ALOHA back. Then we swam in the pool for a little while. Brock is swimming so well he doesn't ever wear his life jacket anymore and even swims in the deep end and dives down to the bottom for rings. After lunch we drove up to Ioa Valley and did some hiking it was so green and beautiful! There is one mountain that is called the needle that sticks up that you can see in the pictures. Daxton and MaKelle of course fell asleep in the car and so Dana stayed with them while we hiked up all these stairs it was Fun! Aterwards we drove over to the North shore to see if there were any big waves and surfers. There weren't too many but we found a neat place to climb around in the lava rocks and I even caught a crab for the kids to see and play with.














Monday Dec. 14 - Went down to Ahi Ahi cove to snorkel. This is one of our favorite places to snorkel. There are lots of fish and the water is crystal clear, we even see turtles some times. Corbin went snorkeling for his first time and he did so great and was so brave and he absolutely loved it! We saw so many beautiful fish and coral. Then we went to big beach and let the kids play in the sand and the ocean, they just can't get enough of it! Then of course we had to go get a shaved ice in Kihei. They are the best shaved ice you will ever taste and we get them as often as we can when we are here!

Tuesday Dec. 15 - We went on a snorkel cruise today out to the Molokini Crater. We boarded a boat and they fed us breakfast and then we headed out to the crater. When it was time to go snorkeling Blake went out with Brock first and the saw a white tip reef shark!! Brock had an under water camera and said he got a picture of it! He was so excited! I can't wait to get the pictures developed and see if he really got the picture. Corbin and I went snorkeling and all he really wanted to do was slide off the slide that was on the side of the boat into the ocean, then he was done. It was really pretty out there though. We also snorkeled at a place called turtle town and we all got to see sea turtles and there was one with a metal hook in its mouth it was sad. They served us lunch and then we cruzed up the coast and did some sight seeing it was beautiful! After we got back we were all so exhausted so we just chilled at the condo the rest of the day.









Wednesday Dec. 16 - We decided to drive around the west side of the island today. It is like driving alongside a cliff at times with sheer drop offs down to the ocean which was crazy! But it was so beautiful! We stopped and did a little hiking in the hills and then went to a blow hole. The boys loved being sprayed by the blow hole, I think they could have stayed and played there all day! It blows the ocean water up through a hole in the lava rock way high, it was cool! Then we ate lunch in Napili and went to a little beach where we watched a couple sea turtles play in the water right off the shore. The kids absolutely love to just play in the sand and the water they could do that all day every day! Then we went down to Front Street in Lahaina which has a lot of shopping and we shopped around a little, grabbed the kids some McDonalds (they were begging), and went back to the condo.

 

 

 

Thursday Dec. 17 - Went to the Maui Ocean Center today! We all love it here cuz we can see all sorts of sea life without having to get in the water. We loved seeing the sharks and the sting rays as well as a snuba elf that was in the tank feeding all the fish. Grandma DeMille bought all the boys matching shark shirts and they all looked so cute together! The weather has been so perfect and we have loved being outside so much! After that we went back to the condo and went swimming in the pool (of course).