Maui 2013~ Day 8

Our flight was not until 10pm, so we had a full day to enjoy before we headed back home. We began the day with a little paddle boarding. We wanted to do this while in Hawaii, so we were excited! It was a lot of fun. 

After paddle boarding, we headed to the beach and did a little snorkeling. It was a great last day, and I'm thankful for all of the memories I made with my sweet husband and sisters. I will never forget this trip!

Aloha,

Maui 2013~ Day 7

After being so adventurous the day before, we decided to be low key for the day. We went back to our favorite beach, Kaanapalli Beach, to spend the day. We did some more snorkeling on our own and enjoyed the last full day of our trip. That afternoon, we went for a little drive around where we were staying a saw the most beautiful bay, Honolua Bay.

After a day on the beach, we headed back to get ready for dinner. When reading a book recently, the setting was Maui. In the book, they went to a restaurant called Leilanis, and so I was really wanting to go there sometime during our visit. We decided to go for dinner! I was really excited! We were not disappointed  After dinner, we took some pictures with a beautiful sunset backdrop!

Maui 2013~ Day 6

On day 6, we took a trip around the island to go on a once in a lifetime adventure! We did the Road to Hana. This is something you must do if you travel to Maui. It is a drive that takes you around the southeastern part of the island. You drive through the rainforest and along the ocean for miles and miles. There are many amazing waterfalls to see and hike to, and there are amazing plants and flowers to see too. The drive took almost all day, and we were all tired when we finished, but we made so many awesome memories along the way!

Our first stop was to hike to an unknown waterfall to most people. We knew about it from our awesome book about Maui, Maui Revealed. We had to climb over tons of big rocks to get to the waterfall, but it was so worth it! The waterfall was so amazing and like nothing I've ever seen. There was another family there so we were able to get a group picture! Yes, that family had the same book!

We continued our adventure and saw more waterfalls along the way. We also were able to explore a black sand beach, see a freshwater pool in a cave, and visit the Seven Sacred Pools.

We found a local Mexican restaurant for dinner and rested for the rest of the evening. Hawaiians love Mexican food too!

Maui 2013~ Day 5

We enjoyed the day by venturing out to some beaches on another part of the island. We love the area of  Wailea. We did a little shopping and then enjoyed our day on a couple different beaches.

The first beach we visited was Wailea Beach. A cool little fact about this beach...if you've seen the Movie Just Go With It with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Anniston, you have seen this beach! They filmed at the Grand Wailea Resort which is on this beach. It was neat to think about them being there. There were lots of people paddle boarding, and we enjoyed playing in the ocean. 

After spending some time at Wailea Beach, we decided to try out Big Beach. We never visited this beach on our honeymoon, so we were excited to go there. It definitely did not disappoint! The beach was huge with beautiful sand and the waves were crazy big! It was a lot of fun! Do you see the wave flipping my sister, Amelia?

After a fun day, we headed back to shower and get ready for dinner. We traveled out to one of our favorite spots, Front Street, in Lahaina. We walked along the cute little ocean front street and Josh enjoyed a big snow cone! We also took some pictures in the Bayou Tree Park. These trees are huge. If you remember that Josh is 6'8, you can kind of tell how big these trees are. Crazy!

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Maui 2013~ Day 4

We were really excited about day 4 because we planned our snorkeling trip! 

This was our favorite thing we did on our honeymoon, so we couldn't wait to take the girls to do it. Around lunchtime we headed to the harbor and boarded the Four Winds. We sailed about an hour to the tiny island, Molokini. This is such an incredible place because it's a partly submerged volcanic crater. You sail out and get to snorkel in the crater for about an hour. We saw some amazing fish, and we even saw a reef shark! We were thankful to have an underwater camera!

Maui 2013~ Day 3

We woke up and decided to go to our absolute favorite breakfast place, The Gazebo. It is literally in a gazebo. You have to get there early to stand in line because there are only 16 tables. They open at 7:30, but people start lining up a lot earlier. We got there about 7 and didn't have to wait too long. It did not disappoint, and the girls loved it too. 

We spent the rest of the day at the beach, and we did a little practice snorkeling.  We wanted the girls to be comfortable with it before we had our big snorkeling adventure. More on that tomorrow!

That night we attended one of my favorite things, our luau. I couldn't wait for the girls to experience a Hawaiian luau. We enjoyed it so much, and we loved getting pictures with the performers afterwards. The food was delicious too!

Maui 2013~ Day 2, Memorial Day

We were still not quite adjusted to the time change (6 hours behind), so we thought it would be a good morning to get up early and go up to the top of the volcano for sunrise. Everyone said you had to do it at sunrise because it was a breathtaking sight. The top of Haleakala is 10, 023 feet, so it takes about 2 hours to reach the top. We were up at 2:30 am and out the door shortly after. 

There were too many clouds to see the sunrise, but we still took some pictures. How often are you on top of a volcano?

Even though we didn't see much on top, on the way down was a different story. We kept pulling off to the side because the view became more breathtaking at every mile. As the sun rose, it cast the most beautiful light across the island of Maui. It was a beautiful reminder of how amazing God is!

We headed back to our villa and all took a good nap. That afternoon we went to the beach, and then we ended the day at our favorite pizza place, Lahaina Pizza Co! We loved this place last time, and we couldn't wait to take the girls. As we were eating, there was a beautiful sight of the ocean and an American flag. It was a great way to remember all the brave men and women who had given their life for our country. It was a great Memorial Day!

Maui 2013~ On our way and day 1

Our first day was spent traveling to Maui. We had two layovers which were in Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. We made it by 8pm Maui time, but we were all tired from traveling all day. We headed to bed so we would be well rested for our first full day in Maui!

Our first full day was filled with exploring and introducing Amelia and Rosie to our favorite place in the world. Josh and I were so excited to be back where we honeymooned just 2 years ago. We went to one of our favorite breakfast spots, Honolua Store, and then we walked around where we were going to be staying for the week. The grounds of the Kapalua Villas are gorgeous! We stayed their on our honeymoon, and we were excited to stay there again.

We spent most of our day on Kaanapali beach, one of the top rated beaches in America. It was a beautiful day! We ended the day by eating at Dukes and devouring a delicious piece of Hula pie!

It was a wonderful first day!