#hartzellstakemaui

The boyfriend was off of work for a few days leading up to our trip, so we took advantage of some extra family time. And as an added bonus, it rained for us! We heart rainy days in this family. And as a bonus bonus, it kept my mind off of the impending 5.5 hour flight. 

B, cannot be parted from her giant backpack. Ever.

We got off to a truly awesome start what with both kids awake from 2:30am on. We had to be on our way to the airport at 5am so around 4am we yelled cried prayed begged gave up and decided they could sleep on the plane. Ha, right.

We were split into two different rows on the plane. I got B, and Ryan got L. Leighton was out cold before the plane even took off. Ryan actually checked to make sure she was still breathing. Soon after, he followed suit.

Two down.

B had no plans of sleeping on the flight. Luckily, we had plenty of snacks, movies, & toys. (Thank you Target dollar section). Girlfriend did a pretty good job of keeping my mind off of the possible crash over shark-infested waters, as well.

We finally made it to Maui, and with the time change it was only 9:30am local time and holy snokes  were all so ready for a nap at this point. We ate Costco pizza and got settled into our condo. I sat on the couch and fell asleep sitting up in about 17 seconds. Somewhere around dinner time, we made it across the street to the beach and climbed through the rocks looking for mermaids, and chasing the waves.

Aaron sandwich on the way to Ryan's favorite local joint for breakfast: The Kehei Caffe. I think we went 4 times during the week we were there.

Halloween morning, we made our way up to Haleakala National Park. Also known as a two hour drive up 10,000 feet of hairpin turns. Both Ryan and I were so so sick, and neither of us have ever gotten carsick. Ryan let me drive the whole way while he hung his head out the window trying to breathe in the fresh air. No one in the other car got the motion sickness so we blamed it on our smaller car. Either way, it was brutal. We dropped the boys off near the top to bike down the mountain while the girls went to visit the lavender farm. As soon as we stepped out of the car, we were met with a torrential downpour, driving us into the gift shop where we had a blast looking at all their products. The ladies there even brought candy/cookies out for the girls while we shopped. While there, the boys called to say that they had taken a wrong turn and were stranded on the side of the road somewhere they didn't recognize. Luckily, we found them on our phones and hunted them down. 

Later that evening, we took the girls to the Halloween party/trunk-or-treat a local Christian church threw. Mom did the research before we left on the trip so that we could have something fun to do with the girls on Halloween. We all had a blast and agreed that their party put our ward trunk-or-treats to shame! I'm not big on Halloween, but it was fun to watch the little girls dress up and have fun playing/dancing all night. 

 One of the highlights was our visit to the Maui Ocean Center. It was huge and they had so many fun and interesting exhibits. We were entertained for hours. They even had hatchling sea turtles that you could watch swimming around! I could've stayed all day. Ryan even offered to spend a lengthy amount of time shopping for souvenirs in their rather large gift shop. We got a couple Christmas ornaments and I snagged this + this. I love getting children's books from places we've traveled. We write in every book the girls have where/who we got it from and why. It's so fun to be able to look back on where each one came from.

                 
Coconuts Fish Cafe was a definite favorite all around. I'm not a fish taco person, but I personally ate it 3 times on our trip. So yummy and SO messy.

Marianne and I broke broke into the Grand Wailea's pools/hot tub one night after the girls went to bed. Ryan and I had been there the night before for our anniversary date and couldn't get enough of how gorgeous it was. We ate at this restaurant. So dreamy!

I always so enjoy getting to attend church in other places. We all know the church is the same anywhere you go, but it's so fun to be able to see it firsthand. The gospel is always constant. (Even if the dress code isn't). We saw more than one person wearing cargo shorts and flip flops to church. And here I thought my sandals would be too casual! Funny story, we ended up running into some dear friends who happened to be visiting family in the same ward! Lucky for us, they recommended a beach we could visit, where dozens of the sea turtles come up to the beach to rest for the night. This was by far my favorite activity of the whole trip. We stayed there for hours watching all the turtles swim in the waves and nap in the sand. So fun.

Our last night on the island, Mom and Dad took us all to the Te Au Moana luau. What a perfect way to end the trip! This was tied with the turtles for my favorite part of the whole trip. It couldn't have been a more beautiful night. We were right on the beach with the sun setting over the ocean in the background. There were fun crafts/activities for the kids and the food was delightful. My favorite was the performance and all the different dances. We even spotted sea turtles swimming in the water right behind the stage! Ryan and I got to go up and have a dance as a special celebration for anyone celebrating an anniversary in the crowd. I loved looking around at all the other couples. Some were on their honeymoon and some were celebrating decades of marriage. It was so lovely. 

 We had half a day our last day there so we spent it at our favorite nearby beach, Maluaka. I think we went there everyday. There were never very many people there, and there were always shady spots to sit and watch the girls play in the waves. They really got more comfortable with the ocean on this trip. It was so nice to be able to sit and watch them play together. B had a blast playing in the tide and L enjoyed building fairy houses out of coconuts.

Until next time, Maui. Aloha.