Maui

{August 30th-September 7th}

This vacation was seriously a blast! From beginning to end it was just non-stop fun. I couldn't have imagined anything better. I completely fell in love with Maui and want to go back again, and again, and again. It was really hard to leave. This is going to be a long post because we did and saw a lot while we were there but I want to remember everything!

~ Monday ~

Were here!!! We landed at about 1:00pm. Headed to Costco and Walmart to pick up some groceries and boogie boards (you know, the essentials) and then we were off to our condo in Kihei!

We stopped by the beach on our way to meet up with the family for a barbecue. Each family was staying only a block or two away from each other so that made things really convenient and fun! Erich took a quick dip in the ocean while I took a few pictures. The water was perfect. The scenery was perfect. It was just perfect!

Mauri and her family's condo had a roof top barbecue area. It was so awesome and the views were just amazing. We barbecued up there a few times during the week and it was so nice to hang out with the family, eat, and watch the sunset. It doesn't get much better than that!

~ Tuesday ~

On Tuesday we biked down from the top of Haleakala. It's about 26 miles or so down and the roads curve back and forth. When we were looking into doing it, the cheapest tour we could find was about $60. Our price = $0. Craig ended up renting a big truck and Phil got free bikes from his hotel. That's a good deal if you ask me!

Pit stop.

We saw this crazy house while we were biking down. Half of it was resting on land and the other half was supported up by these big cement posts. It was kind of a cool house but looked like it hanging on by a thread. The yard was crowded with chickens, pigs, dogs, and who knows what else. It'd be interesting to meet the person that lives there.

After our bike ride we headed over to Lahaina to go to a Luau. This was our first time ever going to one and we had a blast. The food was seriously the best food I have ever had in my life. There wasn't one thing that wasn't ridiculously delicious. Julie and I went up onstage to learn the Hula dance. Yeah...I was not so good at it. I can't shake it quite like those Hawaiian girls can!

Bringing the Pig (kahlua) out of the Imu (underground oven). 

It definitely doesn't look tasty like that but man was that some good pulled pork!

Erich bought me these flowers because he's a stud like that.

The show was really fun and entertaining. The best part was the fire dancing but the other stuff was good too.  It was a really fun night and I'm still drooling over that food. Mmm mm.

~ Wednesday ~

On Wednesday we went to the West side of the island to explore and snorkel at a few different beaches with Bethany and Scott. If you know me, you know that I'm kind of terrified of sharks. (Who isn't though right? I mean they can bite your leg off.) Well the first beach we go to I look up and see this sign. Really?? Of all the beaches you're taking me to the one that has this sign? Everyone thought it was just the funniest thing ever.
I went in anyway, because I really like to snorkel. And because I told myself that if there was one coming towards me I would just punch it in the face really hard and that should take care of things.

By the way, there were no shark sightings so I didn't have to bust out any of my skills.

I really liked this beach a lot. We were pretty much the only ones there. It almost felt like we were on our own little secluded island. The snorkeling on the other hand was just okay. Lots of coral, but not a ton of fish.

We stopped off at this look out place. We ended up seeing a turtle in the water so we all jumped in to get a closer look. You can kind of see him in the little picture on the far right. He was in a little cove area so once we got in the water we were getting sucked in and out. Getting out with it doing that was quite the little adventure. Not to mention trying to climb back up the rock! Little did we know the next beach we were about to go to we would see like 5 sea turtles! Haha. It was still fun though. We had some good laughs while we were trying to get out of that cove. Good times. :)

This was at Kaanapali. The BEST beach for snorkeling. We spent hours here and came back a few days later for more. The beach is gorgeous. The snorkeling is amazing. And there is great cliff jumping here too. It was one of my favorite places we went. SO FUN. I wanna go back now!

 Erich about to do his double flip dive. 

I can't remember the name of this beach but it was really beautiful.
We saw a couple more turtles while we were snorkeling there.

~ Thursday ~

On Thursday we went on a snorkeling cruise. They took us out to Molokini Crater, Turtle Town, and Dolphin Cove. SO MUCH FUN! We were out on the ocean for a good 5-6 hours. The first stop was Molokini. It's a big cresent shape crater in the middle of the ocean. The clarity of the water out there was absolutely amazing. You could see in front of yourself forever. We saw lots of cool fish, a water snake, and an eel while we were there.

The way the cool kids got off the boat.

This is just a great picture. We love you!! :)

The second stop was Turtle Town. It was a pretty cool area. The visibility wasn't as good but we did see a couple turtles and on the way back to the boat I spotted a sting ray. It was huge and black and I could see it way off in the distance. Erich and I went swimming out towards it but it was just too dang fast. We couldn't catch it. The swim back to the boat was kind of scary. We were some of the last ones in and for the last little bit you're just out in the big open ocean. No reef or coral to protect you. We swam really fast!

I followed this little guy for a while. I seriously love snorkeling. I could do it every day.

Our last stop was a place called Dolphin Cove. There were seriously hundreds of them! They were all over the place. Once we started to leave they followed along the front of the boat. Jumping out of the water and showing us a few tricks. They are fast little suckers! It was the coolest thing ever. The first time I've ever seen dolphins out in the wild. We really wanted to go back to that area and rent a kayak but we just ran out of time. Next trip we will for sure being doing that.

Cool dolphins.

 ~ Friday ~

Friday we started out with some surfing and paddle boarding. This was our first time doing either. Turns out that Erich is a natural (which he is at everything, the little punk) and I am really, really not. I was okay at the paddle boarding but I could not get the hang of that dang surf board! I tried and tried but I only got up like one time, which I don't even like to count because it was pretty weak. Better luck next time.
Erich was having a blast riding the waves all morning though so good for him!

  And no wonder surfers have killer bodies because it is one heck of a workout! My arms by the end of the morning were completely done working. Props to all the surfers out there.

Um...he's pretty much a STUD.

That afternoon we headed back to Kanaapali beach for some more snorkeling. We LOVE snorkeling. Seriously can't get enough of it. We pretty much did or wanted to do it every day. On our flight over to Maui we sat next to the cutest old couple that have been married for 50 something years. They spend all their time now traveling the world. They told us that fish love frozen peas and that when they would go snorkeling they would bring a zip lock bag full of peas with them and the fish would go crazy. We tried it out and they really do like them! We had a mixed bag of peas and carrots and they do not like the carrots. Just the peas. It was so cool to have all these tropical fish swarming around us basically eating out of our hands! 

And of course, there were more sea turtles. We swam around the bend to the other side and went to this little cove area. There must have been a little family of them because we saw a bunch. Two of them were passing each other and when they did they stopped and gave each other a little kiss (as you can kinda see in the small picture on the right). It was so cute!

Just another day in paradise.

After the beach we went to eat in the cute little town of Lahaina. In the middle of the town there is this big group of trees that are all intertwined and connected. We had some fun playing around for a bit then headed over to Cool Cats for some dinner.

Viva La Flip Flop.

~ Saturday ~

Saturday was the day we decided to conquer the road to Hana. Boy was it a trip! We went from driving through what looked like the desert, to fields of black lava rock, to being in the middle of the greenest rain forest. The whole drive was absolutely breathtaking!

The beginning of our journey. These roads got a lot more windy trust me. It was seriously nuts!

 We saw a random goat on the side of the road so we stopped to look at it and take some pictures. A little ways down the road we came upon a whole farm of them. I guess that one wasn't as special as we thought! Haha.

Hawaii has cool trees.

This was on our hike up to the big waterfall. Erich and Scott found a place to jump off of so they had fun doing that. We hiked up about two miles and it was the most gorgeous hike I've ever been on.


A little sight seeing on our way up.

We walked for about half a mile through a Bamboo forest. That part was cool!

These pictures really don't do it justice. The thing was huge! At least 250 feet. And the most gorgeous water fall I have ever seen. I was just standing there in awe. Totally worth the hike in.

We made it!

More beautiful things we saw along the road to Hana.

The seven sacred pools.

This was the beach that I was most looking forward to. The red sand beach (or Kaihalulu). They are really rare, only a couple of them in the whole world. It was really secluded and was a little bit of an adventure getting to it. We came around the corner and saw this beautiful red sand. It was awesome! Made me feel like I was back in good old Ivins.

Splishin and a Splashin.

On the other side of Kaihalulu.

The cave next to Black Sand beach.

This beach was awesome! Isn't the dark green against the black just so beautiful?! If you stand at the beach and let the waves go over you the pebbles massage your feet. We heard that and tried it and it really did!

These beach was one of my favorites. So beautiful.

Oh Kak's Cafe. We stumbled across this place on our way to Hana. There was absolutely nothing else around it. We figured we'd stop because we didn't know when there would be another place to stop. It was just this little spunky Thai lady that owned this little shack in the middle of the rain forest! I swear it was like a scene out of a movie. She had a couple of friends that hung out there with her and they were all just as interesting as she was. She started playing weird music and taught us a dance- Twist the light bulb and pat the dogs head. (as you can see Erich demonstrating in the picture above). Haha. It was hilarious! She took a picture of us so she could hang it at her shack. It'll be fun to go back there someday and search for this lady again and see if our picture is still there! Oh the memories...

~ Sunday ~

Sunday was Phil and Julie's wedding. And the blessing of sweet little Aliyah. It was a beautiful little ceremony and we are so happy to have Julie as part of the family. We love her to death and couldn't think of a better person for Phil to be with. They love each other so much and we are so happy we were able to be there on their special day!

 Me and my studly. It's almost been one year for us already! Can't believe it. Best decision I ever made. :)

The beach they got married on was so gorgeous.

We went to Costco to pick up a birthday cake for Phil and Mom. Erich wanted to get their names written on it but there weren't any decorators there. Just a bakery worker. Erich was talking to him since he used to do that same job and the guy asked him what he was going now. He told him he works at corporate now and the guy thought that was just so cool, it was so funny. He was like wow, you work at corporate? And then he let him go into the bakery to write the names on the cake! Bethany and I were standing back just cracking up (we weren't allowed back there). Just the "big cheese" was. :)

~ Monday ~

Our last day of snorkeling. Bye turtles. :(

I love my big hunkster.

We spent our last day snorkeling and boogie boarding at Makena beach. This was another one of my favorite beaches. The sand was so soft and the water was a beautiful blue. We spent hours and hours riding the waves. It was a blast! My underwater camera started bugging out so that's why the pictures are all kind of funky looking. We took it back and are looking at getting a better one because that one just couldn't handle all we were putting it through. I'm glad it decided to break on the last day though!

Watching our last sunset before meeting up with everyone for dinner.

 It was really hard to leave. :(

The end.