Best Maui Sunset

Wednesday was the day the hurricane that was headed our way was supposed to affect Maui. Besides a little cloud cover the first half of the day, nothing happened! It totally missed Maui. Thank God! We were blessed with fantastic weather our entire trip in Maui. On Wednesday we decided to head back to the beach and go snorkeling. Steven and I had found a rocky beach north of La Perouse Bay while we were expoloring on our own before my family came. It was so much! We saw all sorts of different colorful fish. And Ian and Steven found a sea turtle that they played with for awhile. I didn't get to see the turtle, so my goal was to see one before it came time to leave Maui. More on that later...

Daddy and I at "Rock Beach".... Not sure what it's really called. :)

The lovely ladies in my family

The boys having a skipping rock competition... Ian would later patiently teach me how on earth to skip a rock... (I'd apparently forgotten since I haven't done it since I was 8 or something.) After many attempts, I finally succeeded. It was miraculous. :)

Wednesday night, after playing at the beach all day, we went to Fred's for dinner. It's a really good Mexican food place. I guess they have some in So Cal too. At the very end of dinner, it was time for the sunset and I really didn't want to miss it, so Steven, Nat and I got up from our table and ran across the street to capture the sunset. I'm SO glad we did because it was by far the best sunset we saw on Maui... See for yourself...

Okay, so my husband probably would NOT want me to tell you this, but HE took the picture below... not me! Isn't it pretty?? Shhhh... Dont' tell anyone...

Hang Loose, Baby

Goofy face picture for Steven who gets bored with smiling all the time...

Belly Shot. This is my absolute favorite picture of Natalie. I think it's gorgeous. She's gorgeous, the sunset is gorgeous... it's perfect! Isn't she so beautiful?

Postcard, except it's really the sunset we saw! It could be a postcard, couldn't it?

I love kissing this man... :) Hee hee

Sisters Forever

Can you believe how beautiful the sunset was? Even the way it changed from fire orange and gold to deep indigo and purple and pink... I love Maui.

Me

Haleakela and Ulalena (Try saying that 10 times fast...)

On Tuesday we decided to get up at the crack... and I mean crack of dawn. I'm sure the Lord wasn't up yet. We left our condo at 4am to head up to Haleakela Crater to catch the sunrise. What a breathtaking view!!! We didn't get to see much of a sunrise because of too much cloud coverage, but it was still absolutely worth it, just for the sheer beauty of the view! See for yourself...

Just before sunrise...

Haleakela Crater

Freezing our hiney's off!

Sister Beth

All Bundled Up

Haleakela is 10,000 feet up in the air... that's right.... 1o,ooo. That's "Ding! You may now turn on your approved electrical devices" airplane high!

Blankets? Who needs blankets?

Doesn't that look like the view outside an airplane?

This is all we were able to catch of the sunrise... Someday, when I go back to Maui ("when" being the key word), I'm going to get the full effect.

On our way down the mountain we stopped at Kula Lodge for a yummy breakfast. It was delicious! I would highly recommend it. It was still super high up so the view was also gorgeous.

Kula Lodge also had a beautiful garden with all types of plants and flowers. The plant in the picture below is seriously called a Wandering Jew. I'll let the picture speak for itself... :)

The Five of Us



As if we hadn't already done enough in the day, we decided to stop at Baldwin Beach on the way back from Haleakela since we weren't sure if we would make it back to that part of the island...



At one part of the beach there are a bunch of old tree stumps with these incredible root systems sprawled all over. You can kind of see it in the picture below, but it doesn't do it justice. What a contrast to see these huge stumps and sprawling roots on the sand!



After an afternoon nap, we all headed up to Lahaina and ate at the Cool Cat Cafe. Hands down the BEST hamburger on Maui! Probably the best burger I've ever had. It blew Cheeseburger in Paradise out of the water. If you ever go to Maui and you're craving a cheeseburger, this place is a must! (I could be a tour guide for Maui now.) :)



After dinner we went across the street where this enormous Banyan Tree has grown at the center of town. If you've ever been to Lahaina, you know what tree I mean. It's amazing. The pictures below that look like the entire tree actually show just one section.



Daddy showing off

After the Banyan Tree we went to a unique theatrical presentation called Ulalena about the mythical history of Maui. And of course, after we had to get Lappert's ice cream and sit on the wall overlooking the ocean to wrap up the night. Talk about a full day!

A Perfect Day

Monday was my family's first full day in Maui, so we decided to go to.... where else??? The BEACH!!! While we were there my dad got this great idea to write the name of each beach that we visited in the sand and take a picture to remember it. Monday was such a great day! Beach, fish and chips, sunset... what more could you want?

On the way to Makena Beach





The Guys Boogie Boarding in the Ocean

Us "Kids"

Mommy and Me

On our way to dinner

We ate at a fish and chips place on the main drag in Kihei called Alexander's. Really good, really unhealthy food!





After dinner we went back to our condo and walked out on the beach to watch the sunset.

Pretty Girl

Aren't they cute?

We never did find out the name of the beach near our condo, but there was always seaweed on it, so we named it Seaweed Beach... thus the picture. :)

Ian and Steven hermit crab hunting on Seaweed Beach. Those suckers are fast! They were really proud of themselves when they finally caught some.

Maui Sunset.... Sigh...