Finally, finally, pics from this summer’s Maui vacay

Day 1: Got up at the crack of dawn and rushed to the airport only to find our flight to Maui was suddenly delayed. I would have headed to the nearest airport restaurant and plopped down with a book and some food to wait it out. And that would have been a rookie mistake because our flight was delayed and delayed and then cancelled! Luckily TubaDad (AKA King of Business Travel) knows how these things generally play out and moved us to a new flight the second he heard about the delay. Whew, so we all made it to Maui on the scheduled day. My luggage wasn’t so lucky, so I had to make a quick stop off at Hilo Hattie’s to buy a hat and pair of flip flops. No biggie, nothing that an ice-cold lava flow couldn’t cure:

Day 2: I think we were in the water every day. The ocean was right there and the hotel pools (we stayed in the Maui Marriott in Kaanapali) were awesome! Loved our room too, the 1-bedroom suite had 2 separate rooms and a door between, so we had a living room, kitchenette, bedroom, and two bathrooms. The girls’ CA cousins were also vacationing on the island, and the girls had a ball swimming with the boys:

Day 3: We adore downtown Lahaina (who doesn’t?), so we packed up the family and hit the town for a day of sightseeing, chowing at Bubba Gump’s (hard to beat that open-air dining right over the water and the cool kid’s meals), and playing in the ocean:

Day 4: The Marriott had a really great daily activity list and we took full advantage of it. Making crafts, letting the kids watch a movie in the movie theater while we sat in nearby lounge chairs with lava flows and books in hand (ahhhhh), feeding the koi, and other fun things:

Day 5: We checked out the Maui Aquarium with the cousins – it was a neat place and everyone enjoyed it. And we went to a little free Hawaiian show and then discovered Japanese marble soda at dinner (wow, that stuff is cool):

Day 6: The girls made shell necklaces in the kids’ center, and we got a GIANT inflatable turtle that the kids insisted on calling “Turtie” despite the fact that it sounded like they were talking about something unsavory floating in the water. We watched a movie under the stars – it’s hard to picture a more relaxing setting for a movie:

Day 7: I got a beachside massage and the girls and cousins went on a submarine ride. (No boats for me because I get hellaciously seasick). And we took advantage of the hotel’s Keiki’s night out (they’ll watch the kids while the parents go out) and went out for fondue dinner with A & G. So fun!:

Days 8 & 9: All too soon, the trip was coming to an end. We swam all day then enjoyed one last spectacular Hawaiian sunset, watched a Dive-In movie at the pool (well the girls watched, TubaDad and I lounged and read books), played a last game on the iPad, then called it a night and set the alarm. Morning found us kind of sadly on the way to the airport and then home to CA. The bottom pic is what the girls did the second the plane took off, by the way, they keeled over, totally pinning and trapping me:

Wonderful, relaxing vacation. Hope to see you again soon Hawaii! Aloha and mahalo.