Our original plan was to go the first week in December…calling to make reservations mid-October seemed reasonable…I never thought the property would be sold out that week! And not only that week, but the whole month of December! And not only, the whole month of December but the last three weeks in November as well! And not only that, but all three Hawaii properties were in the same situation!
Our only options were to go to Steamboat Springs on the dates we wanted originally, or go to Maui on November 1st. It took about half a second to figure that one out. With some additional negotiating, we were able to piecemeal additional nights on and ended up staying for 12 nights! It happened so quickly, I wasn’t psychologically ready to go on vacation. You know, that anticipation that builds prior to the vacation date?
The timing turned out to be a blessing! We were just finishing the busiest month of the year at work and the down time was appreciated. We all were able to transition to relaxation quickly, (sometimes this takes a while…).
Our days were simple and repetitive… wake up, make breakfast, go snorkeling or bodysurfing, go back to the room for a shower and lunch, go back to the ocean for more snorkeling or boydysurfing, another shower, then dinner in the room or eat out, watch a video, read aloud before bed, then goodnight…
We are so blessed (and spoiled) to have an incredible snorkeling spot in front of our property. It is the equivalent to swimming in a salt water aquarium. Not only did we see a huge variety of gorgeous tropical fish, we also saw eels, octopi, and sea turtles. At Mokuleia Bay, (where we bodysurf), we saw a group of spinner dolphins, putting on the most incredible show! I saw on do a double flip!
The boys and I at the Sacramento airport…
The view from our room…
We arrived October 30th…this meant Halloween on the island! As soon as the boys heard we’d be on Maui for Halloween, ‘A’ jumped up an shrieked, “now, I can walk up and down the beach in my Jack Sparrow costume and sing, “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate’s life for me, and Dad, you can film me!”
Then, ‘R’ piped in and said, “Yeah, then I can jump out and attack you as a ninja!” Such is our life with boys…
Waiting at the elevator to (gently) scare whoever was on the other side. Totally bummed no one was there…
Ninja! (Mommy made a bad choice in picking waterproof eyeliner for the boys eye makeup. It irritated poor ‘R’s eyes and was impossible to remove, (I had no remover). They had the makeup on for quite a few days after…)
Jack Sparrow, character from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’…in front of a kids pirate ship on our property…
DH and I were not looking forward to the whole trick or treating thing. We had already spent many hours snorkeling in the day and half we had been there and were tired. Happy to have the well timed downpour that made it easy for us to say, “oh, too bad! It’s raining! Let’s buy some candy at the market downstairs and watch a video instead…” The boys were fine with it, (I think they were a little tired, too…) Here is the first of many rainbows we saw. This occurred just before the downpour started…
‘R’ fell asleep with a lollipop in his mouth!
A morning spent bodysurfing in Napili Bay…these were smaller waves to prepare the boys for the larger ones at Mokuleia. This is ‘R’s favorite beach.
Waiting for the sunblock to dry…
Let the bodysurfing commence!
While at Napili, there is a “must go” place for breakfast or lunch, The Gazebo restaurant… the boys eat the macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup, and David and I love the fried rice plate. The plates are large enough to share or take home for leftovers…
Our nature baby. Always collecting items…
