Hawaii - Wave One

We LOVED Hawaii!

We had been anxiously awaiting this amazing vacation for well over a year and it met all of our expectations; above and beyond! It's amazing how sunshine, warm temps, and fun beaches can make you feel. Our first week (the following only includes our first few days) we stayed in Kihei in Maui. The resort is just a block from the beach so for our first full day we spent a lot of time there…then went back to the fun pool at the resort.

Grandpa and Grandma got each grandkid a huge seashell the previous week while in Kauai and secretly buried them while everyone was busy playing. The kids each dug up their own humongous seashell - definitely a favorite beach "find" since they don't know it was a staged set-up ;)

We kept a close eye on the shells; they drew in a little bit of attention since they were just "found" in the sand there!

It was so fun watching the kids play in the warm sand and water; I love the following set of pictures where Brock and especially Livi ate it! I swear we are still cleaning sand out of the boys ears!

Brock gave the name "Sandy" a whole new meaning; he would laugh when we'd call him Sandy and say, "I'm not Uncle Sandy!"

Just a few of many beach-loving shots:

The waves were fun to play in; I almost split a gut laughing at my Mom when she was helping the four big grandkids in the waves and in an attempt of keeping them from being pulled out with a wave she ended up going down, rolling around with the lot of them. I was laughing so hard it took my dad coming out to save us all!

 

The first night we were there was April Fool's day and Grandpa and Grandma told the kids we'd have frogs for dinner. They each got one during dinner and we were serenaded by croaking frogs during the vacation (the sticks come out and when you stroke the bumpy back they"croak" like frogs)

The next day we started out riding the Sugar Cane Train. I learned that I didn't reapply my sunscreen soon enough at the beach the previous day and was a little tender from it; plus with being on my feet and the longer flight, my ankles disappeared and I had edema from the top of my knees down with pitting. I waddled.

All Aboard!

The kids had fun sight seeing without being restrained in the usual car seats

Shad did so good the whole vacation! He was a such a happy camper during the train ride:

While in Lahaina we headed over to grab a quick not-so-quick bite to eat at one of Maui's popular burger joints after the train ride. Across the street was the town's awesome banyan tree. The tree is over 50 feet tall and extends 200 feet side to side:

And soon to come...

Luau

The Road to Hana,

Whale Watching and Snorkeling, 

Touring Oahu's Pearl Harbor