Vacation - Day 12 (June 11)

Amy and Scott were in charge of this trip's sandcastle contest. Each group drew out of a hat what their assigned task was. My group (all the littlest kids) made the starfish. Everyone did a great job, but I think it's clear that we won (even though Katelyn and Cassi helped make the turltle).



Megan mostly sat in this chair the whole time because she doesn't like to touch sand very much. She is getting better, but had some fun with Cassi here.


Katelyn kept trying to get some water in this pail, but if the wave was too big (for her), she went running away.


After lunch we had some pool time. We've been to the pool almost everyday, and didn't have any pictures yet, so we took some today.



Dinner wrapped up the day at Cheesburgers In Paradise. It's a nice little restaurant we go to whenever we come to Maui (I learned from the menu tonight that there is one in Las Vegas now - I may have to check it out). I always get the Island Style (teryaki cheesburger with a grilled Maui pineapple) and a pineapple smoothie. Because of our large group, we went for an early dinner, but that cut into Megan's nap time. So, she spent the first half of dinner asleep on my shoulder. Both girls ended up with a new pineapple piggy bank. Megan will be more excited to have one when we get home.

Vacation - Day 11 (June 10)

We got up early this morning for our scuba trip to Lanai. On our last trip to Maui, we tried to do a dive out at Lanai, but the weather prevented us from making it all the way there. The weather was better today, though it was still pretty choppy on the surface. Once we got about 15 feet under, it was pretty calm. The boat ride to Lanai was pretty good, but when we anchored down, it rocked enough that there were some who got hit with a little sea sickness.



Here are a couple pics of Lanai. First is Sweetheart Rocks. The story behind it is kind of a Romeo and Juliet story. The second pic is of the coastline.


Just before our second dive, we saw some dolphins! It was pretty cool. After this, we hurried up and got our gear on and swam with the dolphins for a few minutes. It was awesome to be in the water with them.


Diving, I usually suck through my air quicker than the others. Today, Chase was a little faster than me, so he went up first, shortly followed by me. I grabbed a pic of everyone else as they came up and back onto the boat.



Our guides have really nice underwater cameras, and we should get those pictures in a day or two that I'll post a few here.

Here's a shot of Lanai from the boat on our way back to Maui, and a shot of the dive stats, with some of the sealife we saw.


After scuba, we had lunch and then Katelyn wanted to boogie board. This was pretty fun. She pretty much held onto her board while I took her out and gave her a little shove as the wave came in. Megan and Cassi watched from the sand (and took some pictures).


Tonight was also the traditional spouse's trip to Mama's Fish House. None of my brothers and sisters like fish, but all of our spouses do. So when we come to Maui, they find one night to go out and have some nice fish. This place is about as nice of a fish place as there is on the island. The menu is printed each day with the locations of the catches. And it has a great view (so they tell me)!

Vacation - Day 10 (June 9)

The Road to Hana. If you know anything about Maui, this is a must-see attraction. But you have to pay a price to conquer it - the drive from our condos in Kaanapali is over 3 hours, one-way (and that's if you don't stop to take any pictures)! A little beyond Hana is a place called Oheo Gulch, also known as The Seven Sacred Pools (referenced by Meg Ryan in the movie "IQ"). That was our target. It's an amazing drive out there, if you have the stomach for it. "The Road" has over 50 bridges, 600 curves, and a lot of waterfalls. Most of the bridges are one-lane, and part of the road is only one lane too. To some, that may be enough to turn you around, but you just have to see it. As a driver, it was awesome, even in our big rental car. Here is more or less the route to get there.


As I said, the road has tons of winds and curves. Here are some pics of the road, our trail of cars (we went with Amy & Scott, Brett & Stephanie, Ryan & Jennifer, and all the kids).





We took a quick pit stop and then pressed on. The scenery is breathtaking, almost unbelievable.



At last, we made it to Oheo Gulch. It took so long, that we thought we had past it when we made it to Hana. As it turns out, the Gulch is about 12 miles past the town. Here is our stop at The Seven Sacred Pools.





We made our way back to Hana for lunch at the Hana Ranch Restaurant. The 1/2 lb. burgers are pretty good, although overpriced. The pineapple spear was quite delicious. After our stop, we made the 3-1/2 hour drive back to Kaanapali.




It's Monday, so that means Family Night. Brett and Stephanie were in charge of the lesson. They had a couple really good games for the kids on families and building happy homes. The little kids put together a puzzle to make a happy home here.

Vacation - Day 9 (June 8)

Today was a pretty calm Sunday. We remembered our camera today, so we got a couple nice family pictures, and the girls got to wear leis for their own picture. Mom and Dad posed for a shot this week too.



On the way home, we grabbed our last couple shots for our Hawaiian Scavenger Hunt (G - golf course, and V - Verizon). Cassi and I volunteered to be in charge this year. Everyone has to find a picture of something from every letter of the alphabet. Adjectives are not allowed. It's been fun to take extra pictures this week. Today is the deadline to finish and submit all the pictures to us. Over this week, I'll compile them and we'll announce the winners next Friday. It should be fun.