Maui Trip - Day 4 (May 14th)

We were on the road before 6:00a.m. on our way to Makena for our kayaking excursion. We booked a 3-hour kayaking tour to "Turtle Town" and we had a blast. We both rode in one kayak and paddled our way down the coast. We made two stops and saw gobs of sea creatures. We saw turtles, an eel, and all sorts of fish. Our guide even dove down and brought critters up for us to handle like sea stars and urchins. We had a fun time, even if it was cold and rainy toward the end.

That afternoon we came back to the hotel for lunch and a nap (so heavenly!). For dinner we went back to Lahaina and ate at a really cool little place we'd come across the day before called Lahaina Coolers. We ordered some awesome carne asada tacos and mahi mahi fish and chips that were seriously the best we've ever had. Then we walked the streets of Lahaina, bought some souvenirs, and stopped to see the famous giant Banyan Tree. This 135-year-old tree is the most amazing thing ever. It's one tree, but it spreads over a whole block and looks like 20 separate trees. I don't know what it is about Lahaina, but I love it. It's one of my favorite places. We had a really enjoyable time there. We got back near sunset and took a walk on the beach till it was almost dark.

Maui Trip - Day 3 (May 13th)

We were at Lahaina Harbor at 7:30a.m. for our first excursion. We booked a 5-hour ocean rafting trip to the nearby island of Lanai hoping for some good snorkeling and dolphin and turtle encounters. This was a really fun outing. The boat was small and there were just four of us that went. At our first stop, the fish were a little sparse, but the water was crystal clear and we saw four turtles just hanging out. It was really cool. At our second stop we came across a huge pod of spinner dolphins and we were right in the midst of them. We weren't allowed to jump in right there and snorkel with them, but we had a great view from the boat. They were nearly close enough to touch. Our captain, Bob, offered to dangle us over the side of the boat so we could put our faces into the water to see the dolphins down below. If we thought there were a lot of dolphins at the surface there were even more underneath. It was incredible to see them close-up and in their natural environment. After that, we went closer to shore for some excellent snorkling. Our third stop was back at Maui, right at an old pier that had collapsed during a hurricane several years ago. We saw more turtles and overall had a great time. The only downers were that my flipper tore the first time I put it on (Bob tried to tape it together - it didn't really work) and that we got FRIED despite our efforts to not get burned. We figured our sunscreen's SPF was too low and we didn't apply it often enough. We should've known better since our pasty white bodies haven't seen much sun in four years, literally.

We came back to our hotel for lunch and a nap. Then we went back to Lahaina to walk Front St. and to have dinner. We passed a little shop that advertised "Ice Cold Coconut Juice". We were sucked in and purchased one. It sounded so good. It was cool to drink directly from a coconut, but it was nasty stuff! The worst part: it cost $6. We went to Kobe for dinner, a Japanese Tepanyaki restaurant. It was a fun place and the food was to die for. We had a fun time there.

Maui Trip - Day 2 (May 12th)

We woke up at 3:30a.m. (we were still on mainland time), but got to lay in bed as long as we wanted - such an anomaly! We took care of business in the morning by attending our mandatory hotel orientation, booking our excursions, picking up some sunscreen, and buying a few groceries. After that we went to lunch at Aloha Mixed Plate. It was a quaint, little place right on the beach with a beautiful ocean view. We ate outside and had a really good lunch of pina coladas, teryaki chicken and steak, mahi mahi, duck, and rice. They talked us into to ordering their "famous" apetizer, something or other Pork Manapua. It was totally weird and didn't taste that good. Oh, and I was freezing (with goosebumps) the whole time during lunch, even in Hawaii. It was in the shade with a breeze - what can I say? Sadly, it just proves how thin my Arizona blood really is.












I couldn't wait to hit the beach, so that afternoon we laid out for a little while and just relaxed, careful not to get too much sun. It was the best. We had a great view from our lawn chairs.

That evening we went to a luau. They gave hula lessons, brought out the kalua pig, and had a delicious buffet of food. As soon as it got dark, the show began. We saw many hula dances, but our favorite were the fire dancers. We had a fantastic time.

Maui Trip - Day 1

We arrived Sunday, May 11th. We had a smooth, uneventful trip to the islands (except me getting carsick on the drive from the airport and throwing up outside a stripmall) We got to our hotel at sunset and this is the beautiful view from our balcony that welcomed us to Maui.

Aloha from Paradise

We decided several months ago that we wanted to take a trip between graduation and starting the new job. Danny mentioned Hawaii and I told him he better not be kidding because Hawaii was something I thought would be a trip for the very distant future. I've wanted to go Hawaii with Danny for so long and I about died when he said we should look into it. After deciding to go, then deciding we wouldn't, we finally booked our trip to Maui. For those of you who travel a lot or take vacations often, this probably isn't that exciting. For us, this is a HUGE DEAL. The last trip we took like this was our honeymoon 4.5 years ago. We've had two over-nighters and a handful of times when Emily has had sleep-overs at Grandmas since then, but that's it. So we pretty much don't take trips, and don't spend a lot of money on anything, if we don't have to. With Danny being a student we've really been careful with our budget, so the fact that we're in Hawaii is pretty much unreal. With that said, we can't post this without thanking my mom and my mother-in-law for making this possible by tending our kids for us. We couldn't be here without them!

Graduation Day

On May 10th, Danny graduated from ASU with an MBA in Supply Chain Management. What an accomplishment, only something 5% of Americans acheive! I am so proud of him! Congratulations, Honey!

So Long, Farewell

We offically said good-bye to our house on the 28th, our closing date! We'd spent the few days prior preparing the house to be packed up and loaded onto the moving truck. Fortunately for me, Raytheon provides a sweet relocation package with this, and the next two or three moves we have to do in the next two years. It includes, among other things, them footing the bill to have movers come and do all the work. We did some minimal prep work and then some cleaning (props to my mom for helping with that, and props to my in-laws for tending the kids so often last week!). It's a great way to go and we feel really spoiled. We're still hanging around town so Danny can finish up the semester and we'll head down to Tucson mid-May.

Even though the move is easy physically, emotionally I'm having hard time with the thought of living away from home and family. I've lived away for a few years for college, the mission, and even after being married, so it's not like I've never been out of Mesa. I think it's the having kids and living away that's so hard for me. The thought of my kids not being near their grandparents makes me really sad. Probably a lot of you are laughing and thinking, "Get over it, you wimp!" So, to all you many, many people who have done this or are currently doing this, will you send some advice my way? What have you done to make it a good experience? Are there things you wish you would've done differently? How do you keep your kids connected with grandparents in spite of the distance?