We left for Maui a little over two weeks ago. Mom, Chloe, Gabe, and I were in one group leaving from Dallas at 2:20, and Dad, Christian, Ava, and Mia left from DFW at 1:45. This was NOT our original flight plan, but the airlines changed stuff up on us and that's what we ended up with. So Grandfather took Mom's group to Dallas, after a stop at Kimzey's for me to get coffee.
The lovely thing about having later flights was a leisurely morning at home finishing packing and getting everything ready. Normally we have really early flights that mean we have to get up a 4:30 am. This year was the first time in a long time that Dad actually went to bed the night before we flew out.
We got through security and all of that just fine and for once they didn't have to pat me down because of my hair! We were all settled at our gate a little after noon and ate the lunch we had brought, including some interesting marshmallows....
Dad's group got off just fine, but our flight was delayed until well after 3:00.
We still had fun at the gate.
We landed in San Fransisco around 5:00 local time and thought because of our first delay we would only have an hour to get dinner before taking off again (which translates to not much time, for those of you who don't flight frequently, because it always takes forever to get off the plane and boarding would be 20-30 minutes before take off), but our flight was delayed an hour so we had plenty of time.
We ate a really yummy dinner that was more than enough for us and relaxed at the gate. A little while later the flight was delayed even further and we really settled down.
On the first flight we watched a movie and read, our second flight was much longer, so some watched multiple movies, and some tried to sleep.
We landed in Maui right about 10:00 pm local time, about an hour after Dad's group, who had gotten a car and headed to the condo. Since we had all carried on
Trying to look alive awake.
The other kids were already asleep when we got there and we were able to unpack, shower (for those who wanted to), and go to bed at midnight here, 5:00 am in Texas. It was a little hard to fall asleep since that's the time I would normally get up for work, but we were all super exhausted.
Most of us woke up around 4:00am and got up at 4:30. No, we had not slept long enough, but tell that to your body when you've completely whacked up it's normal sleep patterns by hopping, skipping, and jumping past several time zones...
We put swimsuits on under our clothes and walked down to Whaler's Village (the outdoor shopping mall type sort of thing) to get coffee for those who wanted it and acai bowls for everyone, before walking further down to the beach.
I had hoped working at Kimzey's would not have ruined me from being able to enjoy the island lattes here, and standing by the ocean letting the waves wash over my feet and sipping on my drink I knew I would be fine.
I had hoped working at Kimzey's would not have ruined me from being able to enjoy the island lattes here, and standing by the ocean letting the waves wash over my feet and sipping on my drink I knew I would be fine.
(Lots of self-explanatory pictures here.)
After eating we all got our Bibles and had devotions as the sky and water brightened.
By the time we got back to the room we had walked a mile, part of it uphill, and were ready to go down to the beach cabana for a while.
Over the years we have made many beach friends and were super excited to see them. Dr Mike and Mrs Karen had brought their niece and nephew and a couple of their friends and the kids had tons of fun playing with the young adults.
Poker was a huge favorite.
We headed back to the room not too long after lunch so that we wouldn't burn too badly the first day. Once everyone had showered we went to Lahaina for dinner at Bubba Gump's. We were all so tired, but we enjoyed our traditional first day on Maui meal.
Saturday we started the day with Bible time on the beach again and coffee for Mom and me.
We spent the day at the beach and enjoyed a visit from our local friends the Hodges. It was difficult, but we managed to stay awake until 8:00 that night.
Sunday morning we had our Bible time in the room and after breakfast went down for church by the beach. We have been attending this church every Sunday while on Maui for several years now and it is always so special. Mom cried through the whole service.
In the afternoon we went down to spend the afternoon at the beach.
Another of our beach friends, Mrs Lee,
wanted a picture of Dad to motivate
her friend at home to workout.
Having a blast.
More poker.
Sunday night was the young adults' last night so after dinner they invited us to join them for bocce ball on the pool deck. We'd never played bocce before (and I'm fairly certain we weren't playing it the real way), but we had a great time!
Go Mia!
When we all looked up and realized the sun was setting we made a mad dash through the buildings down to the golf course (picking up Mr David and Mrs Pat from their patio as we went racing by) and caught the sun just before it dipped below the ocean.
So gorgeous!
Amazing clouds!
After the sun left, we started a game of tag that contained a lot of screaming, trying to figure out who was it, laughing, and falling. The older than twenties crowd enjoyed watching the rest of us.
(Left to right)
Christian, Sofia, Gabe on top of her, Suzanna,
Ava, Chloe, Lydia (me), Adrian, Cole, Mia on top of him.
Tag!
Once it was completely dark and we were all drenched in sweat and grass we finally had to say tearful goodbyes, give tight hugs, and beg to meet again next year. It's amazing how fast the kids make friends here and how quickly people become special to all of us.
We settled quickly into a good routine; up at 5:30 in the morning, walk down to get coffee and everyone has Bible time on the beach, walk back up to the room for breakfast (by then we have all walked at least a mile), do some school, pack lunches, and get ready for the beach, walk or ride a golf cart down to the beach cabana around 9:30, spend the day playing in the sand, bobbing in the ocean, riding boogie boards, searching for sea glass and shells, snorkeling around Black Rock (a half mile swim), eating whenever we are hungry, Scrabble, poker, cards, football, volleyball, reading, sunbathing, talking, journaling, or whatever else we can come up with to do until we start going up in shifts in the late afternoon to shower before dinner, bed by 8:30.
Early morning.
Whaler's Village has various outdoor evening actives like hula shows, live music, and family movies.
One evening we went down for live music and ran into our friends Mrs Lee and Mr Rick. We got frozen yogurt and gelato (whichever each one we wanted), and then swing danced to the music, which was so fun!
Mia and Dad.
Mr Rick, Mrs Lee, Mom, and Dad.
Christian and Dr Mike especially, enjoy swimming around Black Rock, often several times a day. One time they saw two five foot sharks, but that didn't stop them from continuing to go! That was after I had swam around with them, but I was able to go again a week or so later without too much trepidation. (At least no more than usual...)
Dr Mike, Mrs Karen, Mr Rick, and Mrs Lee
all had to leave after a few days which made us all very sad.
One evening Mom, Dad, and the three younger kids went to see a movie in Whaler's Village and Chloe and I played Scrabble.
She beat me by a lot...
Morning coffee.
So beautiful! I love dawn so much...
When you take a gymnast to the beach.
Fresh from the ocean.
Sunset walk down to Whaler's Village with the kids
while Mom and Dad went out for dinner.
We got frozen yogurt and walked both down and back
up to the room in "army formation".
Back to Island Vintage every morning.
Mia has given me several "massages"...
The water has been so clear!
It looks like a pool most days, especially in the morning.
Gabe showing off again.
Saturday night we went down for a "hula show", but it ended up being a family doing live music and a little bit of hula...sort of. Two sisters who were there watching as well got up and entertained the crowd probably more than the performers. They were probably 3 and not yet 2 years old. The younger one stood staring at Gabe for a long time and then started blowing him kisses and pulling her dress up her leg. We were all laughing, choking, and crying so hard.
Our frozen treat of choice that night.
After a bit Dad and I walked to the Macy's in one of the hotels to check out their swimsuit sale. I found a really pretty one after trying on probably 10. There were so many options, it was overwhelming and they were all marked way down, most of them starting at well over $100, to less than $50! It was a super long walk to get there, definitely at least a mile, so we thought we might have Mom come pick us up, but there was a horrible accident that shut down the highway, so we walked back. We learned later that it was a quadruple fatality accident about a block from our condo.
Sunday was my 20th birthday. Mom, Dad, and I went to Island Vintage Coffee for breakfast after everyone had Bible time in the room.
We all shared the breakfast platter,
acai bowl, and mango and peanut butter sandwich.
And Mom and I had coffee of course.
The kids met us in time for church by the beach again and then we went up to the room to pack food and go to the beach.
We shared a lilikoi (passion fruit)
cheesecake with Mr David and Mrs Pat.
Mom and her husband's daughter from his first marriage.
My few sweet gifts, absolutely perfect!
Nana and Grandfather took me to lunch before we left
and let me pick out a new Bible (my idea), which was wonderful.
We enjoyed the beach all afternoon.
Later afternoon we went back up to the room and cycled through the showers and then went to Cool Cat Cafe for dinner where we got yummy burgers and root beer floats.
Pretty sunset.
Root beer float!
We finished the night by watching "Beauty and the Beast".
On Monday Dad, Christian, Ava, Gabe, and I met the Hodges at a beach park to go surfing. There were four boards so we took turns going out. Ava caught a wave her first try and continued to be very successful every time she went out. Gabe was able to catch one, and got to do a lot of good paddling. Christian had trouble catching waves because he is way taller now, had a really short board, and the waves were small, but he did catch a few eventually. I didn't get any waves, but I waited until later in the morning when the waves were too small to carry me. We all had fun, though!
It was a beautiful place to read and journal while I wasn't in the water and there was a tide pool that the kids had fun playing in.
We went back to the room for lunch and then went down to our beach for the afternoon.
Plumeria tree! Such a sweet scent.
The walk down.
Rainbow on the mountain!
Mom and Dad being cute after Bible time one morning.
The Herd: Quoted
"These marshmallows taste like a hair salon." -Me after one bite of a gourmet root beer flavored marshmallow.
"Ugh you're right." -Mom
"That really is the perfect description of that taste..." -Chloe
*A while later*
"Yuck, now I am burping hair salon." -Mom
"I can't get rid of the taste!" -Chloe
"I don't understand why y'all ate all of them, I only needed one bite." -Me
"What's your book about, Lydia?" -Ava
"I don't know." -Me
"Is that Bathsheba? Bath." -Mia
"Yes. Instead of Showersheba!" -Mom
"What do you want for your birthday?" -Christian
*Thinks for a minute* "Honestly nothing..." -Lydia
"The opposite of 'Let it go' is 'Grab it stay'." -Mia
"I have tons of advice on how to get a guy!" -Mia
"Yeah you should get some of that, Lydia." -Ava
"Um, I'm not sure Mia is the first person I would ask advice from about that type of thing..." -Me
"No, the person you should ask is a guy!" -Mia
"Okay maybe I would ask her if that is her advice." -Me
"You told on me!" -Me when the waitress comes over to our table singing me Happy Birthday
"Yes, mom privileges." -Mom
"Well, it wasn't too bad, they didn't makes me stand on the chair, or do the hula, or dance the chicken dance, or bring me a dessert I wouldn't want to eat." -Me
"What dessert would that be?! You're my daughter, of course you'd eat whatever dessert they brought you!" -Dad
"I don't often drink soda, but when I do it is root beer and I really like it." -Me
"I don't often drink soda, but when I do there better be ice cream in it." -Mom
"Think of a movie John Wayne was in." -Someone helping Ava with Scrabble words.
"Who is John Wayne?" -Gabe
"You know, the guy that wrote Tom Sawyer." -Ava
"You know, the guy that wrote Tom Sawyer." -Ava
"John Wayne did not write Tom Sawyer, that was Mark Twain..." -Mom
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