Aloha!

My in-laws took "the kids" to Maui, Hawaii a couple of weeks ago....grandkids not allowed! This was the first time both Jason and I were away from Olivia (except for our anniversary in which it was less than 24 hours). My mom came and kept Olivia and the dogs at my house. We figured keeping her in her normal surroundings might help her adjust to us being gone. I was a nervous wreck the day we left, but tried to not let her know. I knew she'd be ok. I just knew I was going to miss her so much! The 6 hour time difference made it a litte difficult to call, but I think we managed to talk every day except one. We all survived, but I was very glad to hold her in my arms again!

Back to the trip itself....Hawaii was great. We kept busy with various excursions: snorkeling, helicopter tour, luau and a day trip to Lanai (more about that later). We decided against driving to Hana this time, but if we ever go back, I think we'll for sure do it. We also wanted to zipline, but apparently those reservations need to be made FAR in advance! Maybe next time!

We each had our own condo, which was really nice. We had a full kitchen, but we didn't cook much. We did eat breakfast in the room a few times and a lunch or two.

First night: We went to dinner and I had fish tacos for the first time. I know...they are served everywhere, but I am always scared to order them! These were actually really good!

the Beach

The girls....Deanna, Me, Elizabeth, Emily

Eating breakfast at "The Gazebo". I believe we waited over an hour to get in this little place fo breakfast, but they did have really yummy food!

One afternoon, Jason and I went driving. We found "Dragon's Teeth" in the beautiful "town" of Kapalua. It's a large rock formation that hardened sticking straight up. It was pretty neat.

We went to a Luau one night. It was pretty fun, and we just figured a must-do for our first trip to Hawaii!

Mike & Elizabeth at the Luau

All the girls @ the Luau

We also went out on a snorkeling trip. It took about an hour to get out to where we actually snorkeled. On our way out, we came into a huge pod of dolphins. I'd guess there were at least 100 of them. It was one of the best parts of the entire trip! They were spinner dolphins and were really putting on a show for us! I'm sad I don't have any pictures or video of it! It makes me want to go back during whale-watching season.

On another day, Emily, Wayne, Jason & I went on a helicopter ride. It was another favorite part of our trip. We went to Molokai and got to see so many parts of the island that are only accessible by helicopter. The waterfalls are all just as beautiful as you'd expect them to be. It's a shame it doesn't really come thru in the pictures.

We ate dinner at Mama's Fish House one night and were able to get great sunset pictures. Mama's is farily famous from what I understand, and it was REALLY good! It's amazing that I only gained 2 pounds while we were gone!

Emily and Wayne drove to Hana one day. The rest of us took a day trip to the island of Lanai and had a private tour guide to show us the island. The first stop was this beach. Pretty, right?

And this was the rest of the island.....red dirt. I'm not kidding. It was a 3-4 hour tour of this red dirt & rock island. And the tour guide thought it was the best place he's ever lived. I think Mike and Jason enjoyed it more than anyone else, but I know Elizabeth, Deanna and I could have lived without that trip! You live and learn!

We did see this turtle on Lanai. We also swam with them when snorkeling.

On our last full day, we all went golfing. Well, four golfed and three rode in the carts!

Last night in Maui.