Aloha (Part II)

Maui Ocean Center

We spent the better part of a day  at the Maui Ocean Center just taking in the animals and the awesome views just outside the center.   This place literally feeds out into the marina where we boarded our whale tour earlier in the week.   The kids had a good time taking all the creatures in, and mom and pop enjoyed the awesome weather.

 

(There you go again.  Proof  that man with baby strapped to him is just dead sexy.)

Dad and Kaelan attended a big deal type dinner with several NFL players as part of their Pro-Bowl package.  Mind you, I had no desire to chat up some famous football players while I tried to wrangle my toddler into sitting peacefully for  a whole meal…..though the thought did pass through my mind that these guys tackled people for a living.  Maybe, just maybe they could chase my kid down for me???    Instead, the Little Man and I took a sunset stroll along the beach where we  met and talked to several of the performers from the luau shows.   Such nice people.   The fire dancer even let Seth play with his conch shell.   Now how often does that happen in Texas, I ask you?

On a funny side note, Kaelan decided to include me in the events of evening, so she used Dad’s phone to send me regular texts.   One text read, “The football players are very big.  They have hair on their arms.  I am eating chicken strips.”

Future reporter, no?

The beach at the hotel was great for hanging out.  We spotted many stars at that resort, and apparently, we missed quite a few.  Aunt Sara informed us that several  Hollywood peeps were on television vacationing in Maui around that time.  That’s what we get for not tuning in to Entertainment Tonight while vacationing.   Miley Cyrus, Karina Smirnoff, The Rock and the dude who was there promoting a movie with The Rock and is now big in The Hunger Games movie, what’s his name??…..again, more ET would probably help me with this lack of Hollywood knowledge, those were a few of the stars we spotted.  Seth actually did some heavy flirting with the DWTS lady.   He likes the ladies with the moves.

Resort Beach

Loving Seth’s sea turtle trail, and check out that breaching whale in the picture of Doug and Seth.  It just jumped right as I took the photo.  So the lesson is try to photograph them and it won’t happen, but just ignore them and you get the money shot….in a very blurry, off in the distance sort of way.

By this time, Seth had two red, swollen eyes and a fat lip.  Vacation for him is like four rounds in the ring with Rocky.

North Shore

You just can’t visit Maui and not go to the North Shore for some surfing.  Or, if you are an old gal with kids who need you to not go out in the ocean and drown or get eaten by a shark, you go and WATCH the cool surfers at North Shore.

Oh, but how I was itching to get out there and go all Point Break on those waves.   Maybe when my kids are grown and I have better life insurance.

We used the same thought process of “our kids need us alive” to pass on taking the Road to Hana this time.  That drive may have done me in.  Next time.   I will do it after I hit those sweet waves.  Next time.

Kid Beach

Here are some more shots of the kids enjoying the kid beach later that week.

Goodbye

On our last full day on the island, we drove on a scenic route to a  town called Lahaina to do some shopping and tourist stuff.   The drive was a-ma-zing.  We stopped several times to take in the views and watch the whales.   Just before we left on area overlooking the ocean, Kaelan stopped me looked at me with tearful eyes.  “I don’t really miss home.  I kind of love it here.”    She knew I had been trying to get a good shot of the whales before I left, but I kept missing them because I was too slow.  Kaelan informed me that if I sent out a thought to them, they would hear me. 

“Tell them we are leaving, and this is goodbye.  Ask them to come say goodbye.”

I didn’t raise my fingers to my forehead and do a Shena of the Jungle chant or anything, I just sent out my goodbye (and thank you) thought, and I will be darned if whale tails did not pop out of the water everywhere splashing  goodbye waves.  

 

An awesome end to an awesome journey.

Aloha!

Long ago, when I would hear the word vacation, my mind would automatically go to a happy place with palm trees and fruity drinks and me in a lawn chair with a stack of good books and nothing to keep me from them.  

Nowadays, when I hear vacation, my mind begins the game of 100 questions.   Is it a safe place for my kids?   Are there kid friendly activities?   Will there be alcohol available?  Can I get a crib in the room?   How long is the flight there?   If my kid consumes the indigenous plants, will he die?   Will there be alcohol available?   Is there childcare?  My kid must have a pool.  Do you have a pool?   IS THAT ALCOHOL AVAILABLE NOW???

Okay, I kid about the alcohol part.   But sadly, I am serious about the other eighty questions.

Our vacation excursion last month came with all the questions, and I must admit when it came to the one about the flight time, 9 hours on a plane with an 11 month old kind of made vacation sound like a bad word.

We did it, though, and the trip was truly one we will never forget.  

At least Doug, Kaelan and myself won’t forget.  I feel confident Seth’s 11 month old mind will forget some of the details.

Our journey began with that flight I so dreaded.   We actually flew from Austin to Dallas, and then had a straight shot to Maui.  My kids really did an awesome job.   Kaelan pretty much soaked up the time with watching movies, playing games and doing arts/crafts.   Towards the end of the flight, we did resort to taking turns letting Seth run laps around the plane.   It was tough having Seth right at the age he had just started walking, and then wanting him to stay seated for that long of a period of time.   We sat in seats of 2 with one parent/one kid.   Doug and Seth sat behind Kaelan and I, and when dad put him in his car seat, he actually fell asleep a few times.  We landed mid-day in Hawaii, and though we (meaning the old people) were a bit jetlagged, our kids were ready to explore!

Without further ado, I give you our trip to Maui 2012 in a plethora of pictures and short blurbs. 

Resort Life:

The resort had a gorgeous koi pond, and every morning, Kaelan had the job of feeding them.   We literally had to pull her away from the pond.  By the end of the trip, she had names for all 37 of them, knew their life stories, and was the godmother to all their little koi babies.  

  

The trees on site at the resort were quite lovely.   Dad and Kaelan enjoyed their time around them.

 

My dear, sweet little man was cutting some serious teeth at the beginning of the trip, and he was just miserable.  Those blue eyes became even sadder looking later in the week when he gave them a rub down with beach sand.  He took in some zzzz’s while we wandered about those first few days.   Poor guy.

Look!   Matching sun squints!

This kids spent a great deal of time playing in the splash park at the resort.   There were plenty of slides and pools, and even their own private little kid beach to play at.  

I warned you about those eyes getting sadder.   See?

Great beach at the resort.   Literally we just walked right out to it.  We reminded Seth to take it easy on the sand, (he had a 8 days to consume all he wanted), but he pretty much chowed down on the stuff until his belly ached.  Fun diapers!

Whale Watching:

Early on in the week, we took a whale watching tour out for the evening.   It was an awesome voyage with only a small group aboard.   We saw a few of the other whale tours with people packed on the ship in stadium seating.  It made me so grateful to be on this boat where we could roam as we pleased.  They served us food and drinks, and the crew was so nice to the kids.  I made Doug strap Seth on out of fear of him going overboard.  He was happy riding tandem with dad…..right up until dad got seasick and had to go sit below for a bit.   He was not thrilled with being left with mean ol’ mom.  I was scared to move around with him attached to me.   I am a much more boring ride.

 

     

  

Kaelan was her usual fearless self when it comes to nature.   She was front and center, Titanic style, watching for whale spray.   Each time the captain called out a sighting to her, she was on it.  It was so hard for me to catch the whales breaching in all their glory.   I was too busy taking in the show to snap decent pictures.  Little did we know, you really did not need to take a boat out to take in this spectacular event.  We literally sat and watched the whales no matter where we were.  Every morning, we ate breakfast on the deck and could see them clear as day.  Every drive or walk with an ocean view gave  way to watching these amazing creatures.  

Go ahead, ask Kaelan about her favorite part of the trip.  I think you probably know the answer.

Local Beach:

Friends and locals gave us the name and details for a local beach on the island. It proved to be a marvelously secluded location with all the beauty and beach we could want, and none of the crazy tourists we so desired to avoid.

Wait.   We were annoying crazy tourists.   oops.

 

Once again, our boy savored the taste of local sand.  He did say it was saltier than the resort sand, yet still quite delicious.

Luau

The resort hosted a grand luau a few times a week.   We caught the show from our balcony several times, but we only actually attended once.   By the end of our trip, Kaelan knew all the moves from the fire dancing portion of the show.  It took a lot to talk her down from thinking she was indeed ready to handle fire during her dancing.   Let’s just say I removed all lighters and matches from the house upon our return home.

During the second part of the show, Kaelan wandered off and began making some of her “nature art” creations on the ground.   The locals that were there selling goods were so impressed with her work, that they actually sketched a few for future art ideas.   Such a craft little booger, this one.

I think you can see why we didn’t try for a better family picture.   The little man was trying to jump ship again.

He made up for it later with some cheesy camera action.

And that concludes Part I of our vacation slide show.  

Stayed tuned for Part II where you will hear of how Seth overdosed on sand and the whole family actually spent the night in the belly of a whale after being swallowed during a surfing lesson gone wrong. 

(No need to panic, grandma.   That was just a sneaky teaser.)