It all started with a work event planned in Maui for Golden Bell and then I added a family vacation afterwards. That's how it was supposed to go, but because of stupid Covid, we had to cancel our work event. Victor and I debated whether or not to still take the family or postpone and go another time. The week before our trip, the major of Hawaii went on TV and told people to stop coming to the Islands unless it was necessary travel. Necessary for who is the real question? Necessary for my mental health and the sake of my family? I think so. Too many stars aligned for us and we couldn't put it off!
The kids had JUST started school, went for 3 days and then we took them away on our first real family vacation. This was the kids first time on an airplane and we were all excited to go on vacation. The last few years have been so rough on our family and we are in such a good place now, I wanted everything to be perfect. The weeks leading up to us leaving, we bought Hawaiian clothes, new flip flops, water shoes and everything we could possibly need for our trip. The rules for traveling to Hawaii were a bit complicated with Covid. You had to either be fully vaccinated or have a negative covid test within 72 hours. Myself and Victor were good and Alana was ONE day shy of being fully vaccinated. Since Jack can't yet get it, we had to take him down for the test. Hawaii has pretty strict rules about where the test can come from and then everything had to be uploaded to the Hawaii travel website before we went. Talk about a lot of work just to get on a plane and take a vacation! It would have been easier for us to just take our passports and fly out of the country. But in the end, it was all worth the trouble and stress!
Tuesday early morning we grabbed our suitcases by the door, packed them in the car and headed to Long Beach for our flight. Not sure anyone got sleep the night before, we were all excited and I was nervous for the kids first flight! The Long Beach airport is so small and SO easy to get through, grateful we were able to fly out of there. Alana and I were on one side of the isle and Victor and Jack were on the other side. No one in between us and the kids both got window seats so they were pretty happy. We took off and both kids did so well. Neither of them seemed nervous to fly and it was pretty smooth sailing from there. We filled our time with movies, games and a little bit of shut eye. It was just a little over 5 hours. Hawaiian Airlines serves a little meal which was yummy. A smooth landing and we were finally in Maui!
After we landed, I had arranged for us to have a Lei greeting from the company that my work works with and it was just as magical as I wanted it to be! As we came down the escalator, they were standing their with fresh lei's and a sign to welcome us to Hawaii!
We grabbed our luggage and headed to the rental car place. The Kia forte that I had originally booked sounded pretty boring when I got there so I upgraded us to a Jeep so we could have a really cool experience driving around the Island! Plus, this guy was going to be driving us around and he looks super handsome in a Jeep.
About a 45 minute drive and we arrived at the Sheraton Maui and the view from our Suite was so beautiful, I was so happy to finally be there on the ground and be checked in, ready for a fun filled week! From our room we had a beautiful grass area, nice patio and a view of that beautiful blue water! We were also very close to the cool Lagoon style pool so that worked out really well for our stay!
We grabbed some lunch at the Cliff Dive bar and walked around the property to check it out and just soaked in all of the beautiful views! We were greeted back to our room with our favorite snacks and some awesome juices! Spam Musubi was on the top of our list to get when we arrived, so this was awesome!
Our first Sunset in Maui was just gorgeous. The cove that the hotel was in was perfect. On the right there was "Black Rock". The ancient Hawaiians believed that this was the place where their spirits went to jump off to join ancestors forever. Every night they had a Cliff Diving ceremony where they would light the torches and then jump off the cliff at sunset.
The first night, with the time change we were all in bed asleep between 8-9 pm. We had an early morning and a full day of traveling so it was much needed rest.
Wednesday we had free day with zero plans so we got up and explored the property and walked down to the Whalers Village which was just a short walk from the hotel. The Village was full of little shops and a fun place to explore.
As we walked along the beach walk the amazing blue water to the right, and a long strand of hotels on the left, we came across a few local guys who were selling fresh coconuts. Alana wanted one so we were sold! They cut them open there for us and it was a fun experience to watch. There is definitely nothing like fresh coconut juice right from the coconut. It's all part of the Island experience! Complete with a little umbrella!
Jack tried the juice and wasn't very impressed with it, but still wanted a picture with it.
The hotel recommended a new restaurant that had just opened up next door so we had to try it out for dinner. It was called Hui Hui. The ambience was awesome. They had live performers that sang and played the guitar. It was perfect for our full first day in Hawaii.
My heart
As we finished up our dinner we walked out to enjoy the singers and they were singing "Over the Rainbow" which is one of our favorites and they point up above the restaurant behind us to show us the most amazing rainbow. It was like we just walked onto a movie set, it was literally that perfect. We turned around as they played Over the Rainbow and saw it. Magical is really all I can say. It was perfection. It was only day two into our trip and the kids couldn't stop talking about how perfect that was and our timing was just right! It was their favorite part of the trip so far!
Thursday was a planned day out on the water that I arranged for us with Captain Steve's Dolphin Lanai Snorkel Adventure. A month before our trip I bought some cheep snorkel gear so the kids could get used to the mask and snorkel in the pool before we went out into the ocean. That def paid off, the kids knew what to do with the gear! I was super nervous that Jack was going to get motion sickness because I knew the boat would be a pretty bumpy ride on a big "boat" which was really just a large orange raft. We took off into the water and had a long ride out to Lanai Island. Jack didn't get sick at all. He was falling sleep more than anything. I didn't expect the ride to snorkel to be so long but the kids loved it. The raft/boat finally stopped at our first snorkeling spot and I was SO excited to get the family in the water and see fish and coral. We were all geared up and ready go jump in!
The first plunge was my favorite! We all just slid into the water with no cares in the world. Honestly I was SO, SO proud of all three of them. None of them had been snorkeling before in the Ocean and honestly it can be such a scary thing. The first time I did it I freaked out and it took me awhile to get used to the water and be brave enough to swim away from the boat. You just jump into a BIG ocean with creatures all over and no end in site. It can be very intimidating and all three of them were so brave and just trusted I knew what I was doing and jumped right in! That didn't exactly last very long. Victor had a hard time adjusting to the waves and floating and trying to swim. He stayed closer to the boat to start with and I took off with the kids, keeping Victor in eye shot. Right off the bat we saw some beautiful coral and some amazing colored fish. Every color of the rainbow, schools of them swimming right below us. Jack lasted about 8-10 minutes and then was done. He wanted to go back to the boat and get out. At that point, everyone had already exceeded anything I had dreamed about so if everyone wanted out, I was ok with that! We swam Jack back to the boat and he got out and sat in the sun with the captain. Victor, myself and Alana spent the next 30 minutes checking out the fish. Trying to keep track of your kids and husband to make sure everyone is ok doesn't leave much time for you to check out the reef yourself. It's such a mom thing, I know, but I couldn't help it. It's way more stressful to snorkel with the family, not in a bad way, but in a way that only a mom could understand. Once the fam was back on the boat my heart was able to slow down!
Our second snorkeling spot was by far my favorite of the two. It was right in the area that we left the dock at, so much closer to shore. Jack decided he was going to be brave and go in again with us. In the meantime Victor's stomach was not doing so well, I wasn't sure he was going to get back in the water, so the kids and I slid in again at the second stop. There was SO many beautiful sea turtles all around the boat and they swam right up to us. Jack was in the water about 5 minutes and then was done again. I swam him back over to the boat and helped him get out and then Alana and I ventured out further from the boat and saw some of the coolest fish and so many more turtles which was such a beautiful experience. As we snorkeled we also saw two sharks under us. That was that. Alana and I both pointed them out and headed back towards the boat. Arm in arm, trying to swim as fast as our fins would push us. We were in no danger, they were only about 10-12 feet long and pretty far down under us, but neither of us cared about that at the time. We both got back up on the boat and had a little freak out. After a minute of letting my heart calm down I decided that I needed to go back out. I wasn't going to be afraid. Victor decided he would join me, so the two of us went back out and left the kids on the boat. We saw so many turtles, which was my favorite part. At one point Victor went back to the boat and I spent the next 20 minutes out with another couple that was on our boat. We went over to this little spot called the "turtle cleaning area". The turtles stopped and let the fish clean them off. There were packs of turtles all together and so many of them. There were some very large ones and a few baby ones. So much fun to see pods of them up close under water.
Back on the boat and all done with snorkeling we had lunch on the boat before we headed back to the harbor where we boarded. The boat ride back was awesome. The kids were more brave than on the way out and sat on the edge of the boat/raft while I made them hang on for their dear lives! It was a very bumpy ride out there with lots of waves and while trying to let them have some freedom but also being scared for their lives, they had a great trip back!
The day started early and was a long day on the water and in the water, but it was perfect. I was just so proud of all of us for getting in the water and doing something that was nothing like they had every done before! At the end of the day, the kids both agreed it was both their favorite part of the trip so far! Music to this mama's ears, every day.
Doing the Hula
According to both Alana and Jack, the fire dancers were their favorite part of the trip so far. Every day was something different but the fire dancers would leave an impression on them.
Saturday we took a little drive out on the Island and found some more spam and a fun little pie place where we picked up a Banana cream and coconut pie to enjoy as we spend the day in a Cabana at the pool with some trips to the ocean. We ate, we relaxed, we slept, we used the heck out of the pool and it's fun little slide. The trips to the ocean were my favorite parts of the day. Allowing myself to go out and just float where I couldn't reach, being pushed back and fourth by the waves was so relaxing in the most beautiful waters! Jack loved being pushed over and under by the small waves. Him and Alana were rolling around in the waves. It's something you just can't do here in CA on our beaches.
Another sunset in Paradise with these crazies!
Sunday was a day where we had nothing planned. We got up attending a Ti lei making class at the hotel.
Into this... some of did better than the others :)
We left the resort to explore the Island, took a beautiful drive into Hana and did a small portion of the Road to Hana. The drive was so green and lush.
On our way back, we enjoyed our first taste of Shave Ice. Super cute little local place.
The kids really got along during our trip which made my life SO much better. They hung out and played well together even in our down time. It made my heart happy.
Another perfect Sunset to watch.
We made one last trip down to Lahina to get some more shopping done. We found some amazing shave ice, done the perfect way and a shop with birds that you could hold. Alana was in heaven.
Dinner that night at the food trucks was yummy and we saw the coolest rainbow while there. So we had some fun with the rainbow.
Our room was right across from where the hotel held the Luau so we got our own personal show the last night which was fun to watch their version while we packed up our bags and enjoyed our last night in Maui.
Tuesday morning came too fast and we headed out. We made one last stop to try the donuts I told them about. We had previously tried to get them twice but it was closed both times we stopped. 3rd time was a charm and they were just as amazing as I wanted them to be.
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