We love our cousins!

We had so much fun playing with our Bentley cousins at the beach house. The kids would all wake up so excited to start the day off with playing with cousins. And we would have to shepherd them all to bed with promises that they could play with their cousins in the morning. It was fun to build such great bonds and relationships with these kids. They all love each other so much!


Karter


Ali

Ali

Karter

Emilee, Ashlyn, Katelyn

Lauryn and Ali in "matching clothes"

Karter, Ashlyn, Brynlyn

Katelyn and Emilee, loved wearing matching clothes

Lauryn and Ali

Ashley and Ali, Ashley looking so thrilled to have her picture taken. ha ha

Surfing/Boogie Boarding

Everyone enjoyed the surfboards and the boogie boards. The waves were great all week long, as well as the weather, so we had plenty of beach time! Bryce even got a free surfing lesson from a fellow surfer, and then he was able to go out there and get up on the surfboard. So much fun!


Mike


Mike

Mike

Bryce and his surfing teacher

Bryce

Mike and Ashlyn

Ashlyn

Ashlyn

Surfing Class

Bryce

More surfing class

Ashlyn

Ashlyn

Zipline Park

We love going to this big and clean park near the beach house. It has a huge ship that the kids can play on and a zipline. And we brought along our bikes and trikes so the kids could play along the paved sidewalks throughout the park. They also have a huge playset and sand area the kids can play in. I didn't take too many pictures while we were there, so this is what I have. It's just such a great park and always a fun thing to do while we're over there.

Sweet Ashley

Mike playing around on the trike

Taking Brynlyn for a quick turn on the trike

Katelyn on the zipline

Bryce is helping the kids get on the zipline

Ashlyn on the zipline

Ty Warner Sea Center

We found another great place in Santa Barbara. It's called the Ty Warner Sea Center. It's a hands-on aquarium for kids. Wow! Such a cool place. There were so many different species of ocean life that the kids had the chance to interact with. They loved every minute of it. We'll go back to this place for sure.

Doing a puppet show with sea creature puppets

Ali, Emilee and Lauryn

Lauryn

One of the hands on aquariums

They would send this big net down into the water and collect ocean life. Then the kids had a chance to sift through what they caught in the bucket and see if anything was alive. If they found something, they would take it over to the microscope and see what they had caught. It was really neat.

Looking in the microscope to identify our catch of the day. Our guide, Caitlin, was from England and had such a great accent. She was so much fun and really helpful.

The week before they had caught an octopus and then quickly realized she was pregnant. She had her 4 tiny babies and we got to look at them under the microscope. They were soooo teeny tiny and adorable. It was amazing to hear about how they will grow and develop.

The kids are sifting through their catch to see if anything was alive.

MIke and Brynlyn checking out the fish through the glass

Karter

These are a certain species of baby sharks. They grow in these little pockets that was laid by the mommy shark and they will grow then eventually push themselves out of these pockets. The one on the far right, second to the end, was moving around like crazy and was farther along than any of the others were.

Sharks in the aquarium. The kids got to pet these sharks.

Sting rays, these guys had the scaliest backs and they felt really rough

starfish

petting the sharks

Stearns Wharf/Oprah's house

We loved going into beautiful Santa Barbara. The Stearns Wharf is a great place to hang out and eat fish and chips.

We had to go find Oprah's house in Montecito, while we were there. We could only see the guardhouse on her expansive property, but it was neat just to check out where she lives. I'm sure her $50 million house there isn't too shabby. =)

Bryce and Tanya are parked in the entrance to her driveway.

The guardhouse at the entrance to her property.

Solvang, CA

We always love a visit to the danish town of Solvang, CA. It's such a quaint, cute, touristy town and we have to indulge on the abelskivers each time we go. Yum!

Ashley and Brynlyn

Solvang Restaurant: home of Arne's famous Aebleskivers

The kiddos paying tribute to Hans Christian Andersen

Abelskivers are like large, round pancake tasting delights. They are covered with powdered sugar and then we dip then in homemade raspberry jam. YUMMM!!!

The kids stood at this window and could watch them making the abelskivers.

Chumash Painted Cave

We took a drive up by Santa Barbara and found this national park called Chumash Painted Caves. It was a cool drive, small, tiny, windy roads all the way up. Not for the squeamish stomach, for sure. It was interesting, at best, but one of our most memorable moments on our trip. Tanya and I decided that this is something our parents would have dragged us to when we were younger. They just loved this kind of stuff. I guess it's true that we really do eventually turn into our parents. ha ha It was truly an adventure and we're glad we went in search of these caves because it was a super fun day. Thanks Uncle Bryce!

Lake Cahuma

On our drive up to Santa Barbara, we found a scenic road that took us to Lake Chuma and the Bradbury Dam Bridge project. We had never been up that way and it was really pretty scenery. We couldn't resist these huge trees.

Ashley

Silly Uncle MJ with Ali and Karter

The Jensen girls

Mike freaked Lauryn and Katelyn out when we walked up behind them when they were sitting on the tree branch.

Bradbury Dam Project at Lake Cahuma

the Jensen clan

The Bentley Bunch

Kayaking

One of the most favorite things to do at the beach house was to kayak in the ocean. Even Bryce convinced Tanya to take a stroll in the kayak. It was all fun and games until the kayak hit a big wave and it tipped...yikes. =)

Tanya and Bryce


Mike and Katelyn

Bryce and Ali

Mike and katelyn

Kayak Pros

Mike and Ashlyn

Bryce and Karter

Karter

Ashlyn

On the Beach

Playing on the beach during this vacation was the #1 thing to do by the kiddos. They had so much fun playing in the sand, building sand castles, burying themselves in the sand, jumping in the waves. Good times.

Various Vacation Pictures

We had a great vacation to California last week. We had a really fun time with the Bentley family. It was very relaxing with lots of time on the beach, playing in the ocean, kayaking, surfing, boogie boarding, dolphin and seal watching, playing games, exploring the cities around us, and BBQing. It's always difficult to leave the beach house because of the wonderful times we have there. We are already planning our trip back next year!!!

Ashlyn, a typical pre-teen girl, spent lots of time chatting with her friends on the phone.

A great view from our deck to the ocean

Katelyn and Emilee soaking up the sun

Now THIS is what I call lunchtime...

Ali relaxing from her busy morning playing on the beach

Brynlyn loved playing on the deck, right next to where I was sitting

Karter and Katelyn hanging out on the deck

Tanya is taking some pictures of all the beach action

Mike is catching some zzzzzz's

Karter thought a nap sounded like a great idea. This cute little guy would go, go, go until he hit a wall, couldn't go anymore, and had to take a nap.

Brynlyn and Ashley

Ashley and Tanya

The kids enjoying some HSM movie time

Karter helping Brynlyn walk along the sidewalk "balance beam"

Mike doing some good old fashioned "bird watching"

Ashley is a doll and the most photogenic little girl. I love snapping pictures of this cutie pie.

So on our long drive to Cali, we saw this guy with his foot hanging out the window. Yep, closer look and we saw his foot was broken and casted, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. Hey, we have to entertain ourselves somehow!!!!! ha ha

Diamondbacks Game

We went to a really fun Diamondbacks event. They were playing an away game in Houston, so we went down to the ballpark and had a "picnic in the park" while we watched the game on the big screen TV. We had a yum picnic lunch, the kids got to run around the bases, they got to practice pitching, practice batting, and then playing outfield. We even had our family picture taken in the dugout and we'll post that picture when we receive it via email. It was a fundraiser for St. Joseph's Hospital, so there were lots of heart families there and we loved seeing them and chatting with everyone. The entire event was dedicated to sweet Ethan, who sadly passed away the night before. It is always a great thing to get together with people we love in support of a great cause that we are passionate about. We have some wonderful memories from this day. Here are a few of them:


The girls standing at center plate.


Bela and Mark, two sweet heart babies. Lookin' good guys!!!



Just chillin' in the dugout.

Brynlyn, Mike, Mark and JR Wright.

Lauryn practicing her swing

Ashlyn practicing her swing

Katelyn knocks it out of the park. Way to go Kate!

Brynlyn takes her chance at bat...with a little help. =)

What an arm on this girl.

Playing outfield

Brynlyn didn't want to quit. She wanted to stand there and throw that ball all night.

Oooo...great pitch, Ashlyn!

Dad and Brynlyn

It's a great day for a picnic...

Hey batter, batter, batter...

Running the bases...

Home Plate

The girls with the Diamondback Girls

Jeanette and Makenna

Some of our dearest friends, the Wengert family, moved away to Pinetop Lakeside over a year ago. We have missed them soo much! We were so used to seeing them every day and it's been sad to not have that in our lives every day. They came down to the valley for a baby shower and so we got the chance to see them for a little bit. It was so fun!


Ashlyn and Makenna


Me and Jeanette

Canyon Lake All-Girls Trip

This was Ashlyn's "end of the year lake trip party" that we promised her in May. Well...it's now September and we had to make good on our promise. So we took 6 of her good friends, along with our other 3 girls and off we went to Canyon Lake.

We left after school so we only had a few hours of sunlight, so we tubed as long as we could and we ate dinner at the dock. The girls had a great time swimming in the lake, tubing , playing on the dock, and just spending time together. It was a great trip!

lots of stuff from August

We went over to Granda and Papa's house for dinner one Sunday night and the girls found Granda's dress up clothes and they had so much fun dressing up and then "performing" for us later. Too cute!

Brynlyn is getting to be kind of sneaky: typical 3 year old! She loves to stash my make up bag, hide in my bedroom, and dump the bag out, pouring through the make up like it's gold or something. This is how I found her sneaking it today.

Hmmm..I wonder where Brynlyn could be hiding??? ha ha

Brynlyn is all ready for school. She loves to play school all day and walk around with her back pack on until it's time to go.

She found Ashlyn's swim goggle and would not take them off. I think she was feeling pretty cool with them on.

More Dora back pack modeling. You can't have too much of that, of course.

Beginning of the school year, father's blessings. Favorite tradition.

Happy 9th Birthday Katelyn!

Happy 9th Birthday Katelyn Grace! We sure love you and are so grateful that you are a part of our family. You are awesome. Have a wonderful year!

First Day of School and Meet the Teacher

August in Arizona means...time to go back to school! After a 2 month break and really, really fun summer, it was time for our kiddos to get back to routines, schedules, friends, homework, after school activities. No more lazy days of summer and sleeping in (sadly).

Brynlyn started a new preschool (developmental) program. There are 8 kids in her classroom and she gets speech therapy, OT therapy, and PT therapy at school, which is great! It's really close to our house, but she still gets to ride the bus (which she loves! And her bus drivers are the best!) She goes 4 days a week for a few hours. It is definitely the highlight of her week and she is loving her classroom and her teacher, Ms. Erin.


Janelle and Jackson came to see Brynlyn off on her first day of school.


Mom and Dad, sending Brynlyn off into the big, wide world. I don't know who was more scared then: US or Brynlyn! ha ha



Strapped into the bus, Dora backpack in tow, all ready for school! Giddy-up!

Chillin' out with Jackson before school. It was so sweet that her BEST FRIEND in all of the world came over to wish her well on her first day.

Dad even came home for this big occasion.

We're both feeling a little anxious and nervous right about now...

Jackson, Janelle and Brynlyn. Jackson was sure to Janelle that only Brynlyn was going on the bus today. He was just fine to stay at home with Mommy. So cute!

Such a big girl...

Katelyn and Lauryn before school. They were so excited to go. Lauryn started a new school this year, joining her sisters at Ben Franklin. She was nervous, but also excited to see what this new school was all about and to meet new friends.

Katelyn is so excited to start 3rd grade.

Lauryn is starting 1st grade.

Ashlyn and Camryn, in their aero clothes, all ready to go! Such cute girls.

Watch out 6th grade...here comes Ashlyn!

Brynlyn and her preschool teacher, Ms. Erin. This was meet the teacher night and she and Brynlyn were instant friends.

Ashlyn with Ms. Worthen, her 6th grade teacher. She's awesome, we love her already!

Lauryn with Ms. Morris in 1st grade. She was so excited to meet her new teacher and check out her new classroom. She's going to have a great year.

Ashlyn and Jade, hanging out in the classroom.

Kendyl and Ashlyn got to choose their seats right next to each other for the 1st day of class. They are so excited to be in the same class again this year.

Katelyn sitting at her new desk. Katelyn's assigned teacher had to quit due to a family emergency. SO...she was getting a new teacher, Mrs. Youngs, who wasn't going to be there for the first week. So she had Mrs. Becker as her sub and then Mrs. Youngs started the second week. We already love Mrs. Youngs. She is such a neat teacher, and Katelyn knew her as a substitute from the few years before.

Aloha from Hawaii!

Friday, day 2: Iao Needle, Costco

We discovered this gem of a spot on Maui called the Iao Needle. It was this huge, lush mountain and you felt like you were in a tropical rainforest when you were walking in it. There was a bridge to cross and underneath were shallow swimming pools with waterfalls that led to more swimming pools and more waterfalls that led to even more swimming pools. We quickly discovered that this is a "local hangout" for the teenagers on the island. There was a really fun group jumping off the rocks into the water and we loved hanging out with them, getting to know what their world is like. They were so nice and it really became one of our favorite spots. The girls didn't have their swimsuits with them, so they didn't jump into the pools, so we made plans to come back soon (with swimsuits and towels).


the lush Iao Needle area


Mike climbing trees again

Hey wait a minute, their Costco is just like our Costco! Imagine that...

Another favorite place on the island is Paia. It's a very small ecletic, hippy type town on the way to Hana. This town is so great and I love it! The welcome sign when you're driving in says: "Welcome to Paia. Please don't feed the hippies." ha ha ha

The Paia Fish Market (in the picture on the top right) has THE most amazing fish and chips and coleslaw. We ate there four times this trip.

The Iao Needle

Cliff jumpers into the shallow swimming pools (only 6 feet deep). It was making THIS mother so nervous whenever they would jump. ha ha

Mike and the girls met up with one of the locals. He was so cool and fun to chat with. We nicknamed him "the scraper" (the story is just too long to tell so I'll spare you of any details.) We really think he is a direct descendent of the famous deceased Hawaiian singer IZ. He looked JUST like him!

Mike and the girlies climbing trees having some great daddy/daughter bonding time

Thursday, day 1: Maui, Hawaii - July 2009 - Getting There

Aloha!!!

In July, we went on a fabulous vacation to Maui, Hawaii. We took the 3 older girls and left Brynlyn in the wonderful, caring hands of Janelle, Eric and Jackson.

You can see Janelle's blog (click on the link on our home page) for pictures of their time with Miss Brynlyn. She had a most fantastic time with them and it was a really, really difficult adjustment for her (and for all of us) when we came home because she just completely made herself at home with them. Mahalo for taking on this "event" and for taking such fantastic care of her!!! You guys are so awesome.

If I could only choose ONE place to travel to for the rest of my life, THIS would be the place. It represents total relaxation, a much slower way of life, lots of time with my ohana (family), an outdoor lifestyle and simple and pure enjoyment for myself, my husband and my keikis (children). The "Aloha spirit" really is so tangible and is felt immediately from the time you step off of the airplane to the time you have to go home. There's something very magical and intoxicating about it, that just keeps drawing me back.

We made some amazing memories with the girls and we are incredibly grateful to have had the chance to visit the islands again.


Chris, we owe you bigtime for the car!!!! Thank you again for hookin' us up with a minivan. I knew it was painful and hilarious to see pics from our rental car last year. You are the bomb and helped us out so much. We don't have to worry about packing light now!! ha ha


Only in Hawaii...two identical convertibles...four surfboards hanging out the back ends...too funny!


Imagine that...an outdoor airport. Now this for sure wouldn't work in good ol' AZ. After two flights, we are finally here and ready to party Hawaiian style!

Ashlyn pointing out on the airplane's traveling map. We're flying over the ocean. The flight over was fine, except for the TV's not working, although the games did. So Ashlyn entertained herself on the plane by playing trivia pursuit and chess against other passengers on the airplane.

Katelyn and Lauryn entertained themselves with their littlest pet shops. They had their own little town set up.

As far as Mike was concerned, one word: IPOD!

There were lots of musical chairs on the plane. Are we there yet???

Saturday, day 3: Swap Meet, Iao Needle, a BIG surprise

My husband is so amazing and planned this incredible surprise for me. At sunset, on Kaanapali Beach, with a romantic speech planned out, he surprised me with a new wedding ring! I could hardly believe it when I saw it and I was completely SPEECHLESS. (which is tough to do, I know ha ha) All I could say was, "Are you asking me to marry you again?" ha ha

I have been looking at this ring for a year now, but I've never felt like it was the time to get it and had just told myself it wasn't going to happen and that's fine. He bought it without me even knowing it, had it sized for me. Amazing! I can't believe he pulled it off and it makes me tear up everytime I put on the ring, just thinking about all of the planning and effort it took on his part to do this. It's a great moment in my life I will never forget!

I love him a million times before he even did this, and I would still love him even if he hadn't done this. I thought that taking me to Hawaii was a good enough gift. He knew this was something I was wishing for and I appreciate him for doing this wonderful gesture for me.

Iao Needle. As promised, we took the girls back to the Iao Valley so they could swim. However, the weather changed a little that day and it was cooooold! The water was absolutely freezing, but the girls still jumped in and played around for a while.

On the bridge over the valley

The Maui Swap Meet. This is a photographers meca. It was fun capturing the local flavor and natural color of the island on camera.

This was neat. This lady wrote a book about some Hawaiian turtles and so we bought an autographed copy of her book along with some stuffed turtles and then she even posed with the girls in this picture. That is her granddaughter with her. So fun to meet a local artist.

Overlooking the Maui Swap Meet

Mike insisted on trying this pure coconut milk. The look on his face said it all. "Ewww! This is gross!" ha ha

This Hawaiian couple sat there and cut and shelled the cocunuts.

Sunday, day 4: Church, Hula Pie

Hula Pie is one of our favorite treats when we come to Hawaii. It is absolute perfection with macadamia nut ice cream at the base, drizzled with chocolate sauce and macadamia nuts with whipped cream on top and it covers almost an entire plate, so it's big enough to share with a friend...or two...or three...or four...or five... YUMMMM!!!!

We love going to church to the Lahaina 1st Ward. The building is really close to our hotel and it's the ward we've been to 3 times now. Atleast half of the building is visitors (or so it seems) and it's always fun to say hi to people we've seen around on the island (or on our airplane over.) It's such a great feeling to know that the church is true and consistent wherever you are at in the world.

These pictures were taken back at our hotel after church. The camera was on the wrong setting, but I loved how these pictures turned out with kind of a "soft focus" look to them.

In front of the church building

Monday, day 5: incredible views, swimming in the Pacific Ocean on Kaanapali Beach

A sunset view from our balcony

Lauryn soakin' up the sun at the hotel pool

Katelyn sporting shades

Katelyn, this is a normal look from her. =)

"Surfing" in the ocean

Ashlyn strikes a pose by the pool

Lauryn

more surfing in the ocean

The girls loved playing in the ocean and begged us to be down at the ocean all of the time. It's a great beach to play on and it's so close to the pool hotel. The location could not be any better.

When I took this picture of the girls, I knew it was going to be one of my absolute favorites. They were having so much fun, looking cute in their swimsuits. Standing on Kanaapali Beach with the island of Lanai in the background. Right after I snapped this shot I told them, "Do you guys realize how lucky you girls are right now? This does not happen every day. I hope you enjoy every moment of every day. Because when we're home, you'll be wishing that you were right back here on this very beach."

These shots are all views from the balcony from floor 12, from our room. Gorgeous! I love this resort. It's really nice, although there are way nicer resorts in comparison. This resort feels like home to me. Very family friendly, great pool, fantastic beach location. Yep, it's home...

island of Lanai

Tuesday, day 6: Ahihi-Kinau Cove, Wailea, Kihei

We visited this area called Ahihi Cove, near Wailea. It's located in the Ahihi-Kinau Marine Reserve. It's full of lava rock from the volcanos millions of years ago. The views of Molokini Crater are amazing and beautiful! The kids loved climbing all over the lava rock and finding sea critters hiding in the little tidepools that were created in between the rocks.

You can see a tiny shape of Molokini Crater far away in the ocean behind where Lauryn is standing in this picture.

Tuesday, day 6: Maui Sunsets, Rainbows, Lahaina Nightlife

A few nights while we were over there, we'd get the girls settled for the night with take-out for dinner (usually Subway) and get them started watching a movie and then we had a chance to go on a "date night." The girls never wanted to come with us because they were too tired from the days activities and they just wanted to rest and chill out at the hotel. Fine by us. =)

The nightlife in Maui is usually in Lahaina. The ocean front stores stay open until about 10:00 and restaurants are serving until then. It's a great place to people watch and just to hang out, shop, walk the streets, get dessert, see a play or musical or movie. One night we went to a magic show called Warren and Annabelle's Magic. It was soooo neat and alot of fun. It was a higlight of our trip and we had a great time.


Eating a Hula Cookie Ice Cream Sandwich. Oh wow, these were soooo delicious!!

Hula Pie! We always said, "Oh we'll never finish this by ourselves." Well, we always did. Hmmm....I guess we weren't so full from dinner afterall. ha ha

Trying on some new digs in one of the many, many shops along Front Street in Lahaina.

At Warren and Anabelle's Magic Show

A great thing about Hawaii is that there are always rainbows wherever you go and atleast you see one once a day. Living in the desert where rainfall is scarce, this is such a wonderful, rare beauty and it always made us smile when we saw one.

It is an absolute fact that the sunsets on Maui are the best! They even beat Arizona sunsets, which is a tough thing to do. One of our favorite things to do is to stop and watch the sunset no matter what we are doing at the time. They are beautiful!!!

Wednesday, day 7: Snorkeling at Molokini and Turtle Town/Maalea Harbor

We spent a day snorkeling off the coast of Molokini Crater. This is technically how Molokini was created:

"This aquatic wonder was created when an undersea vent, held under pressure by the ocean's weight, busted loose with lava and ash, building up what we call a tuff cone. The northern half has been eroded away by wave action, creating a semi-circular reef far enough offshore to be clear of runoff or sand. So underwater visibility is nearly always 100 feet, sometimes 180 feet."

WOW!!! Like that is sooo totally cool! ha ha

They also said this is one of THE TOP Scuba Diving locations in the world. Well, now I can see why! =)

It was really incredible. We decided to rent the wetsuits for the day because it's far away from any island shoreline. (It took us over an hour to reach Molokini by catamaran.) So the water temperature is much, much colder than it would be near shore. And the logic was that maybe we would stay out in the water longer because our bodies would be warmer. It worked! We were nice and warm and cozy in our wetsuits and we spent over an hour at each dive/snorkel location checking out the marine life.

Although Mike felt like he was going to be shark bait because he thought he would look like a giant seal in his wetsuit and surely a shark would go right after him mistaking him for a seal. So he didn't wear his wetsuit, but he also encouraged US to wear OURS! Hmmm....so the sharks would go after US instead of after HIM so he could make a clean getaway??? Ahhh, my hero.....ha ha ha

Whatever Mike....we looked so much cuter in our wetsuits anyway. Ha!

We were so proud of our girls. They were really brave. Last year, they refused to even get out of the boat. This year, they were jumping right in, put their snorkel gear on and went to town. (Confession: We totally practiced snorkeling in our pool before we left to hopefully avoid another "incident" from last year.) ha ha

Katelyn was even the #1 Turtle Spotter in our group. I finally told her, "Listen, when you see a turtle, just tell me quietly so we can enjoy the turtle for a while by ourselves without all 500 people around us." ha ha ha The girls were total Snorkel Rockstars and it was a great day. By far, one of our favorite days on our vacation.


Ahh, the water is really that blue. These pictures are not "photoshopped." ha ha


The non-snorkel side of Molokini. Years ago, the US government used this crater as target practice for their cannons. You can see remnants of their damage to this crater.

Driving to Molokini, with Maui behind us.

Oooo, can you say "christmas card picture???" ha ha

On the catamaran, following the boat tour.

Seriously, Santa Claus was on our boat!!! For a living, he manages stand in Santas. He used to be one himself. He was so cute! I even loved his red swim trunks. He even gave us one of his big belly laughs. Too cute! And no, his wife did not look like Mrs. Claus. =)

Shark Bait

Lookin' good girls.

Lauryn, right before we snorkeled. I think she's lookin' a little nervous here. Can you believe how blue that water is???

Thursday, day 7: Road to Hana, Paia Fish and Chips, Luau,

We headed towards Hana on the infamous Road to Hana. With 3 children in tow, you generally don't get very far into the road before it's time to turn around. ha ha

We made it to one of our favorite stops: The Twin Falls Fruit Stand. They have the most delicious "Dream Bars" that are like cookie bars with macadamia nuts (to die for and worth extra trips over there just to buy those. Yum!)

We took a short hike to some pretty waterfalls and to some pool. The girls didn't swim, but they had fun catching little minnows that lived in the pools.

Paia Mahi Fish and Chips are close to the Road to Hana so we had to stop and eat there. The girls weren't wanting fish so we bought them Happy Meals from McD's and they were happy as clams. Ashlyn wasn't digging on the fish either so she always got a bean/cheese quesadilla whenever we went. What is wrong with these girls? Don't they realize how fresh and yum this fish is???

Sitting on the deck one morning. Ashlyn is trying to wake up and MIke is already checking his emails.

Wearing pretty leis that were given to them after they did the hula

At the luau...fun stuff!

Katelyn is so funny. When they handed her this pretty glass of POG (pineapple, orange, guave) she thought it looked so tropical and she said, "Mom, this drink looks like a sun is setting on a deserted island." What such description! ha ha

Cute poses in front of the waterfall

Our last morning walk on the beach. This was so sad to face reality that we had to go home...

Eating Pickled Mangos. YUMMMMM....

Maalea Harbor, following our Molokini adventure

At the hotel on Tuesday and Friday nights, the would set up this huge screen and play a "movie by the pool." It was so much fun! ONe night we bought a Costco Pizza and ate by the pool while we watched Madagascar 2. The other night, we watched Prince Caspian from Narnia. So much fun. We loved that the hotel did this.

Eating yum and huge snowcones from Hula Cookies.

The girls are getting ready to watch the movie

Friday, day 8: Haleakala Crater, going home

Our last day in Maui, we visited the amazing Haleakala Crater. This is an event you must plan for and go and do. The ride up to the summit of the crater is one you've never been on ever before. You reach an elevation over 10,000 feet in just a few hours. The weather changes 3 different times while on this ride. At one point it's very foggy with almost no visibility to see while driving. That was rather nerve wracking considering the small roads. Then you come to a part where you are literally in the clouds and what an airline pilot would consider "turbulance." It's rainy and windy. Then when you are closest to the summit, all of a sudden the weather clears, the clouds clear and are all below you, and it's crystal clear beautiful blue skies. Gorgeous! And it's not 80 degrees and humid anymore. It's a cool and crisp 50 degrees and quite cold and extremely windy. This was like no other adventure and it was so much fun. I'm thrilled we took on the adventure to go up there.


This is on the flight home after our layover in SLC. The girls were exhausted!


This is in the Maui airport and our children are definitely out to make new friends. They met these kids with a bunch of Nintendos, so the girls grabbed their games and they had a carpet party right in the middle of the aisle. Our flight was delayed an hour so I was glad the kids were finding ways to keep busy and not be extremely bored while waiting for the plane.

Mike with the girls at the Haleakala Crater Summit.

Beautiful!

I love this picture because if you look through the clouds you can see down to the ocean.

Freeeezing up there.....brrrr.....

We are literally above the clouds. So cool!

Friday, day 8: Turtle Row

On Friday morning, we went for a drive to go exploring just towards the northern part of the island, just a few miles north from where we were staying. I saw this small park with a parking lot that had the most beautiful view of the ocean and I just had to take a picture of it. So Mike pulled the car over and we quickly discovered that this little beach/cove area was a big feeding area for the turtles. We climbed on the rocks and watched these huge beautiful turtles just hanging out in the water, feeding off the vegetation growing on the rocks. It was so neat! One local said they called that area "Turtle Row." We're definitely putting this place on our "to do again" list.

Hookipa Windsurfing Park and more Hawaii favorites

This is the Hookipa Windsurfing Park. It was so neat to go and watch the windsurfers do their thing. This is a top windsurfing beach in the world primarily because it's sooo windy. The girs were trying to stand up against the wind, but the wind was much stronger than they were. It's also a quaint and fun little area to hang out.

This is the view of the water from our room the day we were leaving. The water was sooo clear this day that you can actually differentiate between where the coral reef begins and ends in the ocean. Beautiful.

This was a sign in Paia. Hilarious!!! Only in Hawaii...

I loved how these surfboards looked against this building.