When in Hawaii, one must venture to a Luau

This was fun even though we got rained on. Nate was ticked off because he didn't get to go 'on stage'. Even though Will looks drunk, he was drinking non-alcoholic beverages. It was a fun night.

Humpback Whales!!

 I had heard that when in Maui from December - April, you didn't really need to go on a whale watching tour to see the whales, that you could just see them from shore. Well, I didn't really believe it until we were driving from the airport to the town we are staying. Dave and I were really tired from the trip but we quickly realized we weren't hallucinating and that in our tired state we were actually seeing whales as we were driving along the coast. Dave tells me that there are 37 whales here each year - I'm sure I have seen each and every one of them. Armed only with my crappy point and shoot camera, I still managed to capture some whales breaching while standing on shore and on our lanai. Certainly not the pics that National Geographic will be after but this is our photographic evidence that we saw whales....not on a boat. But tomorrow we are going on a boat....hope to see them closer up!

IAO Valley

We couldn't resist going back here. It is such a beautiful place. The pictures tell the story.

Paradise at Kahana Sunset

Where we are staying is nothing short of spectacular. This development was recommended to me by a supplier I used to work with. He started coming here 7 years ago and has come every year since. Most our time-share type rentals but the unit I rented was privately owned on VRBO. A great unit that has been nicely upgraded. However it is the outside that really makes this place spectacular. Whether we are in the pool, walking along the beach or standing on the lanai, we can see whales and dolphins continuously. We were in the pool a few days ago and we could hear what I would describe as symbols being crashed together every couple of minutes. We looked towards the beach and could see a whale just slapping his tail and having a grand old time. This went on for about 20 minutes.

We're Backkkkk................

We returned to Maui on March 1, 2014. After a rather unexpected and long journey thanks to a broken plane part, our scheduled 7:30 AM departure turned in to a noon departure but we made it here ready to hit the beach and all things Maui-like. Mission accomplished. Our first spot was the Maui Ocean Aquarium...or in our world "The Fish Zoo". The weather was rainy and 'cooler' hence the unusual need to wear jackets.

No more cribs....

Despite Dave trying to sell me on the fact that the boys should stay in their cribs until they are 14, I finally managed to convince him it was time to get 'big boy beds'.

Dismantling their cribs sure was a way to make me realize that they are no longer babies  (sniff, sniff....and NO Mum - that doesn't make me want to have another (or two)).

Here is the first and last times they were in their cribs...and after all this time, it is still Nate on the left and Will on the right :)



Halloween 2012

2012 marked the first pumpkin carving experience for the boys - according to Nate, the pumpkin was 'sooooo cute'. Will said 'those seeds are so BEAUTIFUL'. We reprised the roles of Pig and Cow for Halloween 2012 - except this time Will was the pig and Nate was the cow. Grandma came along to trick or treat with us.....the boys experienced their first sugar high after trick or treating :)