Today is the final day of our vacation in Paradise. It has been such a fun week. We are leaving this evening for the airport at about 6:30 p.m. Our flight leaves at about 9:00. So that gives us still a whole day to enjoy and savor before we conclude this trip.
The push on the food was still on today. We finished up some cereals for breakfast. I continued doing some loads of laundry in the condo to minimize what I had to do when I get home. We cleaned up a bit then soon after breakfast headed to the beach. Our plan was to spend as much time down there as possible, wear out the kids and just have fun.
We relaxed, played Frisbee, built sand castles, ran around, watched for more whales, swam in the waves, took pictures, napped, and enjoyed the warm sunshine, soft ocean breeze.
The waves were quite a bit larger today as well. The kids have had a lot of practice with them all week so they were able to handle them just fine, especially with the life vests on. They did great.
Mike made a few runs up to the condo for refills on his Mai-tai's, that was one of the items pushing to go.
The boys had great fun running up the sandy banks on the beach, pulling themselves up by the thick vines, and then jumping off the top into the soft sand. That entertained them for a long while until I realized it may not be such a good idea to speed up the erosion process of the area right there. They didn't do any harm, but better to stop before they did. The it was back to collecting lava rocks and sea shells and sand.
If only I could somehow capture the sound of the crashing waves, the tide rolling in and then back out to sea, the breeze through the trees, the giggling and delight in the voices of my kids, the murmur of people talking and laughing and yelling in the distance...the salty smell of the fresh ocean air, occasionally sending sweet aromas of tanning lotions and sunscreen by your nose....the gently breeze dancing through my hair and across the beach, occasionally turning up the edges of the towels or sending a shirt tumbling over itself a few times...if I could somehow capture the warmth of the sun as it beat down on the earth on this tiny island in the middle of the great Pacific Ocean...the feel of the warm, silky smooth sand filtering through my toes......I want to just put it all in a bottle somehow and take it home with me.
We spent a long while at the beach. Aunts, uncles and grandparents came and went throughout the morning and we all played and relaxed together. Then everyone got hungry for lunch. We headed up to the pool and I went into the condo and made sandwiches for our five and we ate pool side. We met up with other there also. A lot of the guys were out and about golfing, I think.
Mike played in the pool with the kids to keep them occupied as I finished up some laundry and started getting things repacked.
As I was packing in the condo, a pale Jenn came in with Ava. She was not feeling well at all and so I took Ava so she could get back up to her condo and rest. Ava and I played for a bit. Then I lathered her up with sunscreen and we headed out to the pool to play with Auntie Sarah and Grandma. They took over with her while I finished up and completed packing.
With packing done, we were able to enjoy our last evening with everyone. People were coming and going, saying good-bye, heading to the airport, heading to go play some more. Mike took a nap after drinking all those mai-tais and before getting on the plane, we thought that would be a good idea. We ran down the the ABC store a couple times to stock up on some last minute souvenirs and stuff for the flight home.
I bathed and put the kids in their jammies and before we knew it, we were watching the last amazing sunset we'd see in Maui for a very long time.
We made a couple sweeps through the condo. Then we packed up the van and Dad took us to the airport, stopping by WalMart on the way to get pillows for the flight.
Then in a blur, we hugged, kissed, bid farewell and were off through security and into the airport. I love that airport! everyone is so very nice and patient and smiley. We got all settled at our gate and I got some hot dogs for dinner. 35 bucks for 4 hot dogs and a couple chips! Wow-zas. I think that was the most we spent on food the whole trip :)
When it was time, we got settled on the plane. It was not a full flight and the guy checking us in had given us a whole row for our family. So, we were able to spread out a bit. Within 30 minutes everyone was out. We started waking up as we flew over California. We were still a bit out of it and Matthew and Niko were still completely out until we entered Arizona.
The push on the food was still on today. We finished up some cereals for breakfast. I continued doing some loads of laundry in the condo to minimize what I had to do when I get home. We cleaned up a bit then soon after breakfast headed to the beach. Our plan was to spend as much time down there as possible, wear out the kids and just have fun.
We relaxed, played Frisbee, built sand castles, ran around, watched for more whales, swam in the waves, took pictures, napped, and enjoyed the warm sunshine, soft ocean breeze.
The waves were quite a bit larger today as well. The kids have had a lot of practice with them all week so they were able to handle them just fine, especially with the life vests on. They did great.
Mike made a few runs up to the condo for refills on his Mai-tai's, that was one of the items pushing to go.
The boys had great fun running up the sandy banks on the beach, pulling themselves up by the thick vines, and then jumping off the top into the soft sand. That entertained them for a long while until I realized it may not be such a good idea to speed up the erosion process of the area right there. They didn't do any harm, but better to stop before they did. The it was back to collecting lava rocks and sea shells and sand.
If only I could somehow capture the sound of the crashing waves, the tide rolling in and then back out to sea, the breeze through the trees, the giggling and delight in the voices of my kids, the murmur of people talking and laughing and yelling in the distance...the salty smell of the fresh ocean air, occasionally sending sweet aromas of tanning lotions and sunscreen by your nose....the gently breeze dancing through my hair and across the beach, occasionally turning up the edges of the towels or sending a shirt tumbling over itself a few times...if I could somehow capture the warmth of the sun as it beat down on the earth on this tiny island in the middle of the great Pacific Ocean...the feel of the warm, silky smooth sand filtering through my toes...
We spent a long while at the beach. Aunts, uncles and grandparents came and went throughout the morning and we all played and relaxed together. Then everyone got hungry for lunch. We headed up to the pool and I went into the condo and made sandwiches for our five and we ate pool side. We met up with other there also. A lot of the guys were out and about golfing, I think.
Mike played in the pool with the kids to keep them occupied as I finished up some laundry and started getting things repacked.
As I was packing in the condo, a pale Jenn came in with Ava. She was not feeling well at all and so I took Ava so she could get back up to her condo and rest. Ava and I played for a bit. Then I lathered her up with sunscreen and we headed out to the pool to play with Auntie Sarah and Grandma. They took over with her while I finished up and completed packing.
With packing done, we were able to enjoy our last evening with everyone. People were coming and going, saying good-bye, heading to the airport, heading to go play some more. Mike took a nap after drinking all those mai-tais and before getting on the plane, we thought that would be a good idea. We ran down the the ABC store a couple times to stock up on some last minute souvenirs and stuff for the flight home.
I bathed and put the kids in their jammies and before we knew it, we were watching the last amazing sunset we'd see in Maui for a very long time.
We made a couple sweeps through the condo. Then we packed up the van and Dad took us to the airport, stopping by WalMart on the way to get pillows for the flight.
Then in a blur, we hugged, kissed, bid farewell and were off through security and into the airport. I love that airport! everyone is so very nice and patient and smiley. We got all settled at our gate and I got some hot dogs for dinner. 35 bucks for 4 hot dogs and a couple chips! Wow-zas. I think that was the most we spent on food the whole trip :)
When it was time, we got settled on the plane. It was not a full flight and the guy checking us in had given us a whole row for our family. So, we were able to spread out a bit. Within 30 minutes everyone was out. We started waking up as we flew over California. We were still a bit out of it and Matthew and Niko were still completely out until we entered Arizona.
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