Maui, Part 1

We had the best time in Maui over my birthday! We stayed in an Airbnb condo right on the beach, and it was perfect! We rented a minivan {which the kids loved!} and were able to get around & see the whole island. 

We had an easy direct flight to Maui--I always say this, but the kids are such good travelers!

Hadley & Brady discovered "playaway" audio books right before we left for this trip--they loved listening to their books while we were traveling! Every afternoon when we came in from a morning on the beach, Brady would take his playaway out to the balcony to listen to his story while Derek & I prepped lunch. It was the cutest!

We woke up our first morning in Maui & couldn't wait to look out the windows b/c we arrived the night before in pitch black, unable to see anything. We couldn't believe the view & the fact that we could see whales from our own balcony--it was amazing! Derek & the kids ran to grab some provisions from Wal-Mart for the week while I sat on the balcony whale-watching, chatting with my mom, and reading. {That's Derek & the kids in the picture below checking out the pool & beach before heading to Wal-Mart.}

After eating a quick breakfast in our condo, we raced to the beach as quickly as we could! We couldn't wait to feel the sunshine on our skin & our toes in the sand!

{My mom always loves writing in the sand on our annual Ormond trips, so I got a kick out of the fact that Hadley did this all on her own without any prompting. It reads: "2024 Maui."}

This vacation looked a little different this year b/c it was our first trip during the school year with a middle schooler. It's a lot different coordinating make-up work & missing assignments with one teacher as opposed to seven! Shelby brought her school-issued Chromebook to keep up with a few assignments during downtime in the condo, and I thought this view was pretty cute. :)

I woke up to being 40(!!!) on our second morning in Maui. After home-made cards & gifts and a quick breakfast, we headed out to conquer the Road to Hana! Derek bought an app called GuideAlong, which synced up with his phone's GPS & narrated the Road to Hana for us. Apparently lots of other cities & state/national parks have GuideAlong, and we are already thinking about where we can use it next! It was so fun & really enhanced our drive along the Road to Hana. 

Our first stop before starting the Road to Hana was North Shore, and honestly I think this was everyone's favorite part of the whole day! The views were incredible and it was amazing to see the surfers in action!

We stopped at Hana Farms for lunch. I loved that Brady brought his Diary of a Wimpy Kid to the table with him. 

On our way back from the Road to Hana, we stopped off at North Shore again & were equally as delighted as we were that morning! The ocean was full of wind surfers & the beach was filled with basking sea turtles. It was amazing!

We ended the night with Chick-fil-a for dinner & grabbed mini cakes from Costco on our way back to our condo for a birthday dessert! What a way to ring in my 40th year!

Our third day was forecasted to be a bit dreary, so we decided to check out the aquarium & stop by a few gift shops. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy morning! After lunch it looked like the weather had cleared up, so we decided to play putt-putt. It started barely drizzling as we parked, but we figured it would probably stop soon. Boy, were we wrong! Ha! It proceeded to drizzle/lightly rain the entire time we were there. We ended up playing both courses there & had a great {albeit very soggy} time! Thank goodness for a washer & dryer in our condo! It did finally clear up after dinner, so we had a little time at the beach & pool for calling it a day!

Lots more pictures to come soon!