I’m totally still on island time, if you couldn’t tell. We have been home a week and I’m just getting around to writing about our trip. I must say that the restorative and restful nature of this trip has definitely lingered longer than most vacation effects usually do. Of course I’m only speaking for myself – I’m sure that J. and Nena are not feeling very relaxed at work right now and have surely lost that vacationin’ feeling already.

So, without further ado, the quick-ish version of our vacation with few words and many photos:

“Aloha! We made it, we made it! Aloha!”
There was a little singing and skipping in the Kahului airport after the long afternoon and evening of travel.

Which quickly gave way to a big time crash-out in the car. And getting carried up to the hotel room.

But we were all up and anxious to get going the next morning.
(And yes – the clock really did say 5 o’clock. A.M. when we all got up the first day!)

Below is the view off of our balcony that Addie is enjoying.

So what should we do first?

We pretty much voted to hit the breakfast buffet! The buffet was incredible – everything you could want and more.  The girls and Nena ate there everyday, J. and I missed it a few days when we had early morning dives.

Plus you got to enjoy it in the dining room that had these huge retractable doors/shutters. So you ate overlooking one of the little pools and waterfalls, but it felt like you were eating outside.

Of course that also means you get visits from little birdies looking for a handout.

Next it was off to explore and find the real draw for any hotel…the pool!

Found it. It was a giant, amazing pool. Complete with waterfalls, tunnels, waterslides and a safe little kids area. I’m amazed that I don’t really have any photos of the other side – the kid side – especially since we spent a major portion of every single day down there.

When the pool got old, we would wander a few feet to the beach…

and run from the waves…

…or find treasures.

When we got real ambitious, we buckled everyone in…

…and took a roadtrip or two.

This was north of Kanapaali, after the state road ended, it is essentially a one lane road.
Mountain on one side – cliff and ocean on the other.

But the views were amazing.

And we found a little village, home to a shack that boasted the “Best Banana Bread on the Planet.”
It was good, I’ll give it that, but…Eh, I’ve had better.

The Old Kahakuloa village was still pretty neat. I loved this old church.

Then we had to stop at the stretch with all of the rock statues. People leave these little monuments with rocks precariously balanced on top of one another out in the field…

…some were more daring, out on the edge of the cliff.

Naturally, Em and Ad decided they would build monuments as well.

I don’t know – it looks less like a statue, and a little more like just a pile of rocks.

We also did the road (halfway) to Hana one day. Although it was a little cloudy some days, it only rained on our way back to the airport, the very last day. The Maui upcountry is in a severe drought, and I’m amazed at the lack of waterfalls. That is the one thing I remember from Maui when we were here before. We did find a couple little ones…

…don’t they look like they have had enough?

And then we headed back and had dinner in Paia at Mama’s Fish House.
The girls waiting for the hostess to find a table for us.

This is Mama’s beach. I could have just hung out there all day.

The girls found a place to relax, at least as much as they will allow themselves to relax.

Relax was the key word for the week. I mean I finished three (3!) entire books on the vacation.

J. and I did do some diving  (which was amazing – one of the dives is my favorite #1 dive we have ever done – I’ll have to post the photos/videos this weekend from that!) so it was a little more ambitious those days, but the rest of the time…we did nothing, but relax.
And it felt sooooo good. We explored the hotel when we wanted to – the gardens were really nice (all the flower photos on Flickr are from the hotel grounds!).

And there was all kind of wildlife, penguins, parrots, fish and – flamingos! Addie’s favorite.

Ad and Em trying to imitate the flamingos.  (They already copied the flamingos diets! Shrimp, shrimp and more shrimp!)

J. had the amazing find of the week, though. He found a new-ish restaurant on the beach the last night we were there and we got a prime spot to watch the luau that was literally in front of our window. So we got to see some hula dancing.

I’d say the vacation was complete.

Okay, I want to go back. I’m going to stop now – but there are plenty more photos on our Flickr stream and I’ll be adding more as the weekend goes on.

Alooooooha!