Looks like I lost my groove! We are back home now, and maintaining a fairly zombie-like comatose state, all of us. That's what happens when your flight is in the middle of the night! So to bring this up to speed, day 5 we did the road to Hana and the Oheo Pools Falls. It was absolutely beautiful! I have always had a bit of a waterfall fetish, so it was right up my alley. The road was pretty challenging - at least Sean's mom and the kids and I were all pretty car sick by the time we got there. But it is so lush and green over on that side of Maui (pretty brown on the side where our resort was). We hiked to the Oheo Pools and took a million pictures of the waterfalls!
It was very windy that day, I was afraid the girls might blow away!
The following morning Sean and his dad went on a deep-sea dive. Sean's mom and I took the kids to the Aloha Festival where they had all kinds of booths with art, jewelry, clothes, etc. They had a live band there and hula dancers as well. Some of these dancers were little girls who were about Mackenna's age. Unbelievable that, at that age, they can shake their hips just as fast as the older dancers. We got lunch together in Old Town Lahaina after the boys were done diving, and then Sean and his dad took the kids back home with them. Believe it or not, the girls actually went shopping and got a bit of pampering in WITHOUT THE KIDS! We went to Hilo Hattie's to get the girls their Hawaiian dresses
(took the others back) and then found a little place to get a manicure/pedicure. It was so nice. Sunday morning we went to sacrament meeting at the Lahaina 1st ward and then it was back to the room to checkout. We had to move rooms, so we were in another room for just one night. Spencer loved the window as it went clear down to the floor, and it looked right down onto the pool.
He spent most of that night and the next morning putting his fingerprints/lip/noseprints all over the glass. Monday dawned and it was the first morning that any of us had slept past 6:30 a.m. I guess we were finally all on Hawaii time. I was sad knowing it was our last day, but anxious to get the kids back home to our own routine (the last 3 days at least were full of Mackenna's meltdowns over everything from food to swimming. "What do you want for lunch, Kenna?" "A hot dog!" Five minute later: "I don't like hot dogs!" followed by her dissolving into a fits of weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth). We had to be out of our room in the morning, so we spent most of the day at the pool watching the kids swim. We hit the beach for a little bit and then showered and went to dinner at Leilani's. It is a beautiful restaraunt right on the beach. We doped the kids up good with Benadryl and embarked on the 5 1/2 hour flight to Phoenix; then changed planes and finally made it home! I was relieved to find everything safe and sound when we got back. The cat was still in the back yard and the house was still standing. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I just uploaded all the pics to Costco and there are 175 of them. Now I get to focus on starting Spencer's ewok costume!
It was pretty cool. After lunch Sean's mom and I left the kids behind (all of them.....YES!) and went to the mall for a couple hours. Then the boys picked us up and we went to BJ's Pizzeria for Emma's birthday dinner. We were in 'old town Lahaina' for dinner and there are tons of shops there, it's kind of like an outdoor strip mall. Sean finally found a Hawaiian shirt and I decided it makes no sense to buy Spencer one. When we get home it will be too cold for it, and if I bought him one he could wear next summer it wouldn't fit him now. So he got a hat. Tomorrow we are headed to some waterfall that is on the road to Hana. I am a little worried; I kept seeing t-shirts today that said "I survived the road to Hana" - apparently it is very windy (like winds around a lot, not like wind blowing), and also a long drive. Hopefully we survive it with the kids!! Also I think my cold is finally lifting. I can breathe for the first time in about 3 days.
Unfortunately I didn't think to put sunscreen on Spencer and he is pretty rosy-faced tonight. We hiked around the volcano a little and then went to Ruby's Diner for lunch. We took a walk over to the mall where I was feverishly searching for little Hawaiin print dresses for the girls. We had to carry Emma out of one shop crying crocidile tears and yelling "I want a pink dress!!!!", as they didn't have the right style/size/etc. Finally I did find dresses for the girls - green with pink & purple flowers for Kenna and red with pink flowers for Emma. I also bought them each shell necklaces. After the mall we came back and hit the beach right outside our hotel again. I have a horrible cold, so I didn't feel much like swimming. Sean's mom and I laid on the grass while the boys and the girls played in the ocean. Emma's newest hobby is collecting coral now. She had quite a pile by the end of our beach outing. Spencer wasn't sitting too well by himself, so we decided to take a little walk down the beach to the hammocks. I thought he would like the swinging, but he didn't. When we got back he ate about 3/4 of one of those huge jars of baby food - I guess he was just hungry! Anyway, I hope I can get over this cold soon, it is making me miserable. And I don't want to miserable during the vacation of my lifetime!!
