Pajama Snuggle

We miss you Halmoni. Move here!!!!

I miss Maui

It's still cold outside!!! Not too cold but cold enough that you have to wear a jacket. sigh. I keep looking at the Maui pictures and wish I could be back there. It seemed so carefree....and then I turn on the news and it is grim. That's why I keep looking at the Maui pictures.

Maui

We just came back from our first trip to Maui. It is absolutely gorgeous there. Gorgeous! Weather, exotic plants, flowers everywhere. We had a great holiday.

The resort we stayed at was so comfortable. It felt like home. We loved the spaciousness of it, the kitchen, having a washer/dryer in the room and the convenience of walking out to the pool or to the beach in minutes. We were joking that we wanted Papa to buy us one unit all week long. James and I want to retire to Maui. We were counting down to how many years until the kids are all grown up and don't need us. Seriously it was that beautiful.

We went and enjoyed the hot tubs as a family. The pools were so beautiful and probably the nicest ones I've ever been in. The pools were all interconnected to each other and it felt like there was private spots for your family to enjoy the pool even though there were hundreds of others in there too. The waterslides were awesome too. I thought of how much Romy, Victor and Edouard would have loved it there. And how much Hudson and Devin would have loved the shallow pools.

Alex and Rachel lounging. Can you spot Papa and Soph in the background. Papa liked to hang out at the hot tub A LOT!

We went to a Luau one night. It was so much fun. They greet you with Mai Tai drinks and give you leis. The whole night was so entertaining and it felt very 'Hawaiian'.

Sonia, Daniel and Brandon.

Hula dancers.

Cousins. All the cousins got along so well together.

James' parents enjoying the luau.

Alex wore 2 leis with a big smile. Sophia took hers off and Alex gladly wore it for her.

Yum. How can you not like a drink with a pineapple as a garnish?

The whole gang in the picture below.

We went snorkling one day. The grandparents watched Sophia and the rest of the gang went out to Molokini Crater. There were so much coral and fish to look at. I have to admit when I was helping my girls down the ladder into the cold Pacific Ocean I was wondering what had possessed me to think that his would be a good idea. But the girls loved it. They had their faces in the water with their snorkling masks on the whole time. The hour here passed by SO quickly and before we knew it it was time to get back on the boat.

This second location is Turtle Arches. Home to many large green sea turtles. The girls and I entered the water and within minutes they wanted to return to the boat. They were cold, their lips were turning blue and their teeth were chattering. I was so disappointed because I really wanted to see the turtles so I encouraged them to keep moving to keep warm. But I think they were freaked out at the possibility of running into an eel, an octopus or jelly fish as the guide had told us about. So we returned back onto the boat. It didn't take long for me to start feeling seasick. When the boat is not moving and is bobbing up and down I can't cope. That hour was not so fun. But when the boat started moving again and we spotted SO many acrobatic whales I totally perked back up. The whales were so incredible to watch.

We talked to a local guy and he told us where to go to see turtles. So in the end I did get to see the turtles in a Bay that was about 10 minute drive from our place. You could see SO many of them swimming in the bay so I was very happy.

We had breakfast almost every morning on our balcony. Such a pretty view.

We had drinks at the bar/restaurant one afternoon to the tune of 45 bucks. That's when we realized how spoiled you get when you go to an all inclusive in Mexico and you order drinks all day long for free.

The girls enjoyed the best shaved ice cone. One side was coconut and the other was banana and the lady put a scoop of vanilla ice cream at the bottom. They licked that bowl clean.

We enjoyed Maui so much. But of course we couldn't just go on a holiday without a little bit of stress thrown at us. The last night we were there, Papa had the news on right before we were going to bed and saw the news on Japan. We were horrified to watch the destruction and we watched video footage of the tsunami in Japan. Then the news started mentionning about the tsunami coming to Hawaii. The short version is that we had to pack and evacuate in about 30 minutes. We were sent to higher ground and we slept in our car. The images of the tsunami that I had just seen was etched in my mind, the aerial sirens were blaring throughout the island, we were surrounded by hundreds of cars and thousands of people and we waited 5 hours for the tsunami to hit at 3am. I totally thought it was the end for us. I was as stressed out as I was during Sophia's heart surgery. Totally helpless and at the mercy of fate. But luckily Hawaii was spared and we were able to return to our condo the next day and made it home safely. We will definitely be going back to Maui but not too soon. It's still too fresh in my mind.