Day 6/7 Last Day & Home and Misc Photos

Went to Kapalua Beach one last time and the Ritz one last time. Drove to Front street again for dinner. View from our Condo in this batch. Rick also making fresh pineapple rings.

Day 5

Got up early to get in line at the Gazebo in Napili. Macadamia Nut pancakes were amazing. Went back to the Ritz so the kids could swim. Drove to Iao Needle, stopped for Guri Guri again. Went to this nature walk thing and ended up on this beach- all to ourselves. It was the best beach for seashells. We collected a bag full and I think we had Maui Tacos again. Gecko night too.

Day 4

Drove to the Ocean Center Aquarium, then went to Kameole Beach- got sand blasted by the wind. Stopped at Hilo Hattie and used the tourist coupon trap for $7.95 to open an oyster guaranteed to have a pearl. Abby got her first pearl! Drove to Kihei to visit the outdoor craft shops and back to Front street for dinner at Cool Cat Cafe.

Day 3

Started at the Ritz pool, then drove on the one lane road/cliff to get banana bread. I'm still thinking of that banana bread! It's a good thing she ships it... Drove to Tasaka's for Guri Guri (the best ever) and then to Paia to visit the shops and ate dinner at Flatbread Pizza.

Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1- travel day. I stuffed the kids' backpacks full of new items and they weren't allowed to open them until we got to the airport. They had plenty to keep them busy on the plane with reading books, puzzles, coloring books, airplane decal set thingy, view master mother load, movies, invisible ink do-dad thing, a wooden pencil scratchy color thing-a-ma-jig, modeling clay and they each got a toy.

Day 2- Tried to keep us all on Portland time we had a whale watching trip booked and had to be at the dock at 5:45am. Fabulous way to start the trip! We followed a whale for a bit and then found a mama and her baby- unbelievable! They also had a male escort and we got to hear him sing. Truly a great day. After that we ate a bigger breakfast on Front street, walked around and then hit Kapalua Beach. Wrapped up the day stopping at Maui Tacos for dinner. Sidenote- Abby sliced the bottom of her foot on one of Aidan's race cars the night before we left so we had to keep bandaids and neosporin on hand for that. When we got to the boat dock Aidan started crying about his foot- we took off his shoe and found 2 blisters so we basically had to carry him everywhere the entire week. We kept bandaids and socks on and he wore his water shoes but he was still hurting.

Weekly Rambles

Rick's been running consistently for about 3 months now... I'm so proud of him for sticking with it. He just wanted a 5 year long hiatus. Abby moved up again in swimming! She also told me that Fursday and Friday both start with F, and... she's right! Minivan is in the shop... I meant to take pictures but forgot. It really wasn't that bad, the damage was just in random spots.



May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. - Romans 15:13

According to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God
- Ephesians 3:16-19

The ears say it all

He's tired... not only does he have the attitude to prove it, the ear indicators are working overtime.

Weekly Loves

• warm towels right out of the dryer
• 15 miles yippeee (had a bad cold)
• purple crayon on Cooper's crate. Guess it needed some decorating. really i love this- it just screams childhood.
• taking the kids out to dinner where they say thank you over and over like it's the best thing that's ever happened to them
• balsamic roasted red potatoes (i'm a foodie what can i say)
• oreo ice cream sandwiches (what's not to love????)
• i didn't crash the car this week :-)
• the love and offers from everyone to help get us to the airport
• cleaning house at night after work so i don't have to spend all day saturday doing it
• the smell of ginger peach tea
• new toilet seat with a built-in kid's potty seat. why oh why did we not invent this??

Car accidents, colds, and complaining

The kids and I were in a car accident on Friday. It was completely my fault- I was at a stop sign in our neighborhood turning left and there was a parked car on the street- I didn't even see this lady coming and I pulled out right in front of her. Our minivan is pretty banged up :-( Our neighbor on this street is a police officer and he heard the crash from his house- he was there in a matter of seconds. I am so grateful!

Thankfully no injuries. We all stayed home yesterday to make the necessary calls, fill out the accident forms etc. Rick came home from work to get the estimate done and he drove me to the grocery story before going back to work. I'm still shaken up by it, I'm sick about the $500 deductible.... and right before our trip to Maui. Coming off of these types events, makes you feel (me at least) incompetent yet humble... but I've realized that you just gotta keep on keeping on and get back in a car and drive. I say humble because I am the WORLD'S biggest backseat driver. My poor husband takes so much lip from me...

One of my coworkers came to work sick last week and I was thinking how this would be bad timing if the kids get sick right before our trip... they both ended up with mild colds and now Rick and I have the worst of it I think. It's just one of those weekends where I just want to crawl under something and hide. The car doesn't go in the shop until the 19th so we are now trying to figure out how to get to the airport without spending an arm and a leg on door to airport service. If anyone has any recommendations on a cheap shuttle service please send our way.

I was in the car with the kids this morning and Aidan keeps saying "Mom you broke the car" or he'll point to another car on the road and say, "Mom, you crash that car too?" or "Mom you crash that lady and broke the light" and on and on. Lasting imprint on a little mind.

and this too shall pass. I couldn't come up with a list of things I loved this week except roasted brussel sprouts. I love those and well, obviously the fact that everyone is safe. If I had pulled out any faster she would have hit Abby's side. God is great.