We left from LAX on Saturday afternoon and had an OK flight. Brooke is a difficult little girl to keep confined for 5 hours at this age. She wanted to be able to get down and move around. We had a seating problem at the beginning of the flight with Penny, Derek, Drake, Brooke and I all in the same three seats. Apparently this is not allowed because there are only 4 oxygen masks that would drop in the event of an emergency. I was nursing Brooke while the stewardess was explaining this to us. It seems Brooke did not like this and she bit down HARD. When I say "HARD" I mean I was screaming. She did not let go. When she finally did we were both crying. I was afraid to look at what was left. Sure enough there was blood. Penny was traumatized by this. This was by far the worst bite out of all three of the kids and I can't believe I ever let her nurse again after that. We landed at 8 PM Hawaii time and were met by Mom and Dale. They already had our rental cars ready. It was a 45 minute drive to the hotel on the other side of the island.
On Sunday we had a nice relaxing day by the pool. They have a wonderful kid area with a huge pirate ship with slides and water canons.
The boys loved it. Brooke also had a wonderful time and even went down the pirate ship slide with Mommy.
Our hotel had great little areas around the property with barbeque set ups. This is where we had lunch. After lunch we swam a little more and then headed to our rooms to get ready for dinner. That night we had dinner at Longboards down by the pool. Since Bryce's 30th birthday was the day before and we were flying all day we celebrated his birthday on Sunday. Mom had a cake for him and everyone sang.
Monday we walked down to Black Rock which was about a 15 minute walk down the beach. The rock is covered with coral just under the surface, and is home to lots of fish and sea turtles. I've never snorkeled before but was quick to learn when I heard there were sea turtles. It was so amazing! I'd never seen fish like that in the wild before and was so close to sea turtles a few times that I could've touched them. It's so relaxing to float just on the surface and let the currents pull you around. I never did get the hang of the flippers. Eventually the Derek and Penny headed up the rock to jump off.
I thought they were nuts. Got some great photos though. Then Derek talked me into jumping. I AM TERRIFIED OF HEIGHTS! But Bryce, Derek and I made our way up the rock. I got side tracked by some tide pools and played with a few hermit crabs trying to delay the inevitable. The Hawaiian legend says that the spirits of warriors left the Earth to meet their ancestors by jumping off the rock. Anyway after standing up there until my suit was dry I crawled to a little lower of a spot and my wonderful little brother jumped off with me.
Stupid me held my nose until just before I hit the water. Salt water feels so good shooting up your nostrils and down your throat. Dale couldn't believe I did it. He climbed up there and jumped off twice too. It was an amazing day.
Tuesday we headed into Lahaina to shop and look at some museums. The boys played on some canons, we checked out the old court house and then made our way to this crazy bunch of rocks in the ocean with one specific rock called the Birthing rock. This is where the town women went to give birth while the ocean water could wash over them and help with the pains of labor. Yeah whatever. All I saw were a bunch of crabs all over it. That sure would be fun squeezing out a kid and being covered by and bit by crabs. Then we headed to Cheeseburger In Paradise. We sat on the second floor where we could see the sunset. After dinner we headed down on to the beach for some sunset photos.
I forgot to say in the beginning that the weather could not have been more perfect. Morning, noon and night it was always the perfect temp. Never needed a sweater. My only complaint would have to be the humidity. My hair never had a chance.
Wednesday was the wedding day. That morning we played by the pool again while Mom had her hair and makeup done. We headed to the wedding spot and met rain along the way. When we arrived it was still showering so they moved the wedding spot to a beautiful pond area near the restaurant. It was so perfect even with the sprinkles. The sun came out during the ceremony and lit them up.
The reception was at the Seawatch restaurant there. It was just the ten of us. The cake was so yummy.
Thursday was a get up early day. Derek, Penny, Bryce and I were going to set out on the Road to Hana. The road to Hana is dangerous. With approximately 600 curves and 54 bridges. Mom, Dale, Derek, and Penny really had me freaked out about doing this. With winding roads, blind turns, constant traffic, distracting views, narrow one-lane roads, cliffs, wet conditions, and lots of deaths. It ended up not being as bad as they let on. We left our hotel a little after 7. Our goal was to pass all the little stuff and head straight for the Seven Sacred Pools. We did stop at Ching's Pond where Derek and Bryce swam in freezing cold water. Even though we doused ourselves with bug spray we could not stop the bites. Took me a while to figure out how I got the one on my butt. The bugs will still find your ass when you squat to pee in the bushes. Our next stop was the Black Sand Beach to eat our lunch. When we parked I saw something in the bushes. Wild Ferrets!?
I couldn't believe my eyes. They sure did like my sandwich crust. We headed down to the beach and I was amazed. BEAUTIFUL! To our right was a lava tube cave.
Of course we had to check that out. Then we hiked up into the lava rock filled hills. The waves were amazingly blue and shot straight up through the rocks.
I could've stayed there and watched the waves all day. They were so calming. Eventually Bryce pulled me away and we headed for the Seven Sacred Pools. We were pretty hot from the hiking at the black sand beach and couldn't wait to swim at the pools. Once we finally got there we were so disappointed. Apparently there was so much rain coming down in the mountains that it was too dangerous to swim in the pools. A man and his 8 year old daughter had been swept over the falls a few years earlier and swept out to the ocean. No one has ever survived a fall over the falls. The water did not look very pretty either.
They did say we could still hike though. The hike to the falls was 2 miles and we would gain 650 feet. We headed up the trail and were amazed with the falls and banyan trees we saw. About a mile up it started to sprinkle. A few minutes later in the bamboo forest tunnel it started to pour.
It was unbelievable! Even as I type this there is no way I can explain the amazingness (I know that's not a word lol) of it. We were soaked. I had my $1200 canon, $350 handycam and crappy cybershot in my backpack. I feared they would not survive but they did. It was pretty scary up there for awhile because the rain was coming down so hard that it turned our paths into waterfalls. We didn't see anyone else for about an hour. We were all alone. Someone had told us earlier along the path that it would all be worth it in the end and it sure was. We eventually heard the falls through the rain and there it was. So tall (400 feet) it was hard to fit in the camera frame.
I had a wet shirt that I tried to use as an umbrella for my cameras and wouldn't have cared if I ruined them. I wasn't leaving without pictures for proof that we made it. About ten minutes after we made it there others showed up and we all exchanged cameras and took photos for each other.
We finally headed back down and chomped on granola bars in the rain. It's funny how on the way up the mountain we giggled about people's dirty shoes and feet. Now we were the ones being laughed at. My shoes did not come home by the way. It was too much fun jumping in the puddles and mud on the way down. Once we made it back down to our starting place there was another loop trail that was a mile total. We did this one and then began our journey back to our hotel. This was the crappiest part of the day. It felt like it took 10 hours to drive the almost 3 hour drive back to our hotel. We were exhausted but it was by far the most awesome part of our trip and the most amazing adventure I've ever been on.
Friday we had another easy day to do whatever we wanted. I wanted to shop some more so Bryce, Brooke and I went to Whalers Village. Tanner, Mason and Grandpa headed back to Black Rock. Derek and Penny left Drake with Mom and went surfing. I must say I had my doubts when Penny said she was just going to rent a board and do it by herself because it couldn't be that hard. Bryce and I spotted Derek and Penny surfing on our way back from shopping. They were doing great. I got lots of pictures of them.
That night we went to a luau at the Hyatt just down the beach.
It was awesome also. I was not too impressed with the pig they buried in the dirt to cook since I would rather not see my dinner whole but it was a good dinner. The fire dancer was my favorite part. Nothing like a hot buff guy playing with fire. lol
After the luau the kids went back to the room with Grandma and Grandpa and Bryce and I headed out for a romantic walk on the beach. We stumbled upon two people getting it on in the shadows, found lots of coral, and just enjoyed the sound of the waves.
Saturday was our day to fly back home but not until 11:30 PM (1:30 AM California time). We went swimming more, packed up all of our crap and headed for Kahalui. Mom had rented another hotel room for us to hang out at while we waited for our flight. We eventually boarded our plane and headed for home. It was sad to come home but at the same time we were ready. Sure didn't like the ash at LAX and chilly weather but at least it was beautiful when we made it up to the desert around 8.
Sorry my story was so so long. I'll be surprised if anyone actually makes it through it all. I think it's more for me to read and remember as I forget over the next few years. :)
