Maui

This year has been the year of the beaches!  We have traveled to a lot of beaches in the past year and a half, but our beach travels will probably come to rest for the next year.  I don't like bringing little babies to the beach. (Once they stop eating the sand, then it is a lot easier). So, our most recent beach vacation was Maui.  If you haven't noticed we love Hawaii, and so do our kids. This trip was for them before baby brother comes.  It was not relaxing for me at all, and if you were to ask me if I would take three little kids to Hawaii while in my 3rd trimester again, I would say "No!"  It was exhausting for me as the mom, and I am still recovering.  I still love Hawaii, though, and will be back again someday!

We rented a jeep for the trip, and the roof in the front seat could come off, so Josh took it off for our first day.  I made him put it back on after that, though, because the sun was too hot without the roof to block it.  It made for a windy ride while it was off, and the kids thought it was pretty fun!

 

Before hitting up the beach, we started at the Maui Flea Market, where we got some cheap souvenirs and fruit.

We were all hot by the time the flea market was over, so our first beach was Baby Beach where the waves were calm because of an outer reef.  This was also the best snorkeling. Payson and Avenly even went out with me after Josh found a big turtle for us to go see.

We were going to go to another beach that day, but the one we wanted to go to was really close to the crazy fatal shark attack that happened that same day, so we ended up checking into the hotel after getting some food at the grocery store.  We went swimming, and Josh grilled us some fish for dinner that night. We had fun swimming at some of the best pools.  They all had water slides, and the kids favorite thing to do was jump in.

The playground was right by the grills.  Our kids had it all to themselves!

After church on Sunday we met up with Josh's cousin, Erin, and her little boy. I didn't get any pictures, but the kids had fun playing with their 1st cousin once removed, and we enjoyed talking with Erin.  Our main activity for the day was going up to see the dormant volcano.  Payson drilled Josh and I with questions about volcanoes.  He really wanted to see lava like we did on the Big Island. At the top of the volcano, we were above the clouds.  It was pretty neat.

Monday was another big swimming day at the beach and pools.  This beach was different from Baby Beach in that the waves were big and crashy.  The two older kids loved running in the waves closer to shore.  Zaylee was a little scared, so she would not let go of my hand.

This resort had super cool slides that even this big pregnant lady and Zaylee went on.  There were about 6 or 7 slides that started at the top and went from one pool to the next down to the bottom.  They were small slides, but we had fun as a family going down them together.  Josh also got  to jump from the rope swing and go down the bigger slide.

We like to jump around hotels, so we can try different pools and such.  I don't usually mind, but this time it wasn't much fun for me changing every day since I am so pregnant.  Anyway, the plan was to just keep our swimming suits on and go swim in the pool at the next hotel.  I didn't want to do that, so I changed, which made everybody else want to change.  It was good they did because we found some really picturesque places on a drive we did so Zaylee could take a nap.  These were the kind of places you just wade your feet and not swim because the waves were choppy against the rocks.

When we finally made it to our next hotel, we put our swimming suits back on and headed back to the pool.

We planned to do the Road to Hana our last day, but I woke up not feeling very good, and the kids were pretty tired, so Josh went to the beach to snorkel with others who were on the beach, while I tried to sleep and the kids watched tv.  We made it to the Road to Hana after eating lunch, but only did one stop at Twin Falls along the way because after the falls we realized the road was pretty windy, and we just didn't care to keep going.  Zaylee had already thrown up in her car-seat the day of the volcano from windy roads.

Twin Falls, however, was a great little hike for our family.  Payson loved taking pictures with his own camera, and there was enough shade where I didn't die from the heat.

There was a lookout of the ocean on the way back down the Road to Hana from Twin Falls.  We planned to stop there, but Josh noticed there was a stretch of beach and access to get to it.  We had some guava juice we needed to drink, so we thought it would be the perfect place to stop and drink the juice.  It ended up being the perfect spot to end our trip, as well.  The water and waves were beautiful, and we found some tide pools that were perfect to wade in.  The kids ended up getting all wet, but they had fun, and Payson found a cool sea shell.

We flew home the next morning.  I was lucky enough to get pre-boarding since I was almost 32 weeks pregnant, so we were able to sit on the front row with extra space.  I am sure I looked sexy with my hot pink/toe-less compression socks, but it was nice to be close to the rest room, and Zaylee sure had fun playing on the floor for the long flight.

I know I complained about the trip being less than perfect.  Some people asked me at church today how it was, and I was being negative about it, telling them that it wore me out, and I would not do it again being this pregnant with 3 little kids.  The truth is... I probably wouldn't, but the other truth is- Josh and my kids really had a great time.  We will have memories of this trip forever.  It will be known as the last big trip before baby brother.  Some people think we are crazy for taking our kids to a lot of places, especially, big trips, like Hawaii.  We probably are a little bit, but it is our family hobby.  I have a whole blog full of stories and memories of fun travels.  They don't end here just because this one wore me out, and I know the future will hold more crazy travels with our family of 6.

One last thing... I have been making videos of our trips lately.  I didn't make a big movie this time, but I did make a shorter movie of just the videos I took of the kids in the water.