Ashton's Artwork

 Ashton needed to fulfill an fine art credit and was placed in art this semester.  Here is some of his artwork!

Ashton turns #17

Happy 17th Birthday to our sweet Ashton!  How can he be 17???  He had a great celebration with his favorite foods and lots of presents.  He did have to head back to school the next day but we did our best to make his day as special as we could.

Light up drum sticks!  Why not?

Maui Adventure Day 7: Maui to Los Angeles

Pictures from our condo

With things pretty well packed up, we took one more walk across the street to visit the beach.  We then went out for a late breakfast to the Kihei Caffe for Banana Macadamian Nut French Toast and a Breakfast Burrito (plus the roosters came out to say goodbye)!  We took a quick look at the ocean from this part of town and then headed to the airport to start our trip back home.  We had an amazing trip!

We're sad to go but happy we came!

Mahalo, Hawaii!

Maui Adventure Day 6: Road to Hana

 After doing most of the driving on this trip, Derrik suggested we actually join a driving tour this time!  We hopped in a 12 person van and traveled around the east coast of Maui consisting of 620 curves and 59 bridges!  Our stops included Pua'a Ka'a State Wayside park for waterfalls, a quick stop for a snack at for Aunty Sandy's Banana Bread, Wai'anapanapa State Park with a black sand beach for lunch and more ocean views than we can count.  Once back at our condo we went out to find authentic shaved ice (pina colada with vanilla ice cream) and souvenior shopping.  We had to wash and vacuum out the car for return tomorrow and begin the process of packing up our things from the condo.  We visited the food carts one more time and then headed back to the condo for the night.  

Derrik inching towards the
water in a cave!

Map of our journey - follow the orange path!

Maui Adventure Day 5: Volcano and Luau

 Today we climbed back into the car to take a driving tour of Haleakala.  We drove to the summit, 10,000 feet up.  The views were amazing!  We made the trip down, did some souvenir shopping in Paia and took a quick rest at the condo.  Our evening involved going to the Old Lahaina Luau.  This is a traditional hula and feast of 5 courses of authentic Hawaiian food!  There were lots of dancing and island history shared.  Afterwards, we headed back to the condo and went to bed.  One more full day in Maui!  

Maui Adventure Day 4: Snorkeling and a Sunset Cruise

On day 4 we went on a snorkeling trip!  The first stop was snorkeling along the Molokini reef and where we saw many beautiful fish and plant life.  The last stop was an area called Makena Coast or "Turtle Town,"  where we actually saw Hawaiian Green sea turtles!  Derrik planned ahead and reserved a GoPro for us to use to get video of what we could see underwater.  Such a treasure!  The entire morning we saw many whales moving around the water.  If you listen closely in the videos you can hear the whales singing underwater!  After we got back to our condo and rested, we cleaned up for our sunset dinner cruise.  The boat had a live musician that played for us (Derrik even had a song requested for our anniversary.)  We enjoyed views of the sunset, saw more whales dancing in the water while we were served salad, ribs and brownie for dessert.  We headed back to the condo and slept.

Sunset Dinner Cruise

Maui Adventure Day 3: Waterfalls

 Today we headed to Twin Falls to see waterfalls!  We were able to hike to the furthest one, take a quick dip in the ice cold water and then backtrack to see the other waterfalls along the way.  We also scored a reservation at the most famous restaurant on the island, Mama's Fish House for lunch!  We quickly cleaned up (only fancy clothes allowed) and enjoyed an amazing fish meal with breathtaking views of the ocean.  We followed lunch with time at one of the many local beaches to people watch and relax.  We enjoyed leftovers and snacks for dinner and then went to bed.

Maui Adventure Day 2: Driving Tour of West Maui

We had a quick breakfast and then headed to the car to start our driving tour of west Maui.  We purchased a driving tour app that actually guided us around using our GPS.  Our first stop was the Maui Ocean Center, which is one of the largest aquatic centers in the world.  We saw lots of beautiful fish, turtles, jellyfish and other ocean creatures.  We then headed back to the car to continue the tour.  We stopped at recommended eating places for the islands specialties (Leoda's Kitchen and Pie Shop in Lahaina) but also got lots of history of natural landmarks along the way.   We saw the Nakalele Blowhole, walked around the Ioa Valley State Park, hiked the Dragon tooth trail, saw the Olivine tide pools and many beautiful ocean views along the way.  After a busy day of traveling, we relaxed back at the condo, ate leftovers for dinner and headed to bed.

Nakalele Blowhole

Olivine Pools

'Iao Valley State Park

The memory that might stand out the
most from this trip were the sections of road
were there was only one lane winding through
the hills.  You had a honk before the bend and
cross your fingers there wasn't another car coming
straight towards you.  If there was, one of you had to back
up carefully until there was space to pass. 
Very nerve-wracking! 

Maui Adventure Day 1: Los Angeles to Maui

We started our trip very early on January 2nd, waking at 3:30 am to be on the road before 4:30.  We drove to LA and dropped our car off and then took a shuttle to LAX.  After checking our bags with Hawaiian Airlines, we made it our gate an hour early.  We were able to sit together on a large airbus A330, one of the largest planes I've flown on!  The flight was 5 1/2 hours long from LAX to OGG (Kahului airport).  We were served a small breakfast and had complementary drinks.  We slept, watch TV shows, and looked out the window at the Pacific ocean below.  We landed at 11:00 am Hawaii time and then headed to baggage claim while texting with the car rental place.  After getting our bags and car, we drove to the local Walmart to pick up the groceries we need for the week.  We then drove to an area where they had food trucks parked and ate some shrimp and chicken entries with white rice and pasta salad.  We quickly noticed that roosters roam freely here and will hunt for handouts!  We were ready for a nap to recharge so we headed to our condo in Kihei.  The views on the way there were spectacular!  We rested and then headed across the street from our condo to get a closer look at the ocean.  We found a local spot for burgers and fries, ate in our condo and then headed to bed.  Tomorrow the fun begins!