Maui

After a year of planning and many more spent dreaming we were finally off to Maui, Hawaii this summer. We found a wonderful 1 bedroom condo in Ma'alaea that became our home base. Each day was an adventure discovering new things on the island. But the girls found the pool in our complex to be a treat after a long day of ooh-ing and aah-ing over the beautiful scenery.
We drove the infamous Road to Hana. While not an interstate by any means, it has been improved over the years and is at least smooth pavement all the way. We got as far as the Ohe'o Gulch aka the Seven Sacred Pools before making our return trip.

We found a really nice beach within walking distance of the condo. It was especially nice because it had a breakwater wall that stopped the waves from crashing into the girls. It felt like a safe place to sit and make sandcastles.

We went to a luau and ate traditional Hawaiian poi and roast pig. We drove to the top of Haleakela the volcano that created the island. Emily was disappointed not to see any flowing lava. We went for the ultimate tourist look by buying and wearing matching aloha shirts and dresses.

Emily was fascinated with the sarong dresses she saw everywhere and finally parted with some of her souvenir money to buy herself one.

We drove out to the very northern end of the island and found some lava pool that were filled with fish, crabs and people!

Claire got so comfortable in the water that she decided it was time to take off her floatie suit! Mostly she saw how fun it was to put on goggles and dive to the bottom of the pool and couldn't be left out.

One of our last and biggest activities was a snorkel cruise to Molokini Island. It is world famous for having crystal clear water and lots of fish to watch. Emily was able to snorkel after she got over an initial case of the deep water jitters. Claire floated on a boogie board that had a window in it so she could see fish that swam near the surface (and there were plenty of them!)