Maui

July 16: Our first full day in Maui. We had to hit a beach first thing. Honokowai Beach Park was walking distance from our condo. The girls weren't that interested in the water at first but when they saw Mommy, Grandma and Aunt Kim having fun jumping into the waves or just sitting and letting the waves crash over them, they finally joined in. As we played we noticed a group of sea turtles about 90 feet out into the water bobbing up and down and riding the waves.

That night we rode Quicksilver for a sunset dinner cruise. We got Claire's birthday and our 5, 10, 15 and 20 year anniversaries announced.

July 17: Our first (and only) rainbow. We had rain almost every afternoon but never saw another rainbow.

We drove up to the far west end of the island to find the lava pools and blow hole we liked so much last year. The cousins had fun finding crabs hiding in the cracks of the rocks and spotting fish in the pools.

Paul decided to be brave and jump into the deepest hole.

Each afternoon the girls wanted to swim in the pool. Emily is a very good swimmer and loves to do cannon balls and dive after toys in the deep water. At the beginning of the week, a grown up had to swim right next to Claire at all times. Each day she got stronger and stronger to the point where the girls could be in the pool alone with the grown ups watching from the side. She can now swim the entire length of a small pool with no problem! We were totally amazed by her progress this week!

July 18: We started the day at Honolua Bay. It's an amazing snorkelling site. John and I saw tons of fish including a pair of clown fish, a zebra morey eel and a puffer fish. We heard people talking about some turtles but we missed them.

For our 10th anniversary, we went out to dinner at the Lahaina Fish Co. We got a water front table right at sunset. It was perfect!

July 19: We drove over to the north-central part of the island to see the I'ao Valley State Park. It had some nice walking trails with beautiful lush scenery. Claire got to try her "jelly leg" routine on a new sympathetic set of ears, Uncle Paul's. He carried her up the 130 or so steps to the viewing area. *snicker, snicker*

We also drove all the way to the top of Haleakala to see the view from 10,000 feet over the island but our luck ran out. It was totally cloudy, rainy and COLD (49 degrees!). So we never did get to see anything from there but the scenery out the windows as we drove.

Just another gorgeous Maui sunset:

July 20: We re-boarded Quicksilver, this time decked out as a snorkel boat, for a trip to turtle town and Molokini. Emily and I spotted this guy swimming not too far from us:

There she is peeking out of the water.

John tried to coax Claire into the ocean to take a peek but she was a little freaked out by the vastness of the ocean. She was very content to stay on the boat, watch us swim and see lots of fish that swam near the surface next to the boat.

Our whole group at sunset on our condo lawn.

July 21: Our last full day! *sniff* We went with another beach day. We borrowed some boogie boards and set off for Fleming Beach. We all caught some great waves. The best though was when we were all in the water, just past where the waves broke, bobbing in the surf. It was so relaxing in the warm, clear water with some moments of alarm when we thought a wave was going to be too big to get over.

After our last group dinner, we had to take one more group shot:

Then we drove to Whaler's Village in Kaanapali to watch a hula show.

What an amazing week! We can't wait to plan our next family reunion vacation!