Smith Family Visit

Last week Mike's Mom and sisters Linda and Susan, and nephews Matt and Daniel made a daytrip down for a Monterey visit! We had a nice trip to the Aquarium and a bbq lunch here at the house. 

I should have taken more photos :(

 Linda and Cousin Matt

The Return Home.....

We returned home late Sunday night, and awoke Monday morning to our beautiful girls!

They were so excited to see us of course, but equally excited to see what we brought back!!

Right away we had a lot of hip shaking in our house, practicing the hula!!

 

 ABOVE: Our port call "vacation" to Oahu in May of 2007 when I was 3 months pregnant with Abby

BELOW: Last week in Maui......6 years later

Maui- Part 6 Garden of Eden

After the volcano, we trekked along to the Garden of Eden.

It is a destination full of foliage and great views (recommended to us by friends we met on the snorkel tours....)

 The rock below is the famous one from the opening shot in the movie Jurassic Park

 

  

 

 Giant bunch of bamboo!

 We ended our LONG day in the car, with a stop at "Mama's Fish House"

Also recommended to us......and it was FANTASTIC. 

Gorgeous location, wonderful food, warm atmosphere and great service.

AND a drink with an umbrella!!

 Postcard quality view from the front beach area of the restaurant!!

Maui- Part 5 Haleakala Volcano Summit

On our second to last day, we spent the morning in the convertible, ascending to the top of the Haleakala Volcano (dormant!!). It sits at 10,000 feet elevation!! And boy could we tell! My head was a bit light/woozy, and the temperature dropped 30 degrees, down to 55!! 

We were clearly not dressed for it! Oops! But we weren't the only ones!!

View down the mountain from the car as we were going up!

 From the summit, looking down to the visitor center

Maui- Part 4 Luau Night

We took part in the Luau at the Sheraton one night.

View of the Luau setup beforehand looking out to the ocean

 Waiting in line to enter

 Seated with endless Mai Tai's and Pina Coladas!!

Souvenir Photo!! Luau #2 in 6 years.....I think we've had our fill! 

This one had exceptionally great food!!

Maui- Part 3 Driving Around the Island and more

A few random photos from the week....in no order

 Another great view of the Sheraton from the top floor. The pool was amazing! It was a big connected river layout that looped around and ended in the main pool. Warm, and enjoyable!!

 Forgot this one in the last post.....Us before we stepped onto the catamaran snorkel tour

 Driving along the North end of Maui toward the Road to Hana

 Night out in Lahaina on Front Street, walking the shops/restuarants

 Dinner on our last night....at Leilani's in Whalers Village (if you go, its a must! It was a tough call, but probably our BEST meal of the week)

 Some sightseeing, driving along the windy roads North of our hotel

 And some ME shots! We definitely got some good color in Maui! 

And below, after a night out for Sushi on the resort where the Ritz Carlton is situated.

Maui- Part 2.....Snorkeling and more

Our one big excursion for a day was a catamaran snorkel tour.

It was a fun day from 9am to 2pm......and we indulged and tried out SNUBA diving for the first time.

Snuba is a way to get below the surface of the water but not fully scuba dive. You are attached in pairs to rafts that float at the surface with oxygen tanks, and the cords allow you to go down 15 feet to get closer to the sea life below. It was so much fun and we would definitely do it again!

So half of the tour was SNUBA and we got a good amount of time to snorkel as well.

 SNUBA instructor giving us our 10 minute crash course in hand signals, how to relieve the pressure in your ears underwater, and generally be safe using the tanks, etc.

 View from the catamaran as we trekked along to our snorkel site

Each day of our trip the weather was in the mid 80's and sunny!

 What I looked like under water

 TURTLE!!! We were up close and personal to the sea turtles (center shot above) They would regularly rest on the reef so that the small fish could clean their shells for them.

 SNUBA self portrait

 The boat ride back after a long day of snorkeling

 The view from our cabana on the beach in front of our hotel.

The Sheraton is situated at "Black Rock", which makes for great snorkel experience right off the beach. And everyone was jumping off the cliff all day long.

 So Mike just had to join in on the cliff diving fun!

He jumped in with our sport waterproof camera attached to his chest, so we got fun video from that!