Maui, Hawaii Spring Break April 2008

As you know, we went to Hawaii for spring break. And to fully gloat I must post pics of that week in paradise. I took over 100 pictures, so for the sake of your time I will just show the highlights! All vacations start out in a car or airport and we had our fair share.

Here we are at the beginning of the trip. Tre, Belle and Jeremy keeping busy on the 5 hour layover in LAX. Yikes! We'll NEVER do that again.

Yes! We are finally in Maui. We left our house in SLC at 7:30 am and arrived in Hawaii at about 7 pm thier time, which was 11pm our time. This clearly explains the picture above.

The first thing we did? Hit the beach of course!

Here is the speed version of our adventures.....

Rainbows, body boarding, boat tours, and waterfalls....

Beachin', eating shave ice (it's not shaved ice in Hawaii), exploring tadpoles, smelling the flowers, and playing nicely....

(Yes, this really in an 8 foot wave going over my head, while Tre is swimming under it)

Sleeping, see'n turtles, Lu Lu's (my family nickname), trying to drown, foolin' around, and monkeyin' around...

Making new friends, making new memories, making stronger family bonds, making me TIRED!

Some highlights not pictured:

We'll start with Anabelle. This was her first time swimming in the ocean (not first time going to the ocean). She wasn't scared of the waves, the fish, or the turtles. On our snorkel tour the tour guides thought she was the cutest little thing in flippers out in the water. They had never seen a five year old so willing and able to snorkel like her.

Oh, and lets not forget the cheeseburgers. Anabelle ate cheeseburgers daily and sometimes twice a day. Her favorite restaurant on the island? Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahina.

She still liked swimming in the pool better than the ocean.

She made friends EVERYWHERE. Kids, adults, workers, strangers...it didn't matter. Anyone who would listen to her was her new BFF. Poor people! They didn't know what that smile was getting themselves into.

And lastely, Anabelle missed her home toward the end of the trip and really wanted her own bed....me too!

As for Tre, well he wants to move to Hawaii. He loves to body board, swim, snorkel, and play in the big waves. He is crazy in the waves but only got pummeled twice.

He loves eating out for every meal, waking up to the sun, eating shave ice, and playing in the sand.

He made friends at the beach and even made a girlfriend who invited him to her house to swim in their pool.

Jer and I? What do you think? We had a fantastic time. The kids only got on our nerves in the car and the airports. Other than that they were great. I love that we have active children who like to play as hard as we do. The best part is that they sleep so well after playing in the sun all day. And they never got sick of the water (maybe the ocean, but never the pool) which means that we get to relax in the hot Hawaiian sun, drink a shave ice, and watch the memories being made.