Aloha!

One of the most exciting things we've been up to lately is taking a little vacation to a place both Kyle and I have been wanting to go for a long time....Maui!

If I could sum up our trip in one picture it would be this one:

I took this picture with my iPhone, and it's been my background ever since.

We've been back from our trip for a couple weeks now, but each time I look at this picture I am taken back to this beach and the warm sun, sand, and amazingly blue water...aaahhh. Maui, I miss you already! 

One of the best things about this trip is that it was kind of last minute...Kyle was traveling for work when he decided to look at the number of Sky Miles he had accrued...and lo and behold, he had just about enough for two plane tickets to Maui! :) Talk about a great surprise :)

So he told me this on a Thursday and we left the following Wednesday. It was actually great because we didn't have that much time to anxiously wait for it to get here...if you're like me, if I have a trip coming up I'm constantly counting the days for it to get here...and wishing it was here already...and planning activities...then reconsidering my decisions and re-planning...and it can sometimes almost start to stress me out because I want the trip to be perfect! So with this trip it was perfect because we were able to plan a few things, and then before we knew it we were on the plane...no time to second guess what we had or hadn't planned.

We basically planned one major activity each day and then left the rest to whatever we felt like doing.

It was a.m.a.z.i.n.g. I can't wait to go back :)

Maui Trip: Day 1

 Airport breakfast...breakfast of champions :) We actually got in line behind a pilot, and started chatting with him. Come to find out, he was the pilot for our flight! I had a suspicion since he was wearing a Hawaiian print lanyard ;)

He asked if we've ever been to Maui before, and it was my first time (Kyle had gone when he was younger), so he said, "Just so you know, it's normal to hit some turbulence when we land, since the winds are always coming around the island and the mountains on Maui."

I was SO glad he told me that! Now I could fly knowing that a little bumpiness was totally normal ;)

I thanked him and we saw him about an hour later on board the plane. 

He also recommended the oatmeal at McDonalds...I thought, if it's good enough for our pilot, then it's good enough for me ;) lol

It actually was pretty good, fyi.

Can you guess whose suitcase this is? :) lol

Kyle was fortunate enough to get us bulkhead seats so we had lots of leg room. The guy sitting next to us was from Yorba Linda, and was on his way to be in a wedding.

Maui here we come!! 

 As you can see I got a little bored at one point and decided to take a picture of the hawaiian flower I had painted on my toes, just for Maui ;)

 My first time flying over the Pacific!

The flight definitely wasn't bad at all. I was a little nervous beforehand, but it was super smooth, and we kept busy watching a movie, reading, napping (it was an early flight), and reading up on where we were going.

 So excited!

I decided to play with the feature on our camera that brings out one specific color (blue in this case) and leaves everything else black and white. Kinda cool. 

 We finally arrived! When we stepped off the plane it was a balmy 80-something degrees. Aaaahhhhhh

 On to the rental car place, where we got hooked up with our Ford Fusion. Crazy story....so we took a shuttle from the airport to the rental car place, and there was one other couple on the shuttle. Guess where they were from? Simi Valley! What are the odds?

My sweet husband surprised me with this beautiful silver necklace...isn't it pretty? Love it.

Off to our resort....

But first made a quick pit-stop at Costco. They had an entire aisle filled with different kinds of chocolate covered macadamia nuts. Only in Maui, right?

The drive to our resort was about 30 or 40 minutes. I was so excited to finally be there that I got a little picture happy on the drive :) 

 A random surfboard place

 My handsome hubby

 Enjoyin' the Maui breeze :)

 Sugar cane field

 First peek of water....

After driving next to miles and miles of gorgeous beach, we couldn't take it anymore so we just pulled over, kicked off our shoes and splashed knee-deep in the warm, crystal blue water. 

Then we came to this little fruit stand on the side of the road...and I had to get one of these.

It's hot pink!

They're called dragonfruit. Have you ever had one?

The guy selling it told me they are either hot pink, red, or white in the middle (can you guess which one I chose?) and tasted like a sweet kiwi.

 Sugar cane

 This smoothie stand was sooo good; just fruit and ice.

 Of course we had to get a pineapple...and it was one of the best ones I've ever had.

 Coconuts!

 Couldn't resist snappin' a few pics of the beautiful hibiscus flowers

 These plumeria plants are EVERYWHERE---love the pretty little star-shaped flowers on them.

We stayed at a condo resort in Kaanapali...loved it! It had everything we needed. I would definitely stay here again.

 I loved how open everything was.

They had a pretty waterfall right in the center of the resort as you walked in.

 The view from our room...

I tried to pack every bright and/or Hawaiian-y dress I had ;)

This chubby little bird was on our balcony every day...and of course we had the sliding glass doors open. So each day we would find him walking into our condo (until he got to about the coffee table), and we'd shoo him out. He was kinda cute though ;)

The pool at our resort...gorgeous view of the ocean.

You could walk right out onto the beach from the pool area, and I loved how they had lounge chairs on the sand. Two were waiting for us!

And here's where my favorite picture comes in. We'd been waiting all week for this!

Sun, sand, ocean, lava flow.

And each other.

Heaven.

We had to get in the water! It was SO blue, SO clear, SO warm...we didn't want to get out! 

Around 6:00 that evening, our resort put on a little show with music and hula dancers. We sat by the pool and enjoyed our first taste of Maui ;)

 This little hula girl was so cute!

 Heading back to get ready

The sun setting on the mountains behind our resort 

Our first night, we went to downtown Lahaina to walk around and have dinner.

We decided on Cheeseburger in Paradise (thanks for the recommendation Michelle!)

 We were on the top floor overlooking the water

Some pics of downtown Lahaina. I loved it here! Lots of cute little shops, shaved ice, ice cream, restaurants...and no one's in a hurry! The weather was so nice and warm...didn't even need a jacket.

After dinner we drove to a Safeway on the way back to our resort to pick up a few groceries. Everyone always warned me how expensive things are in Hawaii; but honestly it wasn't as bad as I expected. There were a few things that seemed a little more expensive (I did see a box of cereal for $7) but we tried to shop the sale items and it was fine. A big selection of Kona coffee at the grocery store!

We decided to get to bed (it was around midnight) because the next morning, we were going for a sunrise tour of Maui's dormant volcano, Haleakala.

More to come on that soon....:)