Hawaii 2024

DAY 1 

It had been 4 long years since our family had our last vacation with all 6 of us. Mom was looking at the different schedules for the kids schools and unfortunately having 4 kids at 3 different schools made for an impossible time to plan a trip when they would all be off except over the holidays which mom was against since she likes to spend the holidays at home. So it was either wait until the next summer or just make it shorter over a long weekend. So mom couldn't wait and booked the trip over the girls Fall Break. Our flight left Thursday evening after the boys finished working and school classes were over. We almost missed our flight as dad didn't leave work on time. We left 45 minutes later than mom had planned. Because it was fall break and an extremely busy time at the airport, we had to park at an offsite parking lot. Luckily the security line was super short and we made it just on time. We flew to Los Angeles where we grabbed a bite to eat at the taco stand and stayed over night in order to wake up early to catch the first flight to Maui. We knew it would be a quick trip so we packed it all in!

DAY 2

We flew into Maui, rented a car and drove an hour to our resort, The Outrigger in Kaanapali near Black Rock Beach. It was a beautiful beach with some some of the best snorkeling on the island. Once we checked into our resort, it didn't take long for us to get our swimsuits on, grab our snorkel gear and head out to the beach. We saw a family of stingrays, several turtles, tropical fish and Jayden even saw a barracuda. The water was so warm and clear. Skyler had a large jelly fish wrap around his neck and face and ended up having to peel it off which stung his fingers as well. He had welts around his face, neck and fingers where the jelly fish stung him. Unfortunately there wasn't much he could do other than wait it out until the stinging stopped about 2 hours later. A young boy came running out of the water shortly after flailing his arm around and around yelling "get it off, get it off". A jelly fish was stuck on his arm and his dad had to scrape it off with a towel. We realized it was a full moon the night before which is when the jellyfish are closest to the shore. We were glad it only happened once and that it wasn't Auri, she might not have gone back in the water after that. We relaxed the rest of the night and enjoyed the incredible sunset while Aysia and Jayden practiced their back tucks on the sandy hill. We grabbed some sushi to go and ate it back at our room. We played a few games and headed to bed early so we could have an early start the next morning.

DAY 3

Road to Hana! We awoke early and started our long drive to Hana and beyond. Nicolette gave us advice that we should take the drive backwards. We started at the end of our destination and worked our way backwards. We drove about 2 1/2 hours to start our journey after we passed the town of Hana and started with a hike to Waimoku Falls. It was a beautiful hike and passed the great Banyan Tree. The waterfall wasn't as impressive as it typically is since there wasn't much rain in the prior week leading up to our trip. The weather was perfect though and the bamboo forest was incredible to hike through.

After the long hike, we made a few stops along the way back to Hana. We found another waterfall to stop and Aysia decided to swim in the pool below. Skyler kept his eye out for fruit trees that we could pick different types of fruit that they also had in Jamaica. He was in heaven searching for the various fruits. He tried swinging on a vine like tarzan but didn't make a swing at all as the vine couldn't hold his weight.

We stopped in Hana at a food truck market where we all bought various kinds of foods and drinks. Mom made reservations at the Black Sand Beach in Wai'anapanapa State Park for that afternoon. So we headed over there for the afternoon where we swam, snorkeled, took naps and hiked to a blowhole up the mountain. There was even a local dog that snuggled up to Skyler as he was taking a nap. 

After enjoying the Black Sand Beach we headed back down the road and saw a sign that said "Lava Tubes". So we stopped and decided to take the journey. It was a cave that we were able to walk through where Lava had created a tube several miles long. We were only able to hike through a portion of it as it was on private property and we couldn't go beyond. 

We continued our journey down the road where we made frequent stops finding passion fruit, guava and tangerines. Our favorite and the most ripe was the passion fruit. We stopped by a couple more waterfalls and a short hike overlooking the ocean before heading back to the Resort. It was a great adventure day!

DAY 4

Mom had the kids all bring a few nicer clothes for a few pictures on the beach and to attend sacrament meeting at the nearby church. Unfortunately, we arrived to find it was stake conference that day. So we went to a local market and tried to find a place to boogie board. While we were at the market, Aysia lost her phone for the second time on the trip. The first time, she left it near the outdoor showers at the resort and was so upset that she couldn't find it. Some honest person turned it into the hotel front desk. She was ecstatic to find it only to lose it again the next day. We turned around on our drive to head back to the market. Once again, another honest person turned it into the merchant stand owner and she got it back. The waves were not great for boogie boarding. We spent a couple of hours on a beach trying to catch any waves. We gave up and headed back to our resort to snorkel and relax for the remainder of the afternoon and evening. We were able to enjoy one last sunset before having to return the next day. After the sunset, we headed back to get dressed and head out to a nice dinner on the beach.

Auri had a moment of frustration when mom was taking "sunset" pictures of Aysia and she felt like mom wasn't paying attention to her.

DAY 5

We were sad our trip was coming to an end. We had an afternoon flight so we made the most of it and headed up to hike around Pi'u Kukui mountain. We made sure we saved enough time to stop by the store for souvenirs which we found dad cruising around in a Jazzy since he was still sore from the hike 2 day prior. Mom was a little embarrassed. We flew back to LA where we once again stayed the night and flew home the next morning. It was an incredible trip making some incredible memories.