*aloha*

Oh, these pictures make me want to go back to Maui.
Right. Now.


When we lost our little Jacob back in November, we decided that we would take a vacation around his due date to make happy memories at that time instead of dwelling on what could have been. We have not been on a real vacation together--meaning more than just a couple days away from the kids--in years. There is something very wrong with that. We realized that we needed to treat ourselves to a getaway on a more regular basis.

It took some serious planning to get everything organized and due to the bombing in Boston I was a little leery about hopping on a plane, across an OCEAN away from my kids, and I almost wanted to back out. I was a little overwhelmed and could think of a million excuses not to go and if we hadn't already paid for our trip we may not have. Poor Justin had to deal with my crazy anxiety yet again and patiently waited for me to decide what to do. Thankfully, the call of the beach was able to quell my fears and we marched forward with outlining our date with paradise. We hired an awesome nanny who was a sister to one of my coworkers to watch them on the school days and deal with the crazy time after school with homework and practices, games, dinner, etc. The boys adored her. They still talk about her in awed tones and I am so happy the boys were well taken care of. My sweet parents watched them on the weekend and drove them around to their various games. See, life can exist outside of baseball.

After we touched down on the beautiful island of Maui, we hopped in our rental car and headed toward our hotel. We didn't get too far before we hit some major traffic. There is really only one road that goes from the airport to West Maui and there was a terrible accident that blocked it off. We pulled off into a darling little shopping center in Wailuku and ate at the Maalaea General Store. It was delicious. Justin ordered a po' boy and he said it was the best sandwich he ever had. I ordered fish tacos. Now, I hate fish so I wasn't very adventurous and ordered them breaded, but they were amazing.



We hung out while the traffic cleared a bit and then were finally able to get to our hotel. It is scary booking something online and when you are on a budget, it is even scarier. I was worried that we would pull into the parking lot and have the crappiest hotel on the island. But our hotel was perfect. Amazing. Wonderful. It was right on a golf course and the beach was only a two minute walk from our door. I wanted a kitchen in our place so we didn't have to spend so much on food, but I was pleasantly surprised that it also had a washer and dryer, had been newly remodeled, and it was a condo unit so it was huge. We even had our own little lanai to relax on and just take in the fact that we were in Hawaii. Without kids.


Now I didn't write down any details of what we did for this whole trip. I am certain we visited the beach and walked around and just enjoyed each other. We had some things planned of what we wanted to do during the week but we didn't want it too structured so we could just do whatever and not be on a timetable. You don't have this luxury when you have kids. It was hard for me to let go of that control since I like to have things planned down to the second when we are on vacation, but I quickly reveled in my freedom and acclamated to the Hawaiian state of mind quite easily.

We definitely marveled at this breathtaking sunset.





We ate dinner at this fun place. It was yummy. And my favorite thing was we were right on the beach just listening to the waves crashing on the shore. I want an ocean in my backyard.





The next day we woke up and went on a little walk on the boardwalk before the cabana opened.

This is my dream home. Beachfront. Hammock. Slight breeze blowing in the palm trees. I imagined myself with a dirty diet coke and a book wasting away the hours in this backyard. There was an empty lot for sale right next door...maybe I will start saving.


Then right to the beach. This was pretty much how crowded it was the whole time we were there. Dreamy.

Justin loves the water. He rented some snorkeling gear and had the time of his life. We bought an disposable underwater camera so I will post some of the cool things he was able to see. I did venture out a little later in the week but I get nervous in the open water and didn't last too long. It was amazing to see ocean life in their natural habitat and we weren't even out very far. There was a sea turtle who would come and hang out in our water and I loved him.




After we had been there a few hours we went into Lahaina to look around. We invested in some property on this shaved ice.

Visited the Banyan Tree. It was incredible. This picture is just a snapshot of its enormity and doesn't do it justice.












Rainbows all the time.



We walked along the boardwalk down to Duke's for dinner.


It was a three mile walk to the restaurant from our hotel. I totally earned this.