Maui!

Yup, another vacation in Maui. It was less than a year since our last trip, but Mommy and Daddy received a special promotion from Starwood for their newest resort, the Westin Nanea Ocean Villas. It was such a great deal they couldn't turn it down. We're glad we went! Since half the resort wasn't yet complete we got upgraded to a two bedroom ocean-view villa. Colin and I got our own room with a king sized bed and bathroom, and our own TV! Hopefully we don't come to expect these amenities every time we travel.

Our first stop after arriving in Maui: Ululani's shaved ice. Our second stop: Target(!) to pick up some toiletries and provisions for the week.

View from our room.

I took this picture of Mommy and Daddy in our living room.

Since we saved so much on airfare and lodging, we splurged and upgraded our rental car to a Jeep!

This was inside the sales office where they try to sucker us in to buying a timeshare. Fortunately, we were able to get out of attending one of their presentations.

The resort was definitely built with families in mind. There was a huge swimming pool connected to all these smaller pool areas - kids splash pads, wading pools, a zero entry beach pool, water slide, hot tubs - something for everyone! We spent hours down there everyday, and probably spent more time at the pool than at the beach.

Mommy's favorite part of the pool: hanging out on the warm "beach" and watching us entertain ourselves.

I tried snorkeling a few times but didn't seem to enjoy it as much as last time. I couldn't stand the taste of the salt water every time I put my face in.

We even walked to the other Westin resort next door to use their pirate ship pool. Colin had a blast!

Since we had visited Maui not too long ago, there was no pressure to try to do everything and check things off our list. We took it easy, hung out at the pools, and went on outings when we felt like it. 

Shaved ice everywhere we went.

Cooling off at Whaler's Village. I had been wearing regular clothes but then got soaked in the fountain. Conveniently, we were in a shopping center with plenty of stores that sold overpriced kids clothing so I ended up with a new rashguard set that I immediately changed into. Colin got a new pair of shorts too.

We also went on a submarine ride! We had looked into going last time but Colin wasn't tall enough yet. It was a neat experience and definitely worth doing once.

To get to the submarine we also had to take a short boat ride. This by itself was already fun for us!

View of the island from our boat.

Approaching the submarine.

The submarine took us 100 ft down, through a coral reef, and to a shipwreck. We saw lots of different fishies and some bigger ones even came right up to our porthole. It was very cool!

It was nice to take it easy on this trip and also try something new. If we could get a fantastic deal on the Westin Nanea again, we would go in a heartbeat!

Big Sur Camping Trip

We went on our annual multi-family camping trip over July 4th weekend. This time, we tried somewhere different and went to Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park. It was cold! But we liked it because we were surrounded by redwoods, there was a nearby creek to play in, and I got to ride my bike all over the campground.

Night 1: Celebrating Canada Day!

The park had a Junior Rangers program where the parents could drop us off for an hour, and a ranger would give us a nature talk and lead some games and activities. They taught us that it is important to take care of our environment, and were each given paper bags to fill with litter from around the campgrounds. Each time we returned a full bag to the ranger station we would be given a sticker, and after five stickers we would receive a badge. We were all excited for the challenge and spent the next few days riding our bikes around and picking up trash. If only we were this motivated to collect trash at home! 

We all loved the creek that ran behind our campground and spent an afternoon wading downstream. Even though the water was cold, it's not something we get to do at home. 

Brady was too chicken to go all the way in the water, so he just observed from the side.

Colin missed some of the fun because he was napping, but made sure to go in by himself later.

We also went on a short (three mile) hike. About five minutes in, Colin decided he was tired and didn't want to walk anymore. So Mommy spent most of the hike carrying a 20lb weight on her hips and by piggyback. At least she got a great workout! 

There's Colin in the red shirt getting a ride on Mommy.

After the hike, it was back to the creek to cool off.

Even though it's a lot of work and we all come home exhausted and filthy, the fun that we have with friends and the memories we create make it all worth it!