The Blue Bayou: A Much Needed Vacation!

We just got back from an amazing and perfect 9-night stay in Maui. This trip was a very last-minute trip...somewhat unexpected. As most of you know, the past 4 months have been difficult, stressful and incredibly busy. Will and I have been feeling very overwhelmed and stressed. We needed to take a break from all the craziness and focus on having a fun and relaxing time as a family. We looked into traveling to our "happy place" and we were able to find great deals so we booked our trip to Maui!

We started our trip on Kaanapali Beach for 4 nights. We stayed at a great hotel that is situated right next to the famous Black Rock. The hotel really strives to educate tourists about Hawaiian culture and language so every night they have wonderful live Hawaiian musicians and hula dancers. The girls also got to participate in several Hawaiian activities that increased their knowledge of the culture.

Sunset on Kaanapali Beach

On our first full day in Maui, we stopped in Lahaina Town...we had to take a photo with the funny sailor...it is tradition!

We also started our vacation with a great whale watching tour!

West Maui mountains are SO incredibly beautiful by boat!

We saw a baby and mommy whale on our tour. It was the last day of whale-watching season so we were very lucky to see any whales.

Girls being silly

The coolest part of our tour were the dolphins that came to play at the end of our tour. There were about 3-4 dolphins that swam at the front of our boat. One jumped so high that it shocked all of us on deck and splashed Kate as it landed back in the water. It was SO amazing!

One of Kate's favorite parts of our hotel stay were the birds that enjoyed all the crackers we left for them on our balcony. Kate was determined to have a bird eat out of her hand and it worked! She sat so still for about 30 minutes and finally the birds became bold enough to see what was in her hand.

This was the view from the backside of our hotel. Gorgeous!

My Maggie...love that girl so much!

Kate is getting so grown up! She is so beautiful!

We learned how to make flower leis at our hotel. It was one of their free classes and great family time.

One of the big hits of the hotel was the HUGE checkers board. Will and Kate played many times and oddly Kate won every time.

The girls and I also took hula lessons. It was so much fun! I wish they had hula classes in Davis since I would be very tempted to enroll Kate and myself in a few classes!

So pretty....

Beach day...time to dig in the sand!

Kate and Maggie are so goofy!

Will took ukulele lessons at the hotel too!

View of the hotel grounds. The pool is shaped as a whale.

In between our accommodations, we took a drive to some waterfalls. We had to hike up a windy and muddy path, cross a rushing creek, but the waterfall and family adventure was priceless!

My Hawaiian girl

Our last 5-nights took place in a beautiful condo in Napili. This is also the location of our favorite breakfast spot...The Gazebo.

More checkers at Napili Shores

We took a long but great drive up to Haleakala, a dormant volcano. The view was amazing and the landscape was so different from the beaches we were used to seeing.

On our way back down the volcano, we stopped in at Surfing Goat Dairy. Last summer we stopped here to milk goats and go on a tour. This time we just fed the goats and enjoyed the AMAZING fresh goat cheese.