Maui trip wrap up

We were at the very beginning of whale season in Maui. I am not a big animal lover, but for some reason I LOVE to see the whales! My kids enjoyed the trip (although a few of them didn't feel so well toward the end, but no one threw up) and spouted off (pun intended) many whale facts later that they learned about on the trip. They also became great whale spotters--Natalie especially--and saw many whales right in front of our hotel and could also see them off shore while driving around.


The cousins at the Banyan Tree in Lahaina while we were waiting to board for whale watching.




I could not get very many good shots of the whales even though we saw many. I just could not steady myself with the rocking of the boat. The boats are not allowed to get within a certain amount of feet to the whales, but at one point, the whales were coming toward us. They call it being "mugged" and they shut off all the motors. It was very cool to be close to the whales, but the waves/boat/motion was awful!






We did have one rainy day while we were there. We did lots of exploring around the hotel.


We checked out the gingerbread house display...


...and went to lei making class.





One of the companies I like there was offering a moolight tide pool exploration. It is one of the things in Maui that hardly costs any money! It was a full moon, so we headed to south Maui to check it out.



The company gave us a little information about what kinds of things we might see, and why with the full moon we might see even more interesting creatures. We saw sea cucumbers, sea urchins, many starfish, all kinds of crabs--one really fast one that got Anna's leg! Susanna was scared after that, so we had juice and snacks while the others kept looking!



Dad, you'll notice which flashlight Samantha is using to explore with!


More beach time playing dumptruck and burying themselves in the sand.



Our last night was more hula pie with John and Maria and girls!



Aloha Maui!! We hope to return again soon!! (maybe next time sans kiddos!)